(1) (a)
Except as provided in sections 25-7-130 and 25-7-131, as promptly as possible, the
commission shall adopt, promulgate, and from time to time modify or repeal
emission control regulations which require the use of effective practical air
pollution controls:
(I) For each significant source or category of significant sources of air
pollutants;
(II) For each type of facility, process, or activity which produces or might
produce significant emissions of air pollutants.
(b) The requirements and prohibitions contained in such regulations shall be
set forth with as much specificity and clarity as is practical. Upon adoption of an
emission control regulation under subparagraph (II) of paragraph (a) of this
subsection (1) for the control of a specific facility, process, or activity, such
regulation shall apply to the exclusion of other emission control regulations
adopted pursuant to subparagraph (I) of paragraph (a) of this subsection (1); prior to
such adoption, the general regulations adopted pursuant to subparagraph (I) of
paragraph (a) of this subsection (1) shall be applicable to such facility, process, or
activity. In the formulation of each emission control regulation, the commission
shall take into consideration the following:
(I) The state policy regarding air pollution, as set forth in section 25-7-102;
(II) Federal recommendations and requirements;
(III) The degree to which altitude, topography, climate, or meteorology in
certain portions of the state require that emission control regulations be more or
less stringent than in other portions of the state;
(IV) The degree to which any particular type of emission is subject to
treatment and the availability, technical feasibility, and economic reasonableness
of control techniques;
(V) The extent to which the emission to be controlled is significant;
(VI) The continuous, intermittent, or seasonal nature of the emission to be
controlled;
(VII) The economic, environmental, and energy costs of compliance with such
emission control regulation;
(VIII) Whether an emission control regulation should be applied throughout
the entire state or only within specified areas or zones of the state, and whether it
should be applied only when a specified class or type of pollution is concerned.
(2) Such emission control regulations may include, but shall not be limited
to, regulations pertaining to:
(a) Visible pollutants;
(b) Particulates;
(c) Sulfur oxides, sulfuric acids, organic sulfides, hydrogen sulfide, nitrogen
oxides, carbon oxides, hydrocarbons, fluorides, and any other chemical substance;
(d) Odors, except for livestock feeding operations that are not housed
commercial swine feeding operations as defined in section 25-8-501.1 (2)(b);
(e) Open burning activity;
(f) Organic solvents;
(g) Photochemical substances;
(h) Hazardous air pollutants and toxic air contaminants, as defined in section
25-7-109.5 (1)(i).
(3) Emission control regulations adopted pursuant to this section shall
include, but shall not be limited to, regulations pertaining to the following facilities,
processes, and activities:
(a) Incinerator and incinerator design;
(b) Storage and transfer of petroleum products and any other volatile
organic compounds;
(c) Activities which frequently result in particulate matter becoming
airborne, such as construction and demolition operations;
(d) Specifications, prohibitions, and requirements pertaining to fuels and fuel
additives, such as tetraethyl lead;
(e) Wigwam waste burners, pulp mills, alfalfa dehydrators, asphalt plants,
and any other industrial or commercial activity which tends to emit air pollutants as
a by-product;
(f) Industrial process equipment;
(g) Industrial spraying operations;
(h) Airplanes;
(i) Diesel-powered machines, vehicles, engines, and equipment;
(j) Storage and transfer of volatile compounds and hazardous or toxic gases
or other hazardous substances which may become airborne.
(4) The commission shall promulgate appropriate regulations pertaining to
hazardous air pollutants.
(5) The commission shall promulgate appropriate regulations setting
conditions and time limitations for periods of start-up, shutdown, or malfunction or
other conditions which justify temporary relief from controls. Operations of any air
pollution source during periods of start-up, shutdown, and malfunction shall not
constitute representative conditions for the purpose of a performance or
compliance test.
(6) The commission shall establish test methods and procedures for
determining compliance with emission control regulations promulgated under this
section and, in so doing, shall, to the maximum degree consistent with the purposes
of this article, consider the test methods and procedures established by the United
States environmental protection agency and shall adopt such test methods and
procedures as shall minimize the possibility of inconsistency or duplication of
effort.
(7) All regulations promulgated pursuant to this section shall conform with
the provisions of part 5 of this article concerning asbestos control.
(8) (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the commission
shall not regulate emissions from agricultural, horticultural, or floricultural
production such as farming, seasonal crop drying, animal feeding operations that
are not housed commercial swine feeding operations as defined in section 25-8-501.1 (2)(b), and pesticide application; except that the commission shall regulate
such emissions if they are major stationary sources, as that term is defined in 42
U.S.C. sec. 7602 (j), or are required by Part C (prevention of significant
deterioration), Part D (nonattainment), or Title V (minimum elements of a permit
program), or are participating in the early reduction program of section 112 of the
federal act, or is not required by section 111 of the federal act, or is not required for
sources to be excluded as a major source under this article.
(b) Nothing in paragraph (a) of this subsection (8), as amended by House Bill
05-1180, as enacted at the first regular session of the sixty-fifth general assembly,
shall be construed as changing the property tax classification of property owned by
a horticultural or floricultural operation.
(9) (a) The commission shall adopt a procedure consistent with the federal
environmental protection agency requirements for determining when there has
been a net significant emissions increase which results in a major modification that
subjects a source to the permitting requirements of the prevention of significant
deterioration program or the nonattainment area new source review. The
commission's procedure shall also prohibit sources from circumventing the new
source review requirements in a manner consistent with the federal environmental
protection agency guidance. Such procedure shall be the same for both the
prevention of significant deterioration program and the nonattainment area new
source review program and shall not apply to hazardous air pollutants. Such net
emissions increase procedure shall be as described in paragraph (b) of this
subsection (9), unless and until the federal environmental protection agency
requires otherwise or unless after January 1, 1998, the commission:
(I) Undertakes a collaborative process with the affected industries to
determine the cost and emission impacts associated with any proposed changes in
this procedure;
(II) Reviews at least three years of emissions increases and decreases under
the procedures described in paragraph (b) of this subsection (9);
(III) Delivers reports on the matters required in subparagraphs (I) and (II) of
this paragraph (a) to the general assembly for its review;
(IV) Determines through rule-making that an applicability procedure for
major modifications more stringent than that described in paragraph (b) of this
subsection (9) is equitable when considering minor, area, and mobile source
controls; and
(V) Determines through rule-making that such more stringent applicability
procedure is necessary to attain and to maintain the national ambient air quality
standards.
(b) The procedure for determining when there has been a net significant
emissions increase shall be consistent with requirements of the federal
environmental protection agency and:
(I) Such requirements shall apply only if there is, in the first instance, a
significant emissions increase from an individual proposed project or modification.
If the individual proposed project or modification will not result in a significant
emissions increase, it shall be exempt from the prevention of significant
deterioration program and the nonattainment area new source review requirements.
(II) If a project or modification is not exempt under subparagraph (I) of this
paragraph (b), each pollutant for which the project results in a significant emissions
increase shall be subject to the prevention of significant deterioration program or
the nonattainment area new source review requirements only if the sum of all
source-wide, non-de minimis, contemporaneous, and creditable emissions increases
and decreases of that pollutant or that regulated precursor exceed applicable
significance levels. Each specific regulated precursor shall be considered
independently in determining applicable significance levels.
(III) In determining the non-de minimis net emissions increase during the
contemporaneous period, the commission's procedures shall be consistent with the
federal environmental protection agency's review procedure for determining net
emissions increases and decreases. Non-de minimis increases shall exclude all
increases which would be exempt under commission rules from a requirement to
obtain a construction permit under section 25-7-114.2.
(10) (a) The commission shall adopt rules to minimize emissions of methane
and other hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds, and oxides of nitrogen from
oil and natural gas exploration and production facilities and natural gas facilities in
the processing, gathering and boosting, storage, and transmission segments of the
natural gas supply chain.
(b) (I) The commission shall review its rules for oil and natural gas well
production facilities and compressor stations and specifically consider adopting
more stringent provisions, including:
(A) A requirement that leak detection and repair inspections occur at all well
production facilities on, at a minimum, a semiannual basis or that an alternative
approved instrument monitoring method is in place pursuant to existing rules;
(B) A requirement that owners and operators of oil and gas transmission
pipelines and compressor stations must inspect and maintain all equipment and
pipelines on a regular basis;
(C) A requirement that oil and natural gas operators must install and operate
continuous methane emissions monitors at facilities with large emissions potential,
at multi-well facilities, and at facilities in close proximity to occupied dwellings; and
(D) A requirement to reduce emissions from pneumatic devices. The
commission shall consider requiring oil and gas operators, under appropriate
circumstances, to use pneumatic devices that do not vent natural gas.
(II) The commission may, by rule, phase in the requirement to comply with
this subsection (10)(b) on the bases of production capability, type and age of oil and
gas facility, and commercial availability of continuous monitoring equipment. If the
commission phases in the requirement to comply with this subsection (10)(b), it shall
increase the required frequency of inspections at facilities that are subject to the
phase-in until the facilities achieve continuous emission monitoring.
(c) Notwithstanding the grant of authority to the energy and carbon
management commission in article 60 of title 34, including specifically section 34-60-105 (1), the commission may regulate air pollution from oil and gas facilities
listed in subsection (10)(a) of this section, including during preproduction activities,
drilling, and completion.
(d) On or before August 31, 2026, the division shall propose rules designed to
reduce emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) generated by upstream oil and gas
operations, as defined by the commission by rule, including preproduction
operations, between May 1 and September 30 in the eight-hour ozone control area
and northern Weld county, as those terms are defined by the commission by rule, by
fifty percent by 2030 relative to 2017 NOx emission levels. NOx emission levels are
characterized by the most recent state inventory of NOx emissions for 2017 that the
commission adopted for the purpose of inclusion in the state implementation plan
for the 2015 eight-hour ozone national ambient air quality standard or as published
concurrently with proposed rules consistent with this subsection (10)(d) in a notice
of proposed rule-making published in accordance with section 25-7-110 (1).