I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1705

To amend the Clean Air Act to waive the oxygen content requirement for

reformulated gasoline and to phase-out the use of MTBE, and for other

purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 5, 1999

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

Committee on Commerce

A BILL

To amend the Clean Air Act to waive the oxygen content

requirement for reformulated gasoline and to phase-out

the use of MTBE, 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. WAIVER OF OXYGEN CONTENT REQUIREMENT

4 FOR CERTAIN REFORMULATED GASOLINE.

5 Section 211(k)(2)(B) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C.

6 7545(k)(2)(B)) is amended as follows:

7 (1) In the first sentence, by striking ‘‘The oxy8 gen’’ and inserting the following:

9 ‘‘(i) REQUIREMENT.—The oxygen’’.
2

•HR 1705 IH

1 (2) In the second sentence—

2 (A) by striking ‘‘The Administrator’’ and

3 inserting the following:

4 ‘‘(ii) WAIVERS.—The Administrator’’;

5 (B) by striking ‘‘area upon a’’ and insert6 ing the following: ‘‘area—

7 ‘‘(I) upon a’’;

8 (C) by striking the period at the end and

9 inserting ‘‘; or’’; and

10 (D) by adding at the end the following:

11 ‘‘(II) if the Administrator deter12 mines, by regulation, that reformu13 lated gasoline that contains less than

14 2.0 percent by weight oxygen and

15 meets all other requirements of this

16 subsection will achieve an equivalent

17 or greater reduction in total actual

18 emissions of ozone precursors, partic19 ulate matter, and potency-weighted

20 toxic air pollutants, respectively, than

21 that resulting from reformulated gaso22 line that contains at least 2.0 percent

23 by weight oxygen and meets all other

24 requirements of this subsection.’’.
3

•HR 1705 IH

1 SEC. 2. PHASE-OUT OF MTBE ADDITIVES.

2 (a) AMENDMENT OF CLEAN AIR ACT.—Section

3 211(c) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7545(c)) is amend4 ed by adding at the end of paragraph (1) the following:

5 ‘‘The regulations under this paragraph shall prohibit the

6 use of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) as a fuel addi7 tive.’’.

8 (b) REGULATIONS.—The Administrator of the Envi9 ronmental Protection Agency shall amend the regulations

10 under section 211(c)(1) of the Clean Air Act as promptly

11 as practicable after the date of enactment of this Act to

12 conform to the amendment made by this Act.

13 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Subsection (a) shall take ef14 fect upon the expiration of the 3-year period beginning

15 on the date of the enactment of this Act unless the Sec16 retary of Energy determines at that time that there is an

17 inadequate supply or availability of gasoline or the Admin18 istrator of the Environmental Protection Agency deter19 mines that requirements of the Clean Air Act would not

20 be met.

21 SEC. 3. NAS STUDY.

22 The Administrator of the Environmental Protection

23 Agency shall enter into contracts or other appropriate ar24 rangements with the National Academy of Sciences to con25 duct a study of all oxygenates used as gasoline additives

26 and their combustion byproducts to determine the effects
4

•HR 1705 IH

1 of such additives and byproducts on public health and en2 vironment and the availability of alternatives. The results

3 of such study shall be made available to the public.

Æ