125-J:4 Certification of Emissions Reduction Credits. –
I. The department shall establish and administer a process for the application, certification, revocation and enforcement of emissions reduction credits for the following regulated pollutants: volatile organic compounds (VOCs), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and carbon monoxide (CO).
II. Any person may be credited with emissions reductions occurring after December 31, 1990.
III. The department shall issue emissions reduction credits to any person upon certification by the department that the emissions reductions are real, surplus, quantifiable, enforceable, and permanent, and that a device or source is not in violation of any emissions limitation of a permit issued by the department or EPA, any consent agreement, or court order.
IV. The department shall issue an emissions reduction credit certificate to any person having certified emissions reduction credits. The certificate shall be in the name of the permit holder for a device or source, and in the name of the person certifying the emissions reduction for the device, area source, mobile source, and sources exempt from permitting requirements under RSA 125-C. The total amount of ERCs certified to a device, area source, mobile source, and source, together with any conditions required to ensure that such ERCs remain real, surplus, permanent, enforceable and quantifiable for the life of the ERC, shall be recorded on the certificate and, for every permitted device and source, as an amendment to any permit issued for the device or source by the department or by the EPA.
V. All emissions reductions obtained from devices, area sources, mobile sources, and sources shall be eligible for certification, regardless of whether the reductions were generated from emissions previously regulated under permits issued by the department or EPA, provided that the department determines that the reductions are real, surplus, quantifiable, enforceable and permanent, and that such reductions are certified in accordance with the Clean Air Act.
VI. Emissions reductions shall be certified for use on a calendar year basis. The minimum amount of emissions reductions eligible under this chapter for certification shall be 1 ton per calendar year, per pollutant. ERCs shall be certified in a ratio of 1 ton per calendar year of credit for 1 ton per calendar year of reduction for each pollutant. Emissions reductions of less than 1 ton may be aggregated in order to achieve the minimum 1 ton requirement.
VII. The commissioner may suspend, modify, or revoke any emissions reduction credits certificate issued under this chapter, or any portion thereof, upon a finding, following a hearing:
(a) That the certificate holder has committed a violation of this chapter, or any rule, order, permit, or certificate condition in force and applicable to it;
(b) That the certificate contains a material mistake or that the certificate, or its terms or conditions, were established and issued on the basis of inaccurate information; or
(c) That the certificate issued must be revised to assure that the reductions represented thereon are and remain quantifiable, real, permanent, enforceable and surplus, and in compliance with all terms and conditions issued thereto.
Source. 1994, 397:2. 1996, 228:104, 106, eff. July 1, 1996.