Revision: Jan. 3, 2023, 2:23 p.m.
2023 SESSION
23-0950.0
08/04
SENATE BILL [bill number]
AN ACT relative to rulemaking for advanced recycling facilities.
SPONSORS: [sponsors]
COMMITTEE: [committee]
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ANALYSIS
This bill requires the department of environmental services to make rules relative to advanced recycling facilities.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
23-0950.0
08/04
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Three
AN ACT relative to rulemaking for advanced recycling facilities.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Statement of Purpose. Given the emerging and untested nature of advanced recycling as an industrial process; the broad range of toxic pollutants, including per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS), that can be present in plastic materials processed through advanced recycling; the potential for such toxic pollutants to result in air, water, and soil pollution that is harmful to public health and the environment; and New Hampshire’s experience with widespread PFAS pollution; it is prudent to ensure public health and environmental safety, and to avoid the adverse economic impacts of pollution, by establishing appropriate rules for the permitting and operation of advanced recycling facilities.
2 New Paragraph; Cumulative Impacts; Definition. Amend RSA 149-M:4 by inserting after paragraph IV-b. the following new paragraph:
IV-c. “Cumulative impacts” means the total, combined impacts on public health and the environment, including air and water resources, caused by a proposed facility in combination with pollution from other, existing sources within the geographic area that would be affected by the proposed facility.
3 New Paragraph; Undue Risk of Harm. Amend RSA 149-M:4 by inserting after paragraph XXVII-a the following new paragraph:
XXVII-b. “Undue risk of harm” means risk of harm to people or the environment that includes, at a minimum, the following:
(a) A cancer risk greater than the state average cancer risk of 25 per 1 million people.
(b) A risk of acute and chronic illnesses, including asthma, childhood lead poisoning, and other health conditions known to be sensitive to pollution, greater than the state or national average.
(c) A risk of exposure to drinking water that exceeds the maximum contaminant level for any pollutant likely to be emitted into the air or discharged into water from a proposed advanced recycling facility.
(d) A risk of air emissions or discharges to surface waters violating the state’s surface water quality standards or ambient groundwater quality standards.
(e) Increased risk of contaminants in fish consumed by people.
(f) Increased risk of contaminants in agricultural soils or in crops grown for human or animal consumption.
4 New Sections; Advanced Recycling. Amend RSA 149-M by inserting after section 63 the following new sections:
149-M:64 Rulemaking; Advanced Recycling. The department shall, no later than November 1, 2023, adopt rules under RSA 541-A related to the permitting and operation of advanced recycling facilities relative to:
I. Air pollution from advanced recycling facilities. Such rules shall, at a minimum, require best available control technology for benzene, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, dioxins, per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, and chromium, and, based on advanced recycling facilities in operation outside of New Hampshire, any other pollutants of concern to the department. Such rules also shall ensure no undue risk of harm to public health and the environment.
II. The discharge of advanced recycling process waste water and liquid wastes into surface waters and groundwater to ensure compliance with state surface water quality standards, ambient groundwater quality standards, and maximum contaminant levels for drinking public and private drinking water. Such rules shall include, but not be limited to, discharges directly into surface waters and industrial user discharges into, and through, wastewater treatment facilities, and shall ensure no undue risk of harm to public health and the environment.
III. The disposal of waste products from advanced recycling, including but not limited to char, liquid wastes, and chemical wastes. Such rules shall ensure that such waste, or constituents of such waste, do not enter the environment, including through landfill leachate collected from disposal facilities and discharged to surface waters or groundwater, and cause no undue risk of harm to public health and the environment.
IV. Monitoring air emissions from advanced recycling facilities. Such rules shall include, at a minimum, continuous monitoring of emissions for each of the air pollutants for which the department requires best available control technology and for particulate matter in the 1-10 micron range.
V. Assessing the cumulative impacts of proposed advanced recycling facilities, including the methodology for assessing cumulative impacts. Such rules shall not allow the permitting of an advanced recycling facility that will have cumulative impacts that pose an undue risk of harm to the health of residents or the environment.
5 Department of Environmental Services; Prohibition on Certain Permits. Notwithstanding RSA 149-M, the department of environmental services shall not issue a permit for an advanced recycling facility, including a facility for which a permit application has been submitted prior to the effective date of this section, until it has issued final rules as required by section 4 of this act. The rules required by section 4 of this act shall apply to any proposed advanced recycling facility, including any facility for which one or more permit applications are submitted prior to the effective date of this section.
6 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.