Bill Text: NJ A5548 | 2020-2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires natural gas pipeline blowdown event reports to be submitted to DEP quarterly and to municipality where blowdown event occurred.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-05-05 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee [A5548 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2020-A5548-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman RONALD S. DANCER
District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Requires natural gas pipeline blowdown event reports to be submitted to DEP quarterly and to municipality where blowdown event occurred.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act requiring natural gas pipeline blowdown event reports to be submitted to the Department of Environmental Protection and municipality and supplementing Title 48 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. No later than one year after the effective date of this act, the owner or operator of each natural gas pipeline within the State shall submit a quarterly report to the department and to each municipality in which a blowdown event occurred. The quarterly report shall include:
(1) the location, date, and duration of each blowdown event;
(2) a description of the emission reduction procedures and technology used for each blowdown event; and
(3) a quantification of the amount of volatile organic compound emission reductions achieved at each blowdown event.
b. The report required pursuant to subsection a. of this section shall be submitted to the department and each municipality in which a blowdown event occurred on the first day of the month following the end of each quarter.
c. The department may, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), adopt rules or regulations necessary to implement the provisions of this act.
d. As used in this section:
"Blowdown event" means the non-emergency release of natural gas from a pipeline for the purposes of inspection, maintenance, or repair and where, in the absence of control, more than 2,000 pounds of volatile organic compound could be released to the atmosphere.
"Department" means the Department of Environmental Protection.
"Volatile organic compound" or "VOC" means the same as the term is defined at 40 C.F.R. s.51.100(s).
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would require the owner or operator of each natural gas pipeline within the State to submit a quarterly report to the Department of Environmental Protection (department) and to each municipality in which a blowdown event occurred during the quarter setting forth the location, date, and duration of each blowdown event, a description of the emission reduction procedures and technology used for each blowdown event, and a quantification of the amount of volatile organic compound (VOC) emission reductions achieved at each blowdown event. Reports required pursuant to this bill would be required to be submitted to the department on the first day of the month following the end of each quarter, and to each municipality on the first day of the month following the end of the quarter in which a blowdown event occurred in the municipality. Under the bill, "blowdown event" is defined as the non-emergency release of natural gas from a pipeline for the purposes of inspection, maintenance, or repair and where, in the absence of control, more than 2,000 pounds of volatile organic compound could be released to the atmosphere.
Owners or operators of each natural gas pipeline within the State are currently required, pursuant to N.J.A.C.7:27-16.21, to submit a report to the department setting forth the location, date, and duration of each blowdown event, a description of the emission reduction procedures and technology used for each blowdown event, and a quantification of the amount of VOC emission reductions achieved at each blowdown event. This bill would require this report to be submitted to the department quarterly and require the report to be submitted to municipalities where blowdown events occurred as well.
The bill also authorizes the department to adopt rules or regulations necessary to implement the provisions of the bill.
