I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3419

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 

OCTOBER 30, 2003

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. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Right to Know About 

3 Airport Pollution Act of 2003’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

5 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—

6 (1) the serious ground level ozone, noise, water 

7 pollution, and solid waste disposal problems attend8 ant to airport operations require a thorough evalua9 tion of all significant sources of pollution; 

10 (2) the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et 

11 seq.)—

12 (A) requires each State to reduce emis13 sions contributing to ground level ozone prob14 lems and maintain those reductions; and 

15 (B) requires the Administrator of the En16 vironmental Protection Agency to study, in ad17 dition to other sources, the effects of sporadic, 

18 extreme noise (such as jet noise near airports) 

19 on public health and welfare; 

20 (3) the Federal Water Pollution Control Act 

21 (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) establishes a regulatory 

22 and enforcement program for discharges of wastes 

23 into waters; 

24 (4) the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 

25 300f et seq.) establishes primary drinking water 

26 standards and a ground water control program; 
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1 (5) the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 

2 6901 et seq.) regulates management and disposal of 

3 solid and hazardous waste; 

4 (6) a study of air pollution problems in Cali5 fornia—

6 (A) has determined that airports are sig7 nificant sources of air pollution; and 

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

9 bubble concept; and 

10 (7) the airport bubble concept is an approach 

11 that—

12 (A) treats an airport and the area within 

13 a specific radius around the airport as a single 

14 source of pollution that emits a range of pollut15 ants, including air, noise, water, and solid 

16 waste; and 

17 (B) seeks, by implementation of specific 

18 programs or regulations, to reduce the pollution 

19 from each source within the bubble and thereby 

20 reduce the overall pollution in that area. 

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

22 the Administrator to conduct—

23 (1) a feasibility study for applying airport bub24 bles to airports as a method of assessing and reduc25 ing, where appropriate, air, noise, water, and solid 
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1 waste pollution in and around the airports and im2 proving overall environmental quality; and 

3 (2) a study of air pollutant emission standards 

4 established by the Environmental Protection Agency 

5 for airplane engines to determine whether it is fea6 sible and desirable to strengthen the standards. 

7 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

8 In this Act: 

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

12 (2) AIRPORT BUBBLE.—The term ‘‘airport bub13 ble’’ means an area—

14 (A) in and around an airport (or other fa15 cility using aircraft) within which sources of 

16 pollution and levels of pollution from those 

17 sources are to be identified and reduced; and 

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

19 noise, water, and solid waste sources of pollu20 tion in which the aggregate of each type of pol21 lutant from the respective sources is regulated 

22 as if the various sources were a single source. 

23 SEC. 4. STUDY OF USING AIRPORT BUBBLES. 

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

25 a study to determine the feasibility of regulating air, noise, 
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1 water, and solid waste pollution from all sources in and 

2 around airports using airport bubbles. 

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

4 Administrator shall establish and consult with a working 

5 group comprised of—

6 (1) the Administrator of the Federal Aviation 

7 Administration (or a designee); 

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

9 (3) the Secretary of Transportation (or a des10 ignee); 

11 (4) a representative of air quality districts; 

12 (5) a representative of environmental research 

13 groups; 

14 (6) a representative of State Audubon Societies; 

15 (7) a representative of the Sierra Club; 

16 (8) a representative of the Nature Conservancy; 

17 (9) a representative of port authorities of 

18 States; 

19 (10) an airport manager; 

20 (11) a representative of commanding officers of 

21 military air bases and stations; 

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

23 airports who is familiar with the emissions testing 

24 and repair records of those buses, the schedules of 
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1 those lines, and any problems with delays in service 

2 caused by traffic congestion; 

3 (13) a representative of the taxis and lim4 ousines that serve airports who is familiar with the 

5 emissions testing and repair records of the taxis and 

6 limousines and the volume of business generated by 

7 the taxis and limousines; 

8 (14) a representative of local law enforcement 

9 agencies or other entities responsible for traffic con10 ditions in and around airports; 

11 (15) a representative of the Air Transport As12 sociation; 

13 (16) a representative of the Airports Council 

14 International-North America; 

15 (17) a representative of environmental special16 ists from airport authorities; and 

17 (18) a representative from an aviation union 

18 representing ground crews. 

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

20 the Administrator shall—

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

22 the variety of stationary and mobile sources of air, 

23 noise, water, and solid waste pollution within airport 

24 bubbles around airports in the United States, includ25 ing—
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1 (A) aircraft, vehicles, and equipment that 

2 service aircraft (including main and auxiliary 

3 engines); and 

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

5 airports; 

6 (2) study a statistically significant number of 

7 airports serving commercial aviation in a manner de8 signed to obtain a representative sampling of such 

9 airports; 

10 (3) consider all relevant information that is 

11 available, including State implementation plans 

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

13 and airport master plans; 

14 (4) consider the air quality implications of air15 port and ground and in-flight aircraft operations, 

16 such as routing and delays; 

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

18 international travel and commerce and the environ19 mental and economic impact of regulating airports 

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

21 waste pollution; 

22 (6) propose boundaries of the areas to be in23 cluded within airport bubbles; 

24 (7) propose a definition of air pollutant emis25 sions for airport bubbles that includes hydrocarbons, 
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1 volatile organic compounds, and other ozone precur2 sors targeted for reduction under Federal air pollu3 tion law; 

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

5 noise, water, and solid waste pollution to be regu6 lated within airport bubbles and the level of reduc7 tion for each source; 

8 (9) list and evaluate programs that might be 

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

10 waste pollution within airport bubbles and the envi11 ronmental and economic impact of each of the pro12 grams, including any changes to Federal or State 

13 law (including regulations) that would be required 

14 for implementation of each of the programs; 

15 (10) evaluate the feasibility of regulating air, 

16 noise, water, and solid waste pollutants in and 

17 around airports using airport bubbles and make rec18 ommendations regarding which programs should be 

19 included in an effective implementation of airport 

20 bubble methodology; and 

21 (11) address the issues of air and noise pollu22 tion source identification and regulation that are 

23 unique to military air bases and stations. 

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

25 of enactment of this Act, the Administration shall submit 
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1 to Congress a report describing the results and rec2 ommendations of the study required by this section. 

3 SEC. 5. STUDY OF EMISSION STANDARDS FOR AIRPLANE 

4 ENGINES. 

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

6 a study of air pollutant emission standards established by 

7 the Environmental Protection Agency for airplane engines 

8 to determine whether it is feasible and desirable to 

9 strengthen the standards. 

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

11 of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit 

12 to Congress a report describing the results and rec13 ommendations of the study required by this section. 

14 SEC. 6. PROGRESS REPORTS. 

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

16 and every year thereafter, the Administrator shall submit 

17 to the appropriate congressional committees a report 

18 which details the progress being made by the agency in 

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

20 SEC. 7. REPORTING OF TOXIC CHEMICAL RELEASES. 

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

22 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall pro23 mulgate regulations requiring each airport that regularly 

24 serves commercial or military jet aircraft to report, under 

25 section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community 
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1 Right-To-Know Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. 11023) and sec2 tion 6607 of the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 (42 

3 U.S.C. 13106), releases and other waste management ac4 tivities associated with the manufacturing, processing, or 

5 other use of toxic chemicals listed under section 313 of 

6 the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know 

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

8 manufactured, processed, or otherwise used—

9 (1) during operation and maintenance of air10 craft and other motor vehicles at the airport; and 

11 (2) in the course of other airport and airline ac12 tivities. 

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

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

15 facility as defined in section 329 of the Emergency Plan16 ning and Community Right-To-Know Act of 1986 (42 

17 U.S.C. 11049).

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