Legislation ends moratorium on air permits in the L.A. basin; Governor likely to sign
Prior posts have noted the litigation in the L.A. basin involving air permits, and that as a result of a ruling by the local Superior Court, the issuance of air permits came to a halt. The judge's decision held that the South Coast Air Quality Management District violated the California Environmental Quality Act when it adopted the rule amendment related to permit credits. The SCAQMD interpreted the judge's decision as not only barring the use of credits by the power companies and other public sources pursuant to District Rule 1309.1, but also that the ruling prevented it from issuing permits for a number of smaller facility modifications of a routine nature under Rule 1304. The District also suggested that it might be required to rescind several thousand permits already issued that were based on the rules found to be invalid. Panic ensued.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District and its business allies have now succeeded in getting legislation to the Governor's desk that would bypass a court decision that caused the District to impose a moratorium on permits for thousands of projects at power plants, hospitals, schools, and many small businesses. However, strong opposition to the legislation by environmental groups prevented its proponents from getting the necessary 2/3 vote to pass urgency legislation meaning that the District will not be able to lift the moratorium until January 1 of next year.
The bill provides that notwithstanding the Court's decision the District may issue permits in compliance with Rules 1309.1 and 1304. The legislation does, however, uphold the judge's decision with respect to the emission accounting (tracking) procedure outlined in Rule 1315. Both rules 1309.1 and 1304 relied on that tracking procedure. The bill provides that until a newtracking procedure is approved by EPA, the District will use the procedure in place prior to adoption of Rule 1315 in supporting these permits. This exemption of the two permit rules from CEQA lasts until May 1, 2012. After that date the District must either meet CEQA requirements or extend this exemption legislatively.