STATE OF OKLAHOMA

1st Session of the 53rd Legislature (2011)

HOUSE BILL 1240	By:	Key

AS INTRODUCED

An Act relating to environment and natural resources; creating the Oklahoma Environmental Authority Act; stating legislative findings; making legislative declaration that certain environmental regulation activities are not subject to federal laws or regulation; authorizing state environmental agencies to cooperate with federal environmental agencies; prohibiting enforcement of certain federal laws and regulations; declaring certain federal laws to be invalid and to have no effect; establishing penalty for certain officials and employees for certain acts; providing for codification; and declaring an emergency.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1.     NEW LAW     A new section of law to be codified in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 1-1-208 of Title 27A, unless there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
This act shall be known and may be cited as the “Oklahoma Environmental Authority Act”. 
SECTION 2.     NEW LAW     A new section of law to be codified in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 1-1-209 of Title 27A, unless there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
The Legislature finds that the:
1.  Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution defines the total scope of federal power as being that which has been delegated by the people of the several states to the federal government, and all power not delegated to the federal government in the Constitution of the United States is reserved to the states, respectively or to the people themselves.  The powers reserved to the people and the State of Oklahoma are those powers as they were understood at the time that Oklahoma was admitted to statehood, excluding amendments.  The reservation of those powers is a matter of contract between the state and people of Oklahoma and the United States as of the time that the compact with the United States was agreed upon and adopted by Oklahoma and the United States; 
2.  Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the federal government from violating or infringing upon rights not specifically enumerated in the Constitution of the United States and reserves to the people of Oklahoma certain rights as they were understood at the time that Oklahoma was admitted to statehood, excluding amendments.  The guarantee of those rights is a matter of contract between the people and the State of Oklahoma and the United States as of the time that the compact with the United States was agreed upon and adopted by Oklahoma and the United States; 
3.  Power to regulate interstate commerce was delegated to the federal government in the United States Constitution.  As understood at the time of the founding, the regulation of commerce was meant to empower Congress to regulate the buying and selling of products made by others, and sometimes land, associated finance and financial instruments and navigation and other carriage, across state jurisdictional lines.  The regulation of interstate commerce did not include agriculture, manufacturing, mining, malum in se crime, or land use, nor did it include activities that merely “substantially affected” commerce; 
4.  Power vested in Congress to regulate an activity does not include the power to prohibit the activity; and
5.  Regulation of intrastate commerce is reserved to the states or the people under the Ninth and Tenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. 
SECTION 3.     NEW LAW     A new section of law to be codified in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 1-1-210 of Title 27A, unless there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A.  The Legislature of the State of Oklahoma declares that the regulation of the transportation and disposal of hazardous waste; the regulation of the release of emissions, substances and pollutants into the air in the state; the regulation of the release of pollutants into bodies of water in the state; the regulation of public water supplies in the state; the regulation of wastewater systems in the state; and the regulation of production, exploration, drilling, development, operation, transportation and processing of oil, natural gas, petroleum, and petroleum products and products, materials or substances used in the production, exploration, drilling, development, operation, transportation and processing of oil and natural gas that originate and remain inside the State of Oklahoma and have not been proven and adjudicated by the Oklahoma court system or the federal court system to specifically be causing, or to have caused, quantifiable harm to any persons or places beyond the borders of Oklahoma shall be intrastate commerce and shall not be subject to federal law or federal regulation under the authority of the United States Congress to regulate interstate commerce.  
B.  Each state environmental agency and each state agency with limited environmental responsibilities, within its areas of environmental jurisdiction, shall to the extent deemed necessary cooperate with federal environmental agencies in the regulation of the transportation and disposal of hazardous waste; the regulation of the release of emissions, substances and pollutants into the air in the state; the regulation of the release of pollutants into bodies of water in the state; the regulation of public water supplies in the state; the regulation of wastewater systems in the state; and the regulation of production, exploration, drilling, development, operation, transportation and processing of oil, natural gas, petroleum, and petroleum products and products, materials or substances used in the production, exploration, drilling, development, operation, transportation and processing of oil and natural gas but shall not be required to enforce federal laws or regulations relating to such environmental resources and activities.
C.  Any federal law, rule, order, or other act by the federal government violating the provisions of this section is hereby declared to be invalid in this state, shall not be recognized by this state, is specifically rejected by this state, and shall be considered null and void and of no effect in this state.
D.  Any official, agent, or employee of the United States government or any employee of a corporation providing services to the United States government that enforces or attempts to enforce an act, order, law, statute, rule or regulation of the government of the United States in violation of this act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one (1) year or by a fine not exceeding Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) or both such fine and imprisonment.
E.  Any public officer or employee of the State of Oklahoma that enforces or attempts to enforce an act, order, law, statute, rule or regulation of the government of the United States in violation of this act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding two (2) years or by a fine not exceeding One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) or both such fine and imprisonment.
SECTION 4.  It being immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety, an emergency is hereby declared to exist, by reason whereof this act shall take effect and be in full force from and after its passage and approval.

53-1-6186	EK	01/03/11