I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1760 

To mitigate the effects of black carbon emissions in the United States and 

throughout the world. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 26, 2009 

Mr. INSLEE (for himself, Mr. WELCH, and Mr. HONDA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Foreign Affairs and Science 

and Technology, 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 mitigate the effects of black carbon emissions in the 

United States and throughout the world. 

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 ‘‘Black Carbon Emis5 sions Reduction Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. BLACK CARBON. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Black carbon is a particulate pollutant that 

2 contributes significantly to warming of the Earth’s 

3 climate system by absorbing radiation, converting it 

4 into heat, and releasing heat energy into the atmos5 phere. The atmospheric residence of black carbon is 

6 usually less than 2 weeks, making this pollutant an 

7 important candidate for policy action to immediately 

8 mitigate global warming, including the threat of ab9 rupt climate change. 

10 (2) Black carbon has a particularly detrimental 

11 impact on snow and ice-covered surfaces, such as the 

12 Arctic and the Tibetan Plateau, by reducing surface 

13 reflectivity and accelerating melting. 

14 (3) Black carbon is a component of particulate 

15 matter regulated under the Clean Air Act, however 

16 it is not explicitly regulated as a global warming 

17 agent under United States law or by the United Na18 tions Framework Convention on Climate Change or 

19 other international instruments. 

20 (4) Through existing clean air programs, the 

21 United States has substantially reduced black car22 bon emissions, but more can be done. 

23 (5) Internationally, governments should help 

24 spur technological innovation and energy technology 

25 deployment in countries where major black carbon 


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1 emissions still occur through industrial activities, ve2 hicle emissions, agriculture and forestry practices, 

3 and residential cooking and heating. 

4 (6) Human exposure to black carbon is a seri5 ous threat to public health in both developed and de6 veloping countries. Actions to reduce exposure to 

7 black carbon will produce immediate and significant 

8 public health benefits. 

9 (7) Taking immediate cost-effective and techno10 logically feasible action to significantly reduce black 

11 carbon emissions will help protect the Arctic and 

12 other areas that are imminently threatened by 

13 warming. 

14 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are— 

15 (1) to immediately take action to reduce black 

16 carbon emissions; 

17 (2) to identify cost-effective ways to achieve ad18 ditional reductions of domestic and international 

19 black carbon emissions; 

20 (3) to achieve the public health and environ21 mental benefits of reduced black carbon emissions, 

22 including contributing to a reduction in the rate of 

23 global warming; and 


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1 (4) to take action to protect areas particularly 

2 affected by black carbon emissions, such as the Arc3 tic. 

4 (c) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this Act: 

5 (1) The term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Ad6 ministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. 

7 (2) The term ‘‘black carbon’’ means the light8 absorbing component of carbonaceous aerosols. 

9 (d) BLACK CARBON ABATEMENT REPORT.—Not 

10 later than one year after the date of enactment of this 

11 Act, the Administrator shall, in consultation with other 

12 appropriate Federal agencies, submit to Congress a report 

13 regarding black carbon emissions. The report shall include 

14 the following: 

15 (1) A summary of the current research that 

16 identifies— 

17 (A) an inventory of the major sources of 

18 black carbon emissions in the United States 

19 and throughout the world, including— 

20 (i) an estimate of the quantity of cur21 rent and projected future emissions; and 

22 (ii) the net climate forcing of the 

23 emissions from such sources, including 

24 consideration of co-emissions of other pol25 lutants; 


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1 (B) effective and cost-effective control 

2 technologies, operations, and strategies for ad3 ditional domestic and international black carbon 

4 emissions reductions, such as diesel retrofit 

5 technologies on existing on-road and off-road 

6 engines and programs to address residential 

7 cookstoves, forest burning, and other agri8 culture-based burning; 

9 (C) potential metrics quantifying the cli10 matic effects of black carbon emissions, includ11 ing its radiative forcing and warming effects, 

12 that may be used to compare the climate bene13 fits of different mitigation strategies, including 

14 an assessment of the uncertainty in such 

15 metrics; and 

16 (D) the public health and environmental 

17 benefits associated with additional controls for 

18 black carbon emissions. 

19 (2) Recommendations regarding— 

20 (A) development of additional emissions 

21 monitoring techniques and capabilities, mod22 eling, and other black carbon-related areas of 

23 study; 

24 (B) areas of focus for additional study of 

25 technologies, operations, and strategies with the 


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1 greatest potential to reduce emissions of black 

2 carbon; and 

3 (C) actions, in addition to those identified 

4 by the Administrator pursuant to subsections 

5 (e) and (f), the Federal Government may take 

6 to encourage or require reductions in black car7 bon emissions. 

8 (e) DOMESTIC BLACK CARBON MITIGATION.—Not 

9 later than one year after the date of enactment of this 

10 Act, the Administrator, taking into consideration the pub11 lic health and environmental impacts of black carbon emis12 sions, including the effects on global warming, the Arctic, 

13 and other snow and ice-covered surfaces, shall propose 

14 regulations under the existing authorities of the Clean Air 

15 Act to reduce emissions of black carbon or propose a find16 ing that existing regulations promulgated pursuant to 

17 such Act adequately regulate black carbon emissions. Not 

18 later than two years after the date of enactment of this 

19 Act, the Administrator shall promulgate final regulations 

20 under the existing authorities of the Clean Air Act or fi21 nalize the proposed finding. 

22 (f) INTERNATIONAL BLACK CARBON MITIGATION.— 

23 (1) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the 

24 date of enactment of this section, the Administrator, 

25 in coordination with the Secretary of State and 


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1 other appropriate Federal agencies, shall transmit a 

2 report to Congress on the amount, type, and direc3 tion of all present United States financial, technical, 

4 and related assistance to foreign countries to reduce, 

5 mitigate, and otherwise abate black carbon emis6 sions. 

7 (2) OTHER OPPORTUNITIES.—The report re8 quired under paragraph (1) shall also identify oppor9 tunities and recommendations, including action 

10 under existing authorities, to achieve significant 

11 black carbon emission reductions in foreign countries 

12 through technical assistance or other approaches 

13 to— 

14 (A) promote sustainable solutions to bring 

15 clean, efficient, safe, and affordable stoves, 

16 fuels, or both stoves and fuels to residents of 

17 developing countries that are reliant on solid 

18 fuels such as wood, dung, charcoal, coal, or 

19 crop residues for home cooking and heating, so 

20 as to help reduce the public health, environ21 mental, and economic impacts of black carbon 

22 emissions from these sources by— 

23 (i) identifying key regions for large24 scale demonstration efforts, and key part25 ners in each such region; and 


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1 (ii) developing for each such region a 

2 large-scale implementation strategy with a 

3 goal of collectively reaching 20,000,000 

4 homes over 5 years with interventions that 

5 will— 

6 (I) increase stove efficiency by 

7 over 50 percent (or such other goal as 

8 determined by the Administrator); 

9 (II) reduce emissions of black 

10 carbon by over 60 percent (or such 

11 other goal as determined by the Ad12 ministrator); and 

13 (III) reduce the incidence of se14 vere pneumonia in children under 5 

15 years old by over 30 percent (or such 

16 other goal as determined by the Ad17 ministrator); 

18 (B) make technological improvements to 

19 diesel engines and provide greater access to 

20 fuels that emit less or no black carbon; 

21 (C) reduce unnecessary agricultural or 

22 other biomass burning where feasible alter23 natives exist; 


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1 (D) reduce unnecessary fossil fuel burning 

2 that produces black carbon where feasible alter3 natives exist; 

4 (E) reduce other sources of black carbon 

5 emissions; and 

6 (F) improve capacity to achieve greater 

7 compliance with existing laws to address black 

8 carbon emissions. 

9 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

10 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are nec11 essary to carry out this Act. 

Æ 


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