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09-14-04
Clean Air Act Issues in the 108th Congress
SUMMARY
The most prominent air quality issue in
recent months has been what to do about
emissions from coal-fired electric power
plants. On January 30, 2004, EPA proposed
standards for mercury, sulfur dioxide, and
nitrogen oxide emissions from such plants.
The proposed mercury standards have been
particularly controversial: EPA claims that
technology to achieve more than a 30% reduc-
tion in mercury emissions cannot be imple-
mented until 2018, an assertion widely dis-
puted.
Legislation has also been proposed on the
subject - a group of bills referred to as
"multi-pollutant" legislation. The Administra-
tion version (the Clear Skies Act, H.R. 999/S.
485/S. 1844) proposes to replace numerous
existing Clean Air Act requirements with a
national cap and trade program for sulfur
dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury. Sena-
tors Jeffords and Carper, and Representatives
Sweeney, Waxman, and Bass have all intro-
duced bills that are more stringent than Clear
Skies, and four of the five would regulate
carbon dioxide in addition to the other pollut-
ants.
Controversy has also arisen over EPA's
proposed and promulgated changes to the
Clean Air Act's New Source Review (NSR)
requirements. NSR requires installation of
best available emission controls when power
plants and other major facilities are modified.
Since December 31, 2002, EPA has promul-
gated several changes to streamline (and,
many argue, weaken) the NSR requirements.
On January 22, 2003, the Senate approved an
amendment to H.J.Res. 2 that directed the
National Academy of Sciences to conduct astudy of the NSR changes. The President
signed the bill, with the amendment, February
20, 2003 (P.L. 108-7).
The conference report on the energy bill
(H.R. 6), which came to the House and Senate
floor for action the week of November 17,
2003, contained several Clean Air Act provi-
sions. Most of these are also contained in S.
2095, a revised version of the bill introduced
February 12, 2004, and in H.R. 4503, which
passed the House June 15, 2004. Most of the
air provisions concern the gasoline additives
MTBE and ethanol, used to meet Clean Air
Act requirements that reformulated gasoline
(RFG) sold in the nation's worst ozone
nonattainment areas contain at least 2% oxy-
gen, to improve combustion. MTBE has
contaminated ground water in several states.
All three bills would ban the use of MTBE as
a fuel additive nationwide, except in states
that specifically authorize its use, after De-
cember 31, 2014; repeal the requirement that
RFG contain oxygen; provide a major new
stimulus to the use of ethanol; authorize $2
billion in grants to assist merchant MTBE
production facilities in converting to the
production of other fuel additives; and autho-
rize funds for MTBE cleanup. H.R. 6 and
H.R. 4503 would also provide a "safe harbor"
from product liability lawsuits for producers
of MTBE and renewable fuels; S. 2095 would
not.
The 108th Congress has also enacted
changes to the "small engine" provisions of
the Clean Air Act and is considering changes
to the requirement that metropolitan area
transportation plans "conform" to the act.1B10107
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McCarthy, James E. Clean Air Act Issues in the 108th Congress, report, September 14, 2004; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc815049/m1/3/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.