IB 

Union Calendar No. 340 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3797 

[Report No. 114–445] 

To establish the bases by which the Administrator of the Environmental 

Protection Agency shall issue, implement, and enforce certain emission 

limitations and allocations for existing electric utility steam generating 

units that convert coal refuse into energy. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 22, 2015 

Mr. ROTHFUS (for himself, Mr. BARLETTA, Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, 

and Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

MARCH 7, 2016 

Additional sponsors: Mr. MCKINLEY, Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania, and Mr. 

SESSIONS

MARCH 7, 2016 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union 

and ordered to be printed 


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A BILL 

To establish the bases by which the Administrator of the 

Environmental Protection Agency shall issue, implement, 

and enforce certain emission limitations and allocations 

for existing electric utility steam generating units that 

convert coal refuse into energy. 


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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Satisfying Energy 

5 Needs and Saving the Environment Act’’ or the ‘‘SENSE 

6 Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. STANDARDS FOR COAL REFUSE POWER PLANTS. 

8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 

9 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis10 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ11 mental Protection Agency. 

12 (2) BOILER OPERATING DAY.—The term ‘‘boiler 

13 operating day’’ has the meaning given such term in 

14 section 63.10042 of title 40, Code of Federal Regu15 lations, or any successor regulation. 

16 (3) COAL REFUSE.—The term ‘‘coal refuse’’ 

17 means any byproduct of coal mining, physical coal 

18 cleaning, or coal preparation operation that contains 

19 coal, matrix material, clay, and other organic and in20 organic material. 

21 (4) COAL REFUSE ELECTRIC UTILITY STEAM

22 GENERATING UNIT.—The term ‘‘coal refuse electric 

23 utility steam generating unit’’ means an electric util24 ity steam generating unit that— 


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1 (A) is in operation as of the date of enact2 ment of this Act; 

3 (B) uses fluidized bed combustion tech4 nology to convert coal refuse into energy; and 

5 (C) uses coal refuse as at least 75 percent 

6 of the annual fuel consumed, by heat input, of 

7 the unit. 

8 (5) COAL REFUSE-FIRED FACILITY.—The term 

9 ‘‘coal refuse-fired facility’’ means all coal refuse elec10 tric utility steam generating units that are— 

11 (A) located on one or more contiguous or 

12 adjacent properties; 

13 (B) specified within the same Major Group 

14 (2-digit code), as described in the Standard In15 dustrial Classification Manual (1987); and 

16 (C) under common control of the same 

17 person (or persons under common control). 

18 (6) CROSS-STATE AIR POLLUTION RULE.—The 

19 terms ‘‘Cross-State Air Pollution Rule’’ and 

20 ‘‘CSAPR’’ mean the regulatory program promul21 gated by the Administrator to address the interstate 

22 transport of air pollution in parts 51, 52, and 97 of 

23 title 40, Code of Federal Regulations, including any 

24 subsequent or successor regulation. 


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1 (7) ELECTRIC UTILITY STEAM GENERATING

2 UNIT.—The term ‘‘electric utility steam generating 

3 unit’’ means either or both— 

4 (A) an electric utility steam generating 

5 unit, as such term is defined in section 

6 63.10042 of title 40, Code of Federal Regula7 tions, or any successor regulation; or 

8 (B) an electricity generating unit or elec9 tric generating unit, as such terms are used in 

10 CSAPR. 

11 (8) PHASE I.—The term ‘‘Phase I’’ means, with 

12 respect to CSAPR, the initial compliance period 

13 under CSAPR, identified for the 2015 and 2016 an14 nual compliance periods. 

15 (b) APPLICATION OF CSAPR TO CERTAIN COAL

16 REFUSE ELECTRIC UTILITY STEAM GENERATING

17 UNITS.— 

18 (1) COAL REFUSE ELECTRIC UTILITY STEAM

19 GENERATING UNITS COMBUSTING BITUMINOUS COAL

20 REFUSE.— 

21 (A) APPLICABILITY.—This paragraph ap22 plies with respect to any coal refuse electric 

23 utility steam generating unit that— 


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1 (i) combusts coal refuse derived from 

2 the mining and processing of bituminous 

3 coal; and 

4 (ii) is subject to sulfur dioxide allow5 ance surrender provisions pursuant to 

6 CSAPR. 

7 (B) CONTINUED APPLICABILITY OF PHASE

8 I ALLOWANCE ALLOCATIONS.—In carrying out 

9 CSAPR, the Administrator shall provide that, 

10 for any compliance period, the allocation 

11 (whether through a Federal implementation 

12 plan or State implementation plan) of sulfur di13 oxide allowances for a coal refuse electric utility 

14 steam generating unit described in subpara15 graph (A) is equivalent to the allocation of the 

16 unit-specific sulfur dioxide allowance allocation 

17 identified for such unit for Phase I, as ref18 erenced in the notice entitled ‘‘Availability of 

19 Data on Allocations of Cross-State Air Pollu20 tion Rule Allowances to Existing Electricity 

21 Generating Units’’ (79 Fed. Reg. 71674 (De22 cember 3, 2014)). 

23 (C) RULES FOR ALLOWANCE ALLOCA24 TIONS.—For any compliance period under 

25 CSAPR that commences on or after January 1, 


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1 2017, any sulfur dioxide allowance allocation 

2 provided by the Administrator to a coal refuse 

3 electric utility steam generating unit described 

4 in subparagraph (A)— 

5 (i) shall not be transferable for use by 

6 any other source not located at the same 

7 coal refuse-fired facility as the relevant 

8 coal refuse electric utility steam generating 

9 unit; 

10 (ii) may be transferable for use by an11 other source located at the same coal 

12 refuse-fired facility as the relevant coal 

13 refuse electric utility steam generating 

14 unit; 

15 (iii) may be banked for application to 

16 compliance obligations in future compli17 ance periods under CSAPR; and 

18 (iv) shall be surrendered upon the 

19 permanent cessation of operation of such 

20 coal refuse electric utility steam generating 

21 unit. 

22 (2) OTHER SOURCES.— 

23 (A) NO INCREASE IN OVERALL STATE

24 BUDGET OF SULFUR DIOXIDE ALLOWANCE AL25 LOCATIONS.—For purposes of paragraph (1), 


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1 the Administrator may not, for any compliance 

2 period under CSAPR, increase the total budget 

3 of sulfur dioxide allowance allocations for a 

4 State in which a unit described in paragraph 

5 (1)(A) is located. 

6 (B) COMPLIANCE PERIODS 2017 THROUGH

7 2020.—For any compliance period under 

8 CSAPR that commences on or after January 1, 

9 2017, but before December 31, 2020, the Ad10 ministrator shall carry out subparagraph (A) by 

11 proportionally reducing, as necessary, the unit12 specific sulfur dioxide allowance allocations 

13 from each source that— 

14 (i) is located in a State in which a 

15 unit described in paragraph (1)(A) is lo16 cated; 

17 (ii) permanently ceases operation, or 

18 converts its primary fuel source from coal 

19 to natural gas, prior to the relevant com20 pliance period; and 

21 (iii) otherwise receives an allocation of 

22 sulfur dioxide allowances under CSAPR for 

23 such period. 


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1 (c) EMISSION LIMITATIONS TO ADDRESS HYDROGEN

2 CHLORIDE AND SULFUR DIOXIDE AS HAZARDOUS AIR

3 POLLUTANTS.— 

4 (1) APPLICABILITY.—For purposes of regu5 lating emissions of hydrogen chloride or sulfur diox6 ide from a coal refuse electric utility steam gener7 ating unit under section 112 of the Clean Air Act 

8 (42 U.S.C. 7412), the Administrator— 

9 (A) shall authorize the operator of such 

10 unit to elect that such unit comply with ei11 ther— 

12 (i) an emissions standard for emis13 sions of hydrogen chloride that meets the 

14 requirements of paragraph (2); or 

15 (ii) an emission standard for emis16 sions of sulfur dioxide that meets the re17 quirements of paragraph (2); and 

18 (B) may not require that such unit comply 

19 with both an emission standard for emissions of 

20 hydrogen chloride and an emission standard for 

21 emissions of sulfur dioxide. 

22 (2) RULES FOR EMISSION LIMITATIONS.— 

23 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 

24 shall require an operator of a coal refuse elec25 tric utility steam generating unit to comply, at 


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1 the election of the operator, with no more than 

2 one of the following emission standards: 

3 (i) An emission standard for emissions 

4 of hydrogen chloride from such unit that is 

5 no more stringent than an emission rate of 

6 0.002 pounds per million British thermal 

7 units of heat input. 

8 (ii) An emission standard for emis9 sions of hydrogen chloride from such unit 

10 that is no more stringent than an emission 

11 rate of 0.02 pounds per megawatt-hour. 

12 (iii) An emission standard for emis13 sions of sulfur dioxide from such unit that 

14 is no more stringent than an emission rate 

15 of 0.20 pounds per million British thermal 

16 units of heat input. 

17 (iv) An emission standard for emis18 sions of sulfur dioxide from such unit that 

19 is no more stringent than an emission rate 

20 of 1.5 pounds per megawatt-hour. 

21 (v) An emission standard for emis22 sions of sulfur dioxide from such unit that 

23 is no more stringent than capture and con24 trol of 93 percent of sulfur dioxide across 


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1 the generating unit or group of generating 

2 units, as determined by comparing— 

3 (I) the expected sulfur dioxide 

4 generated from combustion of fuels 

5 emissions calculated based upon as6 fired fuel samples; to 

7 (II) the actual sulfur dioxide 

8 emissions as measured by a sulfur di9 oxide continuous emission monitoring 

10 system. 

11 (B) MEASUREMENT.—An emission stand12 ard described in subparagraph (A) shall be 

13 measured as a 30 boiler operating day rolling 

14 average per coal refuse electric utility steam 

15 generating unit or group of coal refuse electric 

16 utility steam generating units located at a sin17 gle coal refuse-fired facility. 


srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 340 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3797 

[Report No. 114–445] 

A BILL 

To establish the bases by which the Administrator 

refuse into energy. utility steam generating units that convert coal limitations and allocations for existing electric issue, implement, and enforce certain emission of the Environmental Protection Agency shall 

MARCH 7, 2016 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 

State of the Union and ordered to be printed 


srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS