[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7168 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7168

To direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, as 
     required by section 112(d)(6) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 
7412(d)(6)), to review and revise as necessary the emissions standards 
        for sources of ethylene oxides, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 20, 2018

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, as 
     required by section 112(d)(6) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 
7412(d)(6)), to review and revise as necessary the emissions standards 
        for sources of ethylene oxides, 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 ``Clean Up EtO Act of 2018''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Ethylene oxide is a human carcinogen that causes 
        increased cancer risk at very low concentrations in air.
            (2) The Environmental Protection Agency produced a cancer 
        risk estimate due to ethylene oxide inhalation in 1985 and 
        again in 2016. Due to significant advances in our scientific 
        understanding of ethylene oxide carcinogenicity, the risk 
        estimate increased by a factor of 30 over that period of time.
            (3) The Environmental Protection Agency has not updated its 
        National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for 
        ethylene oxide sterilization facilities or hospital ethylene 
        oxide sterilizers since the 2016 risk estimate was published.
            (4) According to the Environmental Protection Agency's most 
        recent National Air Toxics Assessment, ethylene oxide is the 
        biggest contributor to cancer risk in 93 out of the top 100 
        census tracts in the country with the highest cancer risk due 
        to air pollution. In 58 of those tracts, the cancer risk due to 
        ethylene oxide is greater than 100 cases per million people, 
        the level at which the Agency considers an air pollutant to 
        pose a public health threat beyond an ample margin of safety.
            (5) Section 112 of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 112) 
        requires the Environmental Protection Agency to revise 
        emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants no less often 
        than every 8 years, yet the standard for ethylene oxide 
        sterilization facilities was last updated in 2006 and the 
        standard for hospital ethylene oxide sterilizers was last 
        updated in 2007.
            (6) In 2001, the Environmental Protection Agency eliminated 
        the requirement that ethylene oxide sterilization facilities 
        control emissions from their sterilization chamber vents. 
        Emissions from those vents are a significant contributor to the 
        elevated cancer risk estimated in the National Air Toxics 
        Assessment.
            (7) The current National Emissions Standards for Hazardous 
        Air Pollutants for ethylene oxide sterilizers and hospital 
        ethylene oxide sterilizers do not protect public health with an 
        adequate margin of safety.

SEC. 3. REVIEW AND REVISION OF EMISSIONS STANDARDS FOR SOURCES OF 
              ETHYLENE OXIDES.

    Not later than 9 months after the date of enactment of this Act, as 
required by section 112(d)(6) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 
7412(d)(6)), the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency 
shall--
            (1) review the emissions standards promulgated under 
        section 112(d) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 7412(d)) for sources of 
        ethylene oxides;
            (2) promulgate a final rule revising such standards as 
        necessary; and
            (3) include in such final rule emissions standards under 
        section 112(d)(2) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 7412) to control the 
        emission of ethylene oxides from chamber exhaust vents.
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