1. Except as otherwise provided in this section and in NRS 445B.310 and 704.7318:

(a) The district board of health, county board of health or board of county commissioners in each county whose population is 100,000 or more shall establish a program for the control of air pollution and administer the program within its jurisdiction unless superseded.

(b) The program:

(1) Must include, without limitation, standards for the control of emissions, emergency procedures and variance procedures established by ordinance or local regulation which are equivalent to or stricter than those established by statute or state regulation;

(2) May, in a county whose population is 700,000 or more, include requirements for the creation, receipt and exchange for consideration of credits to reduce and control air contaminants in accordance with NRS 445B.508; and

(3) Must provide for adequate administration, enforcement, financing and staff.

(c) The district board of health, county board of health or board of county commissioners is designated as the air pollution control agency of the county for the purposes of NRS 445B.100 to 445B.640, inclusive, and the Federal Act insofar as it pertains to local programs, and that agency is authorized to take all action necessary to secure for the county the benefits of the Federal Act.

(d) Powers and responsibilities provided for in NRS 445B.210, 445B.240 to 445B.470, inclusive, 445B.560, 445B.570, 445B.580 and 445B.640 are binding upon and inure to the benefit of local air pollution control authorities within their jurisdiction.

2. The local air pollution control board shall carry out all provisions of NRS 445B.215 with the exception that notices of public hearings must be given in any newspaper, qualified pursuant to the provisions of chapter 238 of NRS, once a week for 3 weeks. The notice must specify with particularity the reasons for the proposed regulations and provide other informative details. NRS 445B.215 does not apply to the adoption of existing regulations upon transfer of authority as provided in NRS 445B.610.

3. In a county whose population is 700,000 or more, the local air pollution control board may delegate to an independent hearing officer or hearing board its authority to determine violations and levy administrative penalties for violations of the provisions of NRS 445B.100 to 445B.450, inclusive, and 445B.500 to 445B.640, inclusive, or any regulation adopted pursuant to those sections. If such a delegation is made, 17.5 percent of any penalty collected must be deposited in the county treasury in an account to be administered by the local air pollution control board to a maximum of $17,500 per year. The money in the account may only be used to defray the administrative expenses incurred by the local air pollution control board in enforcing the provisions of NRS 445B.100 to 445B.640, inclusive. The remainder of the penalty must be deposited in the county school district fund of the county where the violation occurred and must be accounted for separately in the fund. A school district may spend the money received pursuant to this section only in accordance with an annual spending plan that is approved by the local air pollution control board and shall submit an annual report to that board detailing the expenditures of the school district under the plan. A local air pollution control board shall approve an annual spending plan if the proposed expenditures set forth in the plan are reasonable and limited to:

(a) Programs of education on topics relating to air quality; and

(b) Projects to improve air quality, including, without limitation, the purchase and installation of equipment to retrofit school buses of the school district to use biodiesel, compressed natural gas or a similar fuel formulated to reduce emissions from the amount of emissions produced by the use of traditional fuels such as gasoline and diesel fuel,

which are consistent with the state implementation plan adopted by this State pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 7410 and 7502.

4. Any county whose population is less than 100,000 or any city may meet the requirements of this section for administration and enforcement through cooperative or interlocal agreement with one or more other counties, or through agreement with the State, or may establish its own program for the control of air pollution. If the county establishes such a program, it is subject to the approval of the Commission.

5. No district board of health, county board of health or board of county commissioners may adopt any regulation or establish a compliance schedule, variance order or other enforcement action relating to the control of emissions from plants which generate electricity by using steam produced by the burning of fossil fuel.

6. As used in this section, “plants which generate electricity by using steam produced by the burning of fossil fuel” means plants that burn fossil fuels in a boiler to produce steam for the production of electricity. The term does not include any plant which uses technology for a simple or combined cycle combustion turbine, regardless of whether the plant includes duct burners.

(Added to NRS by 1971, 1199; A 1973, 1819; 1975, 1126, 1782; 1977, 1559; 1979, 546; 1985, 291; 1991, 2161; 1993, 175; 1997, 1999; 1999, 1976; 2001, 1296, 1515; 2003, 44; 2007, 319; 2011, 1262; 2013, 3087)