First Regular Session Sixty-eighth General Assembly STATE OF COLORADO INTRODUCED LLS NO. 11-0944.01 Thomas Morris SENATE BILL 11-237 SENATE SPONSORSHIP Lundberg, HOUSE SPONSORSHIP (None), Senate Committees House Committees State, Veterans & Military Affairs A BILL FOR AN ACT Concerning changes necessary to make the regional haze state implementation plan cost-effective in accordance with Colorado law, and, in connection therewith, disapproving those portions of the regional haze emission element of the state implementation plan that relate to the requirement for emission controls for the Hayden electric generating units; repealing the rules associated with the disapproved portion of the state implementation plan; approving other aspects of the state implementation plan; and postponing the automatic expiration of the rules associated with the approved portion of the state implementation plan. Bill Summary (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced and does not reflect any amendments that may be subsequently adopted. If this bill passes third reading in the house of introduction, a bill summary that applies to the reengrossed version of this bill will be available at http://www.leg.state.co.us/billsummaries.) The air quality control commission adopted a regional haze state implementation plan (SIP) on January 7, 2011. The bill approves the regional haze SIP and postpones the automatic expiration under the "State Administrative Procedure Act" of the rules on regional haze that are contained in the SIP; except that the portions of the SIP that relate to the requirement for emission controls for the Hayden electric generating units 1 and 2 are disapproved and the associated rules are repealed. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Colorado: SECTION 1. Legislative declaration. (1) The general assembly hereby: (a) Declares that the general assembly ought to balance costs with the benefits to public health and the environment when it determines whether additions or changes to the state implementation plan (SIP) accomplish the results intended by enactment of the statutory provisions under which the additions or changes to the SIP were adopted; (b) Determines that: (I) Pursuant to section 25-7-105.1 (1), Colorado Revised Statutes, SIPs are prohibited from including requirements that are more stringent than or otherwise not required by the federal "Clean Air Act"; and (II) The federal environmental protection agency has determined that selective catalytic reduction nitrogen oxides controls are generally not cost-effective for coal-fired power plants that are smaller than seven hundred fifty megawatts; and (c) Finds that those elements of the regional haze SIP described in the January 14, 2011, report from the air quality control commission that relate to the requirement for selective catalytic reduction nitrogen oxide emission controls for the Hayden electric generating units 1 and 2 are: (I) More stringent than or otherwise not required by the federal "Clean Air Act"; and (II) Not justified by the cost of the controls in comparison with the benefits to public health and the environment. SECTION 2. 25-7-133.5 (2), Colorado Revised Statutes, is amended BY THE ADDITION OF A NEW PARAGRAPH to read: 25-7-133.5. Approval or rescission of specific revisions to state implementation plan (SIP) after 1996. (2) Pursuant to section 25-7-133, the following revisions to the state implementation plan (SIP), which were adopted by the air quality control commission on the dates indicated and received by the legislative council for review, are approved for incorporation into the state implementation plan: (bb) (I) Except as specified in subparagraph (II) of this paragraph (bb): (A) The "Colorado Visibility and Regional Haze State Implementation Plan for the Twelve Mandatory Class I Federal Areas in Colorado", adopted by the air quality control commission on January 7, 2011; (B) The automatic expiration of the rules contained in the plan specified in sub-subparagraph (A) of this subparagraph (I) that were adopted on January 7, 2011, and that are therefore scheduled for expiration on May 15, 2012, is postponed, effective May 15, 2011. (II) (A) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, including part 2 of article 3.2 of title 40, C.R.S., those aspects of the plan specified in sub-subparagraph (A) of subparagraph (I) of this paragraph (bb) that relate to the requirement of selective catalytic reduction emission controls for the Hayden electric generating units 1 and 2 are disapproved as being not cost-effective and more stringent than or otherwise not required by the federal "Clean Air Act", in violation of section 25-7-105.1 (1). (B) Those portions of regulation 3, 5 CCR 1001-5, Part F, Rule VI.A., that relate to the requirement of selective catalytic reduction emission controls for the Hayden electric generating units 1 and 2 are repealed, effective May 15, 2011. SECTION 3. Safety clause. The general assembly hereby finds, determines, and declares that this act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, and safety.