HOUSE  .   .   .   .   .   .   .  No. 4008

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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                              HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, July 30, 2019.                         

The committee on Ways and Means, to whom was referred the Bill relative to air monitoring stations (House, No. 2909), reports recommending that the same ought to pass with an amendment substituting therefor the accompanying bill (House, No. 4008).

For the committee,

AARON MICHLEWITZ.

FILED ON: 7/30/2019

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 4008

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-First General Court
(2019-2020)

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An Act relative to air monitoring stations.

Whereas, The deferred operation of this act would tend to defeat its purpose, which is to monitor the air quality, therefore it is hereby declared to be an emergency law, necessary for the immediate preservation of the public safety.
 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Section 142A of chapter 111 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2018 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting, in line 3, after the word “inclusive,” the following words:- and in sections 142P and 142Q.

SECTION 2. Said chapter 111 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding the following 2 sections:-

Section 142P. (a) The department, in consultation with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, shall install and maintain an ambient air quality monitoring station on the Fore River Bridge that spans the Weymouth Fore River, hereinafter referred to as “the Fore River Air Monitoring Station”, as part of the department’s annual Air Monitoring Network Plan submitted to the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

(b) The Fore River Air Monitoring Station shall measure air contaminants, including but not limited to, the following: (i) hydrogen sulfide, (ii) nitrogen dioxide, (iii) fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and (iv) the volatile organic compounds provided in the Clean Air Act, section 112 (b) (1), 42 U.S.C. section 7412 (b) (1), listed in Table 1 on page 15-37 of the Compendium of Methods for the Determination of Toxic Organic Compounds in Ambient Air, Second Edition (EPA/625/R-96/010b), hereafter referred to as the “Compendium of Methods”. For the purposes of measuring the volatile organic compounds required by this subsection, the department shall adopt and comply with the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Method TO-15, as published in the Compendium of Methods.

(c) The Fore River Air Monitoring Station shall also measure meteorological parameters including, but not limited to, the following: (i) temperature, (ii) solar radiation, and (iii) wind speed, direction and vector. The meteorological parameters measured as required by this subsection shall be recorded no less than every 5 minutes. 

(d) The department shall continuously maintain the Fore River Air Monitoring Station for not less than 20 years, or for as long as a natural gas compressor station operates within 1 mile of the Fore River Air Monitoring Station, whichever is greater. The department shall make all measurements collected pursuant to subsections (b) and (c) accessible to the public through a website maintained by the department.

(e) The department shall establish ambient air quality standards in accordance with this section.

Section 142Q. The department shall adopt regulations that require any person applying for a plan approval or other authorization from the department to construct, substantially reconstruct, alter or subsequently operate a natural gas compressor station that may emit an air contaminant to include in their application the following: (i) existing site-specific background levels of air contaminants, including the air contaminants and other contaminants described in section 142P of chapter 111, and (ii) the facility’s potential emissions of such air contaminants in any ambient air dispersion modelling analysis, which shall be required by the department for purposes of evaluating whether the application for the facility meets the requirements of the department’s regulations; provided, that the application shall demonstrate that the facility will not cause or contribute to a condition of air pollution.

SECTION 3. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the department shall establish ambient air quality standards in accordance with section 142P of chapter 111 within 1 year of the effective date of this act and shall install and maintain the Fore River Air Monitoring Station no later than 60 days thereafter.

SECTION 4. The department shall adopt the regulations required pursuant to section 142Q of chapter 111 within 1 year of the effective date of this act. The department shall apply to the United States Environmental Protection Agency within 6 months of the adoption of the regulations required by this section to make the regulations a part of the federally-approved air quality state implementation plan for Massachusetts.