SB 64: Fossil-fuel generation units.

Existing law requires stationary sources, including fossil-fueled electrical generating facilities, to obtain a permit from a local air quality management district or air pollution control district (air districts) for operation.

This bill would require the State Air Resources Board to work with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to obtain continuous emissions monitoring data for certain fossil-fueled electrical generating units in the state collected by the USEPA. If the state board is unable to obtain those data from the USEPA, the bill would require the state board to require each facility, on a quarterly basis, to provide those data to the state board. The bill would require the state board to post data for 2018 on its Internet Web site. The bill would require each air district with those fossil-fueled electrical generating units, within 18 months of the posting of the 2018 data, to complete a report containing specified information regarding the 2018 operations of those units within its jurisdiction. The bill would require the air districts to provide the reports to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission), and the state board. Because this bill would impose additional duties on the air districts, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

Existing law requires the PUC to adopt a process for each load-serving entity to file an integrated resource plan to ensure that load-serving entities, among other things, minimize localized air pollutants and other greenhouse gas emissions, with early priority on disadvantaged communities.

This bill would require the PUC and the Energy Commission, with input from specified entities and with consideration given to the reports from the air districts described above, to complete a study with recommendations on how to reduce or eliminate emissions of air pollutants, as specified, with early priority for disadvantaged communities. The bill would require the PUC to conduct the study as part of the integrated resource plan process.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.