The Florida Senate

Each county and municipality or any combination thereof may establish and administer a local pollution control program if it complies with this act. Local pollution control programs in existence on the effective date of this act shall not be ousted of jurisdiction if such local program complies with this act. All local pollution control programs, whether established before or after the effective date of this act, must:

The department shall have the exclusive authority and power to require and issue permits; provided, however, that the department may delegate its power and authority to local pollution control organizations if the department finds it necessary or desirable to do so.

If the department finds that the location, character or extent of particular concentrations of population, contaminant sources, the geographic, topographic or meteorological considerations, or any combinations thereof, are such as to make impracticable the maintenance of appropriate levels of air and water quality without an areawide pollution control program, the department may determine the boundaries within which such program is necessary and require it as the only acceptable alternative to direct state administration.

Any municipality or county in which the department administers its pollution control program pursuant to subsection (4) may with the approval of the department establish or resume a municipal or county pollution control program which meets the requirements of subsection (1).

Notwithstanding the existence of any local pollution control program, whether created by a county or municipality or a combination thereof or by a special law, the department shall have jurisdiction to enforce the provisions of this chapter and any rules, regulations, or orders issued pursuant to this chapter throughout the state; however, whenever rules, regulations, or orders of a stricter or more stringent nature have been adopted by a local pollution control program, the department, if it elects to assert its jurisdiction, shall then enforce the stricter rules, regulations, or orders in the jurisdiction where they apply.

It shall be a violation of this chapter to violate, or fail to comply with, a rule, regulation, or order of a stricter or more stringent nature adopted by a local pollution control program, and the same shall be punishable as provided by s. 403.161. If any local program changes any rule, regulation, or order, whether or not of a stricter or more stringent nature, such change shall not apply to any installation or source operating at the time of such change in conformance with a currently valid permit issued by the department.

If any local program changes any rule, regulation, or order, whether or not of a stricter or more stringent nature, such change shall not apply to any installation or source located north of the Cross Florida Greenway, permitted and under construction as of May 1, 1997. Provisions of this subsection shall not apply to any facility which primarily generates electric power.

Nothing in this act shall prevent any local pollution control program from enforcing its own rules, regulations, or orders. All remedies of the department under this chapter shall be available, as an alternative to local enforcement provisions, to each local pollution control program to enforce any provision of local law. When the department and a local program institute separate lawsuits against the same party for violation of a state or local pollution law, rule, regulation, or order arising out of the same act, the suits shall be consolidated when possible.

Each local pollution control program shall cooperate with and assist the department in carrying out its powers, duties, and functions.