3.0.0 88 2023-01-11T13:28:45Z 2023-01-11T13:28:45Z Senate S 2015-01-07 114 ssev00 Environment and Public Works Committee Senate Standing Referred to 2015-01-07T22:11:20Z 2015-01-07 ssev00 Environment and Public Works Committee Senate Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works. IntroReferral 2015-01-07 Introduced in Senate IntroReferral 10000 9 Library of Congress V000127 Sen. Vitter, David [R-LA] David Vitter R LA N Environmental Protection Accidents Administrative law and regulatory procedures Air quality Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Environmental regulatory procedures Hazardous wastes and toxic substances Environmental Protection 00 2015-01-07 Introduced in Senate 2015-03-24T22:20:21Z General Duty Clarification Act of 2015

This bill amends the Clean Air Act to revise the general duty clause, which addresses the prevention of accidental releases of hazardous air substances. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must: (1) promulgate regulations defining the terms "extremely hazardous substance," "appropriate hazard assessment techniques," and "design and maintain a safe facility"; and (2) issue guidelines to ensure enforcement of those provisions by EPA's regional offices in a uniform and appropriate manner across all regions of the United States. (The general duty clause requires owners and operators of stationary sources that produce, process, handle, or store hazardous substances to identify those substances at their facilities and take the necessary steps to prevent and minimize accidental releases of those substances.)

This bill excludes an emission resulting from an act intended to cause harm from the definition of "accidental release." Under the revised definition, the EPA may not use the general duty clause to regulate accidental release due to terrorist attacks.

In exercising its authority under the clause, the EPA is prohibited from requiring a stationary source to consider or implement particular designs, approaches, or technologies relating to manufacturing, processing, handling, or storage of hazardous substances.

]]> General Duty Clarification Act of 2015 Display Title General Duty Clarification Act of 2015 Official Title as Introduced A bill to amend the Clean Air Act to clarify the definition of accidental release, and for other purposes. Introduced in Senate IS Short Titles as Introduced General Duty Clarification Act of 2015 Introduced in Senate 2015-01-07T05:00:00Z https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-114s88is/xml/BILLS-114s88is.xml 2015-01-07 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works. text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress This file contains bill summaries and statuses for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.