I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1855 

To promote new manufacturing in the United States by providing for greater 

transparency and timeliness in obtaining necessary permits, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 11, 2021 

Mr. SCALISE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To promote new manufacturing in the United States by 

providing for greater transparency and timeliness in obtaining necessary permits, 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 ‘‘Promoting New Manu5 facturing Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. BUILDING AND MANUFACTURING PROJECTS DASH7 BOARD. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall, with re9 spect to fiscal year 2016 and each subsequent fiscal year, 


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1 publish in a readily accessible location on the Environ2 mental Protection Agency’s public website the Agency’s 

3 estimate of the following: 

4 (1) The total number of preconstruction per5 mits issued during the fiscal year. 

6 (2) The percentage of such preconstruction per7 mits issued within one year after the date of filing 

8 of a completed application. 

9 (3) The average length of time for the Agency’s 

10 Environmental Appeals Board to issue a final deci11 sion on petitions appealing decisions to grant or 

12 deny a preconstruction permit application. 

13 (b) INITIAL PUBLICATION; UPDATES.—The Adminis14 trator shall— 

15 (1) make the publication required by subsection 

16 (a) for fiscal years 2016 through 2020 not later 

17 than 60 days after the date of enactment of this 

18 Act; and 

19 (2) update such publication not less than annu20 ally. 

21 (c) SOURCES OF INFORMATION.—In carrying out this 

22 section: 

23 (1) With respect to information to be published 

24 for fiscal years 2016 through 2020, the Environ25 mental Protection Agency’s estimates shall be based 


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1 on information that is in the Agency’s possession as 

2 of the date of enactment of this Act, including infor3 mation in the RACT/BACT/LAER Clearinghouse 

4 database. 

5 (2) With respect to information to be published 

6 for any fiscal year, nothing in this section compels 

7 the Environmental Protection Agency to seek or col8 lect any information in addition to the information 

9 that is voluntarily provided by States and local air 

10 agencies for the RACT/BACT/LAER Clearinghouse 

11 database. 

12 SEC. 3. TIMELY ISSUANCE OF REGULATIONS AND GUID13 ANCE TO ADDRESS NEW OR REVISED NA14 TIONAL AMBIENT AIR QUALITY STANDARDS 

15 IN PRECONSTRUCTION PERMITTING. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—In publishing any final rule estab17 lishing or revising a national ambient air quality standard, 

18 the Administrator shall, as the Administrator determines 

19 necessary and appropriate to assist States, permitting au20 thorities, and permit applicants, concurrently publish reg21 ulations and guidance for implementing the standard, in22 cluding information relating to submission and consider23 ation of a preconstruction permit application under the 

24 new or revised standard. 


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1 (b) APPLICABILITY OF STANDARD TO

2 PRECONSTRUCTION PERMITTING.—If the Administrator 

3 fails to publish final regulations and guidance that include 

4 information relating to submission and consideration of a 

5 preconstruction permit application under a new or revised 

6 national ambient air quality standard concurrently with 

7 such standard, then such standard shall not apply to the 

8 review and disposition of a preconstruction permit applica9 tion until the Agency has published such final regulations 

10 and guidance. 

11 (c) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.— 

12 (1) After publishing regulations and guidance 

13 for implementing national ambient air quality stand14 ards under subsection (a), nothing in this section 

15 shall preclude the Environmental Protection Agency 

16 from issuing subsequent regulations or guidance to 

17 assist States and facilities in implementing such 

18 standards. 

19 (2) Nothing in this section shall be construed to 

20 eliminate the obligation of a preconstruction permit 

21 applicant to install best available control technology 

22 and lowest achievable emission rate technology, as 

23 applicable. 

24 (3) Nothing in this section shall be construed to 

25 limit the authority of a State, local, or Tribal perVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:58 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1855.IH H1855

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1 mitting authority to impose more stringent emissions 

2 requirements pursuant to State, local, or Tribal law 

3 than Federal national ambient air quality standards 

4 established by the Environmental Protection Agency. 

5 SEC. 4. REPORT TO CONGRESS ON ACTIONS TO EXPEDITE 

6 REVIEW OF PRECONSTRUCTION PERMITS. 

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

8 date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, 

9 the Administrator shall submit to Congress a report— 

10 (1) identifying the activities being undertaken 

11 by the Environmental Protection Agency to increase 

12 the efficiency of the preconstruction permitting proc13 ess; 

14 (2) identifying the specific reasons for delays in 

15 issuing— 

16 (A) preconstruction permits required under 

17 part C of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7470 

18 et seq.) beyond the one-year statutory deadline 

19 mandated by section 165(c) of the Clean Air 

20 Act (42 U.S.C. 7475(c)); or 

21 (B) preconstruction permits required under 

22 part D of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7501 

23 et seq.) beyond the one-year period beginning 

24 on the date on which the permit application is 

25 determined to be complete; 


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1 (3) describing how the Agency is resolving 

2 delays in making completeness determinations for 

3 preconstruction permit applications; 

4 (4) describing how the Agency is resolving proc5 essing delays for preconstruction permits, including 

6 any increases in communication with State and local 

7 permitting authorities; and 

8 (5) summarizing and responding to public com9 ments concerning the report received under sub10 section (b). 

11 (b) PUBLIC COMMENT.—Before submitting each re12 port required by subsection (a), the Administrator shall 

13 publish a draft report on the website of the Environmental 

14 Protection Agency and provide the public with a period 

15 of at least 30 days to submit comments on the draft re16 port. 

17 (c) SOURCES OF INFORMATION.—Nothing in this sec18 tion compels the Environmental Protection Agency to seek 

19 or collect any information in addition to the information 

20 that is voluntarily provided by States and local air agen21 cies for the RACT/BACT/LAER Clearinghouse database. 

22 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

23 In this Act: 


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1 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis2 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ3 mental Protection Agency. 

4 (2) BEST AVAILABLE CONTROL TECH5 NOLOGY.—The term ‘‘best available control tech6 nology’’ has the meaning given to that term in sec7 tion 169(3) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 

8 7479(3)). 

9 (3) LOWEST ACHIEVABLE EMISSION RATE.— 

10 The term ‘‘lowest achievable emission rate’’ has the 

11 meaning given to that term in section 171(3) of the 

12 Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7501(3)). 

13 (4) MAJOR EMITTING FACILITY; MAJOR STA14 TIONARY SOURCE.—The terms ‘‘major emitting fa15 cility’’ and ‘‘major stationary source’’ have the 

16 meanings given to those terms in section 302(j) of 

17 the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7602(j)). 

18 (5) NATIONAL AMBIENT AIR QUALITY STAND19 ARD.—The term ‘‘national ambient air quality 

20 standard’’ means a national ambient air quality 

21 standard for an air pollutant under section 109 of 

22 the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7409) that is finalized 

23 on or after the date of enactment of this Act. 

24 (6) PRECONSTRUCTION PERMIT.—The term 

25 ‘‘preconstruction permit’’— 


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1 (A) means a permit that is required under 

2 part C or D of title I of the Clean Air Act (42 

3 U.S.C. 7470 et seq.) for the construction or 

4 modification of a major emitting facility or 

5 major stationary source; and 

6 (B) includes any such permit issued by the 

7 Environmental Protection Agency or a State, 

8 local, or Tribal permitting authority. 

9 (7) RACT/BACT/LAER CLEARINGHOUSE

10 DATABASE.—The term ‘‘RACT/BACT/LAER Clear11 inghouse database’’ means the central database of 

12 air pollution technology information that is posted 

13 on the Environmental Protection Agency’s website. 

Æ 


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