Administrative agency - Powers and duties.

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The Department of Environmental Quality is hereby designated the administrative agency for the Oklahoma Clean Air Act for the state. The Department is empowered to:

1. Establish, in accordance with its provisions, those programs specified elsewhere in the Oklahoma Clean Air Act;

2. Establish, in accordance with the Oklahoma Clean Air Act, a permitting program for the state which will contain the flexible source operation provisions required by Section 502(b)(10) of the Federal Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990;

3. Prepare and develop a general plan for proper air quality management in the state in accordance with the Oklahoma Clean Air Act;

4. Enforce rules of the Board and orders of the Department and the Council;

5. Advise, consult and cooperate with other agencies of the state, towns, cities and counties, industries, other states and the federal government, and with affected groups in the prevention and control of new and existing air contamination sources within the state;

6. Encourage and conduct studies, seminars, workshops, investigations and research relating to air pollution and its causes, effects, prevention, control and abatement;

7. Collect and disseminate information relating to air pollution, its prevention and control;

8. Encourage voluntary cooperation by persons, towns, cities and counties, or other affected groups in restoring and preserving a reasonable degree of purity of air within the state;

9. Represent the State of Oklahoma in any and all matters pertaining to plans, procedures or negotiations for the interstate compacts in relation to the control of air pollution;

10. Provide such technical, scientific or other services, including laboratory and other facilities, as may be required for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of the Oklahoma Clean Air Act, from funds available for such purposes;

11. Employ and compensate, within funds available therefor, such consultants and technical assistants and such other employees on a full- or part-time basis as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of the Oklahoma Clean Air Act and prescribe their powers and duties;

12. Accept and administer grants or other funds or gifts for the purpose of carrying out any of the functions of the Oklahoma Clean Air Act;

13. Budget and receive duly appropriated monies and all other monies available for expenditures to carry out the provisions and purposes of the Oklahoma Clean Air Act;

14. Bring appropriate court action to enforce the Oklahoma Clean Air Act and final orders of the Department, and to obtain injunctive or other proper relief in the district court of the county where any alleged violation occurs or where such relief is determined necessary. The Department, in furtherance of its statutory powers, shall have the independent authority to file an action pursuant to the Oklahoma Clean Air Act in district court. Such action shall be brought in the name of the Department of Environmental Quality;

15. Take such action as may be necessary to abate the alleged pollution upon receipt of evidence that a source of pollution or a combination of sources of pollution is presenting an immediate, imminent and substantial endangerment to the health of persons;

16. Periodically enter and inspect at reasonable times or during regular business hours, any source, facility or premises permitted or regulated by the Department, for the purpose of obtaining samples or determining compliance with the Oklahoma Clean Air Act or any rule promulgated thereunder or permit condition prescribed pursuant thereto, or to examine any records kept or required to be kept pursuant to the Oklahoma Clean Air Act. Such inspections shall be conducted with reasonable promptness and shall be confined to those areas, sources, facilities or premises reasonably expected to emit, control, or contribute to the emission of any air contaminant;

17. Require the submission or the production and examination, within a reasonable amount of time, of any information, record, document, test or monitoring results or emission data, including trade secrets necessary to determine compliance with the Oklahoma Clean Air Act or any rule promulgated thereunder, or any permit condition prescribed or order issued pursuant thereto. The Department shall hold and keep as confidential any information declared by the provider to be a trade secret and may only release such information upon authorization by the person providing such information, or as directed by court order. Any documents submitted pursuant to the Oklahoma Clean Air Act and declared to be trade secrets, to be so considered, must be plainly labeled by the provider, and be in a form whereby the confidential information may be easily removed intact without disturbing the continuity of any remaining documents. The remaining document, or documents, as submitted, shall contain a notation indicating, at the place where the particular information was originally located, that confidential information has been removed. Nothing in this section shall preclude an in-camera examination of confidential information by an Administrative Law Judge during the course of a contested hearing;

18. Maintain and update at least annually an inventory of air emissions from stationary sources;

19. Accept any authority delegated from the federal government necessary to carry out any portion of the Oklahoma Clean Air Act; and

20. Carry out all other duties, requirements and responsibilities necessary and proper for the implementation of the Oklahoma Clean Air Act and fulfilling the requirements of the Federal Clean Air Act.

Added by Laws 1992, c. 215, § 4, emerg. eff. May 15, 1992. Amended by Laws 1993, c. 145, § 42, eff. July 1, 1993. Renumbered from § 1-1805.1 of Title 63 by Laws 1993, c. 145, § 359, eff. July 1, 1993. Amended by Laws 1998, c. 314, § 6, eff. July 1, 1998; Laws 2002, c. 397, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 2002.

NOTE: Laws 1993, c. 47, § 1 repealed by Laws 1994, c. 2, § 34, emerg. eff. March 2, 1994.


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