I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1355 

To amend the Clean Air Act to give States the option of monitoring covered 

criteria air pollutants in designated areas by greatly increasing the number of air quality sensors in exchange for greater regulatory flexibility 

in the methods of monitoring, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 2, 2017 

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

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Clean Air Act to give States the option of 

monitoring covered criteria air pollutants in designated 

areas by greatly increasing the number of air quality 

sensors in exchange for greater regulatory flexibility in 

the methods of monitoring, 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 ‘‘Crowd Sourcing of En5 vironmental Data Act of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. OPTION FOR EXPANDED MONITORING. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 110(a) of the Clean Air 

3 Act (42 U.S.C. 7410(a)) is amended by inserting after 

4 paragraph (3) the following: 

5 ‘‘(4) OPTION FOR EXPANDED MONITORING.— 

6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any State may include in 

7 a State implementation plan a program for moni8 toring one or more covered criteria air pollutants in 

9 one or more designated areas by— 

10 ‘‘(i) continuing to use the monitoring sys11 tem (including for purposes of baseline meas12 urements) that was in operation as of the sub13 mission of the revision to the plan; and 

14 ‘‘(ii) greatly increasing the number of air 

15 quality sensors, which may include mobile sen16 sors, for such monitoring system. 

17 ‘‘(B) STATE DISCRETION.—Subject to subpara18 graphs (C) and (D), the Administrator shall allow a 

19 State to make a revision to a State implementation 

20 plan in accordance with subparagraph (A) at the 

21 State’s discretion. 

22 ‘‘(C) ENSURING QUALITY.—On an annual basis, 

23 each State that conducts monitoring pursuant to 

24 this paragraph, as a condition on the continuation of 

25 such monitoring, shall demonstrate to the Adminis26 trator that the quality of the data produced through 


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1 such monitoring is at least as good as the quality of 

2 the data that would be produced for the respective 

3 air pollutants in the respective designated areas if 

4 the State did not exercise the option to conduct 

5 monitoring pursuant to this paragraph. 

6 ‘‘(D) REVIEW BY ADMINISTRATOR.—A State’s 

7 annual demonstration under subparagraph (C) is 

8 deemed to have met the standard described in such 

9 subparagraph unless the Administrator issues a 

10 written response— 

11 ‘‘(i) finding that such standard is not met; 

12 and 

13 ‘‘(ii) explaining the basis for such finding. 

14 ‘‘(E) GREATER REGULATORY FLEXIBILITY.— 

15 With respect to each designated area in which a 

16 State conducts monitoring pursuant to this para17 graph, subject to subparagraphs (C) and (D), the 

18 Administrator— 

19 ‘‘(i) shall not take any action to enforce 

20 any requirement concerning the method of mon21 itoring the criteria air pollutant involved in the 

22 area involved, unless the Administrator finds 

23 that the applicant is acting in bad faith; and 

24 ‘‘(ii) shall allow the State involved to base 

25 any determination on whether an exceedance of 


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1 the national ambient air quality standard for 

2 the criteria air pollutant involved has occurred 

3 on data derived from monitoring pursuant to 

4 this paragraph. 

5 ‘‘(F) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 

6 ‘‘(i) The term ‘covered criteria air pollut7 ant’ means an air pollutant for which air qual8 ity criteria have been issued under section 

9 108(a), except that such term does not include 

10 carbon monoxide or nitrogen dioxide. 

11 ‘‘(ii) The term ‘designated area’ means an 

12 area that is designated under section 107(d) as 

13 being in nonattainment, in attainment, or 

14 unclassifiable.’’. 

15 (b) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 12 months after 

16 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of 

17 the Environmental Protection Agency shall promulgate 

18 final regulations to implement section 110(a)(4) of the 

19 Clean Air Act, as added by subsection (a). Such regula20 tions shall specify how a State must demonstrate to the 

21 Administrator, as required by subparagraph (C) of such 

22 section 110(a)(4), that the quality of the data produced 

23 through monitoring pursuant to such section 110(a)(4) is 

24 at least as good as the quality of the data that would be 

25 produced for the respective air pollutants in the respective 


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1 areas if the State did not exercise the option to conduct 

2 monitoring pursuant to such section 110(a)(4). 

Æ 


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