(1) In section 169A of the Clean Air Act (42 
U.S.C. 7491), Congress declared ‘‘as a national goal 
the prevention of any future, and the remedying of 
any existing, impairment of visibility in mandatory 
class I Federal areas which impairment results from 
manmade air pollution’’. 
(2) In section 51.308 of title 40, Code of Fed-
eral Regulations, the Environmental Protection 
Agency established ‘‘requirements for implementa-
tion plans, plan revisions, and periodic progress re-
views to address regional haze’’, including require-
ments to establish goals for ‘‘reasonable progress to-
wards achieving natural visibility conditions’’, in 
part by determining ‘‘the rate of progress needed to 
attain natural visibility conditions by the year 
2064’’. 
(3) In regulating the emissions that cause re-
gional haze, Congress assigned States the lead role 
in developing and implementing a plan to reduce the 
precursor emissions that cause regional haze. 
(4) The State of Minnesota, through the Min-
nesota Pollution Control Agency (in this section re-
ferred to as ‘‘MPCA’’), issued a State Implementa-
tion Plan (in this section referred to as a ‘‘SIP’’) in 
December of 2009 that proposed the Best Available 
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Retrofit Technology (in this section referred to as 
‘‘BART’’) for nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide, 
finding that good combustion practices met BART 
for taconite facilities. 
(5) The Environmental Protection Agency re-
ceived and reviewed all of MPCA’s December 2009 
SIP. In January 2012, the Environmental Protec-
tion Agency proposed accepting Minnesota’s SIP, in-
cluding its emissions modeling, as well as BART to 
reduce the emissions of taconite (iron ore) proc-
essing facilities. 
(6) MPCA performed an extensive study of 
BART for the different types of taconite indurating 
furnaces. MPCA determined that the current tech-
nologies in place (good combustion practices) were 
BART. 
(7) The Environmental Protection Agency de-
termined that because one taconite facility was able 
to make use of low NOx burners to reduce emis-
sions, that low NOx burners should be considered 
BART for all taconite facilities, and that many fa-
cilities should add this technology within 18 months. 
(8) The Environmental Protection Agency’s 
failure to account for all of the factors in the State’s 
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analysis has led to a proposed rule that imposes 
technically infeasible deadlines. 
(9) The State’s Implementation Plan should 
take precedence, setting BART and appropriate 
emissions limits for taconite plants. The Environ-
mental Protection Agency should defer to the State 
for such a period of time that the taconite plants 
can be feasibly upgraded according to the unique 
characteristics of each furnace and line. 
SEC. 3. STATE REGULATION OF EMISSIONS FROM TACO-
NITE ORE PROCESSING FACILITIES. 
Section 169A of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7491) 
is amended— 
(1) by redesignating subsection (g) as sub-
section (h); and 
(2) by inserting after subsection (f) the fol-
lowing subsection: 
‘‘(g)(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this 
Act— 
‘‘(A) any implementation plan submitted by a 
State (including any such implementation plan sub-
mitted prior to the date of enactment of this para-
graph) that specifies the best available retrofit tech-
nology for any taconite ore processing facility for the 
purpose of eliminating or reducing any impairment 
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of visibility shall be considered to be approved under 
section 110 for such State with respect to such facil-
ity for such purpose; and 
‘‘(B) if such an implementation plan has been 
submitted, the Administrator may not promulgate, 
implement, or enforce any requirement pursuant to 
a plan under section 110(c) with respect to such fa-
cility for such purpose. 
‘‘(2) Paragraph (1) shall apply with respect to the 
period beginning on the date of enactment of this sub-
section and ending on January 1, 2022. 
‘‘(3) This subsection shall not be construed to prevent 
the Administrator from taking any action otherwise au-
thorized under this Act with respect to a facility described 
in paragraph (1) for the purpose of protecting human 
health and safety.’’. 
Æ 
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