Scope Statements
Employment Relations Commission
This statement of scope was approved by the governor on April 19, 2013.
Rule No.
Relating to
Annual certification elections.
Rule Type
Emergency and Permanent.
1. Finding/Nature of Emergency (Emergency Rule Only)
The public peace, health, safety and welfare necessitate emergency rule-making so that the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission can meet its statutory annual certification election obligations under ss.
111.70 (4) (d) 3. b. and
111.83 (3), Stats.
2. Detailed Description of the Objective of the Proposed Rule
Establishes the cost, timing and procedures applicable to annual certification elections.
3. Description of the Existing Policies Relevant to the Rule, New Policies Proposed to be Included in the Rule, and an Analysis of Policy Alternatives
The proposed rulemaking does not alter or establish policy. The proposed rulemaking only implements the Commission's statutory responsibility under ss.111.70 (4) (d) 3. b. and 111.83 (3) (b), Stats.
4. Detailed Explanation of Statutory Authority for the Rule (Including the Statutory Citation and Language)
5. Estimate of Amount of Time that State Employees Will Spend Developing the Rule and of Other Resources Necessary to Develop the Rule
100 hours.
6. List with Description of all Entities that may be Affected by the Proposed Rule
All municipal employers, the State of Wisconsin, all municipal and State employees who are eligible to be represented by a labor organization for the purposes of collective bargaining, and all labor organizations who do or wish to represent employees of a municipal employer or the State of Wisconsin for the purposes of collective bargaining.
7. Summary and Preliminary Comparison with any Existing or Proposed Federal Regulation that is Intended to Address the Activities to be Regulated by the Proposed Rule
There are no existing or proposed federal regulations that address the activities to be regulated by the proposed rules.
8. Anticipated Economic Impact of Implementing the Rule (Note if the Rule is Likely to Have a Significant Economic Impact on Small Businesses)
Impact limited to the fees paid by labor organizations that choose to file a petition for annual certification.
9. Contact Person
Peter Davis, Chief Legal Counsel, (608) 266-2993.
Natural Resources
Environmental Protection — Air Pollution Control,
Chs.
400—
(DNR # AM-19-13)
This statement of scope was approved by the governor on May 1, 2013.
Rule No.
Revises Chapter
NR 446, Subchapter III.
Relating to
Control of mercury air emissions from coal-fired electric generating units (EGUs).
Rule Type
Permanent and emergency.
1. Nature of Emergency
The Department is requesting authority for both a permanent and an emergency rule-making process to extend the state mercury rule ch.
NR 446, subchapter III, Wis. Adm. Code
, compliance date from January 1, 2015, to April 16, 2016. This date may be further modified if necessary to accommodate any potential change in federal implementation dates. This state rule regulates mercury emitted by coal-fired electric generating units (EGUs). Recently federal rules have been promulgated which also regulate mercury emitted by coal-fired EGUs. This proposed rule change facilitates transitioning the EGUs from regulation of mercury emissions under the state rule to the federal rules.
Authority for an emergency rule-making is requested to implement the proposed rule change by January 1, 2015, in the event the permanent rule cannot become effective by that date. A delay in the permanent rule beyond this date may simply result due to the current timeframes and logistics associated with permanent rule-making process. Initiating the rule change by January 1, 2015, is necessary to avoid additional compliance burden and cost to the electric utilities as a result of the current state and federal mercury compliance schedules. In this case, added cost for compliance will be passed onto the consumer in electricity rates and will harm the public welfare and economy. At the same time there is no definable environmental benefit resulting under the current compliance schedules as compared to the proposed rule change.
2. Detailed Description of the Objective of the Proposed Rule
Chapter
NR 446, Subchapters II and III, Wis. Adm. Code, collectively referred to as the “state mercury rule", regulate mercury emitted by coal-fired electric generating units (EGUs). Under Subchapter II, EGUs were required to comply with a 40% emission control requirement starting January 1, 2010. Subchapter III initiates a second phase of mercury emission control starting
January 1, 2015. The requirements under the second phase are 90% control for large EGUs and use of Best Available Control Technology (BACT) for small EGUs. The second phase of control under the state rule is anticipated to affect 35 coal-fired EGUs operating at 14 Wisconsin power plants.
The U.S. EPA recently promulgated two federal mercury control rules that regulate the same coal-fired EGUs that are subject to the second phase of state mercury rule requirements starting January 1, 2015. The two federal rules are the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) and the Industrial, Commercial, and Institutional (ICI) Boiler rule with initial compliance dates of April 16, 2015 and January 31, 2016, respectively.
According to Wisconsin Statute s.
285.27 (2) (d), when the affected EGUs are regulated by their applicable federal mercury emission standard they will then become exempt from the state mercury rule requirements. This means that on January 1, 2015, the 35 affected coal-fired EGUs will be subject to state rule requirements and then exempt a short time later when they comply with either the MATS rule beginning April 16, 2015, or the ICI boiler rule beginning January 31, 2016. The result is that the federal MATS and ICI boiler rules set the long-term mercury emissions control requirements for the affected EGUs.
The Department examined the interaction between the state and federal rules. The Department has found that the state and federal rule requirements will both implement deep mercury reductions. However, the differences between the state and federal rules are likely meaningful enough to require a different focus in planning, control strategies, and installation of equipment for some of the utilities. Potential differences include approaches to emissions averaging, annual versus 30-day emission limitations, and administrative requirements. One major difference is that the federal rules will focus compliance on an individual unit basis whereas the state rule allows compliance averaging over an operator's EGU fleet. The impact of the differences between the state and federal requirements is further compounded due to the short time between their initial compliance dates.
Under these circumstances, the Department believes that requiring affected EGUs to comply with the state mercury rule requirements beginning on January 1, 2015, and then transitioning to the federal rule requirements beginning on April 16, 2015, and January 31, 2016, will result in unnecessary regulatory burden and cost. Therefore, the Department proposes to extend the compliance date for the second phase of state rule requirements until April 16, 2016. The proposed April 16, 2016, compliance date for the state rule is significant because it coincides with and will accommodate approval of a one year compliance extension available under the federal rules. In this way, the EGUs will not become subject to the state rule second phase requirements, via exemption under the state statute, unless the federal rules are delayed.
In summary, revising the state mercury rule second phase compliance date to April 16, 2016 achieves the following objectives:
•
Avoids compliance with two different mercury control rules in a staggered fashion, thus simplifying administrative requirements, planning, equipment installations and avoids undue cost in achieving the deep mercury control levels.
•
Maintains the existing state mercury rule requirement under ch.
NR 446 Subchapter
II, Wis. Adm. Code
, for 40% mercury control until EGUs comply with the federal standards and become exempt from all state mercury requirements.
• Maintains ch.
NR 446 Subchapter
III, Wis. Adm. Code, requirements in the event that federal rules are delayed. Maintaining the state mercury rule in a backup position ensures that health-based emission requirements targeted by both the federal and state rules will be achieved in a reasonable time-frame in order to fulfill the state finding for mercury control; and
•
Allows granting of the one-year extension to federal MATS requirements until April 16, 2016, on a case-by-case basis, in order to maintain reliability without being in conflict with the state mercury rule requirements.
3. Description of the Existing Policies Relevant to the Rule, New Policies Proposed to be Included in the Rule, and an Analysis of Policy Alternatives
Existing Policy and Rules
Mercury has been determined to be a hazardous pollutant that bio-accumulates in the environment and impacts human and wildlife health. This impact has resulted in the need to issue a state-wide advisory for the consumption of fish for all Wisconsin waters.
State Mercury Rule: In 2008, the state made a “health-based finding" in accordance with Wisconsin Statute s.
285.27 (2) (b) that requires reduction of mercury emitted by coal-fired EGUs. To fulfill this finding, the state enacted the state mercury rule as described in item 2 discussion of the rule objective. The state mercury rule 40% control requirement that began in 2010 is the first step in fulfilling the state health finding. The January 1, 2015, requirement is the second step of deep reductions necessary in fulfilling the finding.
