II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 775

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

APRIL 13, 1999

Mr. TORRICELLI introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works

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,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Right To Know About

5 Airport Pollution Act of 1999’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—

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

4 pollution, and solid waste disposal problems attend5 ant to airport operations require a thorough evalua6 tion of all significant sources of pollution;

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

8 seq.)—

9 (A) requires each State to reduce emis10 sions contributing to ground level ozone prob11 lems and maintain those reductions; and

12 (B) requires the Administrator of the En13 vironmental Protection Agency to study, in ad14 dition to other sources, the effects of sporadic,

15 extreme noise (such as jet noise near airports)

16 on public health and welfare;

17 (3) the Federal Water Pollution Control Act

18 (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) establishes a regulatory

19 and enforcement program for discharges of wastes

20 into waters;

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

22 300f et seq.) establishes primary drinking water

23 standards and a ground water control program;

24 (5) the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C.

25 6901 et seq.) regulates management and disposal of

26 solid and hazardous waste;
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1 (6) a study of air pollution problems in

2 California—

3 (A) has determined that airports are sig4 nificant sources of air pollution; and

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

6 bubble concept; and

7 (7) the airport bubble concept is an approach

8 that—

9 (A) treats an airport and the area within

10 a specific radius around the airport as a single

11 source of pollution that emits a range of pollut12 ants, including air, noise, water, and solid

13 waste; and

14 (B) seeks, by implementation of specific

15 programs or regulations, to reduce the pollution

16 from each source within the bubble and thereby

17 reduce the overall pollution in that area.

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

19 the Administrator to conduct—

20 (1) a feasibility study for applying airport bub21 bles to airports as a method of assessing and reduc22 ing, where appropriate, air, noise, water, and solid

23 waste pollution in and around the airports and im24 proving overall environmental quality; and
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1 (2) a study of air pollutant emission standards

2 established by the Environmental Protection Agency

3 for airplane engines to determine whether it is fea4 sible and desirable to strengthen the standards.

5 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

6 In this Act:

7 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis8 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ9 mental Protection Agency.

10 (2) AIRPORT BUBBLE.—The term ‘‘airport bub11 ble’’ means an area—

12 (A) in and around an airport (or other fa13 cility using aircraft) within which sources of

14 pollution and levels of pollution from those

15 sources are to be identified and reduced; and

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

17 noise, water, and solid waste sources of pollu18 tion in which the aggregate of each type of pol19 lutant from the respective sources is regulated

20 as if the various sources were a single source.

21 SEC. 4. STUDY OF USING AIRPORT BUBBLES.

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

23 a study to determine the feasibility of regulating air, noise,

24 water, and solid waste pollution from all sources in and

25 around airports using airport bubbles.
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1 (b) WORKING GROUP.—In conducting the study, the

2 Administrator shall establish and consult with a working

3 group comprised of—

4 (1) the Administrator of the Federal Aviation

5 Administration (or a designee);

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

7 (3) the Secretary of Transportation (or a des8 ignee);

9 (4) a representative of air quality districts;

10 (5) a representative of environmental research

11 groups;

12 (6) a representative of State Audubon Societies;

13 (7) a representative of the Sierra Club;

14 (8) a representative of the Nature Conservancy;

15 (9) a representative of port authorities of

16 States;

17 (10) an airport manager;

18 (11) a representative of commanding officers of

19 military air bases and stations;

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

21 airports who is familiar with the emissions testing

22 and repair records of those buses, the schedules of

23 those lines, and any problems with delays in service

24 caused by traffic congestion;
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1 (13) a representative of the taxis and lim2 ousines that serve airports who is familiar with the

3 emissions testing and repair records of the taxis and

4 limousines and the volume of business generated by

5 the taxis and limousines;

6 (14) a representative of local law enforcement

7 agencies or other entities responsible for traffic con8 ditions in and around airports;

9 (15) a representative of the Air Transport As10 sociation;

11 (16) a representative of the Airports Council

12 International–North America;

13 (17) a representative of environmental special14 ists from airport authorities; and

15 (18) a representative from an aviation union

16 representing ground crews.

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

18 the Administrator shall—

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

20 the variety of stationary and mobile sources of air,

21 noise, water, and solid waste pollution within airport

22 bubbles around airports in the United States,

23 including—
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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 Administrator 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 date of enactment

16 of this Act, and annually thereafter until the reports under

17 sections 4 and 5 are submitted, the Administrator shall

18 submit to Congress a report that details the progress

19 being made by the Administrator in carrying out sections

20 4 and 5.

21 SEC. 7. REPORTING OF TOXIC CHEMICAL RELEASES.

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

23 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall pro24 mulgate regulations requiring each airport that regularly

25 serves commercial or military jet aircraft to report, under
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1 section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community

2 Right-To-Know Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. 11023) and sec3 tion 6607 of the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 (42

4 U.S.C. 13106), releases and other waste management ac5 tivities associated with the manufacturing, processing, or

6 other use of toxic chemicals listed under section 313 of

7 the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know

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

9 manufactured, processed, or otherwise used—

10 (1) during operation and maintenance of air11 craft and other motor vehicles at the airport; and

12 (2) in the course of other airport and airline ac13 tivities.

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

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

16 facility as defined in section 329 of the Emergency Plan17 ning and Community Right-To-Know Act of 1986 (42

18 U.S.C. 11049).

19 SEC. 8. FUNDING.

20 The Administrator shall carry out this Act using ex21 isting funds available to the Administrator.

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