MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1999 Regular Session

To: Conservation and Water Resources

By: Representative Cameron

AN ACT TO RESTRICT THE MISSISSIPPI COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY FROM PROPOSING OR IMPLEMENTING ANY RULE RELATED TO GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS AS DEFINED BY THE KYOTO PROTOCOL; TO AMEND SECTIONS 49-2-9 AND 49-2-13, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, IN CONFORMITY TO THIS ACT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. For the purposes of this act, the following words shall have the definitions ascribed in this section:

(a) "FCCC" means the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Global Climate Change.

(b) "Kyoto Protocol" means the protocol to expand the scope of the FCCC that was negotiated in December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan.

SECTION 2. (1) The Mississippi State Legislature hereby finds that:

(a) The United States is a signatory to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Global Climate Change.

(b) A protocol to expand the scope of the FCCC was negotiated in December 1997, in Kyoto, Japan, requiring the United States to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane by seven percent (7%) from 1990 emission levels during the period 2008 to 1012, with similar reduction obligations for other major industrial nations. It is known as the Kyoto Protocol.

(c) Certain developing nations, including China, India, Mexico, Indonesia, and Brazil, are exempt from greenhouse gas emission limitation requirements in the FCCC.

(d) Certain developing nations refused in the Kyoto negotiations to accept any new commitments for greenhouse gas emission limitations through the Kyoto Protocol or other agreements.

(e) With respect to new commitments under the FCCC, President Clinton pledged on October 22, 1997, that "The United States will not assume binding obligations unless key developing nations meaningfully participate in this effort."

(f) On July 25, 1997, the United States Senate adopted Senate Resolution No. 98 by a vote of 95-0, expressing the sense of the Senate that, inter alia, ". . . the United States should not be a signatory to any protocol to or other agreement regarding, the Framework Convention on Climate Change . . . which would require the advice and consent of the Senate to ratification, and which would mandate new commitments to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions for the Developed Country Parties, unless the protocol or other agreement also mandates specific scheduled commitments within the same compliance period to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions for Developing Country Parties."

(g) The Kyoto Protocol fails to meet the tests established for acceptance of new climate change commitments by President Clinton and by United States Senate Resolution No. 98.

(h) On November 12, 1998, the Clinton administration confirmed its commitment to Kyoto Protocol as the treaty was signed by Acting United States Ambassador Peter Burleigh at the United Nations.

(i) Achieving the emission reductions proposed by the Kyoto Protocol would require more than a thirty-five percent (35%) reduction in projected United States carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions during the period 2008 to 2012.

(j) Developing countries exempt from emission limitations under the Kyoto Protocol are expected to increase their rates of fossil fuel use over the next two (2) decades and to surpass the United States and other industrialized countries in total emissions of greenhouse gases.

(k) Increased emissions of greenhouse gases by developing countries would offset any potential environmental benefits associated with reductions in emissions achieved by the United States and by other industrial nations.

(l) Economic impact studies by the United States Government estimate that legally binding requirements for the reduction of United States greenhouse gases to 1990 emission levels would result in the loss of more than nine hundred thousand (900,000) jobs in the United States, sharply increase energy prices, reduced family incomes and wages, and severe losses of output in energy-intensive industries such as aluminum, steel, rubber, chemicals and utilities.

(m) An economic impact study by Wharton Econometrics Forecasting Associates estimates that Mississippi under the same reduction requirements would lose Four Hundred Twenty-three Million Dollars ($423,000,000.00) in tax revenues, and twenty-eight thousand six hundred (28,600) jobs, including fourteen thousand six hundred (14,600) manufacturing jobs.

(n) The failure to provide for commitments by developing countries in the Kyoto Protocol creates an unfair competitive imbalance between industrial and developing nations, potentially leading to the transfer of jobs and industrial development from the United States to developing countries.

(o) Federal implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, if ratified by the United States Senate, would entail new congressional legislation in a form and containing requirements that cannot be predicted at this time, but that could include national energy taxes or emission control allocation and trading schemes that would preeempt state-specific programs intended to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.

(p) Piecemeal or other uncoordinated state regulatory initiatives intended to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases may be inconsistent with subsequent congressional determinations concerning the Kyoto Protocol and with related federal legislation implementing the Kyoto Protocol.

(q) Individual state responses to the Kyoto Protocol, including development of new regulatory programs intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, are premature before Senate ratification of the protocol in its current or amended form and congressional enactment of related implementing legislation.

(r) There is neither federal nor state statutory authority for new regulatory programs or other efforts intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for purposes of complying with or facilitating compliance with the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol.

SECTION 3. (1) The Mississippi Commission on Environmental Quality shall not propose or adopt any new rule for the intended purpose of addressing the adverse effects of climate change that in whole or in part reduces emissions of greenhouse gases, as those gases are defined by the Kyoto Protocol, from the residential, commercial, industrial, electric utility or transportation sectors. In the absence of an act of the Mississippi Legislature approving such rules, the Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality shall not submit to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, or to any other agency of the federal government, any legally enforceable commitments related to the reduction of greenhouse gases, as those gases are defined by the Kyoto Protocol.

(2) Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit or to impede private participation in any on-going voluntary initiatives to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, including, but not limited to, the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Green Lights program, the United States Department of Energy's Climate Challenge program, and similar state and federal initiatives relying on voluntary participation, provided that such participation does not involve any allocation or other distribution of greenhouse gas emission entitlements pursuant to or under color of the Kyoto Protocol.

SECTION 4. Section 49-2-9, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

49-2-9. (1) Effective July 1, 1979, the commission shall have the following powers and duties:

(a) To formulate the policy of the department regarding natural resources within the jurisdiction of the department;

(b) To adopt, modify, repeal, and promulgate, after due notice and hearing, and where not otherwise prohibited by federal or state law, to make exceptions to and grant exemptions and variances from, and to enforce rules and regulations implementing or effectuating the powers and duties of the commission under any and all statutes within the commission's jurisdiction, and as the commission may deem necessary to prevent, control and abate existing or potential pollution;

(c) To apply for, receive and expend any federal or state funds or contributions, gifts, devises, bequests or funds from any other source;

(d) To commission or conduct studies designed to determine alternative methods of managing or using the natural resources of this state, in a manner to insure efficiency and maximum productivity;

(e) To enter into, and to authorize the executive director to execute with the approval of the commission, contracts, grants and cooperative agreements with any federal or state agency or subdivision thereof, or any public or private institution located inside or outside the State of Mississippi, or any person, corporation or association in connection with carrying out the provisions of this chapter; but this authority under this chapter and under any and all statutes within the commission's jurisdiction, except those statutes relating to the Bureau of Recreation and Parks, shall not include contracts, grants or cooperative agreements which do not develop data or information usable by the commission, or which provide goods, services or facilities to the commission or any of its bureaus, and shall exclude any monies for special interest groups for purposes of lobbying or otherwise promoting their special interests; and

(f) To discharge such other duties, responsibilities and powers as are necessary to implement the provisions of this chapter.

(2) The powers and authority of the commission to adopt rules shall be limited as provided in Section 3 of this act. The provisions of this subsection shall be repealed upon ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, as defined in Section 2 of this act, by the United States Senate, or upon action by the United States Congress authorizing reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases, as those gases are defined by the Kyoto Protocol, for the purpose of addressing the adverse effects of climate change.

SECTION 5. Section 49-2-13, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

49-2-13. (1) The executive director shall have the following powers and duties:

(a) To administer the policies of the commission within the authority granted by the commission;

(b) To supervise and direct all administrative and technical activities of the department;

(c) To organize the administrative units of the department in accordance with the plan adopted by the commission and, with commission approval, alter such organizational plan and reassign responsibilities as he may deem necessary to carry out the policies of the commission;

(d) To coordinate the activities of the various offices of the department;

(e) To employ, subject to the approval of the commission, qualified professional personnel in the subject matter or fields of each office, and such other technical and clerical staff as may be required for the operation of the department;

(f) To recommend to the commission such studies and investigations as he may deem appropriate, and to carry out the approved recommendations in conjunction with the various offices;

(g) To merge and coordinate functions and duties where possible to eliminate the possibility of two (2) separate organizational entities performing the same or similar functions, including, but not limited to, functions of audit, inspection, collection, personnel, motor vehicles, accounting, data processing, payroll and any other such administrative, procedural or enforcement function;

(h) To coordinate all studies in the State of Mississippi concerned with the supply, development, use and conservation of natural resources within the jurisdiction of the department;

(i) To prepare and deliver to the Legislature and the Governor on or before January 1 of each year, and at such other times as may be required by the Legislature or Governor, a full report of the work of the department and the offices thereof, including a detailed statement of expenditures of the department and any recommendations the commission may have;

(j) To issue, modify or revoke any and all orders under authority granted by the commission which include, but are not limited to those which (i) prohibit, control or abate discharges of contaminants and wastes into the air and waters of the state; (ii) require the construction of new disposal systems or air-cleaning devices or any parts thereof, or the modification, extension or alteration of existing disposal systems or air-cleaning devices or any parts thereof, or the adoption of other remedial measures to prevent, control or abate air and water pollution or to cause the proper management of solid wastes; (iii) impose penalties pursuant to Section 17-17-29 and Section 49-17-43 which have been agreed upon with alleged violators; and (iv) require compliance with the conditions of any permit issued by the Permit Board created in Section 49-17-28 and all regulations of the commission; and

(k) With the approval of the commission, to enter into contracts, grants and cooperative agreements with any federal or state agency or subdivision thereof, or any public or private institution located inside or outside the State of Mississippi, or any person, corporation or association in connection with carrying out the provisions of this chapter, provided the agreements do not have a financial cost in excess of the amounts appropriated for such purposes by the Legislature.

(2) Any power or authority of the executive director to enter into commitments on behalf of the state shall be limited as provided in Section 3 of this act. The provisions of this subsection shall be repealed upon ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, as defined in Section 2 of this act, by the United States Senate, or upon action by the United States Congress authorizing reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases, as those gases are defined by the Kyoto Protocol, for the purpose of addressing the adverse effects of climate change.

SECTION 6. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 1999, and Sections 1, 2, and 3 shall be repealed upon ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, as defined in Section 2 of this act, by the United States Senate, or upon action by the United States Congress authorizing reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases, as those gases are defined by the Kyoto Protocol, for the purpose of addressing the adverse effects of climate change.