I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3519

To amend the Clean Air Act.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 23, 1996

Mr. BARTON of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Commerce

A BILL

To amend the Clean Air Act.

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, REFERENCES, AND TABLE OF

4 CONTENTS.

5 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

6 ‘‘Clean Air Act Amendments of 1996’’.

7 (b) REFERENCES.—Whenever in this Act an amend8 ment or repeal is expressed in terms of an amendment

9 to, or repeal of, a section or other provision, the reference

10 shall be considered to be made to a section or other provi11 sion of the Clean Air Act.
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1 (c) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents is

2 as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title, references, and table of contents.

Sec. 2. Operating permits.

Sec. 3. Enhanced monitoring.

Sec. 4. Recognition of effective controls.

Sec. 5. Sanctions.

Sec. 6. Hazardous air pollutants.

Sec. 7. Voluntary controls adopted prior to nonattainment.

Sec. 8. Attainment date determinations.

Sec. 9. Attainment redesignations.

Sec. 10. Credit for episodic controls.

Sec. 11. Opt-in reformulated gas areas.

Sec. 12. NOx reductions for reformulated gas.

Sec. 13. Establishing national primary ambient air quality standards.

Sec. 14. Transportation conformity.

Sec. 15. Overwhelming transport.

Sec. 16. Automobile inspection and maintenance.

Sec. 17. Emissions trading.

3 SEC. 2. OPERATING PERMITS.

4 (a) DEFINITION OF APPLICABLE REQUIREMENT.—

5 Section 501 (42 U.S.C. 7661) is amended by adding the

6 following new paragraph after paragraph (4):

7 ‘‘(5) APPLICABLE REQUIREMENT.—The term

8 ‘applicable requirement’ means any requirement pro9 mulgated by the Administrator pursuant to section

10 111 (42 U.S.C. 7411), section 112 (42 U.S.C. 7412)

11 with the exception of section 112(r), section 129 (42

12 U.S.C. 7429), Section 165 (42 U.S.C. 7475), sub13 sections (e) and (f) of section 183 (42 U.S.C.

14 7511b), section 328 (42 U.S.C. 7627), title IV or

15 title VI (unless the permitting authority determines

16 that a requirement imposed pursuant to title VI

17 need not be contained in a permit issued under this
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1 title) and any limitation on emissions or operations

2 contained in a construction permit issued pursuant

3 to Parts C or D of title I. The term ‘applicable re4 quirement’ also includes any other requirement pro5 vided for in an applicable state implementation plan,

6 except that a requirement imposed pursuant to a

7 State minor new source review program under sec8 tion 110(a)(2) (42 U.S.C. 7410(a)(2)) shall not be

9 considered an applicable requirement for purposes of

10 this title. Notwithstanding this paragraph, any per11 mitting authority may provide for the terms of per12 mits issued under its minor new source review to be

13 appended to or incorporated in an operating permit

14 issued under this subchapter. Nothing in this para15 graph shall affect the authority of any person to en16 force any requirement imposed under any rule, per17 mit, or implementation plan under this Act.’’.

18 (b) ASSURANCE OF OPERATING FLEXIBILITY.—(1)

19 Section 502 (b)(10) (42 U.S.C. 766la(b)(10)), is amended

20 to read as follows:

21 ‘‘(10) The permitting authority may not require

22 any source to obtain or modify a permit issued

23 under this title for any physical or operational

24 change at the source or for taking any other action

25 prior to the date 7 days after the physical or oper-
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1 ational change or other action is initiated. Nothing

2 in this title shall be construed to alter the require3 ments of any other title of this Act that a permit

4 be obtained before construction or modification of a

5 source. Nothing in this paragraph shall preclude any

6 State from continuing to impose any requirement or

7 employ any procedure separate and apart from the

8 program required under this title, provided that such

9 requirements and procedures shall not be applicable

10 requirements under this title.’’.

11 (2) Section 502(b) (42 U.S.C. 766la(b)) is

12 amended by adding the following paragraph after

13 paragraph (10):

14 ‘‘(11) A provision giving major stationary

15 sources the option of obtaining permits that would

16 allow emissions increases and decreases at various

17 units within the major stationary source without

18 permit revisions if overall emissions limits for the

19 major stationary source are not exceeded and

20 preconstruction review is not required under title I.

21 Nothing in this paragraph shall preclude any State

22 from continuing to impose any requirement or em23 ploy any procedure separate and apart from the pro24 gram required under this title, provided that such
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1 requirements and procedures shall not be applicable

2 requirements under this title.’’.

3 (c) SANCTIONS AND FEDERAL IMPLEMENTATION.—

4 Section 502(d) (42 U.S.C. 7661a(d)) is amended by in5 serting before the period at the end of subparagraphs (A)

6 and (B) of paragraph (2) and before the period at the

7 end of (3) the following: ‘‘in any case in which the Admin8 istrator determines that such failure will cause the State

9 to fail to attain a national primary ambient air quality

10 standard by the applicable attainment date’’.

11 (d) PERMIT TERM.—Section 502(b)(5)(B) is amend12 ed by striking out ‘‘5 years’’ and inserting ‘‘10 years’’.

13 SEC. 3. ENHANCED MONITORING.

14 Section 114(a) (42 U.S.C. 7414(a)(3)) is amended

15 by striking paragraph (3) and inserting the following:

16 ‘‘(3) The Administrator shall in the case of any

17 person which is the owner or operator of a major

18 source, and may, in the case of any other person, re19 quire submission of compliance certifications. Com20 pliance certifications shall include (A) identification

21 of the applicable requirement that is the basis of the

22 certification, (B) the method used for determining

23 the compliance status of the source, and (C) its com24 pliance status. Compliance certifications and mon25 itoring data shall be subject to subsection (c) of this
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1 section. Submission of a compliance certification

2 shall in no way limit the Administrator’s authorities

3 to investigate or otherwise implement this Act.

4 ‘‘(4) Nothing in this section or in title V shall

5 authorize the Administrator to revise significantly,

6 or to require significant revision of, an existing com7 pliance method without employing procedures, such

8 as a rulemaking, to allow meaningful comment on

9 that revision and to assess the effect of the revision

10 on the stringency of the underlying emission stand11 ard or limitation. Nothing in this section or section

12 113 (42 U.S.C. 7413) shall authorize the use of evi13 dence other than the applicable compliance method

14 or test method to establish a violation of the numeri15 cal component of an emission limitation or standard.

16 For purposes of this paragraph, compliance method

17 as test method shall meet the requirements con18 tained in a regulation or permit for monitoring or

19 testing to determine compliance with the applicable

20 emission standard or limitation. Nothing in this sub21 paragraph shall limit the authority of the Adminis22 trator to increase the stringency of controls or to im23 pose new controls, as required under any other sec24 tion of this Act.
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1 SEC. 4. RECOGNITION OF EFFECTIVE CONTROLS.

2 Section 302 (42 U.S.C. 7602) is amended by adding

3 the following at the end thereof:

4 ‘‘(aa) POTENTIAL TO EMIT.—The term ‘potential to

5 emit’ means the maximum capacity of a stationary source

6 to emit any regulated air pollutant under its physical and

7 operational design. Any physical or operational limit on

8 the capacity of a source to emit any regulated air pollut9 ant, including any limit enforceable under Federal, State,

10 or local law and including any pollution control equipment

11 and restrictions on hours of operation or on the type or

12 amount of material used, produced, stored, combusted or

13 processed at such source shall be treated as part of its

14 design if the limitation is effective.’’.

15 SEC. 5. SANCTIONS.

16 The first sentence of section 179(a) (42 U.S.C.

17 7509(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘one of the sanctions re18 ferred to in subsection (b) shall apply, as selected by the

19 Administrator’’ and all that follows down through the pe20 riod at the end thereof and inserting ‘‘the Administrator

21 may apply one of the sanction referred to in subsection

22 (b) if the Administrator finds that such deficiency is likely

23 to result in a failure by the State to attain a national pri24 mary ambient air quality standard by the applicable at25 tainment date.’’.
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1 SEC. 6. HAZARDOUS AIR POLLUTANTS.

2 Section 112(j)(6) is amended in the second sentence

3 by striking all after ‘‘the Administrator shall revise such

4 permit’’ and inserting ‘‘to comply with such standard and

5 such revision shall take effect on the date 10 years after

6 the date such standard is promulgated.’’.

7 SEC. 7. VOLUNTARY CONTROLS ADOPTED PRIOR TO NON8 ATTAINMENT.

9 Section 182(b)(1)(C) is amended by adding the fol10 lowing at the end thereof: ‘‘Any measures that were not

11 expressly required by this Act, but that were voluntarily

12 implemented, prior to the designation of the area as a non13 attainment area shall be credited as additional reductions

14 for purposes of any revised plan adopted for the area pur15 suant to this part following designation of the area as an

16 ozone nonattainment area.’’.

17 SEC. 8. ATTAINMENT DATE DETERMINATIONS.

18 (a) PARAGRAPH (5) EXTENSIONS.—Section

19 181(a)(5)(B) is amended to read as follows:

20 ‘‘(B)(i) no more than one exceedance of the na21 tional ambient air quality standard for ozone has oc22 curred in the area in the year preceding the Exten23 sion Year,

24 ‘‘(ii) the design value of the area (based on data

25 from the year preceding the extension year) does not

26 exceed the design value for the current classification
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1 of the area as specified in table 1 of paragraph (1),

2 or

3 ‘‘(iii) the Administrator determines that infre4 quent episodic variations in air pollution levels

5 caused by weather impact an area’s ability to dem6 onstrate attainment.’’.

7 (b) ADDITIONAL EXTENSION FOR CERTAIN

8 AREAS.—Section 181(a) is amended by adding the follow9 ing at the end thereof:

10 ‘‘(6) ATTAINMENT FOLLOWED BY VIOLATION.—

11 Upon application by any State, the Administrator

12 may extend, for up to an additional 3 years, the date

13 specified in Table I of paragraph (1) of this sub14 section and the dates specified in section 182(b) re15 garding reasonable further progress, if—

16 ‘‘(A) the area has in a 3-year period prior

17 to the attainment date, qualified for redesigna18 tion as attainment for ozone, but

19 ‘‘(B) subsequent to such 3-year period, the

20 area has violated the ozone standard.

21 No more than one extension may be issued under

22 this paragraph for a single nonattainment area.’’.

23 SEC. 9. ATTAINMENT REDESIGNATIONS.

24 Section 107(d)(3) is amended as follows:
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1 (1) By amending the second sentence of sub2 paragraph (D) to read as follows: ‘‘The Adminis3 trator shall publish notice in the Federal Register of

4 the Administrator’s receipt of a request for redesig5 nation. The Administrator shall also publish notice

6 in the Federal Register of the Administrator’s pro7 posed approval or denial within 90 days after receipt

8 of a complete State redesignation submittal and ap9 prove or deny such redesignation within 90 days

10 thereafter.’’.

11 (2) By adding the following at the end of sub12 paragraph (E):

13 ‘‘If a State requests the Administrator to redesignate an

14 area as attainment and submits information to the Admin15 istrator regarding such area adequate to demonstrate

16 compliance with clauses (ii) through (v) and compliance

17 (for a period of 3 years prior to the submission) with

18 clause (i) and if the Administrator fails to publish notice

19 in the Federal Register of the Administrator’s proposed

20 approval or denial of such request within 90 days after

21 receipt of a complete State redesignation request or fails

22 to approve or deny such request within 90 days thereafter,

23 the area shall be deemed to be redesignated as an attain24 ment area by operation of law on the date 180 days after
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1 the Administrator’s receipt of a complete State redesigna2 tion request.’’.

3 SEC. 10. CREDIT FOR EPISODIC CONTROLS.

4 Section 110(a) is amended by inserting the following

5 new subparagraph immediately after paragraph (3):

6 ‘‘(4) In determining whether the provisions of any

7 plan or plan revision submitted under this Act are ade8 quate to attain and maintain any national primary or sec9 ondary ambient air quality standard, the Administrator

10 shall provide appropriate credits for plan provisions which

11 are designed to control air pollution only during certain

12 periods when levels of one or more air pollutants are, or

13 are likely to be, at higher levels than at other periods.’’.

14 SEC. 11. OPT-IN REFORMULATED GAS AREAS.

15 Section 211(k)(6)(A) of the Clean Air Act is amended

16 as follows:

17 (1) By inserting the following after the second

18 sentence: ‘‘No area included in the coverage of the

19 prohibition set forth in paragraph (5) pursuant to

20 an application under this paragraph may continue to

21 be included in such prohibition after December 31,

22 1999, unless the Governor of the State in which

23 such area is located has notified the Administrator

24 of such continued inclusion prior to December 31,
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1 1997, and the Administrator has published such no2 tice in the Federal Register.’’.

3 (2) By adding the following at the end thereof:

4 ‘‘An area that has been included in the coverage of

5 the prohibition set forth in paragraph (5) pursuant

6 to an application under this paragraph may subse7 quently be excluded from such coverage pursuant to

8 an application by the Governor to the Administrator,

9 but such exclusion shall not take effect for a period

10 of 1-year after the application is approved (in the

11 case of Phase I Reformulated Gas Regulations) or 8-

12 years after the date on which the area was first in13 cluded in the coverage of such prohibition (in the

14 case of Phase II Reformulated Gas Regulations).

15 After an area is excluded from coverage pursuant to

16 the preceding sentence, any subsequent inclusion (or

17 subsequent exclusion) of the area from such cov18 erage shall not take effect for a period of 1-year

19 after the Governor’s application is approved. A Gov20 ernor’s application shall be treated as approved

21 under this subparagraph on the date on which the

22 Administrator publishes notice of such approval in

23 the Federal Register.’’.
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1 SEC. 12. NOΧ REDUCTIONS FOR REFORMULATED GAS.

2 Section 211(k)(2)(A) of the Clean Air Act is amended

3 by adding the following at the end thereof: ‘‘The Adminis4 trator may not require that emissions of oxides of nitrogen

5 (NOΧ) from baseline vehicles when using the reformulated

6 gasoline be less than emissions from such vehicles when

7 using baseline gasoline.’’.

8 SEC. 13. ESTABLISHING NATIONAL PRIMARY AMBIENT AIR

9 QUALITY STANDARDS.

10 Section 109 of the Clean Air Act is amended as fol11 lows:

12 (1) At the end of subsection (a) add the follow13 ing:

14 ‘‘(3) Within two years after the enactment of this

15 paragraph the Administrator shall promulgate national

16 primary ambient air quality goals and revised national pri17 mary ambient air quality standards.’’.

18 (2) In subsection (b)(1), strike ‘‘prescribed,

19 under subsection (a)’’ and insert ‘‘prescribed under

20 subsection (a)(1)’’.

21 (3) Strike the last sentence of subsection (a)(1)

22 and insert ‘‘The national primary ambient air qual23 ity goals promulgated under subsection (a)(3) shall

24 set forth a level of ambient air quality, based on

25 such criteria and allowing an adequate margin of

26 safety, that is requisite to protect the public health.
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1 In establishing such level the Administrator shall not

2 take into account infrequent episodic variations in

3 air pollution levels that are caused by weather. The

4 revised national primary ambient air quality stand5 ards promulgated under subsection (a)(3) shall be as

6 close to such national primary ambient air quality

7 goals as feasible such that the incremental costs of

8 attaining such standard do not exceed the incremen9 tal benefits of attaining the standard.’’.

10 SEC. 14. TRANSPORTATION CONFORMITY.

11 Section 176 is amended to read as follows:

12 ‘‘SEC. 176. TRANSPORTATION CONFORMITY.

13 ‘‘Beginning on November 15, 1996, and at 4-year in14 tervals thereafter, each State shall submit a revised inven15 tory and performance plan for review by the Adminis16 trator. Such plan shall include a certification by the State

17 that the plan has been developed so as to meet air quality

18 goals. The applicability of a State approved implementa19 tion plan shall become effective for the purposes of this

20 section upon signature of the Governor and shall continue

21 unless disapproved by the Administrator within 30 days.

22 The form and content of the inventory and performance

23 plan shall solely be within the purview of each State and

24 the Administrator shall not disapprove such plan unless

25 the Administrator determines that a State has developed
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1 an inventory and plan without adhering to such State’s

2 own processes and procedures. If not disapproved within

3 30 days, such inventories and plans shall be considered

4 approved. Nothing in this section shall require the submis5 sion of an inventory or plan more than once every 4

6 years.’’.

7 SEC. 15. OVERWHELMING TRANSPORT.

8 Section 181 is amended by adding the following at

9 the end thereof:

10 ‘‘(d) OVERWHELMING TRANSPORT.—If, based on

11 photochemical grid modeling demonstrations or any other

12 analytical method determined by the Administrator to be

13 as effective, the Administrator determines that the area

14 is a downwind nonattainment area receiving ozone or

15 ozone precursor transport from outside the area and con16 trol of ozone concentrations is beyond the ability of the

17 area to control because volatile organic compounds and ox18 ides of nitrogen from sources within such area do not

19 make a significant contribution to ozone concentrations in

20 such area (or in any other ozone nonattainment area), the

21 Administrator may redesignate the area as attainment or

22 as having a lower classification.’’.

23 SEC. 16. AUTOMOBILE INSPECTION AND MAINTENANCE.

24 Section 182(c)(3)(C)(iv) is amended by inserting

25 ‘‘safety inspection approval or’’ after ‘‘denial of’’.
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1 SEC. 17. EMISSIONS TRADING.

2 Section 110 is amended by inserting the following

3 new subsection immediately before subsection (f):

4 ‘‘(e) EMISSIONS TRADING PROGRAMS.—The Admin5 istrator shall approve any emissions trading program sub6 mitted under this section as part of an applicable imple7 mentation plan or implementation plan revision for any

8 area unless the Administrator determines that such pro9 gram would result in the failure of a nonattainment area

10 to attain the national primary or secondary ambient air

11 quality standards by the applicable attainment date or in

12 the failure of an area that has been designated as attain13 ment to maintain such standards. The Administrator shall

14 not be required to approve any plan which will result in

15 increased emissions (beyond the maintenance plan level)

16 of the criteria pollutant for which the area is classified

17 as nonattainment.’’.

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