II 

Calendar No. 256 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1633 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 12, 2011 

Received and read the first time 

DECEMBER 13, 2011 

Read the second time and placed on the calendar 

AN ACT 

To establish a temporary prohibition against revising any 

national ambient air quality standard applicable to coarse 

particulate matter, to limit Federal regulation of nuisance dust in areas in which such dust is regulated 

under State, tribal, or local law, 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 ‘‘Farm Dust Regulation 

5 Prevention Act of 2011’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. TEMPORARY PROHIBITION AGAINST REVISING ANY 

2 NATIONAL AMBIENT AIR QUALITY STANDARD 

3 APPLICABLE TO COARSE PARTICULATE MAT4 TER. 

5 Before the date that is one year after the date of the 

6 enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Environ7 mental Protection Agency may not propose, finalize, im8 plement, or enforce any regulation revising the national 

9 primary ambient air quality standard or the national sec10 ondary ambient air quality standard applicable to particu11 late matter with an aerodynamic diameter greater than 

12 2.5 micrometers under section 109 of the Clean Air Act 

13 (42 U.S.C. 7409). 

14 SEC. 3. NUISANCE DUST. 

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

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

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

18 STATE, TRIBAL, AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS. 

19 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 

20 (b), this Act does not apply to, and references in this Act 

21 to particulate matter are deemed to exclude, nuisance 

22 dust. 

23 ‘‘(b) EXCEPTION.—Subsection (a) does not apply 

24 with respect to any geographic area in which nuisance 

25 dust is not regulated under State, tribal, or local law insoVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:04 Dec 14, 2011 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1633.PCS H1633

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1 far as the Administrator, in consultation with the Sec2 retary of Agriculture, finds that— 

3 ‘‘(1) nuisance dust (or any subcategory of nui4 sance dust) causes substantial adverse public health 

5 and welfare effects at ambient concentrations; and 

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

7 other requirements of this Act to nuisance dust (or 

8 such subcategory of nuisance dust) outweigh the 

9 costs (including local and regional economic and em10 ployment impacts) of applying such standards and 

11 other requirements to nuisance dust (or such sub12 category). 

13 ‘‘(c) DEFINITION.—In this section— 

14 ‘‘(1) the term ‘nuisance dust’ means particulate 

15 matter that— 

16 ‘‘(A) is generated primarily from natural 

17 sources, unpaved roads, agricultural activities, 

18 earth moving, or other activities typically con19 ducted in rural areas; 

20 ‘‘(B) consists primarily of soil, other nat21 ural or biological materials, or some combina22 tion thereof; 

23 ‘‘(C) is not emitted directly into the ambi24 ent air from combustion, such as exhaust from 


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1 combustion engines and emissions from sta2 tionary combustion processes; and 

3 ‘‘(D) is not comprised of residuals from 

4 the combustion of coal; and 

5 ‘‘(2) the term ‘nuisance dust’ does not include 

6 radioactive particulate matter produced from ura7 nium mining or processing.’’. 

8 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

9 It is the sense of the Congress that the Administrator 

10 of the Environmental Protection Agency should implement 

11 an approach to excluding so-called ‘‘exceptional events’’, 

12 or events that are not reasonably controllable or prevent13 able, from determinations of whether an area is in compli14 ance with any national ambient air quality standard 

15 (NAAQS) applicable to coarse particulate matter that— 

16 (1) maximizes transparency and predictability 

17 for States, tribes, and local governments; and 

18 (2) minimizes the regulatory and cost burdens 

19 States, tribes, and local governments bear in exclud20 ing such events. 


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1 SEC. 5. IMPACTS OF EPA REGULATORY ACTIVITY ON EM2 PLOYMENT AND ECONOMIC ACTIVITY IN THE 

3 AGRICULTURE COMMUNITY. 

4 (a) ANALYSIS OF IMPACTS OF ACTIONS ON EMPLOY5 MENT AND ECONOMIC ACTIVITY IN THE AGRICULTURE

6 COMMUNITY.— 

7 (1) ANALYSIS.—Before taking a covered action, 

8 the Administrator shall analyze the impact, 

9 disaggregated by State, of the covered action on— 

10 (A) employment levels in the agriculture 

11 industry; and 

12 (B) agricultural economic activity, includ13 ing estimated job losses and decreased economic 

14 activity related to agriculture. 

15 (2) ECONOMIC MODELS.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out para17 graph (1), the Administrator shall utilize the 

18 best available economic models. 

19 (B) ANNUAL GAO REPORT.—Not later 

20 than December 31 of each year, the Comp21 troller General of the United States shall sub22 mit to Congress a report on the economic mod23 els used by the Administrator to carry out this 

24 subsection. 


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1 (3) AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION.—With re2 spect to any covered action, the Administrator 

3 shall— 

4 (A) post the analysis under paragraph (1) 

5 as a link on the main page of the public Inter6 net Web site of the Environmental Protection 

7 Agency; 

8 (B) request the Secretary of Agriculture to 

9 post the analysis under paragraph (1) as a link 

10 on the main page of the public Internet Web 

11 site of the Department of Agriculture; and 

12 (C) request that the Governor of any State 

13 experiencing more than a de minimis negative 

14 impact post such analysis in the Capitol of such 

15 State. 

16 (b) PUBLIC HEARINGS.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—If the Administrator con18 cludes under subsection (a)(1) that a covered action 

19 will have more than a de minimis negative impact on 

20 agricultural employment levels or agricultural eco21 nomic activity in a State, the Administrator shall 

22 hold a public hearing in each such State at least 30 

23 days prior to the effective date of the covered action. 

24 (2) TIME, LOCATION, AND SELECTION.—A pub25 lic hearing required under paragraph (1) shall be 


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1 held at a convenient time and location for impacted 

2 residents. In selecting a location for such a public 

3 hearing, the Administrator shall give priority to loca4 tions in the State that will experience the greatest 

5 number of job losses. 

6 (c) NOTIFICATION.—If the Administrator concludes 

7 under subsection (a)(1) that a covered action will have 

8 more than a de minimis negative impact on agricultural 

9 employment levels or agricultural economic activity in any 

10 State, the Administrator shall give notice of such impact 

11 to the State’s Congressional delegation, Governor, and 

12 Legislature at least 45 days before the effective date of 

13 the covered action. 

14 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following defi15 nitions apply: 

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

19 (2) COVERED ACTION.—The term ‘‘covered ac20 tion’’ means any of the following actions taken by 

21 the Administrator under the Clean Air Act (42 

22 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.) relating to agriculture and the 

23 national primary ambient air quality standard or the 

24 national secondary ambient air quality standard for 

25 particulate matter: 


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1 (A) Issuing a regulation, policy statement, 

2 guidance, response to a petition, or other re3 quirement. 

4 (B) Implementing a new or substantially 

5 altered program. 

6 (3) MORE THAN A DE MINIMIS NEGATIVE IM7 PACT.—The term ‘‘more than a de minimis negative 

8 impact’’ means the following: 

9 (A) With respect to employment levels, a 

10 loss of more than 100 jobs related to the agri11 culture industry. Any offsetting job gains that 

12 result from the hypothetical creation of new 

13 jobs through new technologies or government 

14 employment may not be used in the job loss cal15 culation. 

16 (B) With respect to economic activity, a 

17 decrease in agricultural economic activity of 

18 more than $1,000,000 over any calendar year. 

19 Any offsetting economic activity that results 

20 from the hypothetical creation of new economic 

21 activity through new technologies or governVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:04 Dec 14, 2011 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1633.PCS H1633

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1 ment employment may not be used in the eco2 nomic activity calculation. 

Passed the House of Representatives December 8, 

2011. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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Calendar No. 256 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1633 

AN ACT 

To establish a temporary prohibition against revisor local law, and for other purposes. which such dust is regulated under State, tribal, Federal regulation of nuisance dust in areas in plicable to coarse particulate matter, to limit ing any national ambient air quality standard apDECEMBER 13, 2011 

Read the second time and placed on the calendar 


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