I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5118 

To amend the Clean Air Act to require the exclusion of data of an exceedance 

or violation of a national ambient air quality standard caused by a 

prescribed fire in the Flint Hills Region, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 22, 2010 

Mr. MORAN of Kansas introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Clean Air Act to require the exclusion of 

data of an exceedance or violation of a national ambient 

air quality standard caused by a prescribed fire in the 

Flint Hills Region, 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 ‘‘Flint Hills Preserva5 tion Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 


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1 (1) The Flint Hills Region of Kansas and Okla2 homa contains the world’s largest share of the re3 maining tallgrass prairie, and is the only place where 

4 that habitat is in landscape proportions. Only 4 per5 cent of North America’s presettlement tallgrass prai6 rie survives to this day, and 80 percent is located in 

7 Kansas. 

8 (2) The Flint Hills Region is also home to cer9 tain declining avian species such as the greater prai10 rie chicken and Henslow’s sparrow that cannot con11 tinue to exist without large expanses of native 

12 tallgrass prairie in an original state. Further, it is 

13 a significant corridor for migrating shorebirds such 

14 as the American golden plover, the buff-breasted 

15 sand-piper, and the upland sandpiper. 

16 (3) Beginning in the mid-19th century, cattle17 men understood that the richness of the Flint Hills 

18 grasses depended on a good spring burn—something 

19 they learned from the Native Americans. Fire still 

20 thrives in the Flint Hills because the ranchers, and 

21 others using the land, know that the natural eco22 system depends on fire. 

23 (4) Ranchers, landowners, and conservation 

24 groups use prescribed burns to mimic the seasonal 

25 fires that have shaped the tallgrass prairie for thouVerDate Nov 24 2008 03:20 Apr 23, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5118.IH H5118

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1 sands of years. Areas not burned for several years 

2 develop mature grasses and thicker, thatch-like vege3 tation, which habitat is preferred by invasive species. 

4 (5) The Flint Hills Region is one of the few 

5 places in the United States where the prevailing ag6 ricultural system works essentially in tandem with 

7 an ancestral native ecosystem, preserving most of its 

8 complexity and the dynamic processes that helped 

9 shape it. 

10 (6) Due to the uniqueness of the Flint Hills 

11 tallgrass prairie and the historic manner in which 

12 the tallgrass prairie has been managed by fire, exist13 ing prescribed burn practices should be allowed to 

14 continue and ambient air data resulting from fires 

15 used to manage the Flint Hills tallgrass prairie 

16 should be not be included in determinations of com17 pliance with the Clean Air Act. 

18 SEC. 3. PRESCRIBED FIRES. 

19 The Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.) is amend20 ed by inserting after section 329 the following: 

21 ‘‘SEC. 330. PRESCRIBED FIRES IN THE FLINT HILLS RE22 GION. 

23 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In determining whether, with re24 spect to a specific air pollutant, an exceedance or violation 

25 of a national ambient air quality standard has occurred 


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1 for purposes of this Act, a State and the Administrator 

2 shall exclude data from a particular air quality monitoring 

3 location if emissions from one or more prescribed fires in 

4 the Flint Hills Region cause a concentration of the air 

5 pollutant at the location to be in excess of the standard. 

6 ‘‘(b) SPECIFIC LIMITATIONS.—If emissions data is 

7 excluded under subsection (a) from a particular air quality 

8 monitoring station because of emissions from one or more 

9 prescribed fires in the Flint Hills Region— 

10 ‘‘(1) the Administrator shall not, as a result of 

11 such emissions, find under section 113 that a State 

12 has failed to enforce, or that a person has violated, 

13 a State implementation plan (for national primary 

14 or secondary ambient air quality standards) under 

15 section 110; and 

16 ‘‘(2) a State shall not, as a result of such emis17 sions, find that a person has violated, or bring an 

18 enforcement action for violation of, a State imple19 mentation plan (for national primary or secondary 

20 ambient air quality standards) under section 110. 

21 ‘‘(c) PROHIBITION AGAINST SMOKE MANAGEMENT

22 PLANS.—The Administrator shall not require, and a State 

23 shall not adopt, a smoke management plan under this Act 

24 in connection with any prescribed fire in the Flint Hills 

25 Region. 


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1 ‘‘(d) NOT A STATIONARY SOURCE.—No building, 

2 structure, facility, or installation may be treated as a sta3 tionary source under section 111 as a result of one or 

4 more prescribed fires in the Flint Hills Region. 

5 ‘‘(e) NO TITLE V PERMIT REQUIRED.—No person 

6 shall be required to obtain or modify a permit under title 

7 V in connection with a prescribed fire in the Flint Hills 

8 Region. 

9 ‘‘(f) DEFINITION.—In this section: 

10 ‘‘(1) The term ‘Flint Hills Region’— 

11 ‘‘(A) means the band of hills in eastern 

12 Kansas that stretch into north-central Okla13 homa; and 

14 ‘‘(B) includes— 

15 ‘‘(i) Butler, Chase, Chautauqua, Clay, 

16 Cowley, Dickinson, Elk, Geary, Greenwood, 

17 Harvey, Jackson, Lyon, Marion, Marshall, 

18 Morris, Ottawa, Pottawatomie, Riley, Sa19 line, Shawnee, Wabaunsee, Washington, 

20 and Woodson Counties in Kansas; and 

21 ‘‘(ii) Osage, Tulsa, and Washington 

22 counties in Oklahoma. 

23 ‘‘(2) The term ‘prescribed fire’ means a fire 

24 that is set or managed by a person with the goal of 

25 enhancing a fire-dependent ecosystem or enhancing 


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1 the productivity of agricultural grazing land, irre2 spective of the frequency with which the burn oc3 curs.’’. 

Æ 


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