[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1528 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1528

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 8, 2011

  Mr. Johanns (for himself, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Lugar, Mr. Boozman, Mr. 
  Roberts, Mr. Vitter, Mr. Kirk, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. Paul, Mr. Johnson of 
 Wisconsin, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Thune, Mr. Enzi, Mr. Moran, Mr. Isakson, 
Mr. Blunt, Mr. Hoeven, Mr. Chambliss, Mr. Nelson of Nebraska, and Mrs. 
  McCaskill) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Clean Air Act to limit Federal regulation of nuisance dust 
in areas in which that dust is regulated under State, tribal, or local 
law, to establish a temporary prohibition against revising any national 
 ambient air quality standard applicable to coarse particulate matter, 
                        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. 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) Definition of Nuisance Dust.--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, windblown dust, or 
        other natural or biological materials, or some combination of 
        those materials.
    ``(b) Applicability.--Except as provided in subsection (c), this 
Act does not apply to, and references in this Act to particulate matter 
are deemed to exclude, nuisance dust.
    ``(c) Exception.--Subsection (b) does not apply with respect to any 
geographical area in which nuisance dust is not regulated under State, 
tribal, or local law to the extent that 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 a 
        subcategory of nuisance dust) outweigh the costs (including 
        local and regional economic and employment impacts) of applying 
        those standards and other requirements to nuisance dust (or 
        such a subcategory).''.

SEC. 3. TEMPORARY PROHIBITION AGAINST REVISING ANY NATIONAL AMBIENT AIR 
              QUALITY STANDARD APPLICABLE TO COARSE PARTICULATE MATTER.

    Before the date that is 1 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).
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