22mar01...0345h

4/10/02 3246s

2002 SESSION

01-0035

08/10

HOUSE BILL 253-FN

COMMITTEE: Environment and Agriculture

AMENDED ANALYSIS

This bill sets time frames within which certain municipal waste combustors must comply with mercury emission limits, and provides alternate compliance provisions, and extends the reporting date of the ash landfill study to May 30, 2002.

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

22mar01...0345h

4/10/02 3246s

01-0035

08/10

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Two

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

172:1 Mercury Emissions Reduction and Control Program; Reduction of Mercury Emissions for Certain Municipal Waste Combustors. Amend RSA 125-M:3, I to read as follows:

I. Any municipal waste combustor with a design capacity to burn 100 tons per day or more of municipal solid waste [which is subject to a federal maximum mercury emission rate of 0.08 milligrams per dry standard cubic meter (mg/dscm) or less] shall reduce its mercury emissions to achieve a mercury emission rate of no greater than 0.028 mg/dscm corrected to 7 percent oxygen by volume on a dry basis, or at least 85 percent control efficiency.

172:2 Mercury Emissions Reduction and Control Program; Compliance. Amend RSA 125-M:5 to read as follows:

125-M:5 Compliance.

[I.] No person shall operate a municipal waste combustor with the design capacity to burn 100 tons per day or more of municipal solid waste without a temporary or operating permit issued by the department in accordance with RSA 125-C. Any source subject to this section shall file a complete application for a permit or permit modification under the provisions of RSA 125-C and a plan for achieving compliance with this chapter. [Combustors with a design capacity of 250 tons per day or more shall submit such plan and application by July 1, 2000 in order to comply by January 1, 2001 with the emission limits established by this chapter. Combustors with a design capacity of less than 250 tons per day but not less than 100 tons per day which are subject to RSA 125-M:3, I shall submit such plan and application by January 1, 2001 in order to comply by July 1, 2001 with the emission limits established by this chapter.

II. Until 6 months prior to the date set under paragraph I for complying with an emission limit, the owner of a combustor may request a single extension of time of not more than 6 months, for compliance with this chapter. The commissioner shall grant the extension if, based on the information presented, compliance with the applicable emission limit is not achievable by the compliance date due to, but not limited to, engineering constraints, availability of equipment, or other justifiable technical reasons. The commissioner shall not consider issues of cost or economic hardship in granting the extension.]

172:3 Ash Landfill Study; Reporting Date. Amend 1999, 350:2 to read as follows:

350:2 Ash Landfill Study. The department of environmental services shall study the implications of having increased mercury levels in ash in order to ensure maximum protection measures from ash contaminants. The department shall review current environmental protection practices at ash landfills that serve combustors with a design capacity of 100 tons per day or more, including methods used to handle and treat ash, the adequacy of leak detection systems and groundwater monitoring, and the ability to effectively mitigate environmental contamination, if it should occur, to protect drinking water supplies. The department shall report its findings by [February 1, 2000] May 30, 2002 to the house science, technology and energy committee, the house environment and agriculture committee, the house resources, recreation and development committee, the senate environment committee, the governor, the state library, the New Hampshire/Vermont Solid Waste Project, all of the municipalities in the Sullivan County Regional Refuse Disposal District, and the Concord Regional Solid Waste/Resource Recovery Cooperative and its member municipalities.

172:4 Compliance Timeline. Any combustor with a design capacity of less than 250 tons per day but not less than 100 tons, in operation as of January 1, 2002, shall submit the application and plan required by RSA 125-M:5 within 3 months after the effective date of this act and shall complete installation and begin operation of the necessary control equipment as expeditiously as possible, but not later than 18 months after receipt of all required state and local permits and approvals. Any such combustor shall demonstrate compliance with the emission limits in RSA 125-M:3, I no later than 21 months after receipt of all required state and local permits and approvals.

172:5 Repeal. RSA 125-M:2, V, relative to the definition of eligible costs in the mercury reduction and control program, is repealed.

172:6 Effective Date. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

(Approved: May 15, 2002)

(Effective Date: May 15,2002)