A. Not more than thirty (30) days after the Executive Director of the Department of Environmental Quality and the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency become signatories to the Refinery Permitting Cooperative Agreement (RPCA) as provided for in Section 4 of this act, the following shall occur:

1. The Executive Director shall designate one or more employees of the Department of Environmental Quality with expertise relating to the siting and operation of refineries to provide legal and technical assistance to any permit applicants in accordance with the designations made in subsection E of this section; and

2. The Executive Director and the Administrator shall identify steps, including timelines, that each shall take to streamline the consideration of state and federal environmental permits for a new refinery facility.

B. Pursuant to the provisions of the RPCA, the Executive Director shall be authorized to:

1. Accept from a refiner a consolidated application for all permits required from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Environmental Quality, to the extent consistent with applicable law and the RPCA;

2. Enter into memoranda of agreement with other state and federal agencies to coordinate consideration of refinery facility applications and permits; and

3. Enter into memoranda of agreement with state and federal agencies, under which state and federal review of refinery facility permit applications will be coordinated and concurrently considered, to the extent practicable.

C. The Executive Director is authorized to request financial assistance from the federal government to facilitate the hiring of additional personnel with expertise in fields relevant to consideration of refinery permits.

D. The Executive Director is authorized to request technical, legal, or other assistance from the federal government to facilitate the state level review of applications for the construction of new refinery facilities.

E. The RPCA shall designate each state and federal agency that will provide technical and legal assistance relating to the siting and operation of refinery facilities, with respect to each of the following, if applicable:

1. The Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.);

2. The Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.);

3. The Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300f et seq.);

4. The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq.);

5. The Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6901 et seq.);

6. The Toxic Substances Control Act (15 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.);

7. The National Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470 et seq.);

8. The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.); and

9. The Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).

Added by Laws 2006, c. 261, § 5, eff. July 1, 2006.