(1) The board of any activated authority or
the department, may classify air contaminant sources, by
ordinance, resolution, rule or regulation, which in its judgment
may cause or contribute to air pollution, according to levels and
types of emissions and other characteristics which cause or
contribute to air pollution, and may require registration or
reporting or both for any such class or classes. Classifications
made pursuant to this section may be for application to the area
of jurisdiction of such authority, or the state as a whole or to
any designated area within the jurisdiction, and shall be made
with special reference to effects on health, economic and social
factors, and physical effects on property.
(2) Except as provided in subsection (3) of this section,
any person operating or responsible for the operation of air
contaminant sources of any class for which the ordinances,
resolutions, rules or regulations of the department or board of
the authority, require registration or reporting shall register
therewith and make reports containing information as may be
required by such department or board concerning location, size
and height of contaminant outlets, processes employed, nature of
the contaminant emission and such other information as is
relevant to air pollution and available or reasonably capable of
being assembled. In the case of emissions of greenhouse gases as
defined in RCW 70.235.010 the department shall adopt rules
requiring reporting of those emissions. The department or board
may require that such registration or reporting be accompanied by
a fee, and may determine the amount of such fee for such class or
classes: PROVIDED, That the amount of the fee shall only be to
compensate for the costs of administering such registration or
reporting program which shall be defined as initial registration
and annual or other periodic reports from the source owner
providing information directly related to air pollution
registration, on-site inspections necessary to verify compliance
with registration requirements, data storage and retrieval
systems necessary for support of the registration program,
emission inventory reports and emission reduction credits
computed from information provided by sources pursuant to
registration program requirements, staff review, including
engineering or other reliable analysis for accuracy and
currentness, of information provided by sources pursuant to
registration program requirements, clerical and other office
support provided in direct furtherance of the registration
program, and administrative support provided in directly carrying
out the registration program: PROVIDED FURTHER, That any such
registration made with either the board or the department shall
preclude a further registration and reporting with any other
board or the department, except that emissions of greenhouse
gases as defined in RCW 70.235.010 must be reported as required
under subsection (5) of this section.
All registration program and reporting fees collected by the
department shall be deposited in the air pollution control
account. All registration program fees collected by the local
air authorities shall be deposited in their respective
treasuries.
(3) If a registration or report has been filed for a grain
warehouse or grain elevator as required under this section,
registration, reporting, or a registration program fee shall not,
after January 1, 1997, again be required under this section for
the warehouse or elevator unless the capacity of the warehouse or
elevator as listed as part of the license issued for the facility
has been increased since the date the registration or reporting
was last made. If the capacity of the warehouse or elevator
listed as part of the license is increased, any registration or
reporting required for the warehouse or elevator under this
section must be made by the date the warehouse or elevator
receives grain from the first harvest season that occurs after
the increase in its capacity is listed in the license.
This subsection does not apply to a grain warehouse or grain
elevator if the warehouse or elevator handles more than ten
million bushels of grain annually.
(4) For the purposes of subsection (3) of this section:
(a) A "grain warehouse" or "grain elevator" is an
establishment classified in standard industrial classification
(SIC) code 5153 for wholesale trade for which a license is
required and includes, but is not limited to, such a licensed
facility that also conducts cleaning operations for grain;
(b) A "license" is a license issued by the department of
agriculture licensing a facility as a grain warehouse or grain
elevator under chapter 22.09 RCW or a license issued by the
federal government licensing a facility as a grain warehouse or
grain elevator for purposes similar to those of licensure for the
facility under chapter 22.09 RCW; and
(c) "Grain" means a grain or a pulse.
(5)(a) The department shall adopt rules requiring the
reporting of emissions of greenhouse gases as defined in RCW 70.235.010. The rules must include a de minimis amount of
emissions below which reporting will not be required for both
indirect and direct emissions. The rules must require that
emissions of greenhouse gases resulting from the burning of
fossil fuels be reported separately from emissions of greenhouse
gases resulting from the burning of biomass. Except as provided
in (b) of this subsection, the department shall, under the
authority granted in subsection (1) of this section, adopt rules
requiring any owner or operator: (i) Of a fleet of on-road motor
vehicles that as a fleet emit at least twenty-five hundred metric
tons of greenhouse gas annually in the state to report the
emissions of greenhouse gases generated from or emitted by that
fleet; or (ii) of a source or combination of sources that emit at
least ten thousand metric tons of greenhouse gas annually in the
state to report their total annual emissions of greenhouse gases.
In calculating emissions of greenhouse gases for purposes of
determining whether or not reporting is required, only direct
emissions shall be included. For purposes of reporting emissions
of greenhouse gases in chapter 14, Laws of 2008, "source" means
any stationary source as defined in RCW 70.94.030, or mobile
source used for transportation of people or cargo. The emissions
of greenhouse gases must be reported as carbon dioxide
equivalents. The rules must require that persons report 2009
emissions starting in 2010. The rules must establish an annual
reporting schedule that takes into account the time needed to
allow the owner or operator reporting emissions of greenhouse
gases to gather the information needed and to verify the
emissions being reported. However, in no event may reports be
submitted later than October 31st of the year in which the report
is due. The department may phase in the reporting requirements
for sources or combinations of sources under (a)(ii) of this
subsection until the reporting threshold is met, which must be
met by January 1, 2012. The department may from time to time
amend the rules to include other persons that emit less than the
annual greenhouse gas emissions levels set out in this subsection
if necessary to comply with any federal reporting requirements
for emissions of greenhouse gases.
(b) In its rules, the department may defer the reporting
requirement under (a) of this subsection for emissions associated
with interstate and international commercial aircraft, rail,
truck, or marine vessels until (i) there is a federal requirement
to report these emissions; or (ii) the department finds that
there is a generally accepted reporting protocol for determining
interstate emissions from these sources.
(c) The department shall share any reporting information
reported to it with the local air authority in which the owner or
operator reporting under the rules adopted by the department
operates.
(d) The fee provisions in subsection (2) of this section
apply to reporting of emissions of greenhouse gases. Owners and
operators required to report under (a) of this subsection who
fail to report or pay the fee required in subsection (2) of this
section are subject to enforcement penalties under this chapter.
The department shall enforce the reporting rule requirements
unless it approves a local air authority's request to enforce the
requirements for sources operating within the authority's
jurisdiction.
(e) The energy facility site evaluation council shall,
simultaneously with the department, adopt rules that impose
greenhouse gas reporting requirements in site certifications on
owners or operators of a facility permitted by the energy
facility site evaluation council. The greenhouse gas reporting
requirements imposed by the energy facility site evaluation
council must be the same as the greenhouse gas reporting
requirements imposed by the department. The department shall
share any information reported to it from facilities permitted by
the energy facility site evaluation council with the council,
including notice of a facility that has failed to report as
required. The energy facility site evaluation council shall
contract with the department to monitor the reporting
requirements adopted under this section.
(f) In developing its rules, the department shall, with the
assistance of the department of transportation, identify a
mechanism to report an aggregate estimate of the annual emissions
of greenhouse gases generated from or emitted by otherwise
unreported on-road motor vehicles.
(g) The inclusion or failure to include any person, source,
classes of persons or sources, or types of emissions of
greenhouse gases into the department's rules for reporting under
this section does not indicate whether such a person, source, or
category is appropriate for inclusion in the multisector
market-based system designed under RCW 70.235.020.
(h) Should the federal government adopt rules sufficient to
track progress toward the emissions reductions required by
chapter 14, Laws of 2008 governing the reporting of greenhouse
gases, the department shall amend its rules, as necessary, to
seek consistency with the federal rules to ensure duplicate
reporting is not required. Nothing in this section requires the
department to increase the reporting threshold established in (a)
of this subsection or otherwise require the department's rules be
identical to the federal rules in scope.
(i) The definitions in RCW 70.235.010 apply throughout this
subsection (5) unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
[2008 c 14 § 5; 2005 c 138 § 1; 1997 c 410 § 1; 1993 c 252 § 3; 1987 c 109 § 37; 1984 c 88 § 2; 1969 ex.s. c 168 § 19; 1967 c 238 § 28.]
NOTES:
Findings -- Intent -- Scope of chapter 14, Laws of 2008 -- Severability -- 2008 c 14: See RCW 70.235.005, 70.235.900, and 70.235.901.
Purpose -- Short title -- Construction -- Rules -- Severability -- Captions -- 1987 c 109:See notes following RCW 43.21B.001.