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An Act To Improve Maine's Air Quality and Reduce Regional Haze at Acadia National Park and Other Federally Designated Class I Areas
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 38 MRSA §603-A, sub-§2, as amended by PL 2007, c. 95, §5, is further amended to read:
 
2. Prohibitions. Except as provided in subsections 4, 5 and 8, noa person may not use any liquid fossil fuel with a sulfur content exceeding the limits in paragraph A or any solid fossil fuel with a sulfur content to heat content ratio exceeding the limits of paragraph B.
 
A. The sulfur content for liquid fossil fuels is as follows.
 
(1) In the Central Maine, Downeast, Aroostook County and Northwest Maine Air Quality Control Regions and the Metropolitan Portland Air Quality Control Region outside the Portland Peninsula Air Quality Control Region, noa person may not use any liquid fossil#4 or #6 fuel oil with a sulfur content greater than 2.5% until November 1, 1991, and 2.0% by weight any time thereafter; beginning January 1, 2018, the limit for those regions is 0.5% by weight. In the Metropolitan Portland Air Quality Control Region outside the Portland Peninsula Air Quality Control Region, no person may use any liquid fossil fuel with a sulfur content greater than 2.5% until November 1, 1991, and 2.0% by weight any time thereafter.
 
(2) In the Portland Peninsula Air Quality Control Region, noa person may not use any liquid fossil#4 or #6 fuel oil with a sulfur content greater than 1.5% by weight any time after November 1, 1975; beginning January 1, 2018, the limit for that region is 0.5% by weight.
 
(3) Statewide, a person may not use a distillate fuel:
 
(a) Beginning January 1, 2014, with a sulfur content greater than 0.05% by weight; and
 
(b) Beginning January 1, 2018, with a sulfur content greater than 0.0015% by weight.
 
B. The sulfur content for solid fossil fuels is as follows:
 
(1) One and two-tenths pounds sulfur per million British Thermal Units until November 1, 1991, and .96 pounds sulfur per million British Thermal Units thereafter, calculated as a calendar quarter average for sources in the Central Maine, Downeast, Aroostook County, Northwest Maine Air Quality Control Regions and that portion of the Metropolitan Portland Air Quality Region outside the Portland Peninsula Air Quality Region. A calendar quarter is composed of the months as follows: (1) January, February, March; (2) April, May, June; (3) July, August, September; and (4) October, November, December; and
 
(2) Seventy-two hundredths pounds sulfur per million British Thermal Units calculated as a calendar quarter average for sources in the Portland Peninsula Air Quality Region. A calendar quarter is composed of the months as follows: (1) January, February, March; (2) April, May, June; (3) July, August, September; and (4) October, November, December.
 
SUMMARY
Federal law and regulations require states with fuel-burning sources that are reasonably anticipated to cause or contribute to impairment of visibility in federally designated Class I areas to implement reasonable measures to reduce visibility impairment within those areas. This bill establishes reductions in the sulfur content of fuel oil that take effect in 2014 and 2018.