Iowa: There appear to be no administrative rules that are the same or similar to the proposed rules.
Michigan: There appear to be no administrative rules that are the same or similar to the proposed rules.
Minnesota: There appear to be no administrative rules that are the same or similar to the proposed rules.
Data and analytical methodologies
The Department analyzed ss.
46.03 (18) and
46.10 (1) to
(14) (a), Stats., the Department's current practices and existing rules when deciding how to revise the rules proposed in this order.
Analysis and supporting documents used to determine effect on small business
The proposed rules relate to the status and retention periods of client records relating to payment for the services. The proposed rules do not affect businesses.
Small Business Impact
The proposed rules do not affect businesses.
Fiscal Estimate
The proposed changes may decrease costs and should increase uniformity and accountability for counties and the Department. The Department's potential savings may be up to $1,000 annually. The savings for counties is unknown. The rules do not affect businesses.
Text Of Proposed Rule
SECTION 1. DHS 1.03 (20) (c) is repealed and recreated to read:
DHS 1.03 (20) PAYMENT PERIOD. (c) Third-party sources have been exhausted and the responsible parties have a permanent inability or unlikely future ability to pay.
SECTION 2. DHS 1.06 (3) (d) and (e) are repealed and recreated to read:
DHS 1.06 (3) (d)
Closing client records; record retention period. Client records may be closed after the department or payment approval authority determines that any one of the conditions listed under s.
DHS 1.03 (20) (a) to
(c) applies. Closed client records shall be maintained for at least 5 years.
(e) Audits. Open and closed client records shall be made available for audit.
Agency Contact Person
Troy K. Kitzrow
Supervisor, Billing and Collections
Bureau of Fiscal Services
Division of Enterprise Services
Department of Health Services
1 West Wilson Street; Room 750
Madison, WI 53707
608-261-5984
Notice of Hearing
Natural Resources
Environmental Protection — Air Pollution Control
Chs.
NR 400 —
(DNR # AM-17-10 and AM-48-10(E))
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to sections 227.16 and 227.17, Stats, the Department of Natural Resources, hereinafter the Department, will hold a public hearing on proposed revisions to Chapters
NR 400,
405, and
407, Wis. Adm. Code, in permanent rule Order AM-17-10, relating to major source permit thresholds for sources of greenhouse gas emissions on the date and at the time and location listed below. The proposed revisions relate to issues for State Implementation Plan approvability, and the State Implementation Plan developed under sections
285.11(6), Stats., will be revised.
NOTICE IS HEREBY FURTHER GIVEN that pursuant to section
227.24 (4), Stats., the Department will, on the same date and at the same time and location, hold a public hearing on identical revisions in emergency rule Order AM-48-10(E), adopted by the Natural Resources Board on December 8, 2010 and which was published and became effective on December 15, 2010.
Hearing Information
Date and Time:
|
Location:
|
January 21, 2011
Friday
10:00am
|
Natural Resources State Office Building
Room G09
101 S. Webster Street
Madison, WI 53703
|
Reasonable accommodations, including the provision of informational material in an alternative format, will be provided for qualified individuals with disabilities upon request. Contact Robert Eckdale in writing at the Department of Natural Resources, Bureau of Air Management (AM/7), 101 S Webster, Madison, WI 53702; by E-mail to
Robert.Eckdale@wisconsin.gov ; or by calling (608) 266-2856. A request must include specific information and be received at least 10 days before the date of the scheduled hearing.
Copies of Proposed Rule
The emergency order, proposed rule and supporting documents, including the fiscal estimate, may be viewed and downloaded from the
Administrative Rules System Web site which can be accessed through the link provided on the Proposed Air Pollution Control Rules Calendar at
http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/air/rules/calendar.htm. If you do not have Internet access, a printed copy of the proposed rule and supporting documents, including the fiscal estimate, may be obtained free of charge by contacting Robert Eckdale, Department of Natural Resources, Bureau of Air Management (AM/7), 101 S. Webster St, Madison, WI, 53702, or by calling 608.266.2856.
Submittal of Written Comments
Comments must be received on or before Friday, January 28, 2011. Written comments may be submitted by U.S. mail, fax, E-mail, or through the Internet and will have the same weight and effect as oral statements presented at the public hearing. Written comments and any questions on the proposed rules should be submitted to:
Andrew Stewart
Department of Natural Resources
Bureau of Air Management (AM/7)
101 S Webster St, Madison, WI 53703
Phone: 608 266-6876
Fax: 608.267.0560
Analysis Prepared by the Department of Natural Resources
Statute(s) interpreted
Statutory authority
Explanation of statutory authority
Section
227.11 (2) (a), Stats., gives state agencies general rulemaking authority. Section
227.14 (1m) (b), Stats., allows the Department to use the format of federal regulations in preparing a proposed rule if it determines that all or part of a state environmental regulatory program is to be administered according to standards, requirements or methods which are similar to standards, requirements or methods specified for all or part of a federal environmental program. Section
227.24 (1) (a), Stats., gives the Department the authority to promulgate a rule as an emergency rule without complying with notice, hearing, and publication requirements under ch.
227, Stats., if necessary for the preservation of public welfare. Section
285.11 (1), Stats., gives the Department authority to promulgate rules consistent with ch.
285, Stats. Section
285.11 (16), Stats., requires the Department to promulgate rules that specify the amounts of emissions that result in a stationary source being classified as a major source. This section requires the rules to be consistent with but no more restrictive than the federal Clean Air Act.
Related statute(s) or rule(s)
None.
Plain language analysis
On April 1, 2010, US EPA promulgated the first standard for regulating motor vehicle gases contributing to climate change, i.e., greenhouse gases or GHG. Because of the way the Clean Air Act (CAA) is structured, once GHG emissions from motor vehicles are subject to regulation, stationary sources become regulated for these gases. Without further action by EPA, this standard has the unintended affect of subjecting literally tens of thousands of sources across the country to some of the most complex air permit and emission control regulations. In order to mitigate this unintended effect, EPA promulgated on June 3, 2010 (75 FR 31514), an additional “tailoring" rule that limits the number of sources subject to the permit and emission control regulations.
Under current state statutes and administrative code, Wisconsin sources will become subject to permit and emission control requirements on January 2, 2010. However, Wisconsin sources will not benefit from the tailoring rule limiting applicability under air permit and emission control regulations until revisions can be made to Wisconsin administrative code. This order proposes to revise the administrative code to make it consistent with the new federal rule.
Specifically, this proposal will define the greenhouse gases subject to regulation, establish greenhouse gas emission thresholds, that if exceeded, will trigger permitting and emission control requirements, and establish global warming potential factors which are used to calculate individual greenhouse gas emissions on an equivalent and comparable basis.
Summary of, and comparison with, existing or proposed federal regulations
U.S. EPA promulgated rules in
40 CFR parts 51 and
70 as revised on June 3, 2010 (75 FR 31514) to relieve overwhelming permitting burdens that would, in the absence of these rule, fall on permitting authorities and sources. They accomplished this by tailoring the applicability criteria that determine which GHG emission sources become subject to the PSD and Title V programs of the CAA. In particular, EPA established with this rulemaking a phase-in approach for PSD and Title V applicability, and established the first two steps of the phase-in for the largest emitters of GHG.
Under these federal rules, the first step, which will begin on January 2, 2011, PSD or Title V requirements will apply to sources' GHG emissions only if the sources are subject to PSD or Title V anyway due to their non-GHG pollutants. Therefore, EPA will not require source owners or operators to evaluate whether they are subject to PSD or Title V requirements solely on account of their GHG emissions. Specifically, for PSD, Step 1 requires that as of January 2, 2011, the applicable requirements of PSD, most notably, the best available control technology (BACT) requirement, will apply to projects that increase net GHG emissions by at least 75,000 tpy carbon dioxide equivalent emissions, but only if the project also significantly increases emissions of at least one non-GHG pollutant. For the Title V program, only owners or operators of existing sources with, or new sources obtaining, Title V permits for non-GHG pollutants will be required to address GHG during this first step.
The second step of the federal rules, beginning on July 1, 2011, will phase in additional large sources of GHG emissions. New sources as well as existing sources not already subject to Title V that emit, or have the potential to emit, at least 100,000 tpy carbon dioxide equivalent emissions will become subject to the PSD and Title V requirements. In addition, sources that emit or have the potential to emit at least 100,000 tpy carbon dioxide equivalent emissions and that undertake a modification that increases net emissions of GHG by at least 75,000 tpy carbon dioxide equivalent emissions will also be subject to PSD requirements.
An important provision of these federal rules is that PSD and Title V permitting is only triggered when both the appropriate traditional mass-based applicability threshold, i.e., 100 tpy or 250 tpy, and the GHG carbon dioxide equivalent emission threshold are exceeded.
U.S. EPA also makes certain commitments to conduct studies related to potential regulatory burdens which could result from lowering the applicability threshold from what is contained in the current rule. Except for these federal commitments, the rules proposed here are consistent with the federal rules.
The greenhouse gas endangerment finding (74 FR 66496), EPA's memorandum entitled “Interpretation of Regulations that Determine Pollutants Covered by Federal Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) Permit Program" (75 FR 17004) and the motor vehicle (75 FR 25324) and tailoring (75 FR 31514) rules have been challenged by various parties, nationally. In the event that courts or Congress stay or otherwise invalidate the finding, interpretation and both rules related to greenhouse gases the Department will act to invalidate the emergency rule and re-evaluate the need for a permanent rule in light of the court's or Congressional actions.
Comparison with rules in adjacent states
The states of Illinois and Minnesota are US EPA delegated states so they do not need to amend their state rules to implement the provision of the federal tailoring rule. Michigan and Iowa are SIP approved states like Wisconsin, so they will need to implement rules similar to what are being proposed here in order to modify their permit program and implement the provisions of the federal rule.
Summary of factual data and analytical methodologies
The proposed rule is based on the federal rule changes. Information on the federal rule changes can be obtained from federal registers published on October 27, 2009 (74 FR 55292), October 30, 2009 (74 FR 56260), and June 3, 2010 (75 FR 31514).
Analysis and supporting documents used to determine effect on small businesses
The Department did not conduct an independent analysis of the effect on small business, but is relying on the analysis performed by the US EPA. This analysis can be found in US EPA's rule docket for Prevention of Significant Deterioration and Title V Greenhouse Gas Tailoring Rule; Proposed Rule [EPA-HQ-OAR-2009-0517; FRL-8966-7], October 27, 2009 (74 FR 55292).
Effect on Small Business
This proposal will prevent unintended impacts to small businesses resulting from promulgation by U.S. EPA of emission standards for GHG, by limiting the number that may become subject to the Title V and PSD permitting programs. The Small Business Regulatory Coordinator may be contacted at
SmallBusiness@dnr.state.wi.us, or by calling (608) 266-1959.
Environmental Analysis
The Department has made a preliminary determination that adoption of the proposed rules would not involve significant adverse environmental effects and would not need an environmental analysis under ch.
NR 150, Wis. Adm. Code. However, based on comments received, an environmental analysis may be prepared before proceeding. This analysis would summarize the Department's consideration of the impacts of the proposal and any reasonable alternatives.
Fiscal Estimate
This proposal limits the applicability of Department permitting consistent with the federal permit program, resulting in fewer permit actions. This translates to an expected cost avoidance for both the Department and the private sector over what costs will be imposed if the proposal is not approved. The following information and assumptions were used in estimating the cost avoidance, which are summarized in the table below. (Note that estimates in this analysis are based on EPA proposed rules published in September, 2009. EPA's final rule establishes applicability thresholds much higher than originally proposed, therefore, the cost avoidance numbers go up significantly from what is presented here.)
National average dollar per permit costs and national numbers of permits avoided comes from Tables 3-1 and 3-2 in US EPA's Regulatory Impact Analysis for the Proposed Greenhouse Gas Tailoring Rule, Final Report, September, 2009.
Number of permits avoided in Wisconsin was determined by taking a percentage of the national estimate of permits avoided.
Number of industrial sources subject to PSD - Currently the Department issues 8-10% of the nation's PSD permits annually due the historically large manufacturing base in Wisconsin. While there will be some correlation between the industrial base and sources of greenhouse gas emissions it is not expected to be as high as what the Department currently sees under the existing PSD program. For the purposes of this Fiscal Estimate 5% is being applied to the national estimate of 3,299 permits avoided, resulting in an estimated annual cost avoidance or $13,947,450 for the private sector and $7,647,750 for the Department.
Number of commercial and residential sources subject to PSD - Based on an assumption that Wisconsin's number of sources is proportional to percentage of the national population, 2% is being applied to the national estimate of 37,197 permits avoided, resulting in an estimated annual cost avoidance of $12,563,928 for the private sector and $3,709,584 for the Department.
Number of new industrial sources subject to Title V - Currently the Department issues approximately 3% of the nation's Title V permits. Therefore 3% of the national estimate of 195,895 permits avoided is used in this Fiscal Estimate resulting in an estimated one-time cost avoidance of $272,398,950 for the private sector and $115,706,376 for the Department.
Number of new commercial and residential sources subject to Title V - Based on an assumption that Wisconsin's number of sources is proportional to percentage of the national population, 2% is being applied to the national estimate of 5,956,513 permits avoided, resulting in an estimated one-time cost avoidance of $593,982,180 for the private sector and $235,639,140 for the Department.
US EPA notes that significant uncertainties exist in their estimates due to the lack of historical record and permitting experience upon which to base resource needs for including greenhouse gas sources in the PSD and Title V permitting programs. The Department does not have Wisconsin specific information that allows the estimates to be better refined for this Fiscal Estimate.
Agency Contact Person
Andrew Stewart
Department of Natural Resources
