Clean Air Amendments

(Measure indefinitely postponed in Senate, H. R. 6161 passed in lieu)

Clean Air Amendments - Amends the Clean Air Act to stipulate that no State shall receive less than one-half of one percent of the total annual appropriation under the Act allocated to qualified State agencies. Authorizes the appropriation of $5,000,000, beginning in fiscal year 1978, for a study of the air quality in the Gulf Coast region.

Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, after consultation with other government officials, to publish guidelines for transportation planning programs.

Requires States to submit plans for prevention of significant deterioration of air quality in clean air regions, subject to approval by the Administrator. Establishes guidelines for classification of such regions. Imposes limitations on projected increases in ambient concentrations of particulate matter and sulfur dioxide for each class of such regions. Requires that new sources constructed in such regions utilize the best available control technology and certify that emissions from such facility will not contribute to a cumulative change in ambient air quality greater than the appropriate limits.

Directs the Administrator to recommend to the Congress strategies to prevent significant deterioration by controlling pollutants other than particulates and sulfur dioxide.

Requires each State to submit an implementation plan revision for any air quality control region in which the national primary ambient air quality standards for oxidants and carbon monoxide will not be attained by July 1, 1979.

Authorizes the Administrator to grant extensions extending to May 31, 1987 for the attainment of national primary ambient standards. Details the requirements for the submission of any such extension application.

Directs the Administrator to make grants to local officials in order to assist in the development of transportation control plans for the area. Mandates decreases in the level of highway assistance if localities fail to implement conditions imposed as a result of an extension granted the region by the Administrator.

Requires that States develop a satisfactory process of consultation with local governments with respect to preparation of State clean air implementation plans.

Requires a State, in its implementation plan, to require written notice to all nearby States of each new or modified source in the State which may contribute to pollution levels in excess of the national ambient air quality standards outside the State. Declares that an existing source contributing to such levels is in violation of the State's implementation plan, and must cease operation in three months. Declares that a proposed source that will contribute to such levels will be in violation of such plan if it begins operation.

Permits the Administrator to waive any standard of performance for a person proposing to own or operate a new source. Sets forth the criteria for such a waiver. Prohibits the Administrator from promulgating regulations applicable to country grain elevators.

Authorizes the Administrator to promulgate design or equipment standards where necessary to control emissions of hazardous air pollutants.

Authorizes State enforcement action against stationary sources found in violation of compliance schedules established pursuant to this Act. Authorizes extensions of compliance dates for major emitting facilities which submit plans for compliance through application of innovative techniques or technologies.

Establishes procedures to allow major emitting facilities to convert to coal in order to conserve fuel and to allow additional time to comply with clean air requirements. Authorizes the Federal Energy Administrator to establish priorities among such facilities in order to insure that facilities in regions which do not meet primary standards are provided available emission control systems. Stipulates that compliance schedules established for such facilities shall be enforceable to the same extent as other compliance schedules established under the Act.

Imposes a delayed compliance penalty on any major facility which for any reason not entirely beyond the control of the owner is not in compliance with an applicable emission limitation by July 1, 1979. Stipulates that such penalty shall be incorporated into the sources's compliance schedule and that it shall amount to a monthly payment in an amount no less than the monthly equivalent of the capital costs of compliance over a normal amortization period.

Prohibits the construction or modification of major emitting facilities where such facility will prevent the attainment or maintenance of a national ambient air quality standard. Establishes an exception for construction or modification in a State which is in compliance with its revised implementation plan, or complies with requirements regarding its implementation plan which states that attainment of the applicable standard is not achievable. Establishes an exception for certain construction for which a permit is issued before July 1, 1979, if certain criteria are met. Permits the Administrator to waive the requirement that the State demonstrate that an increase in emission as a result of new sources will be counterbalanced by a corresponding reduction in emissions from existing sources.

Requires the Administrator to approve a revised implementation plan which provides specified control measures for carbon monoxide and oxidants, and complies with other requirements. Specifies that such approval for a region in which an air quality standard may not be met by July 1, 1979 requires that (1) emissions from new sources will be offset by reductions in existing sources, (2) existing sources will use reasonably available controls, and (3) new facilities meet lowest achievable emissions rates.

Establishes procedures for revision of State implementation plans where it is alleged that pollutants emitted in the United States endanger the health or welfare of persons in a foreign country.

Abolishes the Air Quality Advisory Board originally established by the Act.

Provides that all Federal facilities must comply with all substantive and procedural requirements of State implementation plans. Authorizes the President to exempt from compliance with such plans, property owned or operated by the Armed Forces which is uniquely military in nature if such an exemption is in the Nation's paramount interest.

Replaces the current means of providing compliance date extensions for sources ordered to convert to coal by the Federal Energy Administration to comply with the extension procedures established for all stationary sources under these amendments.

Requires assurances that State plans comply with the Clean Air Act through review and revision procedures.

Authorizes the President, after a public hearing, to require that any stationary source use locally or regionally available coal to prevent local economic disruption or unemployment which would result from the use of other fuels.

Directs the Administrator to contract for a National Academy of Sciences study of the nature and likelihood of potential effects on the public health and welfare from the release of halocarbons into the atmosphere. Requires further studies of the effects of halocarbons on the ozone in the stratosphere. Directs the Secretary of Labor, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Science Foundation, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to submit reports on studies of related matters.

Revises motor vehicle emission standards under such Act to require heavy duty vehicles manufactured in model years 1979 and afterwards to utilize the best available control technology to reduce carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon, particulate, and nitrogen oxide emissions.

Revises emission standards for light-duty vehicles to extend for three years from model year 1977 to 1980 the compliance date for light-duty vehicles to achieve a 90 percent reduction of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emissions from 1970 levels. Revises the applicable nitrogen oxides standard to require model year 1980 light-duty vehicles to achieve a standard of 1.0 gram per vehicle mile. Extends the 2.0 gram per mile interim standard through model year 1979. Requires that no less than ten percent of the vehicles produced by major manufacturers during model year 1979 comply with 1980 standards. Extends, through 1981, the 2.0 grams per mile standard for nitrogen oxide for any light-duty vehicle (1) that has fuel economy equivalent to the standard set forth in the Energy Policy and Conservation Act and uses an innovative engine, or emission control system not involving a precious metal catalyst, or (2) that is manufactured by a company whose sales of such vehicles were less than 300,000 in 1976, and is dependent upon the technology of other companies to meet emission standards.

Directs the Administrator to contract for a National Academy of Sciences study of the feasibility of establishing light-duty motor vehicle emission standards imposed by this Act. Directs the Administrator to conduct a study of the public health implications of establishing an emission standard for light-duty vehicles of 0.4 grams per mile for oxides of nitrogen. Directs the Administrator to study, and report to Congress upon, the effect of particulate emissions on health.

States that all light-duty vehicles and engines manufactured after model year 1979 shall comply with motor vehicle emission and fuel standards. Exempts from such standards, until model year 1980, such vehicles and engines sold at high altitudes.

Stipulates that the costs of retrofit devices to enable existing light-duty vehicles to meet emission standards shall not be included in the original purchase price of the vehicle. Requires the manufacturer to furnish written instructions as to the proper maintenance and use of the vehicle in accordance with regulations promulgated by the Administrator.

Authorizes a State which has adopted a program for light-duty motor vehicle inspection to apply such program as a condition precedent to the sale, registration, or titling of such vehicle.

Authorizes regions which do not meet primary ambient standards for mobile source pollutants to adopt and enforce model year 1980 motor vehicle emission standards in model year 1979.

Prohibits after March 31, 1977 the introduction into commerce of new fuel additives. Requires the removal of such additives introduced after January 1, 1974. Authorizes the Administrator to waive such prohibitions only if the additive will not impair the emission performance of vehicles produced after model year 1974.

Directs the Administrator to study: (1) the effects on health of particulate emissions from specified motor vehicles; and (2) the effects of emissions of sulfur-bearing compounds from motor vehicles and aircraft engines. Directs the Administrator to study and submit a report on the effects of emissions from railroad engines. Provides a relaxation in the average lead requirement for small refineries until October 1, 1982.

Authorizes any court to award costs of litigation including attorney's fees in judicial proceedings under the Clean Air Act, whenever the court determines that such an award is appropriate. Authorizes any court to award such costs to the party against whom the Administrator brought an action for enforcement.

Prohibits discrimination against employees who participate in any proceeding under the Act.

Establishes a National Commission on Air Quality to study various air pollution control objectives and alternatives and report to the Congress. Authorizes the appropriation of $17,000,000 for such study, beginning in fiscal year 1978.

Authorizes the appropriation of the following amounts to carry out the general provisions of the Clean Air Act: $147,805,000 for fiscal year 1977 and $200,000,000 for each of the three following fiscal years. Authorizes beginning in fiscal year 1978, the appropriation of $75,000,000 to make grants to localities with transportation or air quality maintenance responsibilities. Authorizes, for fiscal year 1978, $120,000,000 for research and development.

Directs the Federal Trade Commission to study the impact on competition of any warranty required to be provided pursuant to the Act. Directs the Administrator to study and report to Congress within one year on the possible creation of a system of penalties on emissions of nitrogen oxides.

Directs the Administrator to erect signs in areas where a primary ambient air quality standard has not been met, to specify that the air in that area is hazardous to public health at various times of the year.

Voids any measure in a State implementation plan which requires a toll on bridges located entirely in one city.

Directs the Administrator to study and report to Congress on the effect of sulfate emissions and odors or odorous emissions on the public health and welfare.

Directs the Administrator to publish a list of all known chemical contaminants resulting from environmental pollution which have been found in human tissue.

Directs the President, in considering an order or rule requiring the use of locally or regionally available coal to prevent economic dislocation or unemployment, to take into account the final cost to the consumer of such an order or rule.