Air pollution control and air quality management districts: permit information: internet website., the official text

An act to add Section 40714 to the Health and Safety Code, relating to air pollution.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

Existing law designates air pollution control districts and air quality management districts as having the primary responsibility for the control of air pollution from all sources other than vehicular sources, and, subject to the powers and duties of the State Air Resources Board, requires that air districts adopt and enforce rules and regulations to achieve and maintain the state and federal ambient air quality standards in all areas affected by emission sources under their jurisdiction.
Existing law requires the board of each air district to establish by regulation a system by which all reductions in the emission of air contaminants that are to be used to offset certain future increases in the emission of air contaminants be banked as credits prior to use to offset future increases in emissions, except as specified.
This bill would require each air district, for all active permits required for equipment or processes that may release or control air pollutants and that require or required the use of one or more emission reduction credits, to make publicly available on its internet website a map of permitted facilities containing specified information regarding those permits. By adding to the duties of air districts, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Poor air quality is intimately linked with negative health impacts, including respiratory illness and premature deaths, with recent studies estimating air pollution as the cause of over 100,000 premature deaths in the United States in 2011. However, the distribution of premature deaths is not equal.
(b) Rural communities, farmworker communities, disadvantaged communities, tribal nations, young people, and those living at or below the poverty level often live adjacent to transportation corridors or commercial and industrial facilities with highly localized and severe pollution levels and are at the highest risk of adverse health outcomes.
(c) The United States Environmental Protection Agency is responsible for establishing national ambient air quality standards for a number of criteria pollutants, including oxides of nitrogen (NOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbon monoxide (CO), oxides of sulfur (SOx), and particulate matter below 10 microns (PM10).
(d) To ensure that emission sources minimize impacts on air quality, air pollution control and air quality management districts are generally required to establish emissions control technology guidelines called Best Available Control Technology (BACT) and Best Available Retrofit Control Technology (BARCT) in their districts.
(e) When required as a condition of obtaining a permit to pollute, operators of emission sources agree to implement BACT and BARCT at their facilities.
(f) However, there is currently no publicly verifiable mechanism to ensure that, once a permit has been issued, an operator of an emission source is implementing BACT and BARCT per the requirements of its permit.
(g) Furthermore, because of limited resources, it is impossible for air pollution control and air quality management districts to monitor every permitholder for compliance with ongoing permit requirements.
(h) It is essential that communities are empowered to ensure that polluters are meeting the conditions of their permits by having access to the BACT and BARCT permit requirements that emission source permitholders have committed to upholding.

SEC. 2.
Section 40714 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:
40714.
For all active permits required for equipment or processes that may release or control air pollutants and that require or required the use of one or more emission reduction credits, each district shall make publicly available on its internet website a map of permitted facilities containing information regarding those permits that includes, but is not limited to, all of the following information:
(a) Site address.
(b) Permitholder contact information.
(c) Name of the permitted business and the names of all parent organizations.
(d) The scope or description of the permitted process or equipment.
(e) A list of all credits used in conjunction with the identified permit, including the type and quantity of emissions allowed under the permit.
(f) Any best available control technology, best available retrofit control technology, or other emissions control measures identified as a requirement of the permit.

SEC. 3.
No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because a local agency or school district has the authority to levy service charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or level of service mandated by this act, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code.