Section 19-0321. Permits to construct and operate certain municipally sponsored major facilities

1. For the purposes of this section only:
    a. "Major facility" means an air contamination source  which  directly
  emits, or has the potential to emit, twenty-five tons per year of either
  oxides of nitrogen or volatile organic compounds.
    b.  "Municipally sponsored facility" means a facility for which a city
  with a population of one million or more or a political  subdivision  or
  agency   thereof  was  an  applicant  or  co-applicant  as  of  November
  fifteenth, nineteen hundred ninety-two.
    c.  "Emission  offset"  means  an  emission   reduction   credit,   as
  established  by  the commissioner, required to be obtained from a severe
  nonattainment area by an air contamination source prior to the  issuance
  of  a permit to construct, at a ratio of 1.3 tons of reductions for each
  ton of  new  emissions  of  oxides  of  nitrogen  and  volatile  organic
  compounds;  provided  that the emission offset requirement for oxides of
  nitrogen may be met by oxides of nitrogen or  an  equivalent  number  of
  tons of volatile organic compounds.
    2.  The  provisions  of  this  section  shall apply only to permits to
  construct and operate issued on or after  November  fifteenth,  nineteen
  hundred ninety-two for a municipally sponsored major facility located in
  a  city  with a population of more than one million for which the permit
  application was  deemed  complete  by  the  department  before  November
  fifteenth, nineteen hundred ninety-two.
    3.  No permit to construct shall be issued or shall be valid for a new
  or modified major  facility  until  after  the  applicant  has  obtained
  emission  offsets  for  such  facility. For purposes of this section, in
  addition to any other available emission  offsets,  emission  reductions
  from the following sources shall be eligible as emission offsets:
    a. emission reductions that result from the closure or modification of
  any  solid  waste  incineration  facilities  within such city which were
  operating in nineteen hundred ninety-one; and
    b. emission reductions that result from the  cessation  of  operation,
  removal or sealing of any refuse burning equipment in such city pursuant
  to any local law which took effect in nineteen hundred ninety-three.
    Provided,  that the commissioner shall have authority to establish the
  amount of credit attributed to any emission reduction used to create  an
  emission offset to satisfy the requirements of this section.
    4.  Prior to the operation of a facility which as been issued a permit
  to which subdivision three of this  section  applies,  such  city  shall
  conduct  a  base-line  health  study  on  a statistically representative
  sample of residents within the areas most affected by the  facility.  No
  later  than  one hundred eighty days after the commencement of operation
  of such facility, the city shall, in conjunction  with  the  department,
  conduct  stack  tests  of  the facility and assess the health risks from
  expose to such  emissions;  such  stack  tests  shall  be  performed  in
  accordance   with  the  department's  rules  and  the  results  of  such
  assessment shall be delivered to the department within thirty days after
  completion of the health risk assessment report for appropriate  action.
  After operation of such facility is commenced, such city shall implement
  a  follow-up  health  study  that monitors on a regular basis the health
  impacts from such facility with an emphasis on at-risk populations. Such
  study and monitoring shall be conducted in consultation with an advisory
  committee appointed by the commissioner of health  which  shall  include
  representatives  of  the  parties  to  the  permit  proceeding  for such
  facility.  Such  study  and  monitoring  shall  be  designed  to   avoid
  duplication of efforts otherwise required by permit or by law.

    5.  Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision two of this section,
  any action deemed to  have  a  significant  impact  on  the  environment
  pursuant  to  article  eight  of this chapter, if such action involves a
  municipally sponsored facility within a three-mile radius of a permitted
  facility  for  which  emission  offsets  were  required pursuant to this
  section, shall require an environmental  impact  statement  which  shall
  include  an  analysis  of  the  cumulative air impacts of such action in
  conjunction with other  actions  involving  facilities  that  have  been
  constructed or are planned within such three-mile radius.