II

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1084

To establish a research and monitoring program for the national ambient

air quality standards for ozone and particulate matter and to reinstate

the original standards under the Clean Air Act, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 29, 1997

Mr. INHOFE (for himself and Mr. BREAUX) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and

Public Works

A BILL

To establish a research and monitoring program for the

national ambient air quality standards for ozone and

particulate matter and to reinstate the original standards

under the Clean Air Act, 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 and Particulate

5 Matter Research Act of 1997’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—
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1 (1) Public Law 101–549 (commonly known as

2 the ‘‘Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990’’) (104

3 Stat. 2399) established a number of measures and

4 programs that address ozone and particulate matter

5 pollution and the precursors to ozone and particulate

6 matter pollution;

7 (2) most of the measures and programs are

8 continuing or have yet to be implemented;

9 (3) the United States has made significant

10 progress on reducing atmospheric levels of ozone and

11 particulate matter since passage of Public Law 101–

12 549 and will continue to make significant progress

13 in reducing atmospheric levels of ozone and particu14 late matter through continued implementation of

15 that Act for the next 5 years;

16 (4) changing the current national ambient air

17 quality standard for ozone, which is explicitly incor18 porated into part D of title I of the Clean Air Act

19 (42 U.S.C. 7501 et seq.), could nullify many of the

20 ozone provisions in Public Law 101–549 and lead to

21 disruptions and delays in the reduction of ozone and

22 the precursors to ozone;

23 (5) the Administrator of the Environmental

24 Protection Agency and the Clean Air Scientific Advi25 sory Committee have recommended that additional
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1 research be conducted to determine any adverse

2 health effects of fine particles (including research on

3 the biological mechanism for adverse health effects,

4 toxicity and dose response levels, and specification of

5 the size and type of particle that might have adverse

6 health effects); and

7 (6) currently available atmospheric data regard8 ing fine particle levels in the United States are inad9 equate to provide an understanding of any adverse

10 health effects of fine particles or a basis for des11 ignating areas under title I of the Clean Air Act (42

12 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.).

13 SEC. 3. PARTICULATE MATTER RESEARCH PROGRAM.

14 (a) INDEPENDENT PANEL.—

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the

16 Environmental Protection Agency (referred to in

17 this Act as the ‘‘Administrator’’) shall request the

18 National Academy of Sciences to convene an inde19 pendent panel of scientists with expertise on the

20 health effects of air pollution to establish priorities

21 for research on the health effects of particulate mat22 ter.

23 (2) REPORT.—Not later than February 1,

24 1998, the Administrator shall report to Congress the

25 recommendations of the independent panel.
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1 (b) RESEARCH PRIORITIES.—At a minimum, the

2 independent panel shall consider—

3 (1) the sizes and physical-chemical characteris4 tics of the constituents of particulate matter;

5 (2) the health effects of individual exposure to

6 concentrations of fine particulate matter at ambient

7 levels verses indoor levels;

8 (3) the identification and evaluation of biologi9 cal mechanisms for fine particulate matter as related

10 to life shortening, acute mortality, and morbidity;

11 (4) controlled inhalation exposure as a deter12 minant of dose-response relationships; and

13 (5) long-term health effect evaluations examin14 ing individual exposure to fine particulate matter,

15 other particulate indicators, and other copollutants

16 and airborne allergens.

17 (c) INTERAGENCY COMMITTEE.—

18 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 60 days

19 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Presi20 dent shall establish a committee to be known as the

21 ‘‘Particulate Matter Interagency Committee’’ (re22 ferred to in this Act as the ‘‘Interagency Commit23 tee’’).

24 (2) PURPOSES.—The Interagency Committee

25 shall—
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1 (A) not later than 180 days after the date

2 of enactment of this Act, develop recommenda3 tions for a program to coordinate the activities

4 of Federal agencies engaged in research on

5 human health effects of particulate matter that

6 ensures that the research advances the

7 prioritized agenda of the independent panel;

8 and

9 (B) monitor, review, and periodically evalu10 ate the program.

11 (2) COMPOSITION OF INTERAGENCY COMMIT12 TEE.—

13 (A) MEMBERSHIP.—The Interagency Com14 mittee shall be composed of 8 members, of

15 whom—

16 (i) 1 shall be appointed by the Adminis17 trator;

18 (ii) 1 shall be appointed by the Secretary

19 of Agriculture;

20 (iii) 1 shall be appointed by the Secretary

21 of Defense;

22 (iv) 1 shall be appointed by the Secretary

23 of Energy;

24 (v) 1 shall be appointed by the Secretary

25 of Health and Human Services;
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1 (vi) 1 shall be appointed by the Director of

2 the National Institute of Environmental Health

3 Sciences;

4 (vii) 1 shall be appointed by the Director

5 of the National Institute of Standards and

6 Technology; and

7 (viii) 1 shall be appointed by the Director

8 of the Office of Science and Technology Policy.

9 (B) CHAIRPERSON.—The Interagency Commit10 tee shall elect a chairperson from among its mem11 bers appointed under clauses (ii) through (viii) of

12 subparagraph (A) who shall be responsible for en13 suring that the duties of the Interagency Committee

14 are carried out.

15 (C) STAFF.—Members of the Interagency Com16 mittee shall provide appropriate staff to carry out

17 the duties of the Interagency Committee.

18 (d) REPORT TO INTERAGENCY COMMITTEE.—

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall re20 quest the National Academy of Sciences to periodi21 cally submit to the Interagency Committee, the

22 Clean Air Science Advisory Committee, and Con23 gress a report that evaluates the prioritized research

24 activities under the program described in subsection

25 (c)(2)(A).
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1 (2) EXPENSES.—The Administrator shall be re2 sponsible for expenses incurred by the National

3 Academy of Sciences in carrying out paragraph (1).

4 SEC. 4. SCIENCE REVIEW.

5 No earlier than 4 years after the date of enactment

6 of this Act, the Administrator shall—

7 (1) complete a thorough review of the air qual8 ity criteria published under section 108 of the Clean

9 Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7408) for ozone and fine particu10 late matter and a thorough review of the standards

11 in effect under that Act for ozone and particulate

12 matter; and

13 (2) determine, in accordance with section 108

14 and 109 of that Act (42 U.S.C. 7408, 7409), wheth15 er to—

16 (A) retain the criteria and standards in ef17 fect under that Act for ozone and particulate

18 matter;

19 (B) make revisions in the criteria and

20 standards; or

21 (C) promulgate new criteria and standards.

22 SEC. 5. PARTICULATE MONITORING PROGRAM.

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator may require

24 State implementation plans to require ambient air quality

25 monitoring for fine particulate matter pursuant to section
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1 110(a)(2)(B) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C.

2 7410(a)(2)(B)).

3 (b) GRANTS.—The Administrator shall make grants

4 to States to carry out monitoring required under sub5 section (a).

6 SEC. 6. REINSTATEMENT OF STANDARDS.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The national ambient air quality

8 standards for ozone and particulate matter under section

9 109 of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7409), as in effect

10 on July 15, 1997, are reinstated.

11 (b) REVISION OF STANDARDS.—The national ambi12 ent air quality standards for ozone and particulate matter

13 reinstated under subsection (a) shall not be revised until

14 completion of the scientific review under section 4.

15 SEC. 7. OZONE RESEARCH.

16 The National Institutes of Health is directed to begin

17 a research program to study the health effects of allergens

18 on asthmatics, particularly in regards to urban inner city

19 areas.

20 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

21 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out

22 sections 1–6 of this Act $75,000,000 for each of fiscal

23 years 1998 through 2002. There is authorized to be ap-
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1 propriated to carry out section 7 of this Act $25,000,000

2 for each of the fiscal years 1998 through 2002.

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