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110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 204 

To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to 

conduct a feasibility study for applying airport bubbles as a method 

of identifying, assessing, and reducing the adverse environmental impacts 

of airport ground and flight operations and improving the overall quality 

of the environment, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 4, 2007 

Mr. ROTHMAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on 

Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to conduct a feasibility study for applying 

airport bubbles as a method of identifying, assessing, 

and reducing the adverse environmental impacts of airport ground and flight operations and improving the 

overall quality of the environment, and for other purposes. 

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; AND TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

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

3 ‘‘Right to Know About Airport Pollution Act of 2007’’. 

4 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

5 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; and table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Findings and purpose. 

Sec. 3. Definitions. 

Sec. 4. Study of using airport bubbles. 

Sec. 5. Study of emission standards for airplane engines. 

Sec. 6. Progress reports. 

Sec. 7. Reporting of toxic chemical releases. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

8 (1) The serious ground level ozone, noise, water 

9 pollution, and solid waste disposal problems attend10 ant to airport operations require a thorough evalua11 tion of all significant sources of pollution. 

12 (2) The Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et 

13 seq.)— 

14 (A) requires each State to reduce emis15 sions contributing to ground level ozone prob16 lems and maintain those reductions; and 

17 (B) requires the Administrator of the En18 vironmental Protection Agency to study, in ad19 dition to other sources, the effects of sporadic, 

20 extreme noise (such as jet noise near airports) 

21 on public health and welfare. 


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1 (3) The Federal Water Pollution Control Act 

2 (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) establishes a regulatory 

3 and enforcement program for discharges of wastes 

4 into waters. 

5 (4) The Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 

6 300f et seq.) establishes primary drinking water 

7 standards and a ground water control program. 

8 (5) The Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 

9 6901 et seq.) regulates management and disposal of 

10 solid and hazardous waste. 

11 (6) A study of air pollution problems in Cali12 fornia— 

13 (A) has determined that airports are sig14 nificant sources of air pollution; and 

15 (B) has led to the creation of an airport 

16 bubble concept. 

17 (7) The airport bubble concept is an approach 

18 that— 

19 (A) treats an airport and the area within 

20 a specific radius around the airport as a single 

21 source of pollution that emits a range of pollut22 ants, including air, noise, water, and solid 

23 waste; and 

24 (B) seeks, by implementation of specific 

25 programs or regulations, to reduce the pollution 


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1 from each source within the bubble and thereby 

2 reduce the overall pollution in that area. 

3 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to require 

4 the Administrator to conduct— 

5 (1) a feasibility study for applying airport bub6 bles to airports as a method of assessing and reduc7 ing, where appropriate, air, noise, water, and solid 

8 waste pollution in and around the airports and im9 proving overall environmental quality; and 

10 (2) a study of air pollutant emission standards 

11 established by the Environmental Protection Agency 

12 for airplane engines to determine whether it is fea13 sible and desirable to strengthen the standards. 

14 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

15 In this Act: 

16 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis17 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ18 mental Protection Agency. 

19 (2) AIRPORT BUBBLE.—The term ‘‘airport bub20 ble’’ means an area— 

21 (A) in and around an airport (or other fa22 cility using aircraft) within which sources of 

23 pollution and levels of pollution from those 

24 sources are to be identified and reduced; and 


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1 (B) containing a variety of types of air, 

2 noise, water, and solid waste sources of pollu3 tion in which the aggregate of each type of pol4 lutant from the respective sources is regulated 

5 as if the various sources were a single source. 

6 SEC. 4. STUDY OF USING AIRPORT BUBBLES. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall conduct 

8 a study to determine the feasibility of regulating air, noise, 

9 water, and solid waste pollution from all sources in and 

10 around airports using airport bubbles. 

11 (b) WORKING GROUP.—In conducting the study, the 

12 Administrator shall establish and consult with a working 

13 group comprised of— 

14 (1) the Administrator of the Federal Aviation 

15 Administration (or a designee); 

16 (2) the Secretary of Defense (or a designee); 

17 (3) the Secretary of Transportation (or a des18 ignee); 

19 (4) a representative of air quality districts; 

20 (5) a representative of environmental research 

21 groups; 

22 (6) a representative of State Audubon Societies; 

23 (7) a representative of the Sierra Club; 

24 (8) a representative of the Nature Conservancy; 


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1 (9) a representative of port authorities of 

2 States; 

3 (10) an airport manager; 

4 (11) a representative of commanding officers of 

5 military air bases and stations; 

6 (12) a representative of the bus lines that serve 

7 airports who is familiar with the emissions testing 

8 and repair records of those buses, the schedules of 

9 those lines, and any problems with delays in service 

10 caused by traffic congestion; 

11 (13) a representative of the taxis and lim12 ousines that serve airports who is familiar with the 

13 emissions testing and repair records of the taxis and 

14 limousines and the volume of business generated by 

15 the taxis and limousines; 

16 (14) a representative of local law enforcement 

17 agencies or other entities responsible for traffic con18 ditions in and around airports; 

19 (15) a representative of the Air Transport As20 sociation; 

21 (16) a representative of the Airports Council 

22 International—North America; 

23 (17) a representative of environmental special24 ists from airport authorities; and 


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1 (18) a representative from an aviation union 

2 representing ground crews. 

3 (c) REQUIRED ELEMENTS.—In conducting the study, 

4 the Administrator shall— 

5 (1) collect, analyze, and consider information on 

6 the variety of stationary and mobile sources of air, 

7 noise, water, and solid waste pollution within airport 

8 bubbles around airports in the United States, includ9 ing— 

10 (A) aircraft, vehicles, and equipment that 

11 service aircraft (including main and auxiliary 

12 engines); and 

13 (B) buses, taxis, and limousines that serve 

14 airports; 

15 (2) study a statistically significant number of 

16 airports serving commercial aviation in a manner de17 signed to obtain a representative sampling of such 

18 airports; 

19 (3) consider all relevant information that is 

20 available, including State implementation plans 

21 under the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.) 

22 and airport master plans; 

23 (4) consider the air quality implications of air24 port and ground and in-flight aircraft operations, 

25 such as routing and delays; 


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1 (5) assess the role of airports in interstate and 

2 international travel and commerce and the environ3 mental and economic impact of regulating airports 

4 as significant sources of air, noise, water, and solid 

5 waste pollution; 

6 (6) propose boundaries of the areas to be in7 cluded within airport bubbles; 

8 (7) propose a definition of air pollutant emis9 sions for airport bubbles that includes hydrocarbons, 

10 volatile organic compounds, and other ozone precur11 sors targeted for reduction under Federal air pollu12 tion law; 

13 (8) develop an inventory of each source of air, 

14 noise, water, and solid waste pollution to be regu15 lated within airport bubbles and the level of reduc16 tion for each source; 

17 (9) list and evaluate programs that might be 

18 implemented to reduce air, noise, water, and solid 

19 waste pollution within airport bubbles and the envi20 ronmental and economic impact of each of the pro21 grams, including any changes to Federal or State 

22 law (including regulations) that would be required 

23 for implementation of each of the programs; 

24 (10) evaluate the feasibility of regulating air, 

25 noise, water, and solid waste pollutants in and 


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1 around airports using airport bubbles and make rec2 ommendations regarding which programs should be 

3 included in an effective implementation of airport 

4 bubble methodology; and 

5 (11) address the issues of air and noise pollu6 tion source identification and regulation that are 

7 unique to military air bases and stations. 

8 (d) REPORT.—Not later than 3 years after the date 

9 of enactment of this Act, the Administration shall submit 

10 to Congress a report describing the results and rec11 ommendations of the study required by this section. 

12 SEC. 5. STUDY OF EMISSION STANDARDS FOR AIRPLANE 

13 ENGINES. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall conduct 

15 a study of air pollutant emission standards established by 

16 the Environmental Protection Agency for airplane engines 

17 to determine whether it is feasible and desirable to 

18 strengthen the standards. 

19 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the date 

20 of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit 

21 to Congress a report describing the results and rec22 ommendations of the study required by this section. 

23 SEC. 6. PROGRESS REPORTS. 

24 Not later than 1 year after the enactment of this Act, 

25 and every year thereafter, the Administrator shall submit 


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1 to the appropriate congressional committees a report 

2 which details the progress being made by the agency in 

3 complying with section 4 and section 5 of this Act. 

4 SEC. 7. REPORTING OF TOXIC CHEMICAL RELEASES. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

6 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall pro7 mulgate regulations requiring each airport that regularly 

8 serves commercial or military jet aircraft to report, under 

9 section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community 

10 Right-To-Know Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. 11023) and sec11 tion 6607 of the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 (42 

12 U.S.C. 13106), releases and other waste management ac13 tivities associated with the manufacturing, processing, or 

14 other use of toxic chemicals listed under section 313 of 

15 the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know 

16 Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. 11023), including toxic chemicals 

17 manufactured, processed, or otherwise used— 

18 (1) during operation and maintenance of air19 craft and other motor vehicles at the airport; and 

20 (2) in the course of other airport and airline ac21 tivities. 

22 (b) TREATMENT AS A FACILITY.—For the purpose 

23 of subsection (a), an airport shall be considered to be a 

24 facility as defined in section 329 of the Emergency PlanVerDate Aug 31 2005 20:21 Feb 01, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H204.IH H204

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1 ning and Community Right-To-Know Act of 1986 (42 

2 U.S.C. 11049). 

Æ 


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