Section 415 ILCS 130/5 - FindingsThe General Assembly finds:
(a) The Federal Clean Air Act, as amended, contains a comprehensive regulatory scheme for the control of emissions from mobile, stationary and area sources, which will improve ambient air quality and health and welfare in all parts of the nation.(b) The number of areas unable to meet national ambient air quality standards for ozone has been declining steadily and will continue to decline with air quality improvements resulting from implementation of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, and the mobile, stationary and area source emission controls specified in the Amendments.(c) Scientific research on the transport of atmospheric ozone across state boundaries is proceeding under the auspices of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), state agencies, and private entities, which will lead to improved scientific understanding of the causes and nature of ozone transport, and potentially applicable emission control strategies.(d) The Northeast Ozone Transport Commission established by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 has proposed emission control requirements for stationary and mobile sources in certain northeastern states and the District of Columbia in addition to those requirements specified by Titles I, II and IV of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.(e) Membership of the Northeast Ozone Transport Commission includes, by statute, representatives of state environmental agencies and governors' offices; similar representation is required in the case of other ozone transport commissions established by the Administrator of the United States EPA pursuant to Section 176A of the Clean Air Act, as amended.(f) The Northeast Ozone Transport Commission neither sought nor obtained state legislative oversight or approval prior to reaching its decisions on mobile and stationary source requirements for states included within the Northeast Ozone Transport Region.(g) The Commonwealth of Virginia and other parties have challenged the constitutionality of the Ozone Transport Commission and its regulatory proposals under the Guarantee, Compact, and Joinder Clauses of the United States Constitution; various state legislatures in the Northeast United States have expressed their desire to be fully involved in the formulation of policies and regulations by the Ozone Transport Commission.(h) The United States EPA, acting outside of the aforementioned statutory requirements for the establishment of new interstate transport commissions, is encouraging the State of Illinois and twenty-four other states outside of the Northeast to participate in multistate negotiations through the Ozone Transport Assessment Group; those negotiations are intended to provide the basis for an interstate memorandum of understanding or other agreement on ozone transport requiring reductions of emissions of nitrogen oxides or volatile organic compounds in addition to those emission reductions specified by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990; membership of the Ozone Transport Assessment Group consists of state and federal air quality officials, without state legislative or gubernatorial representation or participation.(i) Emission control requirements exceeding those specified by the federal law can adversely affect state economic development, competitiveness, employment, and income without corresponding environmental benefits; in the case of electric utility emissions of nitrogen oxides, it is estimated that control costs in addition to those specified by the Clean Air Act could amount to $4 to $5.5 billion annually in a 37-state region of the Eastern United States.(j) Requiring certain eastern states to meet emission control requirements more stringent than those otherwise applicable in western states would unfairly affect interstate competition for new industrial development and employment opportunities.P.A. 89-566, eff. 7/26/1996.