[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1781 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1781

  To amend the Clean Air Act to clarify the definition of accidental 
                    release, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            December 9, 2013

  Mr. Vitter (for himself, Mr. Inhofe, and Mr. Crapo) 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 clarify the definition of accidental 
                    release, 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 ``General Duty Clarification Act of 
2013''.

SEC. 2. PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTAL RELEASES.

    Section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7412(r)) is 
amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)--
                    (A) by striking ``It shall be the objective'' and 
                inserting the following:
                    ``(A) In general.--It shall be the objective''; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(B) Regulations.--
                            ``(i) In general.--Not later than 12 months 
                        after the date of enactment of the General Duty 
                        Clarification Act of 2013, the Administrator 
                        shall promulgate regulations defining the terms 
                        `extremely hazardous substance', `appropriate 
                        hazard assessment techniques', and `design and 
                        maintain a safe facility' as used in this 
                        subsection.
                            ``(ii) Uniformity.--Not later than 18 
                        months after the date of enactment of the 
                        General Duty Clarification Act of 2013, the 
                        Administrator shall issue guidelines to ensure 
                        that this paragraph is enforced by the regional 
                        offices of the Environmental Protection Agency 
                        in a uniform and appropriate manner across all 
                        regions of the United States.'';
            (2) in paragraph (2)(A), by inserting ``, other than an 
        emission resulting from an act intended to cause harm'' before 
        the period at the end; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(12) Designs, approaches, or technologies.--In exercising 
        any authority under this subsection, the Administrator shall 
        not, directly or indirectly, impose any obligation on any owner 
        or operator of any stationary source to consider or implement 
        particular designs, approaches, or technologies relating to 
        manufacturing, processing, handling, or storage.''.
                                 <all>