Filing of Proposed Ordinance or Resolution — Determination by Department — Report Concerning Implementation — Enforcement
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Any municipality, as defined in § 7-54-101, and any county that, as a part of the construction, financing, operation or maintenance of an energy production facility, or of an energy recovery facility or resource recovery facility as defined in § 68-211-501, or of a solid waste disposal system as defined in § 68-211-103, or in connection with any contract authorized by § 7-54-105(a)(3), proposes to displace competition with regulation or monopoly public service shall file with the department of environment and conservation a certified copy of its proposed ordinance or resolution and of the plans for the construction, financing, operation and maintenance of the proposed project, not less than one hundred twenty (120) days before the ordinance or resolution becomes effective.
The commissioner of environment and conservation or the commissioner's authorized representative shall, upon submission in final form, review such implementing ordinance or resolution and such plans, and, based solely upon the record before the municipality or before the county, shall determine, in the commissioner's discretion, whether they are reasonably necessary in order to achieve the energy and environmental policy objectives of this chapter and of title 68. Any such determination shall be issued before the scheduled effective date of the ordinance, resolution or plan, and absent a determination entered on or before that date declaring the ordinance, resolution or plan to be in violation of this chapter or of title 68, the ordinance, resolution or plan shall be conclusively presumed to be valid under this chapter and consistent with the policy of title 68, chapter 211.
One (1) year after the effective date of any ordinance or resolution in accordance with subsection (b) and each year thereafter during the operation of the project, the municipality or county shall file a report with the commissioner describing its implementation and administration of the ordinance or resolution. In the event that the municipality or county proposes changes to the ordinance, resolution or plans for the project, any such changes that may significantly affect the project shall be submitted to the commissioner in advance in accordance with the procedures set forth in subsections (a) and (b).
The commissioner shall interpret, apply and enforce this section on behalf of the state and may promulgate such regulations as the commissioner deems to be appropriate for its implementation.
The determination made pursuant to subsection (b) shall not exempt any facility or site from regulation by the commissioner or the Tennessee solid waste disposal control board pursuant to title 68, chapter 211 and other applicable statutes. Further, such determination shall not be construed as warranting the economic or technological feasibility of the project.