Short title

This Act may be cited as the

Arctic Climate Preservation Act

Findings

The Congress finds the following: (1)Black carbon is a particulate pollutant that contributes significantly to warming of the Earth’s climate system by converting solar radiation to heat, which is released into the atmosphere. Black carbon has a particularly detrimental impact on the Arctic by reducing surface reflectivity and accelerating melting when it settles on snow or ice surfaces. The atmospheric residence of black carbon is less than 2 weeks, making this pollutant an important candidate for immediate policy action to mitigate adverse climate effects. (2)Through various clean air programs, the United States has reduced much of its black carbon pollution, though more could be done by governments to help spur technological innovation and energy technology deployment in countries where major black carbon pollution still occurs through industrial activities, agriculture and forestry practices, and residential cooking with high pollution fuels. (3)Black carbon is a serious threat to public health and reductions in black carbon will produce immediate public health benefits. (4)Black carbon is a component of particulate matter regulated under the Clean Air Act, however it is not explicitly regulated as a global warming agent under United States law or by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change or other international instruments. (5)United States foreign policies and assistance programs, as well as directions to multilateral lending organizations such as the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and other regional development banks, possess the potential to significantly reduce black carbon pollution globally. (6)Taking immediate cost-effective and technologically feasible action to protect the Arctic, especially by significantly reducing black carbon pollution, will protect an ecosystem under imminent threat due to global warming.

Purposes

The purposes of this Act are— (1)to immediately identify cost-effective ways to reduce black carbon pollution, both in the United States and internationally, to stem and reverse the melting of Arctic Sea ice, as well as contribute to reducing the rate of global warming; and (2)to establish the United States as a leader in protecting the Arctic environment.

Definitions

As used in this Act: (1)The term Administrator means the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. (2)The term black carbon means the strongly light absorbing component of carbonaceous aerosols. (3)The term organic carbon means the components of carbonaceous aerosols that are not strongly light-absorbing. (4)The term person means any individual, corporation, partnership, trust, association, or any other private entity, or any officer, employee, agent, department, or instrumentality of the Federal Government or of any State, municipality, or political subdivision of a State, or of any foreign government, any State, municipality, or political subdivision of a State, or any other entity subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

Black carbon abatement study

(a)

Study

The Administrator shall conduct a study of black carbon and organic carbon emissions in consultation with the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, the Chief of the United States Forest Service, the Secretary of the Interior, and other agencies, as appropriate. The study shall include each of the following: (1)A summary of the research that has been conducted that identifies— (A)an inventory of the major sources of black carbon and organic carbon emissions in the United States and throughout the world, including an estimate of the quantity of current and projected future emissions, and the net climate effects of the emissions from those sources; (B)effective and cost-effective control technologies, operations, or strategies for additional domestic and international black carbon reductions, including the lifecycle climate impacts of installation or implementation of emission control technologies, operations, or strategies, such as diesel particulate filters on existing on-road and off-road engines, and including consideration of emissions from residential cookstoves, forest burning, and other agriculture-based burning; (C)potential metrics quantifying the net radiative forcing, warming, or other climatic effects of black carbon and organic carbon emissions, which might be used to compare the climate benefits of different mitigation strategies; and (D)the health benefits associated with additional controls for black carbon emissions. (2)Recommendations of the Administrator regarding— (A)areas of focus for additional research for technologies, operations, and strategies with the highest potential to reduce emissions of black carbon; and (B)actions the Federal Government could carry out to encourage or require black carbon emission reductions that may be additional to those identified under section 6. (b)

Report

Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit to Congress a report describing the results of the study.

Black carbon reductions in the United States

(a)

Regulations

By 270 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall propose regulations under the existing authorities of the Clean Air Act to reduce emissions of black carbon. The Administrator shall promulgate final regulations under those authorities within 635 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. In developing such regulations, the Administrator shall take into account the full range of health and environmental harms of black carbon emissions, including the effects on global warming and the Arctic. (b)

Clean Air Act provisions

The obligations of the Administrator under subsection (a) shall be considered a nondiscretionary duty for purposes of sections 304 of the Clean Air Act.

United States foreign aid and assistance

(a)

Report

Within 9 months after enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in coordination with other appropriate Federal agencies such as the Agency for International Development, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Administrator, shall issue a report to Congress on the amount, type, and direction of all present and potential United States financial and related assistance to foreign nations that will reduce, mitigate, and otherwise abate black carbon pollution. (b)

Other opportunities

The report required under subsection (a) shall also identify opportunities for foreign assistance and direction in order to— (1)promote sustainable solutions to bring clean, efficient, and affordable stoves to residents of developing countries that are reliant on upon solid fuels such as wood, dung, charcoal, coal, or crop residues for home cooking and heating, so as to help reduce public health and environmentally harmful impacts of black carbon pollution; (2)make technological improvements to diesel engines and provide greater access to fuels that emit less or no black carbon; (3)reduce unnecessary agricultural or other biomass burning where feasible alternatives exist; (4)reduce unnecessary fossil fuel burning that produces black carbon where feasible alternatives exist; or (5)reduce other sources of black carbon pollution.

International negotiations

(a)

Policy

It is the policy of the United States— (1)to engage in the processes of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution to explore the potential to accelerate reductions in black carbon emissions, and to improve our understanding of the climatic effects of black carbon, as well as the mitigation potential in different sectors and regions around the world; (2)to work with affected and interested nations and the Arctic Council on an agreement to protect the Arctic environment, consistent with the principles of the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources; (3)to further the goals of the Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears ratified by the Governments of Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia, and the United States, to explicitly take into account the threat to polar bears posed by global warming; (4)to abide by the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man with regard to human rights; (5)to work with parties to the North American Free Trade Agreement and other related agreements in the Americas share information and coordinate on approaches to reduce black carbon pollution; and (6)to further reduce shipping pollution through domestic means and through MARPOL. (b)

Report

By January 1, 2010, the Secretary of State shall issue a report to the Congress on the advancement of the policies and goals enunciated in this section with regard to black carbon.

Effect on other law

Nothing in this Act precludes or abrogates the right of any State to adopt or enforce any standard, cap, limitation, prohibition, requirement, or effort to reduce the emissions of any greenhouse gas. States may elect to enact standards that are more stringent than those required under this Act.

10.

Appropriations

There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out this Act.

11.

Separability

If any provision of this Act or the application of any provision of this Act to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the application of such provision to other persons or circumstances, and the remainder of the Act, shall not be affected thereby.