Chapter 249 |
2019 -- S 0906 Enacted 07/15/2019 |
A N A C T |
RELATING TO AERONAUTICS -- THE PERMANENT AIR QUALITY MONITORING ACT |
Introduced By: Senators McCaffrey, Lynch Prata, and McKenney |
Date Introduced: May 22, 2019 |
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: |
SECTION 1. Sections 1-7-5, 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: |
1-7-5. Health study. |
(a) The corporation shall provide the department of health with funding in an amount not |
to exceed two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000), half to be paid in fiscal year 2008 and the |
other half to be paid in fiscal year 2009, which funds the department of health will use for an |
independent health study (the "study" or the "health study") developed in consultation with the |
department of environmental management and the air-quality monitoring public advisory |
committee. The purpose of the study will be to determine whether and to what extent, air |
pollution generated by airport activities affects the health of area residents based, to the extent |
feasible, on established health benchmarks. |
(b) The study shall use the data collected from the first year of long-term, air-quality |
monitoring at the airport described in the previous sections to evaluate potential public health |
implications of emissions based, to the extent feasible, on established health benchmarks, and |
shall be completed and submitted to the governor, the speaker of the house of representatives, and |
the president of the senate no later than May 30, 2009. |
(c) The corporation, the department of health, and the city of Warwick shall publish |
technical reports and scientific publications that resulted from this health study on their respective |
websites no later than July 31, 2019, and shall maintain them on their respective websites for at |
least five (5) years thereafter. |
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, and to the city of |
Warwick 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. The |
corporation shall publish the data on its website within thirty (30) calendar days of the end of the |
quarter. |
(c) The department of health shall prepare an annual report that shall contain the |
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, the airport corporation, |
and the offices of the mayor and the city council of the city of Warwick. The department of |
health, the airport corporation, and the city of Warwick shall publish these reports on their |
respective websites within thirty (30) calendar days of receipt of the reports. |
1-7-9. Sunset provisions Monitoring actions required and compliance -- Sunset |
provision. |
(a) 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 |
(b) Unless extended by the general assembly, the corporation's obligation to operate and |
maintain the air monitoring system will cease on July 31, 2019. July 31, 2021; provided, this |
sunset date shall be dependent upon the corporation undertaking and completing the following |
actions prior to July 31, 2021: |
(1) As part of the long-term air-quality monitoring program, ambient air-quality monitors |
shall be set up in a network that shall include at least four (4) monitoring sites in the area of and |
surrounding T. F. Green Airport. These monitors shall be designed, placed, and maintained so as |
to measure air-quality impacts from airport operations, including those impacts associated with |
planes operating on the extended runway and on neighborhoods adjacent to the airport facility, |
and at the Winslow Park playing fields. In addition to the quarterly summary reports prepared by |
the corporation based on this data, the corporation shall compile at least twenty (20) months of |
complete air quality monitoring data from these monitors and submit that data to the department |
of health prior to May 1, 2021, pursuant to ยง 1-7-6; and |
(2) The corporation shall comply with all other reporting and publishing requirements set |
forth in this chapter. |
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage. |
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LC002587 |
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