Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act of 2011

Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act of 2011 - Prohibits the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from  proposing, finalizing, implementing, or enforcing any regulation revising the national primary ambient air quality standard or the national secondary ambient air quality standard applicable to particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter greater than 2.5 micrometers under the Clean Air Act (CAA) for one year.

Exempts nuisance dust from the CAA and excludes nuisance dust from references in such Act to particulate matter, except with respect to geographic areas where such dust is not regulated under state, tribal, or local law if the Administrator, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, finds that: (1) nuisance dust (or any subcategory of nuisance dust) causes substantial adverse public health and welfare effects at ambient concentrations; and (2) the benefits of applying CAA standards and other requirements to such dust outweigh the costs.

Defines "nuisance dust" as particulate matter that: (1) is generated primarily from natural sources, unpaved roads, agricultural activities, earth moving, or other activities typically conducted in rural areas; (2) consists primarily of soil, other natural or biological materials, windblown dust, or some combination thereof; (3) is not emitted directly into the ambient air from combustion, such as exhaust from combustion engines and emissions from stationary combustion processes; (4) is not comprised of residuals from the combustion of coal; and (5) does not include radioactive particulate matter produced from uranium mining or processing.

Expresses the sense of Congress that the Administrator should implement an approach to excluding exceptional events, or events that are not reasonably controllable or preventable, from determinations of whether an area is in compliance with any national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) applicable to coarse particulate matter that maximizes transparency and predictability for states, tribes, and local governments and minimizes their regulatory and cost burdens.

Requires the Administrator, before taking a covered action, to analyze its impact, disaggregated by state, on employment levels in the agriculture industry and on agricultural economic activity, utilizing the best available economic models. Defines a "covered action" as an action by the Administrator under the Clean Air Act, relating to agriculture and the primary and secondary NAAQS for particulate matter, to: (1) issue a regulation, policy statement, guidance, response to a petition, or other requirement; or (2) implement a new or substantially altered program. Requires the Administrator to: (1) post such analysis on the main page of EPA's website; (2) request the Secretary of Agriculture to post it on the main page of the Department of Agriculture's website; and (3) request the governor of any state experiencing more than a de minimis negative impact to post such analysis in the state's capitol.

Requires the Administrator to: (1) hold a public hearing in each state in which a covered action will have more than a de minimis negative impact on agricultural employment levels or agricultural economic activity, at least 30 days prior to the effective date of the action; and (2) give notice of such impact to the state's congressional delegation, governor, and legislature at least 45 days before the effective date of the action. Defines "de minimis negative impact" as: (1) a loss of more than 100 jobs related to the agriculture industry, or (2) a decrease in agricultural economic activity of more than $1 million over any calendar year.

[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1633 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1633

  To establish a temporary prohibition against revising any national 
 ambient air quality standard applicable to coarse particulate matter, 
  to limit Federal regulation of nuisance dust in areas in which such 
  dust is regulated under State, tribal, or local law, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 15, 2011

    Mrs. Noem (for herself, Mr. Hurt, Mr. Boswell, and Mr. Kissell) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                          Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To establish a temporary prohibition against revising any national 
 ambient air quality standard applicable to coarse particulate matter, 
  to limit Federal regulation of nuisance dust in areas in which such 
  dust is regulated under State, tribal, or local law, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act 
of 2011''.

SEC. 2. TEMPORARY PROHIBITION AGAINST REVISING ANY NATIONAL AMBIENT AIR 
              QUALITY STANDARD APPLICABLE TO COARSE PARTICULATE MATTER.

    Before the date that is one year after the date of the enactment of 
this Act, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency may 
not propose, finalize, implement, or enforce any regulation revising 
the national primary ambient air quality standard or the national 
secondary ambient air quality standard applicable to particulate matter 
with an aerodynamic diameter greater than 2.5 micrometers under section 
109 of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7409).

SEC. 3. NUISANCE DUST.

    Part A of title I of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 132. REGULATION OF NUISANCE DUST PRIMARILY BY STATE, TRIBAL, AND 
              LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.

    ``(a) In General.--Except as provided in subsection (b), this Act 
does not apply to, and references in this Act to particulate matter are 
deemed to exclude, nuisance dust.
    ``(b) Exception.--Subsection (a) does not apply with respect to any 
geographic area in which nuisance dust is not regulated under State, 
tribal, or local law insofar as the Administrator finds that--
            ``(1) nuisance dust (or any subcategory of nuisance dust) 
        causes substantial adverse public health and welfare effects at 
        ambient concentrations; and
            ``(2) the benefits of applying standards and other 
        requirements of this Act to nuisance dust (or such subcategory 
        of nuisance dust) outweigh the costs (including local and 
        regional economic and employment impacts) of applying such 
        standards and other requirements to nuisance dust (or such 
        subcategory).
    ``(c) Definition.--In this section, the term `nuisance dust' means 
particulate matter--
            ``(1) generated from natural sources, unpaved roads, 
        agricultural activities, earth moving, or other activities 
        typically conducted in rural areas; or
            ``(2) consisting primarily of soil, other natural or 
        biological materials, windblown dust, or some combination 
        thereof.''.
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