Senate Bill No. 337
(By Senators McCabe, Hunter, Unger, Foster and Kessler)
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[Introduced January 29, 2007; referred to the Committee on
Energy, Industry and Mining; and then to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §22-5-19, relating to
the establishment of a program to inventory all emissions,
reductions and carbon sequestrations of greenhouse gases;
creating a voluntary registry for the reporting of voluntary
reductions of greenhouse gas emissions if the reductions are
made before they are required by law; providing public
recognition of voluntary reduction or avoidance of greenhouse
gases; and providing consideration of the reductions under
future federal greenhouse gas emission reduction programs.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §22-5-19, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 5. AIR POLLUTION CONTROL.
§22-5-19. Net greenhouse gas inventory.
(a) The secretary is authorized to propose legislative rules
for promulgation in accordance with article three, chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code, establishing a net greenhouse gas
inventory to determine whether West Virginia is a net sink or
emitter of greenhouse gas and whether greenhouse gas can be
developed as an asset for economic development by establishing an
accurate inventory of current and future greenhouse gas emissions.
The inventory shall include all significant emissions, reductions,
capture and sequestration of greenhouse gases from stationary
sources, such as power plants, waste combustors, natural gas/oil
systems, landfills, and waste water treatment facilities, mobile
(highway and nonroad) sources, agricultural sources, and shall
consider direct (geologic) and indirect (terrestrial) carbon
sequestration. The inventory will utilize de minimis reporting
standards of thousand tons per year for carbon dioxide, forty-seven
point six tons per year for methane, three point twenty-six tons
per year for nitrous oxide, point zero eight fifty-five tons per
year for hydrofluorocarbons, point one hundred nine per year for
perfluorocarbons and point zero forty-two tons per year for sulfur
hexafluoride.
(b) To inventory greenhouse gas emissions, the secretary shall
establish a program for the reporting and/or, where information already exists or is reported to the department or other state or
federal agency, the collection of greenhouse gas emissions
information from all sources, or the collection of small sources
cumulatively taken, that emit a significant amount of greenhouse
gases on an annual basis. The reporting entities will be permitted
to provide, existing and ongoing documented inventories, such as
those provided to EPA's Climate Leaders Program, Chicago Climate
Exchange Registry, or other widely recognized and verified
greenhouse gas inventory programs, to completely fulfill their
program reporting requirements.
(c) The secretary shall establish a voluntary program under
which the department registers voluntary reductions in emissions of
greenhouse gases for reductions made before mandated by law. The
voluntary program shall include, but not be limited to, criteria
for establishing baseline emissions, quantifying emission
reductions, and providing public recognition. The department shall
consider the information recorded in the voluntary emission
reduction registry when determining baselines and reduction
requirements under future emission reduction programs implemented
under federal law.
(d) To inventory greenhouse gas reductions, the secretary
shall consult and coordinate with other state agencies and higher
education institutions, the citizenry, and other entities such as
industry trade groups that have knowledge or information relating to greenhouse gas emissions, measurement protocols, greenhouse gas
reductions and sequestration including, but not limited to, the
Department of Agriculture, the Division of Forestry, Marshall
University, West Virginia University, and the Department of
Transportation. These entities shall enter into interagency
agreements with the secretary and shall cooperate by: (i)
Providing information relating to greenhouse gas emissions,
reductions and sequestration; and (ii) providing any necessary
assistance to the secretary in effectuating the purposes of this
article. The secretary shall determine the form and format of the
information submitted by these entities.
(e) In establishing the net greenhouse gas inventory program,
the department shall make the program as consistent as possible
with other state and federal programs designed to monitor,
quantify, and register reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases
as referenced in subsection (b) of this section.
(f) As used in this section, "greenhouse gas" means carbon
dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydroflurocarbons,
perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create a net greenhouse
gas inventory. The legislation, to be administered by the
Department of Environmental Protection, requires the department to
determine whether the state is a net sink or emitter of greenhouse
gases. Facilities emitting a significant amount of greenhouse
gases must provide such emissions information to the department and the department is authorized to establish a voluntary registry for
voluntary reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. The program will
enable the department to analyze the extent to which gross carbon
emissions are offset by the rate of carbon sequestration by the
state's forests. The Department of Environmental Protection is to
propose legislative rules to establish the program.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.
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