Provides for air monitoring systems in certain facilities. (8/1/26)

Senate Bill 356 enacts Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:2382, creating a comprehensive air monitoring system requirement for certain industrial facilities. The statute mandates that petroleum refineries and chemical manufacturing facilities emitting more than fifty pounds annually of any of seventeen enumerated toxic air pollutants must install and operate continuous air monitoring systems along their facility perimeters. The monitoring systems must meet United States Environmental Protection Agency requirements under 40 CFR Part 63, include sensing instrumentation covering the entire facility boundary, provide real-time data dissemination through a publicly accessible website, incorporate weather monitoring equipment, and generate real-time community alerts when measured pollutant concentrations exceed specified acute exposure thresholds. The statute establishes specific acute exposure levels for each monitored pollutant, measured on rolling one-hour averages, ranging from 42 micrograms per cubic meter for hydrogen sulfide to 180,000 micrograms per cubic meter for vinyl chloride.

Petroleum refineries and chemical manufacturing facilities meeting the emissions threshold face substantial new operational and financial obligations beginning August 1, 2026. Facility owners bear full responsibility for all costs associated with designing, procuring, installing, operating, maintaining, and record-keeping for the air monitoring systems. These facilities must submit detailed air monitoring system plans to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality prior to installation, providing equipment inventories with GPS coordinates, quality assurance protocols, public notification methods, maintenance schedules, and emergency contingency measures. Additionally, facility operators must collect and maintain real-time and historical monitoring data, establish registration systems allowing the public to receive electronic alerts of pollution threshold exceedances, submit quarterly reports to DEQ summarizing pollutant measurements, and retain all collected data for five years. The statute requires notification of first responders, the department, and impacted local governing authorities whenever acute exposure thresholds are exceeded.

Senate Bill 356 operates within Louisiana's existing environmental protection framework established in Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 30, which grants the Department of Environmental Quality broad authority to protect air quality and adopt implementing regulations. The statute references federal monitoring standards under EPA regulations while establishing state-specific acute exposure thresholds and facility categories. The Department of Environmental Quality receives authority to promulgate implementing rules and regulations and must periodically review and revise the list of covered facilities, monitored toxic air pollutants, and acute exposure levels based on the best available scientific evidence at least every five years. This creates an adaptive regulatory framework allowing the state to modify requirements as scientific understanding evolves. The statute's requirement that facilities provide real-time public notification of threshold exceedances reflects Louisiana's commitment to environmental transparency and community right-to-know principles.