A bill to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a program under which the Administrator shall defer the designation of an area as a nonattainment area for purposes of the 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standard if the area achieves and maintains certain standards under a voluntary early action compact plan.
This bill requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish an Early Action Compact Program, which allows an area that is not attaining the eight-hour ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) to obtain a deferment of a nonattainment designation upon the relevant state, local, and tribal government voluntarily developing an early action compact plan. The eight-hour ozone NAAQS measures ozone levels over eight-hour periods to determine the amount of ground-level ozone (i.e., smog) in the environment. The EPA: (1) must issue a decision on each early action compact plan no later than one year after it is submitted, and (2) may not designate an area as a nonattainment area until it has issued a decision to approve or deny a plan. The EPA must establish separate requirements relating to winter ozone levels for each early action compact plan.
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Timeline
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Environmental Protection
Administrative law and regulatory proceduresAir qualityEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA)Environmental regulatory proceduresIntergovernmental relationsState and local government operations
A bill to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a program under which the Administrator shall defer the designation of an area as a nonattainment area for purposes of the 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standard if the area achieves and maintains certain standards under a voluntary early action compact plan.
USA115th CongressS-1203| Senate
| Updated: 5/23/2017
This bill requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish an Early Action Compact Program, which allows an area that is not attaining the eight-hour ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) to obtain a deferment of a nonattainment designation upon the relevant state, local, and tribal government voluntarily developing an early action compact plan. The eight-hour ozone NAAQS measures ozone levels over eight-hour periods to determine the amount of ground-level ozone (i.e., smog) in the environment. The EPA: (1) must issue a decision on each early action compact plan no later than one year after it is submitted, and (2) may not designate an area as a nonattainment area until it has issued a decision to approve or deny a plan. The EPA must establish separate requirements relating to winter ozone levels for each early action compact plan.
Administrative law and regulatory proceduresAir qualityEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA)Environmental regulatory proceduresIntergovernmental relationsState and local government operations