I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4775 

To facilitate efficient State implementation of ground-level ozone standards, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 17, 2016 

Mr. OLSON (for himself, Mr. FLORES, Mr. SCALISE, Mr. LATTA, Mr. MCCARTHY, and Mr. CUELLAR) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To facilitate efficient State implementation of ground-level 

ozone standards, 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 ‘‘Ozone Standards Im5 plementation Act of 2016’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FACILITATING STATE IMPLEMENTATION OF EXIST7 ING OZONE STANDARDS. 

8 (a) DESIGNATIONS.— 

9 (1) DESIGNATION SUBMISSION.—Not later than 

10 October 26, 2024, notwithstanding the deadline 


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1 specified in paragraph (1)(A) of section 107(d) of 

2 the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7407(d)), the Gov3 ernor of each State shall designate in accordance 

4 with such section 107(d) all areas (or portions there5 of) of the Governor’s State as attainment, nonattain6 ment, or unclassifiable with respect to the 2015 

7 ozone standards. 

8 (2) DESIGNATION PROMULGATION.—Not later 

9 than October 26, 2025, notwithstanding the deadline 

10 specified in paragraph (1)(B) of section 107(d) of 

11 the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7407(d)), the Adminis12 trator shall promulgate final designations under 

13 such section 107(d) for all areas in all States with 

14 respect to the 2015 ozone standards, including any 

15 modifications to the designations submitted under 

16 paragraph (1). 

17 (3) STATE IMPLEMENTATION PLANS.—Not 

18 later than October 26, 2026, notwithstanding the 

19 deadline specified in section 110(a)(1) of the Clean 

20 Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7410(a)(1)), each State shall 

21 submit the plan required by such section 110(a)(1) 

22 for the 2015 ozone standards. 

23 (b) CERTAIN PRECONSTRUCTION PERMITS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The 2015 ozone standards 

2 shall not apply to the review and disposition of a 

3 preconstruction permit application if— 

4 (A) the Administrator or the State, local, 

5 or tribal permitting authority, as applicable, de6 termines the application to be complete on or 

7 before the date of promulgation of the final des8 ignation of the area involved under subsection 

9 (a)(2); or 

10 (B) the Administrator or the State, local, 

11 or tribal permitting authority, as applicable, 

12 publishes a public notice of a preliminary deter13 mination or draft permit for the application be14 fore the date that is 60 days after the date of 

15 promulgation of the final designation of the 

16 area involved under subsection (a)(2). 

17 (2) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

18 this section shall be construed to— 

19 (A) eliminate the obligation of a 

20 preconstruction permit applicant to install best 

21 available control technology and lowest achiev22 able emission rate technology, as applicable; or 

23 (B) limit the authority of a State, local, or 

24 tribal permitting authority to impose more 

25 stringent emissions requirements pursuant to 


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1 State, local, or tribal law than national ambient 

2 air quality standards. 

3 SEC. 3. FACILITATING STATE IMPLEMENTATION OF NA4 TIONAL AMBIENT AIR QUALITY STANDARDS. 

5 (a) TIMELINE FOR REVIEW OF NATIONAL AMBIENT

6 AIR QUALITY STANDARDS.— 

7 (1) 10-YEAR CYCLE FOR ALL CRITERIA AIR

8 POLLUTANTS.—Paragraphs (1) and (2)(B) of sec9 tion 109(d) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 

10 7409(d)) are amended by striking ‘‘five-year inter11 vals’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘10-year 

12 intervals’’. 

13 (2) CYCLE FOR NEXT REVIEW OF OZONE CRI14 TERIA AND STANDARDS.—Notwithstanding section 

15 109(d) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7409(d)), 

16 the Administrator shall not— 

17 (A) complete, before October 26, 2025, any 

18 review of the criteria for ozone published under 

19 section 108 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 7408) or 

20 the national ambient air quality standard for 

21 ozone promulgated under section 109 of such 

22 Act (42 U.S.C. 7409); or 

23 (B) propose, before such date, any revi24 sions to such criteria or standard. 


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1 (b) CONSIDERATION OF TECHNOLOGICAL FEASI2 BILITY.—Section 109(b)(1) of the Clean Air Act (42 

3 U.S.C. 7409(b)(1)) is amended by inserting after the first 

4 sentence the following: ‘‘If the Administrator, in consulta5 tion with the independent scientific review committee ap6 pointed under subsection (d), finds that a range of levels 

7 of air quality for an air pollutant are requisite to protect 

8 public health with an adequate margin of safety, as de9 scribed in the preceding sentence, the Administrator may 

10 consider, as a secondary consideration, likely technological 

11 feasibility in establishing and revising the national pri12 mary ambient air quality standard for such pollutant.’’. 

13 (c) CONSIDERATION OF ADVERSE PUBLIC HEALTH, 

14 WELFARE, SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, OR ENERGY EFFECTS.— 

15 Section 109(d)(2) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 

16 7409(d)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the fol17 lowing: 

18 ‘‘(D) Prior to establishing or revising a national am19 bient air quality standard, the Administrator shall re20 quest, and such committee shall provide, advice under sub21 paragraph (C)(iv) regarding any adverse public health, 

22 welfare, social, economic, or energy effects which may re23 sult from various strategies for attainment and mainte24 nance of such national ambient air quality standard.’’. 


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1 (d) TIMELY ISSUANCE OF IMPLEMENTING REGULA2 TIONS AND GUIDANCE.—Section 109 of the Clean Air Act 

3 (42 U.S.C. 7409) is amended by adding at the end the 

4 following: 

5 ‘‘(e) TIMELY ISSUANCE OF IMPLEMENTING REGULA6 TIONS AND GUIDANCE.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In publishing any final rule 

8 establishing or revising a national ambient air qual9 ity standard, the Administrator shall, as the Admin10 istrator determines necessary to assist States, per11 mitting authorities, and permit applicants, concur12 rently publish regulations and guidance for imple13 menting the standard, including information relating 

14 to submission and consideration of a preconstruction 

15 permit application under the new or revised stand16 ard. 

17 ‘‘(2) APPLICABILITY OF STANDARD TO

18 PRECONSTRUCTION PERMITTING.—If the Adminis19 trator fails to publish final regulations and guidance 

20 that include information relating to submission and 

21 consideration of a preconstruction permit application 

22 under a new or revised national ambient air quality 

23 standard concurrently with such standard, then such 

24 standard shall not apply to the review and disposi25 tion of a preconstruction permit application until the 


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1 Administrator has published such final regulations 

2 and guidance. 

3 ‘‘(3) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.— 

4 ‘‘(A) Nothing in this subsection shall be 

5 construed to preclude the Administrator from 

6 issuing regulations and guidance to assist 

7 States, permitting authorities, and permit appli8 cants in implementing a national ambient air 

9 quality standard subsequent to publishing regu10 lations and guidance for such standard under 

11 paragraph (1). 

12 ‘‘(B) Nothing in this subsection shall be 

13 construed to eliminate the obligation of a 

14 preconstruction permit applicant to install best 

15 available control technology and lowest achiev16 able emission rate technology, as applicable. 

17 ‘‘(C) Nothing in this subsection shall be 

18 construed to limit the authority of a State, 

19 local, or tribal permitting authority to impose 

20 more stringent emissions requirements pursu21 ant to State, local, or tribal law than national 

22 ambient air quality standards. 

23 ‘‘(4) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 


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1 ‘‘(A) The term ‘best available control tech2 nology’ has the meaning given to that term in 

3 section 169(3). 

4 ‘‘(B) The term ‘lowest achievable emission 

5 rate’ has the meaning given to that term in sec6 tion 171(3). 

7 ‘‘(C) The term ‘preconstruction permit’— 

8 ‘‘(i) means a permit that is required 

9 under part C or D for the construction or 

10 modification of a major emitting facility or 

11 major stationary source; and 

12 ‘‘(ii) includes any such permit issued 

13 by the Environmental Protection Agency 

14 or a State, local, or tribal permitting au15 thority.’’. 

16 (e) CONTINGENCY MEASURES FOR EXTREME OZONE

17 NONATTAINMENT AREAS.—Section 172(c)(9) of the Clean 

18 Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7502(c)(9)) is amended by adding at 

19 the end the following: ‘‘Notwithstanding the preceding 

20 sentences and any other provision of this Act, such meas21 ures shall not be required for any nonattainment area for 

22 ozone classified as an Extreme Area.’’. 

23 (f) PLAN SUBMISSIONS AND REQUIREMENTS FOR

24 OZONE NONATTAINMENT AREAS.—Section 182 of the 

25 Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7511a) is amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (b)(1)(A)(ii)(III), by inserting 

2 ‘‘and economic feasibility’’ after ‘‘technological 

3 achievability’’; 

4 (2) in subsection (c)(2)(B)(ii), by inserting 

5 ‘‘and economic feasibility’’ after ‘‘technological 

6 achievability’’; and 

7 (3) in paragraph (5) of subsection (e), by strik8 ing ‘‘, if the State demonstrates to the satisfaction 

9 of the Administrator that—’’ and all that follows 

10 through the end of the paragraph and inserting a 

11 period. 

12 (g) PLAN REVISIONS FOR MILESTONES FOR PARTIC13 ULATE MATTER NONATTAINMENT AREAS.—Section 

14 189(c)(1) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7513a(c)(1)) 

15 is amended by inserting ‘‘, which take into account techno16 logical achievability and economic feasibility,’’ before ‘‘and 

17 which demonstrate reasonable further progress’’. 

18 (h) EXCEPTIONAL EVENTS.—Section 319(b)(1)(B) 

19 of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7619(b)(1)(B)) is amend20 ed— 

21 (1) in clause (i)— 

22 (A) by striking ‘‘(i) stagnation of air 

23 masses or’’ and inserting ‘‘(i)(I) ordinarily oc24 curring stagnation of air masses or (II)’’; and 

25 (B) by inserting ‘‘or’’ after the semicolon; 


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1 (2) by striking clause (ii); and 

2 (3) by redesignating clause (iii) as clause (ii). 

3 (i) REPORT ON EMISSIONS EMANATING FROM OUT4 SIDE THE UNITED STATES.—Not later than 24 months 

5 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator, 

6 in consultation with States, shall submit to the Congress 

7 a report on— 

8 (1) the extent to which foreign sources of air 

9 pollution, including emissions from sources located 

10 outside North America, impact— 

11 (A) designations of areas (or portions 

12 thereof) as nonattainment, attainment, or 

13 unclassifiable under section 107(d) of the Clean 

14 Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7407(d)); and 

15 (B) attainment and maintenance of na16 tional ambient air quality standards; 

17 (2) the Environmental Protection Agency’s pro18 cedures and timelines for disposing of petitions sub19 mitted pursuant to section 179B(b) of the Clean Air 

20 Act (42 U.S.C. 7509a(b)); 

21 (3) the total number of petitions received by the 

22 Agency pursuant to such section 179B(b), and for 

23 each such petition the date initially submitted and 

24 the date of final disposition by the Agency; and 


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1 (4) whether the Administrator recommends any 

2 statutory changes to facilitate the more efficient re3 view and disposition of petitions submitted pursuant 

4 to such section 179B(b). 

5 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

6 In this Act: 

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

10 (2) BEST AVAILABLE CONTROL TECH11 NOLOGY.—The term ‘‘best available control tech12 nology’’ has the meaning given to that term in sec13 tion 169(3) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 

14 7479(3)). 

15 (3) LOWEST ACHIEVABLE EMISSION RATE.— 

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

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

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

19 (4) NATIONAL AMBIENT AIR QUALITY STAND20 ARD.—The term ‘‘national ambient air quality 

21 standard’’ means a national ambient air quality 

22 standard promulgated under section 109 of the 

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

24 (5) 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 (6) 2015 OZONE STANDARDS.—The term ‘‘2015 

10 ozone standards’’ means the national ambient air 

11 quality standards for ozone published in the Federal 

12 Register on October 26, 2015 (80 Fed. Reg. 65292). 

Æ 


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