II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2362

To amend the Clean Air Act to direct the Administrator of the Environmental

Protection Agency to consider risk assessments and cost-benefit analyses

as part of the process of establishing a new or revised air quality

standard.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

APRIL 5, 2000

Mr. VOINOVICH (for himself, Mr. BREAUX, Mr. INHOFE, and Ms. LANDRIEU)

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the

Committee on Environment and Public Works

A BILL

To amend the Clean Air Act to direct the Administrator

of the Environmental Protection Agency to consider risk

assessments and cost-benefit analyses as part of the

process of establishing a new or revised air quality standard.

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 ‘‘Air Quality Standard

5 Improvement Act of 2000’’.

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

7 The purposes of this Act are—
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1 (1) to establish more effective environmental

2 standards to continue to safeguard public health and

3 the environment;

4 (2) to promote better resource allocation to en5 sure that serious risks to air quality are addressed

6 first;

7 (3) to improve the ability of the Administrator

8 of the Environmental Protection Agency to use sci9 entific and economic analysis in developing air qual10 ity standards;

11 (4) to yield increased public health and environ12 mental benefits and more effective protections while

13 minimizing costs;

14 (5) to require that relevant qualitative and

15 quantitative information be considered in the process

16 of evaluating the costs and benefits of air quality

17 standards;

18 (6) to promote the right of the public to know

19 about the costs and benefits of air standards, the

20 risks addressed, the risks reduced, and the quality of

21 scientific and economic analysis used to support de22 cisions; and

23 (7) to require the Administrator of the Environ24 mental Protection Agency to conduct risk assess25 ments and cost-benefit analyses as part of the proc-
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1 ess of establishing a new or revised air quality

2 standard.

3 SEC. 3. RISK ASSESSMENT AND COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS.

4 The Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.) is amend5 ed by adding at the end the following:

6 ‘‘TITLE VII—RISK ASSESSMENT

7 AND COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS

8 ‘‘SEC. 701. DEFINITION OF AIR QUALITY STANDARD.

9 ‘‘In this title, the term ‘air quality standard’ means—

10 ‘‘(1) a national ambient air quality standard es11 tablished under section 109 (including the setting of

12 any emissions budget for purposes of attaining or

13 maintaining any national ambient air quality stand14 ard);

15 ‘‘(2) an increment or ceiling for the prevention

16 of significant deterioration established under section

17 163;

18 ‘‘(3) regulations established under section 169A

19 to address the regional haze or other impairment of

20 visibility by manmade air pollution in a mandatory

21 class I Federal area;

22 ‘‘(4) any finding or emission limitation deter23 mined under section 126;

24 ‘‘(5) any emission standard or requirement that

25 applies to on-road and nonroad mobile sources (in-
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1 cluding aircraft engine standards) established under

2 title II;

3 ‘‘(6) any requirement that imposes a limitation

4 on the quality of fuel used in mobile sources;

5 ‘‘(7) any emission limitation or emission budget

6 for sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxides established

7 under title IV;

8 ‘‘(8) any preconstruction review requirement

9 that regulates new sources or major modifications of

10 existing sources in attainment or nonattainment

11 areas;

12 ‘‘(9) the setting of any emissions budget or

13 other requirement for purposes of attaining or main14 taining any national ambient air quality standard

15 under section 110;

16 ‘‘(10) any new source performance standard,

17 existing source performance standard, or design,

18 equipment, work practice, or operational standard

19 established or revised under section 111;

20 ‘‘(11) any standard to protect public health and

21 the environment described in section 112(f);

22 ‘‘(12) any new regulation applicable to an elec23 tric utility steam generating unit under section

24 112(n);
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1 ‘‘(13) the designation of a pollutant under sec2 tion 115 as causing or contributing to air pollution

3 that may reasonably be anticipated to endanger pub4 lic health or welfare in a foreign country;

5 ‘‘(14) any air pollution control technique infor6 mation, transportation planning guidelines, informa7 tion on procedures and methods to reduce mobile

8 source air pollution, or control technique guidelines

9 issued under sections 108 and 183;

10 ‘‘(15) any identification of attainment dates for

11 national ambient air quality standards under part D;

12 ‘‘(16) any identification of control measures for

13 the reduction of interstate ozone air pollution under

14 section 184; and

15 ‘‘(17) any identification of reasonably available

16 control measures and best available control measures

17 for particulate matter under section 190.

18 ‘‘SEC. 702. RISK ASSESSMENT, MANAGEMENT, AND COMMU19 NICATION.

20 ‘‘(a) USE OF SCIENCE IN DECISIONMAKING.—In car21 rying out this Act, (including establishing a new or revised

22 air quality standard under this Act), the Administrator

23 shall base any scientific or technical conclusions on—
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1 ‘‘(1) the best available, peer-reviewed science

2 and supporting studies conducted in accordance with

3 sound and objective scientific practices;

4 ‘‘(2) data collected by accepted methods or the

5 best available methods (if the reliability of the meth6 od and the nature of the decision justifies use of the

7 data);

8 ‘‘(3) data (including the underlying research

9 data) that have been made available to the public,

10 subject to the exemptions under section 552 of title

11 5, United States Code.

12 ‘‘(b) PUBLIC INFORMATION.—

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out this sec14 tion, the Administrator shall ensure, to the max15 imum extent practicable, that the presentation of in16 formation on public health effects concerning any

17 new or revised air quality standard is comprehensive,

18 informative, understandable, and conveniently avail19 able for public comment prior to the promulgation of

20 any regulation under this Act.

21 ‘‘(2) SPECIFICATIONS.—The Administrator

22 shall, in a document made available to the public in

23 support of a regulation proposed or promulgated

24 under this Act concerning an air quality standard,

25 specify, to the maximum extent practicable—
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1 ‘‘(A) each population addressed by any es2 timate of public health effects;

3 ‘‘(B) the expected risk or central estimate

4 of risk for the specific populations or resources,

5 where applicable, and each appropriate upper6 bound or lower-bound estimate of risk;

7 ‘‘(C) each significant uncertainty identified

8 in the process of the assessment of public

9 health effects, and studies that would assist in

10 resolving the uncertainty; and

11 ‘‘(D) peer-reviewed studies known to the

12 Administrator that support, are directly rel13 evant to, or fail to support any estimate of pub14 lic health effects, and the methodologies used to

15 reconcile inconsistencies in the scientific data.

16 ‘‘(3) HEALTH RISK REDUCTION AND COST

17 ANALYSIS.—

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—As part of the process

19 of proposing a new or revised air quality stand20 ard, the Administrator shall publish in the Fed21 eral Register and seek public comment on an

22 analysis of each of the following:

23 ‘‘(i) Quantifiable and nonquantifiable

24 benefits for which there are factual bases

25 in the rulemaking record to conclude that
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1 the benefits are likely to occur as the re2 sult of actions taken to comply with the

3 new or revised air quality standard.

4 ‘‘(ii) Quantifiable and nonquantifiable

5 health benefits for which there are factual

6 bases in the rulemaking record to conclude

7 that the benefits are likely to occur from

8 reductions in other related pollutants that

9 may be attributed to compliance with the

10 new or revised air quality standard, exclud11 ing benefits resulting from compliance with

12 other proposed or promulgated regulations.

13 ‘‘(iii) Quantifiable and nonquantifiable

14 costs for which there is a factual basis in

15 the rulemaking record to conclude that the

16 costs are likely to occur as the result of ac17 tions taken to comply with or attain the

18 new or revised air quality standard, which

19 costs shall include monitoring, actions

20 taken to comply with or attain the new or

21 revised air quality standard, and other

22 costs, and excluding costs resulting from

23 compliance with other proposed or promul24 gated regulations.
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1 ‘‘(iv) The incremental costs and bene2 fits associated with each alternative new or

3 revised air quality standard considered.

4 ‘‘(v) The effects of the air pollutant or

5 pollutants for which a new or revised air

6 quality standard is being considered on the

7 general population, including, to the extent

8 relevant and appropriate and where data

9 are reasonably available, the effects on

10 groups within the general population such

11 as infants, children, pregnant women, the

12 elderly, individuals with a history of seri13 ous illness, or other subpopulations that

14 are identified as likely to be at greater risk

15 of adverse health effects due to exposure to

16 an air pollutant than the general popu17 lation.

18 ‘‘(vi) Any risk that may occur as the

19 result of compliance with or attainment of

20 the new or revised air quality standard, in21 cluding risks associated with other related

22 pollutants.

23 ‘‘(vii) Other relevant factors, including

24 the quality and extent of the information

25 available concerning the new or revised air
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1 quality standard, the uncertainties in the

2 analysis supporting clauses (i) through

3 (vi), and factors with respect to the degree,

4 and quantitative and qualitative descrip5 tions of the nature, of any risk.

6 ‘‘(B) APPROACHES TO MEASURE AND

7 VALUE BENEFITS.—The Administrator may

8 identify valid approaches for the measurement

9 and valuation of benefits under this paragraph,

10 including approaches to identify consumer will11 ingness to pay for reductions in health risks

12 from air pollutants.

13 ‘‘(C) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA14 TIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated

15 to the Administrator to conduct studies, assess16 ments, and analyses described in this section

17 $35,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2000

18 through 2003.

19 ‘‘SEC. 703. COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS.

20 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

21 ‘‘(1) BENEFIT.—The term ‘benefit’ means the

22 reasonably identifiable significant favorable effects,

23 quantifiable and nonquantifiable, including social,

24 health, safety, environmental, and economic effects,

25 that are expected to result from implementation of,
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1 or compliance with, a new or revised air quality

2 standard.

3 ‘‘(2) COST.—The term ‘cost’ means the reason4 ably identifiable significant adverse effects, quantifi5 able and nonquantifiable, including social, health,

6 safety, environmental, and economic effects, that are

7 expected to result from implementation of, or com8 pliance with, a new or revised air quality standard.

9 ‘‘(3) COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS.—The term

10 ‘cost-benefit analysis’ means an evaluation of the

11 costs and benefits of a new or revised air quality

12 standard, quantified to the extent feasible and ap13 propriate and otherwise qualitatively described, that

14 is prepared in accordance with the requirements of

15 this section at the level of detail appropriate and

16 practicable for reasoned decisionmaking on the mat17 ter involved, taking into consideration uncertainties,

18 the significance and complexity of the decision, and

19 the need to adequately inform the public.

20 ‘‘(b) ANALYSIS.—For each new or revised air quality

21 standard proposed, the Administrator—

22 ‘‘(1) shall conduct and publish, for public com23 ment, a cost-benefit analysis to determine whether

24 the benefits of the new or revised air quality stand25 ard justify, or do not justify, the costs; and
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1 ‘‘(2) may analyze the potential distributional ef2 fects of the new or revised air quality standard.

3 ‘‘(c) DETERMINATION OF HEALTH RISK REDUCTION

4 AND COST CONSIDERATIONS.—

5 ‘‘(1) DETERMINATION OF NO JUSTIFICATION

6 FOR COST.—

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any

8 other provision of this Act, if the Administrator

9 determines, based on an analysis conducted

10 under subsection (b), that the benefits of a new

11 or revised air quality standard proposed or pro12 mulgated in accordance with this Act do not

13 justify the costs, the Administrator may, after

14 notice and opportunity for public comment, pro15 mulgate an alternative new or revised air qual16 ity standard at a cost that is justified by the

17 benefits.

18 ‘‘(B) SCOPE OF CONSIDERATION.—In mak19 ing a determination under subparagraph (A),

20 the Administrator shall consider—

21 ‘‘(i) only public health benefits, with

22 respect to a determination concerning a

23 primary national ambient air quality

24 standard; and
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1 ‘‘(ii) public health and environmental

2 benefits, with respect to a determination

3 concerning any air quality standard other

4 than a national ambient air quality stand5 ard.

6 ‘‘(2) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—A determination by

7 the Administrator under paragraph (1)—

8 ‘‘(A) shall be reviewed by a court only as

9 part of a review of a final regulation that has

10 been promulgated based on the determination;

11 and

12 ‘‘(B) shall be set aside by a court if the

13 court finds that the determination is arbitrary

14 and capricious.

15 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

16 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are nec17 essary to carry out this section.’’.

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