Bill Text: FL S1606 | 2024 | Regular Session | Introduced


Bill Title: Municipal Solid Waste-to-Energy Program

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2024-03-08 - Died in Regulated Industries [S1606 Detail]

Download: Florida-2024-S1606-Introduced.html
       Florida Senate - 2024                                    SB 1606
       
       
        
       By Senator Torres
       
       
       
       
       
       25-01473-24                                           20241606__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the Municipal Solid Waste-to-Energy
    3         Program; amending s. 377.814, F.S.; revising the state
    4         agency responsible for administering the Municipal
    5         Solid Waste-to-Energy Program; revising the
    6         requirements necessary for municipal solid waste-to
    7         energy facilities to be eligible to receive financial
    8         assistance and incentive grant funding; providing an
    9         effective date.
   10          
   11  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   12  
   13         Section 1. Section 377.814, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   14  read:
   15         377.814 Municipal Solid Waste-to-Energy Program.—
   16         (1) CREATION AND PURPOSE OF THE PROGRAM.—The Municipal
   17  Solid Waste-to-Energy Program is created within the department.
   18  The purpose of the program is to provide financial assistance
   19  grants and incentive grants to municipal solid waste-to-energy
   20  facilities to incentivize the production and sale of energy from
   21  municipal solid waste-to-energy facilities while also reducing
   22  the amount of waste that would otherwise be disposed of in a
   23  landfill.
   24         (2) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the term:
   25         (a) “Department” means the Department of Environmental
   26  Protection Agriculture and Consumer Services.
   27         (b) “Municipal solid waste-to-energy facility” means a
   28  publicly owned facility that uses an enclosed device using
   29  controlled combustion to thermally break down solid waste to an
   30  ash residue that contains little or no combustible material and
   31  that produces electricity, steam, or other energy as a result.
   32  The term does not include facilities that primarily burn fuels
   33  other than solid waste even if such facilities also burn some
   34  solid waste as a fuel supplement. The term also does not include
   35  facilities that primarily burn vegetative, agricultural, or
   36  silvicultural wastes, bagasse, clean dry wood, methane or other
   37  landfill gas, wood fuel derived from construction or demolition
   38  debris, or waste tires, alone or in combination with fossil
   39  fuels.
   40         (3) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE GRANT PROGRAM.—The department,
   41  subject to appropriation, shall provide annual financial
   42  assistance grants to municipal solid waste-to-energy facilities
   43  that entered into a power purchase agreement with an electric
   44  utility before January 1, 2022, which included capacity and
   45  energy payments, and the owner of the municipal solid waste-to
   46  energy facility has entered into a new or amended power purchase
   47  agreement that either no longer includes capacity payments or
   48  includes capacity and energy payments in an amount less than the
   49  total of the capacity and energy payments the municipal solid
   50  waste-to-energy facility received under the power purchase
   51  agreement entered into before January 1, 2022.
   52         (a) To apply for an annual financial assistance grant, the
   53  owner of a municipal solid waste-to-energy facility must submit
   54  an application to the department. The application must include
   55  the name of the applicant’s municipal solid waste-to-energy
   56  facility, the name of the utility purchasing the electric power
   57  from the municipal solid waste-to-energy facility, the total
   58  capacity and energy payment the municipal solid waste-to-energy
   59  facility received during the last year of the power purchase
   60  agreement entered into before January 1, 2022, and the amount of
   61  energy delivered to and the total amount paid for such power by
   62  an electric utility pursuant to a new or amended power purchase
   63  agreement during the preceding state fiscal year.
   64         (b) Beginning July 1, 2024, before a municipal solid waste
   65  to-energy facility may receive financial assistance grant
   66  funding, the Office of Air Monitoring must measure the air
   67  quality and particulate matter in all environmental justice
   68  zones located within 25 miles of the facility. An applicant is
   69  not eligible for grant funding under this program if the results
   70  of the measurements do not meet the minimum standards for air
   71  quality and particulate matter set by the United States
   72  Environmental Protection Agency. After the department has
   73  determined the applicants whose facilities meet the minimum air
   74  quality and particulate matter standards, it the department
   75  shall distribute funds, subject to appropriation, to each
   76  qualifying applicant at a rate of 2 cents per kilowatt-hour of
   77  electric power purchased by an electric utility during the
   78  preceding state fiscal year, not to exceed the difference
   79  between the total capacity and energy payment the municipal
   80  solid waste-to-energy facility received during the last year of
   81  the power purchase agreement entered into before January 1,
   82  2022, and the total of the capacity and energy payment the
   83  municipal solid waste-to-energy facility received under a new or
   84  amended power purchase agreement during the preceding state
   85  fiscal year. To the extent that funds are not available to
   86  provide financial assistance to each qualifying applicant for
   87  every qualifying kilowatt-hour purchased, the department shall
   88  prorate the funds on an equitable basis.
   89         (c) The department shall establish a process to verify the
   90  amount of electric power purchased from a municipal solid waste
   91  to-energy facility by an electric utility during each preceding
   92  state fiscal year. The Public Service Commission shall provide
   93  assistance to the department to help verify the information
   94  provided pursuant to paragraph (a).
   95         (4) INCENTIVE GRANT PROGRAM.—The department, subject to
   96  appropriation, shall provide incentive grants to municipal solid
   97  waste-to-energy facilities to assist with the planning and
   98  designing for constructing, upgrading, or expanding a municipal
   99  solid waste-to-energy facility, including necessary legal or
  100  administrative expenses. Beginning July 1, 2024, the department
  101  may not provide grant funding for a solid waste-to-energy
  102  facility until an environmental justice evaluation of impacted
  103  low-income and historically marginalized residential areas has
  104  determined that the new facility will have a negligible impact
  105  on these communities and will not decrease the air quality or
  106  increase the particulate matter to a point that exceeds the
  107  minimum standards set by the United States Environmental
  108  Protection Agency.
  109         (a) To qualify for an incentive grant, the owner of a
  110  municipal solid waste-to-energy facility must apply to the
  111  department for funding; provide matching funds on a dollar-for
  112  dollar basis; and demonstrate that the project is cost
  113  effective, permittable, and implementable and complies with s.
  114  403.7061.
  115         (b) The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
  116  Department of Environmental Protection shall provide assistance
  117  to the department in determining the eligibility of grant
  118  applications and establishing requirements to ensure the long
  119  term and efficient operation and maintenance of facilities
  120  constructed or expanded under an incentive grant.
  121         (c) The department shall perform adequate overview of each
  122  grant application and grant award, including technical review,
  123  regular inspections, disbursement approvals, and auditing, to
  124  implement this section.
  125         (d) Funds awarded under the incentive grant program may not
  126  be used to promote, establish, or convert a residential
  127  collection system that does not provide for the separate
  128  collection of residential solid waste from recovered materials
  129  as defined in s. 403.703.
  130         (e) The department shall require the termination or
  131  repayment of incentive grant funds if the department determines
  132  that program requirements are not being met.
  133         (5) FUNDING.—
  134         (a) Funds appropriated for the Municipal Solid Waste-to
  135  Energy Program must first be used for financial assistance
  136  grants. Any funds remaining in a state fiscal year after
  137  disbursement to all qualifying applicants may be used to fund
  138  the incentive grant program.
  139         (b) Funds awarded under the grant programs set forth in
  140  this section may not be used to support, subsidize, or enable
  141  the sale of electric power generated by a municipal solid waste
  142  to-energy facility to any small electric utility eligible to
  143  petition the commission under s. 366.06(4).
  144         (c) Notwithstanding s. 216.301 and pursuant to s. 216.351,
  145  funds allocated for the purpose of this section which are not
  146  disbursed by June 30 of the fiscal year in which the funds are
  147  allocated may be carried forward for up to 5 years after the
  148  effective date of the original appropriation.
  149         (6) RULES.—The department shall adopt rules to implement
  150  and administer this section, including establishing grant
  151  application processes for financial assistance grants and
  152  incentive grants. The rules shall include application deadlines
  153  and establish the supporting documentation necessary to be
  154  provided to the department. In adopting rules relating to the
  155  financial assistance grant program, the department shall consult
  156  the Public Service Commission. In adopting rules for the
  157  incentive grant program, the department shall consult the
  158  Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Department of
  159  Environmental Protection.
  160         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024.

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