II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1803 

To amend the Clean Air Act to limit Federal regulation of nuisance dust 

in areas in which that dust is regulated under State, tribal, or local 

law, to establish a prohibition against revising any national ambient 

air quality standard applicable to nuisance dust, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 3, 2011 

Mrs. MCCASKILL introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL 

To amend the Clean Air Act to limit Federal regulation 

of nuisance dust in areas in which that dust is regulated 

under State, tribal, or local law, to establish a prohibition 

against revising any national ambient air quality standard applicable to nuisance dust, 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Permanent Guarantee 

5 of Sensible Treatment of Farm Dust Act of 2011’’. 


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•S 1803 IS

1 SEC. 2. REGULATION OF NUISANCE DUST PRIMARILY BY 

2 STATE, TRIBAL, AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS. 

3 Part A of title I of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 

4 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 132. REGULATION OF NUISANCE DUST PRIMARILY BY 

6 STATE, TRIBAL, AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS. 

7 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION OF NUISANCE DUST.—In this sec8 tion, the term ‘nuisance dust’ means particulate matter— 

9 ‘‘(1) generated from natural sources, unpaved 

10 roads, agricultural activities, earth moving, or other 

11 activities typically conducted in rural areas; or 

12 ‘‘(2) consisting primarily of soil, windblown 

13 dust, or other natural or biological materials, or 

14 some combination of those materials. 

15 ‘‘(b) APPLICABILITY.—Except as provided in sub16 section (c), this Act does not apply to, and references in 

17 this Act to particulate matter are deemed to exclude, nui18 sance dust. 

19 ‘‘(c) EXCEPTION.—Subsection (b) does not apply 

20 with respect to any geographical area in which nuisance 

21 dust is not regulated under State, tribal, or local law to 

22 the extent that the Administrator finds that— 

23 ‘‘(1) nuisance dust (or any subcategory of nui24 sance dust) causes substantial adverse public health 

25 and welfare effects at ambient concentrations; and 


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•S 1803 IS

1 ‘‘(2) the benefits of applying standards and 

2 other requirements of this Act to nuisance dust (or 

3 such a subcategory of nuisance dust) outweigh the 

4 costs (including local and regional economic and em5 ployment impacts) of applying those standards and 

6 other requirements to nuisance dust (or such a sub7 category).’’. 

8 SEC. 3. PERMANENT PROHIBITION AGAINST REVISING ANY 

9 NATIONAL AMBIENT AIR QUALITY STANDARD 

10 APPLICABLE TO NUISANCE DUST. 

11 After the date of the enactment of this Act, the Ad12 ministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency may 

13 not propose, finalize, implement, or enforce any regulation 

14 revising the national primary ambient air quality standard 

15 or the national secondary ambient air quality standard ap16 plicable to nuisance dust with an aerodynamic diameter 

17 greater than 2.5 micrometers under section 109 of the 

18 Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7409). 

Æ 


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