2017 -- H 6055

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LC002324

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2017

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO AERONAUTICS - THE PERMANENT AIR QUALITY MONITORING ACT

     Introduced By: Representatives McNamara, Vella-Wilkinson, Shekarchi, Bennett, and
Solomon

     Date Introduced: March 31, 2017

     Referred To: House Health, Education & Welfare

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Sections 1-7-1, 1-7-6 and 1-7-9 of the General Laws in Chapter 1-7 entitled

"The Permanent Air Quality Monitoring Act" are hereby amended to read as follows:

     1-7-1. Long-term air quality monitoring program.

     (a) The Rhode Island airport corporation (RIAC) shall design, acquire, install, operate

and maintain a long-term air quality monitoring program in the vicinity of T.F. Green airport. The

corporation may hire a consultant to perform these tasks.

     (b) The monitoring program shall provide for the monitoring of all of the following:

     (1) Particulate matter, including only PM 2.5, particles less than 0.1 microns, and black

carbon.; and

     (2) Volatile organic compounds (VOC's), including, but not limited to: benzene, 1, 3

butadiene, and naphthalene; and carbonyls including, but not limited to, formaldehyde and

acetaldehyde; and

     (3) Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, including those that are particulate bound and

semivolatiles.

     (c) (1) The design of the monitoring program shall:

     (i) Include an implementation schedule for the components of the monitoring program set

forth in subsection (b); and

     (ii) Assure the quality and meaningfulness of the monitoring data; and

     (iii) Be set forth in a draft work plan developed, in consultation with the department of

environmental management and the department of health.

     (2) The consultation with the department of environmental management and the

department of health shall include, but not limited to:

     (i) Ensuring that peer review is employed in the development of an air quality monitoring

strategy;

     (ii) Providing the corporation with unbiased reviews of current, validated scientific

knowledge relevant to air quality monitoring and public health impacts;

     (iii) Assisting with the review of work plans and reports;

     (iv) Evaluating and comparing the corporation's proposed methodologies, quality

assurance procedures and monitoring criteria, with other relevant monitoring efforts mandated by

either state or federal law in order to ensure consistency and comparability among the

methodologies and criteria.

     (d) The draft work plan and the final work plan shall describe and justify with reasonable

specificity all significant aspects of the monitoring program, including, but not limited to, quality

assurance procedures and a description and justification of the number, type, and location of the

ambient air quality monitors to be installed as part of the long-term monitoring program.,

provided that there shall be at a minimum, one monitor placed at each of the following locations:

North, South, East and West of the airport. The ambient air quality monitors shall be set up in a

network that shall include at least four (4) monitoring sites and shall be designed to measure air

quality impacts from airport operations, including those associated with planes operating on the

extended runway and on neighborhoods adjacent to the airport facility, as well as at the Winslow

Park playing fields.

     (e) Notwithstanding the consultation requirement, the draft work plan shall be submitted

to the department of environmental management and the department of health within the thirty

(30) days of the effective date of this section for review and comment, pursuant to chapter 35 of

title 42 of the general laws. The departments shall provide comments within thirty (30) days of

receipt of the draft work plan. Following the departments' review and comment period, the draft

work plan shall be made available for review and comment by members of the general public,

and the air quality monitoring public advisory committee, established by this chapter, pursuant to

chapter 35 of title 42 of the general laws. Adoption of the final work plan by the corporation shall

be in accordance with chapter 35 of title 42 of the general laws. The final work plan shall be

submitted to the governor, the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the

senate by the corporation no later than October 30, 2007.

     (f) The final work plan and all revised final work plans shall include a reasonable

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evaluation of funding sources, such as federal grants, that may be available to the corporation to

cover some or all of the costs of the air quality monitoring.

     (g) Amendments to the final work plan may be proposed by the corporation in

consultation with the department of environmental management and the department of health on

or before March 30, 2009 and every March 30, thereafter. Amendments to the final work plan

may also be proposed by the department of environmental management, the department of health

and/or the air quality monitoring public advisory committee on or before January 31, 2009 and

every January 31, thereafter. Any proposed amendments to the final work plan shall be available

for review and comment by members of the general public, and the air quality monitoring public

advisory committee established by this chapter, pursuant to chapter 35 of title 42 of the general

laws. The purposes of proposed amendments to the final work plan are: (1) to allow the

corporation, in consultation with the department of environmental management and the

department of health to consider any adaptations that may be indicated by the data collected from

the pervious year, including whether new monitoring technologies, methodologies, or criteria are

necessary; and (2) to make necessary adjustments to the program based on changes to state and/or

federal regulations. Any proposed amendments to the final work plan shall be incorporated into a

"revised [as of this date] final work plan" document, upon approval of the corporation, and shall

be submitted to the governor, the speaker of the house of representatives, and the president of the

senate by the corporation no later than January 1 of each year.

     (h) Long-term air quality monitors will be procured and in effect by December 30, 2007.

Interim monitoring shall be performed until such time as the long-term monitoring program is in

place, and the use of all data generated therefrom shall conform with the reporting requirements

set forth in § 1-7-6(b).

     1-7-6. Reporting.

     (a) The corporation shall provide the department of environmental management with an

inventory of greenhouse gas pollutants, including, but not limited to, carbon dioxide and methane,

and an annual inventory of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and carbon monoxide. The inventories

of data generated in the prior calendar year shall be reported to the department of environmental

management on or before March 30, 2009 and every March 30 thereafter.

     (b) Data generated from the permanent air-quality monitors shall be reported to the

department of environmental management and the department of health on at least a quarterly

basis and shall be used by the departments to continuously augment and update air-quality

monitoring studies conducted by the departments.

     (c) The department of health shall prepare an annual report which shall contain the

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department's findings, analysis, conclusions, and recommendations resulting from the data

generated by and from the permanent air quality monitors (the "monitors"), as well as a summary

of the data collected from the monitors. The first such report shall be due on or before July 31,

2017, and on or before July 31 in 2018, 2019, and for any further year thereafter during which

data is collected and reported pursuant to the provisions of subsection (b) of this section. Copies

of these reports shall be provided by the required dates to the speaker of the house, the president

of the senate, the office of the governor, the office of the attorney general, and the offices of the

mayor and the city council of the city of Warwick.

     1-7-9. Sunset provisions.

     On or before January 31, 2017, and on or before January 31, 2018, and January 31, 2019

thereafter, the department of environmental management, the department of health, and the

attorney general shall submit to the governor, the speaker of the house, and the president of the

senate, recommendations as to the continuation of the air monitoring required in this act and,

unless extended by the general assembly, the corporation's obligation to operate and maintain the

air monitoring system will cease on July 31, 2017 2019.

     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO AERONAUTICS - THE PERMANENT AIR QUALITY MONITORING ACT

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     This act would reduce the items which must be monitored by the air quality monitors at

T.F. Green Airport to particles less than 0.1 microns, and black carbon. This act would also

require the department of health to prepare a report based on the data collected by those monitors

and to submit that report to various parties. The act would also revise where the monitors can be

placed, and would also extend the required air monitoring for two (2) years to July 31, 2019.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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