GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1989

S	1 

SENATE BILL 27

Short Title:  NC May Exceed US Environmental Regs.	(Public)
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Sponsors: Senators Winner, Daniel; Ballance, Barker, Basnight, Block, Bryan, Cobb, Ezzell, Guy, Hunt of Durham, Hunt of Moore, Johnson of Wake, Martin of Pitt, Martin of Guilford, Marvin, Odom, Raynor, Richardson, Sands, Shaw, Simpson, Staton, Swain, Taft, Tally, Walker, and Ward.
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Referred to:  Environment and Natural Resources.
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January 18, 1989

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO REPEAL THOSE PORTIONS OF THE GENERAL STATUTES THAT LIMIT THE STATE TO THE ADOPTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS REGARDING WATER QUALITY, AIR QUALITY, OR HAZARDOUS WASTE THAT ARE NO MORE STRICT THAN FEDERAL ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  G.S. 130-166.21D is repealed.
Sec. 2.  G.S. 143-215 reads as rewritten:
"§ 143-215. Effluent standards and limitations.
(a)	The Commission is authorized and directed to develop, adopt, modify and revoke effluent standards and limitations and waste treatment management practices as it determines necessary to prohibit, abate, or control water pollution. The effluent standards or limitations or management practices may provide, without limitation, standards or limitations or management practices for any point source or sources; standards, limitations, management practices, or prohibitions for toxic wastes or combinations of toxic wastes discharged from any point source or sources; and pretreatment standards for wastes discharged to any disposal system subject to effluent standards or limitations or management practices.
(b)	The effluent standards and limitations developed and adopted by the Commission shall provide limitations upon the effluents discharged from pretreatment facilities and from outlets and point sources to the waters of the State adequate to limit the waste loads upon the waters of the State to the extent necessary to maintain or enhance the chemical, physical, biological and radiological integrity of the waters. The management practices developed and adopted by the Commission shall prescribe practices necessary to be employed in order to prevent or reduce contribution of pollutants to the State's waters.
	."
Sec. 3.  G.S. 143-215.107 reads as rewritten:
"§ 143-215.107. Air quality standards and classifications.
(a)	Duty to Adopt Plans, Standards, etc. – The Commission is hereby directed and empowered, as rapidly as possible within the limits of funds and facilities available to it, and subject to the procedural requirements of this Article and Article 21:
(1)	To prepare and develop, after proper study, a comprehensive plan or plans for the prevention, abatement and control of air pollution in the State or in any designated area of the State.
(2)	To determine by means of field sampling and other studies, including the examination of available data collected by any local, State or federal agency or any person, the degree of air contamination and air pollution in the State and the several areas of the State.
(3)	To develop and adopt, after proper study, air quality standards applicable to the State as a whole or to any designated area of the State as the Commission deems proper in order to promote the policies and purposes of this Article and Article 21 most effectively.
(4)	To develop and adopt classifications for use in classifying air contaminant sources, which in the judgment of the Commission may cause or contribute to air pollution, according to levels and types of emissions and other characteristics which relate to air pollution and may require reporting for any such class or classes. Such classifications may be for application to the State as a whole or to any designated area of the State, and shall be made with special reference to effects on health, economic and social factors, and physical effects on property. Any person operating or responsible for the operation of air contaminant sources of any class for which the Commission requires reporting shall make reports containing such information as may be required by the Commission concerning location, size, and height of contaminant outlets, processes employed, fuels used, and the nature and time periods or duration of emissions, and such other information as is relevant to air pollution and available or reasonably capable of being assembled.
(5)	To develop and adopt such emission control standards as in the judgment of the Commission may be necessary to prohibit, abate or control air pollution commensurate with established air quality standards. Such standards may be applied uniformly to the State as a whole or to any area of the State designated by the Commission.
(6)	To adopt, when necessary and practicable, a program for testing emissions from motor vehicles and to adopt motor vehicle emission standards in compliance with applicable federal regulations.
(7)	To develop and adopt standards and plans necessary to implement programs for the prevention of significant deterioration and for the attainment of air quality standards in nonattainment areas.
(b)	Criteria for Standards. – In developing air quality and emission control standards, the Commission shall recognize varying local conditions and requirements and may prescribe different standards for different areas as may be necessary and appropriate to facilitate accomplishment of the stated purposes of this Article and Article 21.
(c)	Chapter 150B of the General Statutes governs the adoption and publication of rules under this Article.
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Sec. 4.  G.S. 20-128.2(a) reads as rewritten:
	"(a) The rules and regulations promulgated pursuant to G.S.143-215.107(a)(6) for the purposes of this section shall be limited to carbon monoxide, shall be statewide in scope but enforced on a county unit basis when ambient air pollutant concentrations exceed the National Ambient Air Quality Standards established pursuant to the Clean Air Act of 1970 as amended by the Clean Air Act amendments of 1977 and when the Environmental Management Commission certifies to the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles that the ambient air quality within a specified county requires a motor vehicle inspection/maintenance program; provided the Environmental Management Commission may prescribe different standards for different areas as may be necessary and appropriate to facilitate accomplishment of the stated purposes of this section. "
Sec. 5.  This act is effective upon ratification.