Strongest in the Nation Clean Air Rules Pass State Environmental Improvement Board

Press Release

Strongest in the Nation Clean Air Rules Pass State Environmental
Improvement Board

New Rule Will Help State Environment Department Track and Reduce Excess Emissions from Utilities and Oil and Gas Companies

The New Mexico Environmental Improvement Board adopted the toughest air quality requirement in the nation that will require emitters -- including power plants and the oil and gas industry - to report and determine the causes of pollution that exceed state and federal limits. The reporting requirement is the first of its kind in the U.S. The new law, which the board adopted yesterday afternoon, replaces a 1981 regulation that was vague and difficult to enforce.

"With the EIB's passing of the rule, New Mexico has the strongest requirement for
reporting excess emissions in the nation said Governor Richardson. "Not only will this tough law help keep New Mexicans healthy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but the oil and gas industry and electric companies have agreed this is a necessary change."

"This law touches any company or industry that produces air emissions in the state," said New Mexico Environment Department Secretary Ron Curry. "The process that led to the adoption of this rule included consensus -- among others -- from the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico and Tri State Generation and Transmission Association Inc. This was a huge success because it
involved the industry we regulate."

The rule, which was the first that the board received as a consensus proposal from the department and industry it regulates, requires companies with state air quality permits to report excess emissions beginning August 1. The New Mexico Environment Department's Air Quality Bureau and legal staff wrote the rule. An example of an excess emission is when a generator at an asphalt company that has a state permit starts up and shuts down numerous times, creating pollutants in excess of the company's state permit.

The previous regulation, which was adopted in 1970 and modified in 1981, did not subject excess air emissions to rigorous review and contained vague requirements for those reporting those emissions. The rule clarifies that all excess emissions are violations of state and federal regulations.

The rule, for example, will require companies to provide a detailed analysis of repeat malfunctions that produce pollution in excess of permitted standards.
The EIB repealed the old rule and adopted a new rule that incorporated a more recent EPA policy and added provisions for a root cause analysis (Visit
http://www.nmenv.state.nm.us/aqb/prop_regs.html to read the rule). The root cause analysis provision requires any emitting facility to determine the cause of excess emissions and ways to minimize or eliminate those in the future.

Others who commented on the proposal for the rule include Los Alamos National Laboratory and Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold.

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