I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4309

To amend the Clean Air Act to provide needed flexibility to States regarding 

the designation of certain counties as nonattainment areas for ozone 

under the 8-hour ozone standard, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 6, 2004

Mr. HILL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL

To amend the Clean Air Act to provide needed flexibility 

to States regarding the designation of certain counties 

as nonattainment areas for ozone under the 8-hour ozone 

standard, 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. REDESIGNATION OF TRANSITIONAL AREAS 

4 FOR 8-HOUR OZONE STANDARD. 

5 Section 107(d) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 

6 7407(d)) is amended by adding the following new subpara7 graph at the end of paragraph (3): 
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1 ‘‘(G) In addition to the authority to redes2 ignate areas under other provisions of this 

3 paragraph, the Administrator shall redesignate 

4 as transitional any area that has been des5 ignated as nonattainment for the 8-hour ozone 

6 national primary or secondary ambient air qual7 ity standard if—

8 ‘‘(i) the area consists of a single coun9 ty; 

10 ‘‘(ii) the county does not qualify as a 

11 rural transport area under section 182(h) 

12 solely by reason of the presence of an adja13 cent standard metropolitan statistical area 

14 or consolidated metropolitan statistical 

15 area; 

16 ‘‘(iii) the county is not in the ozone 

17 transport region established under section 

18 184(a); 

19 ‘‘(iv) the Governor of the State in 

20 which the county is located, after consulta21 tion with the State air pollution control 

22 agency (as defined in section 302(b)), pro23 vides to the Administrator a demonstration 

24 that ozone control measures in effect for 

25 such county will provide that such stand-
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1 ard will be attained in such county on or 

2 before the date on which State implemen3 tation plan provisions are required to be 

4 submitted for the attainment and mainte5 nance of such standard in the nonattain6 ment area; and 

7 ‘‘(v) the Governor of the State in 

8 which the county is located, after consulta9 tion with the State air pollution control 

10 agency (as defined in section 302(b)), 

11 makes a binding commitment to the Ad12 ministrator that—

13 ‘‘(I) the air pollution control 

14 agency will (in addition to any other 

15 analysis required under other provi16 sions of this Act) make a determina17 tion regarding the lowest achievable 

18 emission rate (LAER) that would 

19 have applied to each major stationary 

20 source constructed or modified in the 

21 county concerned after the date of the 

22 redesignation of the county under this 

23 subparagraph if such redesignation 

24 had not taken place; and 
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1 ‘‘(II) the air pollution control 

2 agency will obtain emission offsets in 

3 accordance with section 110(q)(2) for 

4 ozone and ozone precursors emitted 

5 from each source referred to in sub6 clause (I) if the county fails to attain 

7 the 8-hour ozone national primary or 

8 secondary ambient air quality stand9 ard on or before the date on which 

10 State implementation plan provisions 

11 are required to be submitted as pro12 vided in clause (iv). 

13 The Administrator shall make such redesigna14 tion effective within 30 days after receiving 

15 such notice from the Governor.’’. 

16 SEC. 2. STATE IMPLEMENTATION PLANS FOR TRANSI17 TIONAL AREAS. 

18 Section 110 of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 77410) 

19 is amended by adding the following new subsection at the 

20 end thereof: 

21 ‘‘(q) TRANSITIONAL AREAS.—

22 ‘‘(1) SUBTITLE C.—Each county redesignated 

23 as transitional pursuant to section 107(d)(1)(G) 

24 shall be treated as an attainment or unclassifiable 
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1 area for purposes of the prevention of significant de2 terioration provisions of part C of this title. 

3 ‘‘(2) FAILURE TO ATTAIN.—No later than 3 

4 years after the redesignation of a county as transi5 tional pursuant to subparagraph (G) of section 

6 107(d)(1), the Administrator shall determine wheth7 er the county has attained the 8-hour national pri8 mary and secondary standards for ozone. If the Ad9 ministrator determines that a county has not at10 tained such standards—

11 ‘‘(A) the county shall be redesignated as 

12 nonattainment within 1 year of the determina13 tion and the State shall be required to submit, 

14 within 2 years of such redesignation as non15 attainment, a State implementation plan revi16 sion for such county satisfying the provisions of 

17 part D of this title; and 

18 ‘‘(B) such plan revision shall require, in 

19 addition to requirements applicable under other 

20 provisions of this Act, that the State air pollu21 tion control agency will provide offsets (for peri22 ods after the redesignation of the county) in ac23 cordance with paragraph (3) for emissions of 

24 ozone and ozone precursors from each major 

25 stationary source constructed or modified in the 
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1 county after the date of the redesignation of the 

2 county as transitional under such subparagraph 

3 (G). 

4 ‘‘(3) AMOUNT AND LOCATION OF OFFSETS.—

5 The offsets required under subparagraph (B) of 

6 paragraph (2) for each major stationary source may 

7 be obtained from sources in proximity to the area, 

8 in accordance with applicable guidance published by 

9 the Administrator. Such offsets shall be equivalent 

10 in amount to the difference between the following: 

11 ‘‘(A) The emissions from the major sta12 tionary source concerned. 

13 ‘‘(B) The maximum emissions that would 

14 have been emitted from that source under the 

15 applicable requirments of this Act (including 

16 new source review) if the county had not been 

17 redesignated as a transitional area under sec18 tion 107(d)(1)(G) for purposes of the 8-hour 

19 national primary and secondary standards for 

20 ozone.’’.

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