Bill Text: HI SB2101 | 2024 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Relating To Health.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-02-16 - Report adopted; Passed Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referred to WAM. [SB2101 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2024-SB2101-Amended.html
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THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
2101 |
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THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2024 |
S.D. 1 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO HEALTH.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
The legislature further finds that advances in technology have enabled more effective methods to monitor pollutants emitted by waste combustion facilities. In many cases, the technology currently in use to monitor pollutants is obsolete. Consequently, the data regarding certain types of pollutants emitted, and the amounts emitted, is inadequate to determine their effect on human health.
The legislature further finds that only four air pollutants are typically monitored on a continuous basis, while others, if tested for at all, are tested only once per year under optimal operating conditions. For example, annual stack testing does not occur during startup, shutdown, and malfunction conditions, when certain pollutants are known to be released in higher amounts. The legislature also finds that the prolonged downtime of aging incinerators results in higher emissions from startup and shutdown occurrences, but these emissions are not measured by annual stack testing.
The legislature further finds that the continuous monitoring and continuous sampling of emissions provides more accurate data than annual stack testing. When annual stack testing was compared to the continuous monitoring of hydrochloric acid emissions at the nation's largest waste incinerator, it was found that the actual emissions determined by continuous monitoring were eighty per cent higher than that shown by annual stack testing.
The legislature additionally finds that dioxins and furans are the most toxic man-made chemicals known to science. According to studies of incinerators in Europe, it was observed that continuous sampling for dioxins at incinerators found the actual emissions to be thirty-two to fifty-two times greater than those reported in the United States where they are tested just once per year under ideal operating conditions. Moreover, a more recent study concluded that the failure to deploy continuous sampling technology in the United States results in underestimating dioxin emissions by 460 to 1,290 times.
The legislature further finds that monitoring incinerators is critical in determining community exposure to health hazards from toxic emissions. While many assume that Hawaii's trade winds blow these emissions out to sea, kona conditions allow them to linger. The legislature also finds that when facilities release these harmful chemicals in kona conditions, nearby communities, some of which are already over-representative of susceptible health conditions, are exposed. Moreover, wherever smokestack emissions occur, released chemicals return to the earth with the rain and when they are blown out to sea, chemicals concentrate in the seafood that is then consumed.
Therefore, the purpose of this Act is to implement continuous monitoring and continuous sampling technologies that have been tested and verified by the United States Environmental Protection Agency at waste combustion facilities and to ensure that waste combustion facility owners continuously monitor, sample, and report the emissions of contaminants.
SECTION 2. Chapter 342B, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:
"§342B- Waste combustion facility monitoring. (a)
The owner of any waste combustion facility shall develop a plan to
continuously monitor or continuously sample emissions of the following
contaminants:
(1) Carbon dioxide;
(2) Carbon monoxide;
(3) Sulfur dioxide;
(4) Nitrogen oxides;
(5) Ammonia;
(6) Hydrochloric acid;
(7) Hydrofluoric acid;
(8) Particulate matter (total, PM10, and
PM2.5);
(9) Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs);
(10) Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
(PAHs);
(11) Dioxins or furans;
(12) Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs);
(13) Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances
(PFAs);
(14) Arsenic;
(15) Beryllium;
(16) Cadmium;
(17) Hexavalent chromium;
(18) Lead;
(19) Manganese;
(20) Mercury;
(21) Nickel;
(22) Selenium; and
(23) Zinc.
Where
technologically feasible, the plan shall provide for the use of a continuous
emissions monitoring system to monitor air contaminants. If it is not technologically feasible to use
a continuous emissions monitoring system to monitor an air contaminant, the
plan shall provide for the use of a continuous automated sampling system to
continuously sample an air contaminant.
(b) The plan shall describe how the owner will:
(1) Conduct continuous monitoring or
sampling as required by this section; and
(2) Make emissions data available to the
department and the public via a publicly accessible website.
(c) Emission data shall be reported on a website
hosted by the department. The department
shall issue protocols to be used by the owner or operator of the waste
combustion facility to report data in a timely manner. The department may set annual fees for the
owner of a waste combustion facility to cover costs of the website development
and hosting, and to cover the department's cost of enforcing this section.
The
data disclosure website shall be designed to immediately alert by email, the
owner, the department, and any other parties who enroll to be notified of any
violations of data availability requirements or exceedances of local, state, or
federal air pollution limitations. For
both types of violations, email notices shall be available at the frequency of
the recipient's choosing: as they occur, or on a daily, weekly, monthly,
quarterly, or annual basis. All
continuous emissions monitoring systems data that is available in a digital
format shall be supplied in real-time through an internet feed to the
website. Data shall be submitted to the
website no later than twenty-four hours after the data is available. Data shall be displayed in line charts for
each pollutant, including a line showing the level of each applicable emissions
limit for the pollutants and a calculated line displaying rolling averages in
cases where regulatory limits are based on the averages. The emissions limits displayed shall be
adjusted whenever permitted emissions limits change, showing the proper limits
that apply at a given time.
All
data submitted to the website shall be archived and made available for download
in a commonly-available spreadsheet or database format. Emissions data that exceeds state or local
emissions limits shall appear on the website in red-colored text so that violations
are readily distinguishable from the rest of the data. The website shall display summary charts
listing all violations of any applicable emissions limits per pollutant for
each facility reporting under this section.
Daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly summaries of emissions levels and
violations shall be made available in an easily understandable presentation
format. Emissions trend data shall be
presented in line charts, showing the totals for all reporting facilities, as
well as facility-specific trends from the beginning of the reported set through
the most recent year. If the facility
owner has provided any explanation for a violation, that explanation shall also
be listed on the website, available from wherever the violation is displayed.
Any
gaps in continuous emissions monitoring system data reporting shall be reported
as null values, and explanations shall be reported to the website as separate
comments associated with the data gaps or violations. A waste combustion facility with multiple units
or boilers shall separately present the data for each unit or boiler. The operating status for each boiler shall be
reported hourly by the owner and operator of any waste combustion facility and
shall be reported on the data disclosure website, so that emissions data can be
displayed alongside information stating whether certain boilers are operating
or not, or are in a process of startup or shutdown.
In
addition to the display of emissions data in measurement units corresponding
with state and local emissions limits (i.e., twenty-four-hour averages
displayed alongside twenty-four-hour limits), monthly and annual totals shall
be presented in pounds. The monthly and
annual emissions of each pollutant shall be presented alongside the state and
local permit limits in the same units, converted from the concentration
limits. The waste combustion facility
owner shall disclose stack test data for any air pollution stack test conducted
at the facility that is required by state or federal permits. Beginning July 1, 2024, new stack test data
for any stack test conducted shall be submitted to the data disclosure website
no later than forty-eight hours after the data is available to the owner of the
waste combustion facility.
(d) By October 1, 2024, the owner of a waste
combustion facility shall submit the plan required by this section to the
department. Before approving the plan,
the department may make modifications to the plan as necessary to ensure the
quality and accuracy of sampling or monitoring data. The owner of a waste combustion facility shall
implement a plan approved by the department no later than three months after
the date of the approval.
(e) Notwithstanding subsection (d), the
department may, at the department's discretion, for good cause shown, extend
the three-month deadline for submitting or implementing the plan required by
this section.
(f) The data from continuous monitoring and
sampling of air contaminants not already required to be continuously monitored
shall not be used for enforcement purposes until the time that the director
determines that the data is reliable enough for that purpose. On an annual basis starting twelve months
after the first use of new continuous monitoring and sampling equipment
established under this section, the director shall issue a determination on
whether the data is reliable for use in the enforcement of permit limits. Within six months of a determination, the
department shall publish rules for enforcement, which shall start no later than
twelve months after the department's determination.
Where
existing permit limits for a pollutant are based on annual stack tests, new
rules for permit limits based on continuous monitoring or sampling shall
closely match the existing limits as much as possible, with averaging times not
to exceed twenty-four hours. Where
permit limits do not exist for a pollutant required by this section, the
department may establish permit limits based on control systems that are
technologically possible and best protect public health and the
environment. The director may determine
that data on certain, but not all, air contaminants are reliable and ready for
enforcement; provided that the department shall make reliability determinations
for remaining contaminants.
(g) The department shall submit a report of the results of the continuous monitoring and sampling required by this section, including any proposed legislation, to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of each regular session."
SECTION 3. Section 342B-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding five new definitions to be appropriately inserted and to read as follows:
""Continuous automated sampling system" means the complete equipment and procedures for automated sample collection, sample recovery, and sample analysis to determine an air contaminant concentration or emission rate by collecting a single sample or multiple integrated samples of the air contaminant for subsequent on- or off-site analysis.
"Continuous
emissions monitoring system" means a monitoring system for continuously
measuring the emissions of an air contaminant from an incinerator.
"Dioxin"
or "furan" means tetra- through octa-chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins
and dibenzofurans.
"Waste"
means any of the following, or combination of the following:
(1) "Waste"
as defined in title 11, chapter 58.1, Hawaii
Administrative Rules;
(2) Plastics;
(3) Any
material that has been source separated for recycling or composting purposes;
(4) Disaster
debris;
(5) "Hazardous
waste" as defined in title 11, chapter 261, Hawaii Administrative Rules;
(6) Processed
engineered fuel;
(7) Solid
recovered fuel;
(8) Refuse-derived
fuel; or
(9) Any
material determined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency or
state agency to be a non-hazardous secondary material.
"Waste
combustion facility" means any non-residential facility that:
(1) Disposes of waste, uses waste to
heat an industrial process, or uses waste to produce energy, including heat,
electricity or a burnable fuel;
(2) Performs the actions specified in
paragraph (1) through the combustion of waste, or gases produced on-site from
the burning, gasification or pyrolysis of waste, or by producing a solid,
liquid, or gaseous fuel product through conversion of waste; and
(3) Is capable of processing at least
five tons of waste per day.
"Waste combustion facility" does not include landfills, anaerobic digesters, or facilities burning landfill gas or gas produced from anaerobic digestion; provided that these facilities are not also burning waste."
SECTION
4. The director of health shall submit
to the legislature, no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the
regular session of 2025, a report of the progress made in implementing section
3 of this Act.
SECTION 5. In accordance with section 9 of article VII of the Hawaii State Constitution and sections 37-91 and 37-93, Hawaii Revised Statutes, the legislature has determined that the appropriations contained in Act 164, Regular Session of 2023, and this Act will cause the state general fund expenditure ceiling for fiscal year 2024-2025 to be exceeded by $ or per cent. This current declaration takes into account general fund appropriations authorized for fiscal year 2024-2025 in Act 164, Regular Session of 2023, and this Act only. The reasons for exceeding the general fund expenditure ceiling are that:
(1) The appropriation made in this Act is necessary to serve the public interest; and
(2) The appropriation made in this Act meets the needs addressed by this Act.
SECTION 6. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2024-2025, for the department of health to ensure the planning and implementation of continuous monitoring or sampling required by this Act, including the purchase of continuous emissions monitoring systems units, construction and maintenance of a website to disseminate data to the public, and establishment of positions, which shall be expended as follows:
(1) $ for the purchase of continuous emissions monitoring system units;
(2) $ to construct and maintain a website;
(3) $ to enforce the monitoring provisions established by this Act and gather data; and
(4) $ to establish full-time equivalent ( . FTE) positions.
The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of health for the purposes of this Act.
SECTION 7
New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 8. This Act shall take effect on December 31, 2050.
Report Title:
DOH; Waste Combustion Facilities; Pollution; Air Contaminants; Public Health; Reports; Expenditure Ceiling; Appropriation
Description:
Requires waste combustion facility owners to implement continuous monitoring and sampling technologies for the purposes of collecting data regarding emissions. Establishes a publicly available website hosted by the Department of Health that will track and display data collected on emissions. Requires the DOH to adjust permit limits for air contaminants based on emissions data collected. Requires reports to the Legislature. Declares that the general fund expenditure is exceeded. Makes an appropriation. Takes effect 12/31/2050. (SD1)
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
