(1) (a) If the owner or operator of a coal-fired power plant or group of coal-fired power plants reduces the uncontrolled sulfur dioxide emission rate, measured in either pounds per million BTU or tons per year, by an average of at least seventy percent and the actual emission rate of sulfur dioxide by an average of at least fifty percent from one or more units located within the same airshed, regardless of whether the units are located on the same plant site, and such reductions are pursuant to a voluntary agreement entered into under section 25-7-1203, the assurance period for such units shall be a period ending fifteen years after the date established for achieving the voluntary emission limitations under the agreement. (b) If the owner or operator of any coal-fired power plant that includes one or more units, each of which already has emission control technologies in place to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions by at least sixty-five percent from uncontrolled levels, significantly reduces the actual emission rate of sulfur dioxide and such reduction is pursuant to a voluntary agreement entered into under section 25-7-1203, the assurance period for such units shall be no more than fifteen years from the date the emissions reductions are achieved. Such a coal-fired power plant that is the subject of a certification of visibility impairment in a federally designated class 1 area as of July 1, 1998, may not enter into a voluntary agreement addressing the pollutants subject to the certification of visibility of impairment under section 25-7-1203 unless: (I) The owner or operator of the plant has negotiated a settlement with the division that resolves all matters related to such certification of visibility impairment; and (II) The voluntary agreement is fully consistent with the terms and conditions of the negotiated settlement. (c) A coal-fired power plant or group of plants may achieve the emission reductions required by this section through a voluntary agreement that allows the plant or group of plants to control emissions by methods other than the installation and operation of pollution control equipment. Such methods may include but are not limited to burning low-sulfur coal, reducing the operation of units, retiring units, and changing fuels. If such methods are included in a voluntary agreement, the agreement shall include the procedure by which the division shall calculate the emission reductions to be obtained by such methods. (2) It is the intent of the general assembly that the commission should consider any coal- fired power plant or power plants located within the same airshed that are achieving the emission limitations described in this section under a voluntary agreement to be in compliance with any emission limitation that is based on a technology requirement in the federal act. Such consideration should continue for a period of fifteen years after the date established in the voluntary agreement for achieving the emission limitations that are contained in the voluntary agreement. During the fifteen-year period, the commission, by rule, may require the coal-fired power plant to meet a different emission limitation based on a technology requirement in the federal act if: (a) The commission finds that a different emission limitation is necessary to comply with the federal act; and (b) The owner or operator of the coal-fired power plant is not required to begin installation of the required emission control technology unless and until the general assembly has acted to postpone the expiration of the commission's rule in accordance with section 24-4-103, C.R.S. (3) The general assembly further intends that nothing in subsection (2) of this section shall be construed to create a precedent for the application or interpretation of either the "Colorado Air Pollution Prevention and Control Act", article 7 of title 25, C.R.S., or the federal act in any circumstance other than the execution of voluntary agreements between the state of Colorado and the owners and operators of coal-fired power plants in accordance with this part 12.
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