IIB 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3797 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 16, 2016 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and 

Public Works 

AN ACT 

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. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

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

4 Act’’. 

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

6 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 

7 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis8 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ9 mental Protection Agency. 

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

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

12 section 63.10042 of title 40, Code of Federal Regu13 lations, or any successor regulation. 

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

15 means any byproduct of coal mining, physical coal 

16 cleaning, or coal preparation operation that contains 

17 coal, matrix material, clay, and other organic and in18 organic material. 

19 (4) COAL REFUSE ELECTRIC UTILITY STEAM

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

21 utility steam generating unit’’ means an electric util22 ity steam generating unit that— 

23 (A) is in operation as of the date of enact24 ment of this Act; 

25 (B) uses fluidized bed combustion tech26 nology to convert coal refuse into energy; and 


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

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

3 the unit. 

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

5 ‘‘coal refuse-fired facility’’ means all coal refuse elec6 tric utility steam generating units that are— 

7 (A) located on one or more contiguous or 

8 adjacent properties; 

9 (B) specified within the same Major Group 

10 (2-digit code), as described in the Standard In11 dustrial Classification Manual (1987); and 

12 (C) under common control of the same 

13 person (or persons under common control). 

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

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

16 ‘‘CSAPR’’ mean the regulatory program promul17 gated by the Administrator to address the interstate 

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

19 title 40, Code of Federal Regulations, including any 

20 subsequent or successor regulation. 

21 (7) ELECTRIC UTILITY STEAM GENERATING

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

23 unit’’ means either or both— 

24 (A) an electric utility steam generating 

25 unit, as such term is defined in section 


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1 63.10042 of title 40, Code of Federal Regula2 tions, or any successor regulation; or 

3 (B) an electricity generating unit or elec4 tric generating unit, as such terms are used in 

5 CSAPR. 

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

7 respect to CSAPR, the initial compliance period 

8 under CSAPR, identified for the 2015 and 2016 an9 nual compliance periods. 

10 (b) APPLICATION OF CSAPR TO CERTAIN COAL

11 REFUSE ELECTRIC UTILITY STEAM GENERATING

12 UNITS.— 

13 (1) COAL REFUSE ELECTRIC UTILITY STEAM

14 GENERATING UNITS COMBUSTING BITUMINOUS COAL

15 REFUSE.— 

16 (A) APPLICABILITY.—This paragraph ap17 plies with respect to any coal refuse electric 

18 utility steam generating unit that— 

19 (i) combusts coal refuse derived from 

20 the mining and processing of bituminous 

21 coal; and 

22 (ii) is subject to sulfur dioxide allow23 ance surrender provisions pursuant to 

24 CSAPR. 


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1 (B) CONTINUED APPLICABILITY OF PHASE

2 I ALLOWANCE ALLOCATIONS.—In carrying out 

3 CSAPR, the Administrator shall provide that, 

4 for any compliance period, the allocation 

5 (whether through a Federal implementation 

6 plan or State implementation plan) of sulfur di7 oxide allowances for a coal refuse electric utility 

8 steam generating unit described in subpara9 graph (A) is equivalent to the allocation of the 

10 unit-specific sulfur dioxide allowance allocation 

11 identified for such unit for Phase I, as ref12 erenced in the notice entitled ‘‘Availability of 

13 Data on Allocations of Cross-State Air Pollu14 tion Rule Allowances to Existing Electricity 

15 Generating Units’’ (79 Fed. Reg. 71674 (De16 cember 3, 2014)). 

17 (C) RULES FOR ALLOWANCE ALLOCA18 TIONS.—For any compliance period under 

19 CSAPR that commences on or after January 1, 

20 2017, any sulfur dioxide allowance allocation 

21 provided by the Administrator to a coal refuse 

22 electric utility steam generating unit described 

23 in subparagraph (A)— 

24 (i) shall not be transferable for use by 

25 any other source not located at the same 


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1 coal refuse-fired facility as the relevant 

2 coal refuse electric utility steam generating 

3 unit; 

4 (ii) may be transferable for use by an5 other source located at the same coal 

6 refuse-fired facility as the relevant coal 

7 refuse electric utility steam generating 

8 unit; 

9 (iii) may be banked for application to 

10 compliance obligations in future compli11 ance periods under CSAPR; and 

12 (iv) shall be surrendered upon the 

13 permanent cessation of operation of such 

14 coal refuse electric utility steam generating 

15 unit. 

16 (2) OTHER SOURCES.— 

17 (A) NO INCREASE IN OVERALL STATE

18 BUDGET OF SULFUR DIOXIDE ALLOWANCE AL19 LOCATIONS.—For purposes of paragraph (1), 

20 the Administrator may not, for any compliance 

21 period under CSAPR, increase the total budget 

22 of sulfur dioxide allowance allocations for a 

23 State in which a unit described in paragraph 

24 (1)(A) is located. 


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1 (B) COMPLIANCE PERIODS 2017 THROUGH

2 2020.—For any compliance period under 

3 CSAPR that commences on or after January 1, 

4 2017, but before December 31, 2020, the Ad5 ministrator shall carry out subparagraph (A) by 

6 proportionally reducing, as necessary, the unit7 specific sulfur dioxide allowance allocations 

8 from each source that— 

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

10 unit described in paragraph (1)(A) is lo11 cated; 

12 (ii) permanently ceases operation, or 

13 converts its primary fuel source from coal 

14 to natural gas, prior to the relevant com15 pliance period; and 

16 (iii) otherwise receives an allocation of 

17 sulfur dioxide allowances under CSAPR for 

18 such period. 

19 (c) EMISSION LIMITATIONS TO ADDRESS HYDROGEN

20 CHLORIDE AND SULFUR DIOXIDE AS HAZARDOUS AIR

21 POLLUTANTS.— 

22 (1) APPLICABILITY.—For purposes of regu23 lating emissions of hydrogen chloride or sulfur diox24 ide from a coal refuse electric utility steam generVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Mar 16, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3797.RFS H3797

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1 ating unit under section 112 of the Clean Air Act 

2 (42 U.S.C. 7412), the Administrator— 

3 (A) shall authorize the operator of such 

4 unit to elect that such unit comply with ei5 ther— 

6 (i) an emissions standard for emis7 sions of hydrogen chloride that meets the 

8 requirements of paragraph (2); or 

9 (ii) an emission standard for emis10 sions of sulfur dioxide that meets the re11 quirements of paragraph (2); and 

12 (B) may not require that such unit comply 

13 with both an emission standard for emissions of 

14 hydrogen chloride and an emission standard for 

15 emissions of sulfur dioxide. 

16 (2) RULES FOR EMISSION LIMITATIONS.— 

17 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 

18 shall require an operator of a coal refuse elec19 tric utility steam generating unit to comply, at 

20 the election of the operator, with no more than 

21 one of the following emission standards: 

22 (i) An emission standard for emissions 

23 of hydrogen chloride from such unit that is 

24 no more stringent than an emission rate of 


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1 0.002 pounds per million British thermal 

2 units of heat input. 

3 (ii) An emission standard for emis4 sions of hydrogen chloride from such unit 

5 that is no more stringent than an emission 

6 rate of 0.02 pounds per megawatt-hour. 

7 (iii) An emission standard for emis8 sions of sulfur dioxide from such unit that 

9 is no more stringent than an emission rate 

10 of 0.20 pounds per million British thermal 

11 units of heat input. 

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

14 is no more stringent than an emission rate 

15 of 1.5 pounds per megawatt-hour. 

16 (v) An emission standard for emis17 sions of sulfur dioxide from such unit that 

18 is no more stringent than capture and con19 trol of 93 percent of sulfur dioxide across 

20 the generating unit or group of generating 

21 units, as determined by comparing— 

22 (I) the expected sulfur dioxide 

23 generated from combustion of fuels 

24 emissions calculated based upon as25 fired fuel samples; to 


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1 (II) the actual sulfur dioxide 

2 emissions as measured by a sulfur di3 oxide continuous emission monitoring 

4 system. 

5 (B) MEASUREMENT.—An emission stand6 ard described in subparagraph (A) shall be 

7 measured as a 30 boiler operating day rolling 

8 average per coal refuse electric utility steam 

9 generating unit or group of coal refuse electric 

10 utility steam generating units located at a sin11 gle coal refuse-fired facility. 

Passed the House of Representatives March 15, 

2016. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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