A bill to authorize a national program to reduce the threat to human health posed by exposure to contaminants in the air indoors.
Indoor Air Quality Act of 1988 - Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a national research, development, and demonstration program to assure the quality of indoor air, including coordinating and accelerating efforts related to the causes, detection, and correction of contaminated air. Requires such program to include information collection and dissemination, cooperative research, grants, studies, development of techniques, facility construction, and conferences. Requires that research focus on human health effects and the identification of types and levels of contaminants likely to cause harm, including the development of methodology and techniques for detection and control.
Authorizes the Administrator to assist technology demonstration activities based on a technology's potential to cost effectively control sources of contaminants. Limits Federal funding to 75 percent of the costs of such projects. Requires the Administrator to publish: (1) general reports on the findings of such demonstration projects; and (2) bulletins assessing technology and management practices for controlling and measuring indoor air contaminants, which shall be provided to the Indoor Air Clearinghouse. Directs the Administrator to develop protocols, within six months of this Act's enactment, for the measurement of radon gas in child care facilities and disseminate information regarding techniques for measuring and mitigating radon gas in such facilities. Authorizes the Administrator to take certain other actions conducive to the detection and reduction of radon gas in such facilities. Directs the Administrator to report to the Congress by the start of FY 1989 on activities conducted under this Act.
Directs the Administrator to publish and biennially revise a list of contaminants known to occur in indoor air. Provides for additions to such list upon application of a State Governor. Requires the Administrator to publish advisory materials addressing the human health effects of listed contaminants which describe the properties, effects, risks, and concentrations of such contaminants. Directs the Indoor Air Panel of the EPA Science Advisory Board to assist in the listing and advisories. Requires that advisories be updated at least once every five years.
Directs the Administrator to develop and publish a national indoor air quality response plan to reduce human exposure to the listed indoor air contaminants and reduce, to the fullest extent practicable, indoor air contaminant concentration levels to levels at which there is no known or anticipated human health effect, with an adequate margin of safety. Requires the response plan to identify the contaminant, the basis for the action, the nature of the response, the responsible Federal authority, the necessary financial resources, and the technological or legislative changes required for further reduction of the contaminant.
Requires the Administrator and the Administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA) to develop and implement a program to respond to and reduce indoor air contamination in Federal buildings and to demonstrate methods of reducing indoor air contamination in new Federal buildings. Directs the Administrator of the GSA to prepare a specific response plan for Federal buildings which lists buildings and the reduction and response actions to be taken and identifies those buildings for which there is sufficient evidence of indoor air contamination to warrant their assessment under this Act's Building Assessment Demonstration Program. Exempts specified buildings for national security, demolition, or special use purposes. Requires the Administrator of the GSA to provide a method and format for filing comments and complaints concerning indoor air quality in Federal buildings. Requires that the response plans be submitted to the Congress on a biennial basis.
Directs the Administrator of the GSA to reserve 0.5 percent of any funds appropriated for construction of new Federal buildings for design and construction of measures to reduce indoor air contaminant concentrations within such buildings. Requires that any new EPA building be designed, constructed, maintained, and operated as a model to demonstrate principles and practices for protecting indoor air quality.
Authorizes grants to States for the development and implementation of management strategies and indoor air quality assessment and response programs similar to those of the Federal program.
Directs the Administrator to establish the Office of Indoor Air Quality within the EPA's Office of Air and Radiation to implement agency responsibilities under this Act. Establishes a Council on Indoor Air Quality to coordinate Federal indoor air quality activities and review and comment on the national indoor air response program and the Federal building response plan. Requires that the Council report to the Congress on a biennial basis.
Directs the Administrator and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding which describes the plan of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to assist the Administrator in carrying out EPA's authority to assess the extent of radon in the United States and develop measures to avoid and reduce radon contamination.
Requires the Administrator to establish a national indoor air quality clearinghouse which shall operate a toll-free hotline on indoor air quality.
Requires the Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to implement a Building Assessment Demonstration Program to support the development of methods, techniques, and protocols for assessing indoor air contamination in non-residential, non-industrial buildings and to provide contamination reduction assistance and guidance to building owners and occupants. Sets forth building assessment report requirements.
Directs the Administrator to make grants to institutions of higher learning to establish and operate five regional radon training centers which will provide information and instruction on radon diagnosis, mitigation, and effects on health to State and local officials, professional and private firms, and the public. Requires such centers to be evaluated within two years of their establishment and at least every five years thereafter.
Authorizes appropriations for FY 1989 through 1993.
Referred to Subcommittee on Transportation, Tourism, and Hazardous Materials.
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Subcommittee on Environmental Protection. Hearings held.
Subcommittee on Environmental Protection. Approved for full committee consideration with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.
Committee on Environment and Public Works. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.
Committee on Environment and Public Works. Reported to Senate by Senator Burdick with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 100-442.
Committee on Environment and Public Works. Reported to Senate by Senator Burdick with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 100-442.
Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 857.
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