partnership, corporation or other legal entity that operates an industrial or commercial facility.

8.__State Emergency Response Commission.__"State Emergency Response Commission" means the State Emergency Response Commission described in Title 37-B, section 792.

§1696-K.__Initiation or resumption of operation prohibited

1.__Operation prohibited.__Except as provided in section 1696- L, an industrial or commercial facility may not initiate or resume operation if:

A.__The facility has over 250 full-time employees;

B.__Hazardous substances or hazardous equipment or machinery is used in the operation of the facility; and

C.__More than 50% of the employees who will be working during the initiation or resumption of operation have worked at the facility for less than 6 months immediately preceding the initiation or resumption of operations at the facility.

2.__Rulemaking.__The Bureau of Labor Standards shall adopt rules that identify those industrial or commercial operations that use hazardous substances or hazardous equipment or machinery, but the Bureau of Labor Standards need not designate specific facilities.__The State Emergency Response Commission shall assist the Bureau of Labor Standards in identifying those operations that use hazardous substances.__Rules adopted pursuant to this subsection are routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.

A.__The rules adopted by the Bureau of Labor Standards must provide a procedure under which the operator of a facility, the employees of that facility or their recognized bargaining agent, public officials of local governmental units located in the vicinity of that facility, a local emergency planning committee or persons who reside in the vicinity of that facility may petition the Bureau of Labor Standards to determine whether the facility is subject to this section.__If the Bureau of Labor Standards determines that a facility is subject to this section upon petition or on its own motion, the Bureau of Labor Standards shall immediately notify the facility operator of that fact and, if the facility is currently in operation, order the immediate cessation of that operation.