The measurement of carbon emissions and carbon emission offset transactions related to animal agriculture operators, renewable natural gas and energy produced at animal agriculture facilities, and granting rule-making authority. (FE)

2. Also, under the bill, DATCP must facilitate trade in products and services related to transactions between animal agriculture operators and other parties for carbon emission offsets and may operate an electronic marketplace for selling and purchasing carbon emission offsets. DATCP must also do both of the following: a) conduct research on and provide grants for conducting research on carbon sequestration practices and carbon offset practices and b) monitor transactions involving carbon emission offsets between animal agriculture operators and persons that market carbon emission offsets. Under the bill, the seller and purchaser of a carbon emission offset must each pay an assessment equaling 0.5 percent of the sales price of the offset.

3. The bill also requires the Public Service Commission to develop a statewide master plan for the collection, transportation, and commercialization of renewable natural gas produced from animal wastes, biomass, and other organic sources. PSC must develop standardized pipeline interconnection agreements for renewable natural gas for both intrastate and interstate gas pipelines, and the agreements must include provisions establishing specifications for renewable natural gas injected into natural gas pipelines. Also, under the bill, PSC must require all pipeline operators to accept renewable natural gas that satisfies the specifications established in the standardized agreements developed by PSC. PSC must also conduct a study of methods for the state to provide financing support for designing, developing, and operating infrastructure for collecting and transporting renewable natural gas produced from animal wastes, biomass, and other organic sources. PSC must prepare a report detailing the results of the study and making recommendations and submit the report to the appropriate standing committees of the legislature.

4. The bill requires PSC to establish standardized power purchase agreements and standardized agreements for the provision of energy as a service between animal agriculture operators and electric utilities that involve distributed energy generation systems with a capacity of less than 1.5 megawatts. The standardized agreements must address a) net energy metering; b) rates at which electric utilities must purchase electricity from an animal agriculture operator's distributed energy generation system; c) power dispatch curtailment of an animal agriculture operator's distributed energy generation system and compensation for excess generation and parallel generation from such systems; d) conditions related to participation of an animal agriculture operator's distributed energy system in the wholesale electricity market; e) technical and operational specifications of an animal agriculture operator's distributed energy generation system; and f) monthly utility billing practices that clearly describe the buying, selling, and revenue sharing between an electric utility and the host of a distributed energy generation system.