SB0876sam001 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Sen. Heather Steans

Filed: 4/9/2008

09500SB0876sam001 LRB095 05642 RCE 48682 a

AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 876

AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend Senate Bill 876 by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the following:

"Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Petroleum Refinery Expansion Air Pollution Control Act.

Section 5. Findings.

(a) The world's scientists have formed a near-unanimous chorus, warning that pollution primarily caused by burning fossil fuels, known as greenhouse gases, are causing the temperature of the Earth to rise.

(b) Warning signs of global warming are being discovered and reported throughout the world. Melting glaciers, severe storms, prolonged drought, reduced mountain snow-pack, and dying coal reefs are among the signs that global warming is underway.

(c) Decisive action at the international, national, State, and local levels to address the threat of global warming is necessary to meet the challenge posed by global warming.

(d) Illinois business and industry will benefit from proactive policies that will ensure that we remain competitive as the world's economy shifts from high-carbon to low-carbon technologies.

(e) Petroleum refineries are enormous sources of greenhouse gases, including but not limited to carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane. Processing tar sands at oil refineries will pose a threat of even greater greenhouse gas pollution due to the lower combustion efficiency of this input relative to light sweet crude oil. In their current design forms, refineries emit greenhouse gases from numerous components of the facilities' plant equipment.

(f) Businesses throughout the Illinois economy currently engage in and are planning for additional control of greenhouse gases in a manner that can be measured, tracked, verified, and enforced. Many of these businesses are members of the Climate Registry, a collaboration among states, provinces, and tribes developing and managing a common greenhouse gas emissions reporting system with high integrity.

Section 10. Definitions. As used in this Act:

"Carbon dioxide equivalent" means the amount of carbon dioxide by weight that would produce the same global warming impact as a given weight of another greenhouse gas, based on the best available science, including that from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

"Carbon offset" means any project that eliminates one ton of greenhouse gas emissions. A carbon offset must be:

(1) permanent;

(2) additional;

(3) verifiable;

(4) located within the State of Illinois;

(5) real; and

(6) legally and practicably enforceable.

"Climate Registry" means a collaboration among states, provinces, and tribes developing and managing a common greenhouse gas emissions reporting system with high integrity that is capable of supporting various greenhouse gas emission reporting and reduction policies for its member states and tribes and reporting entities, of which the State of Illinois is a member, and that private businesses may join as members.

"Expansion" means any physical or process change, or both, that results in an increase in a refinery's processing capacity of 5,000 barrels per day or greater.

"Gas" means the state of matter that has neither independent shape nor volume, but tends to expand indefinitely. Gas includes aerosols, and the terms "gas" and "gases" are interchangeable.

"Greenhouse gas" or "greenhouse gases" include, but are not limited to, the following gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride.

"Greenhouse gas emissions level" means the total annual emissions of greenhouse gases emitted by an oil refinery expressed in tons of carbon dioxide equivalents.

"Petroleum refinery" means a facility that processes petroleum, as defined in the North American Industrial Classification Standard No. 32411 and including any associated sulfur recovery plant.

"Potential to emit" means the maximum capacity of an emission source to emit a pollutant under its physical and operational design. Any physical or operational limitation on the capacity of the emission source to emit a pollutant, including air pollution control equipment and restrictions on hours of operation or on the type or amount of material combusted, stored, or processed, shall be treated as part of its design only if the limitation or the effect it would have on emissions is enforceable. Secondary emissions do not count in determining the potential to emit of a stationary source.

Section 15. Applicability. Any owner or operator of a petroleum refinery that makes a physical or process change, or both, to its petroleum refinery that expands the refinery's processing capacity by 1,000 barrels per day or more is subject to this Act.

Section 20. Membership in the Climate Registry. Any owner or operator meeting the applicability criteria in Section 15 must enroll in the Climate Registry for purposes of estimating, monitoring, and reporting greenhouse gas emissions prior to and resulting from the expansion. Enrollment in the Climate Registry must occur within 30 days after the effective date of this Act or after first meeting the applicability criteria in Section 15, whichever first occurs.

Section 25. Carbon offsets. Any owner or operator subject to this Act must (i) calculate the expansion's potential to emit all greenhouse gases in carbon dioxide equivalents and (ii) provide funding to the Illinois Carbon Offset Trust sufficient to finance carbon offsets that eliminate greenhouse gas emissions, measured in terms of carbon dioxide equivalents, equal to at least twice the rate of the increase in greenhouse gas emissions from the expansion.

Section 30. Illinois Carbon Offset Trust.

(a) The Illinois Carbon Offset Trust shall be created by the Governor. The purpose of the Trust shall be the financing of carbon offsets in the State of Illinois.

(b) The Illinois Carbon Offset Trust shall be a non-governmental, not-for-profit, private entity. The funds in the Trust shall not be subject to use by the State in any way.

(c) The Trust shall be governed by a declaration of trust or articles of incorporation and bylaws that shall, at a minimum, provide that:

(1) There shall be voting trustees of the Trust.

(2) Trustees shall be appointed within 30 days after the creation of the Trust and shall serve for a term of 5 years commencing upon the date of their respective appointments, until their respective successors are appointed and qualified.

(3) Trustees shall have a professionally recognized expertise in the field of global climate change, energy production, and environmental and natural lands protection.

(4) The Trust shall have an indefinite term and shall terminate at such time as no Trust assets remain.

(5) The Trust shall be funded by the refinery owners or operators as provided in Section 25.

(6) The Trust shall be authorized to employ an executive director and other employees, to enter into leases, contracts, and other obligations on behalf of the Trust, and to incur expenses that the trustees deem necessary or appropriate for the fulfillment of the purposes for which the Trust is established.

(7) The trustees may create and appoint advisory boards or committees to assist them with the administration of the Trust and to advise and make recommendations to them regarding the contribution and disbursement of the Trust's funds.

Section 35. Enforcement; fines. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency shall enforce this Act. If an owner or operator of a petroleum refinery fails to comply with this Act, the Agency shall impose an administrative fine against that owner or operator equivalent to 3 times the amount necessary to finance any deficiency in carbon offsets.".