[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5118 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5118

   To amend the Clean Air Act to require the exclusion of data of an 
  exceedance or violation of a national ambient air quality standard 
 caused by a prescribed fire in the Flint Hills Region, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 22, 2010

 Mr. Moran of Kansas introduced the following bill; which was referred 
                to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Clean Air Act to require the exclusion of data of an 
  exceedance or violation of a national ambient air quality standard 
 caused by a prescribed fire in the Flint Hills Region, 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 ``Flint Hills Preservation Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The Flint Hills Region of Kansas and Oklahoma contains 
        the world's largest share of the remaining tallgrass prairie, 
        and is the only place where that habitat is in landscape 
        proportions. Only 4 percent of North America's presettlement 
        tallgrass prairie survives to this day, and 80 percent is 
        located in Kansas.
            (2) The Flint Hills Region is also home to certain 
        declining avian species such as the greater prairie chicken and 
        Henslow's sparrow that cannot continue to exist without large 
        expanses of native tallgrass prairie in an original state. 
        Further, it is a significant corridor for migrating shorebirds 
        such as the American golden plover, the buff-breasted sand-
        piper, and the upland sandpiper.
            (3) Beginning in the mid-19th century, cattlemen understood 
        that the richness of the Flint Hills grasses depended on a good 
        spring burn--something they learned from the Native Americans. 
        Fire still thrives in the Flint Hills because the ranchers, and 
        others using the land, know that the natural ecosystem depends 
        on fire.
            (4) Ranchers, landowners, and conservation groups use 
        prescribed burns to mimic the seasonal fires that have shaped 
        the tallgrass prairie for thousands of years. Areas not burned 
        for several years develop mature grasses and thicker, thatch-
        like vegetation, which habitat is preferred by invasive 
        species.
            (5) The Flint Hills Region is one of the few places in the 
        United States where the prevailing agricultural system works 
        essentially in tandem with an ancestral native ecosystem, 
        preserving most of its complexity and the dynamic processes 
        that helped shape it.
            (6) Due to the uniqueness of the Flint Hills tallgrass 
        prairie and the historic manner in which the tallgrass prairie 
        has been managed by fire, existing prescribed burn practices 
        should be allowed to continue and ambient air data resulting 
        from fires used to manage the Flint Hills tallgrass prairie 
        should be not be included in determinations of compliance with 
        the Clean Air Act.

SEC. 3. PRESCRIBED FIRES.

    The Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.) is amended by inserting 
after section 329 the following:

``SEC. 330. PRESCRIBED FIRES IN THE FLINT HILLS REGION.

    ``(a) In General.--In determining whether, with respect to a 
specific air pollutant, an exceedance or violation of a national 
ambient air quality standard has occurred for purposes of this Act, a 
State and the Administrator shall exclude data from a particular air 
quality monitoring location if emissions from one or more prescribed 
fires in the Flint Hills Region cause a concentration of the air 
pollutant at the location to be in excess of the standard.
    ``(b) Specific Limitations.--If emissions data is excluded under 
subsection (a) from a particular air quality monitoring station because 
of emissions from one or more prescribed fires in the Flint Hills 
Region--
            ``(1) the Administrator shall not, as a result of such 
        emissions, find under section 113 that a State has failed to 
        enforce, or that a person has violated, a State implementation 
        plan (for national primary or secondary ambient air quality 
        standards) under section 110; and
            ``(2) a State shall not, as a result of such emissions, 
        find that a person has violated, or bring an enforcement action 
        for violation of, a State implementation plan (for national 
        primary or secondary ambient air quality standards) under 
        section 110.
    ``(c) Prohibition Against Smoke Management Plans.--The 
Administrator shall not require, and a State shall not adopt, a smoke 
management plan under this Act in connection with any prescribed fire 
in the Flint Hills Region.
    ``(d) Not a Stationary Source.--No building, structure, facility, 
or installation may be treated as a stationary source under section 111 
as a result of one or more prescribed fires in the Flint Hills Region.
    ``(e) No Title V Permit Required.--No person shall be required to 
obtain or modify a permit under title V in connection with a prescribed 
fire in the Flint Hills Region.
    ``(f) Definition.--In this section:
            ``(1) The term `Flint Hills Region'--
                    ``(A) means the band of hills in eastern Kansas 
                that stretch into north-central Oklahoma; and
                    ``(B) includes--
                            ``(i) Butler, Chase, Chautauqua, Clay, 
                        Cowley, Dickinson, Elk, Geary, Greenwood, 
                        Harvey, Jackson, Lyon, Marion, Marshall, 
                        Morris, Ottawa, Pottawatomie, Riley, Saline, 
                        Shawnee, Wabaunsee, Washington, and Woodson 
                        Counties in Kansas; and
                            ``(ii) Osage, Tulsa, and Washington 
                        counties in Oklahoma.
            ``(2) The term `prescribed fire' means a fire that is set 
        or managed by a person with the goal of enhancing a fire-
        dependent ecosystem or enhancing the productivity of 
        agricultural grazing land, irrespective of the frequency with 
        which the burn occurs.''.
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