[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 96 (Wednesday, June 11, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H5294-H5296]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
{time} 1900
AUTHORITY TO ACCEPT DIESEL EMISSION REDUCTION SUPPLEMENTAL
ENVIRONMENTAL PROJECTS
Mr. BOUCHER. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
Senate bill (S. 2146) to authorize the Administrator of the
Environmental Protection Agency to accept, as part of a settlement,
diesel emission reduction Supplemental Environmental Projects, and for
other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the Senate bill.
The text of the Senate bill is as follows:
S. 2146
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. EPA AUTHORITY TO ACCEPT DIESEL EMISSIONS REDUCTION
SUPPLEMENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL PROJECTS.
The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
(hereinafter, the ``Agency'') may accept (notwithstanding
sections 3302 and 1301 of title 31, United States Code)
diesel emissions reduction Supplemental Environmental
Projects if the projects, as part of a settlement of any
alleged violations of environmental law--
(1) protect human health or the environment;
(2) are related to the underlying alleged violations;
(3) do not constitute activities that the defendant would
otherwise be legally required to perform; and
(4) do not provide funds for the staff of the Agency or for
contractors to carry out the Agency's internal operations.
SEC. 2. SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT PROVISIONS.
In any settlement agreement regarding alleged violations of
environmental law in which a defendant agrees to perform a
diesel emissions reduction Supplemental Environmental
Project, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection
Agency shall require the defendant to include in the
settlement documents a certification under penalty of law
that the defendant would have agreed to perform a comparably
valued, alternative project other than a diesel emissions
reduction Supplemental Environmental Project if the
Administrator were precluded by law from accepting a diesel
emission reduction Supplemental Environmental Project. A
failure by the Administrator to include this language in such
a settlement agreement shall not create a cause of action
against the United States under the Clean Air Act or any
other law or create a basis for overturning a settlement
agreement entered into by the United States.
SEC. 3. INCLUSION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA IN CERTAIN
STATE AND LOCAL GRANT PROGRAMS FOR DIESEL
EMISSION REDUCTIONS.
(a) In General.--Section 791 of the Energy Policy Act of
2005 (42 U.S.C. 16131) is amended by adding at the end
thereof the following:
``(9) Definition of state.--The term `State' includes the
District of Columbia.''.
(b) Conforming Amendments.--(1) Section 793(d)(2) of such
Act (42 U.S.C. 16133(d)(2)) is amended by striking
``Governor'' and inserting ``chief executive''.
(2) Subparagraphs (A) and (B) of section 793(c)(2) of such
Act are each amended by striking ``50'' and inserting ``51''
and by striking ``2 percent'' and inserting ``1.96 percent''
in each place such terms appear.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Virginia (Mr. Boucher) and the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Terry) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia.
General Leave
Mr. BOUCHER. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and
include extraneous material on the bill now under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Virginia?
There was no objection.
Mr. BOUCHER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
I rise to urge the passage of S. 2146, a measure which was previously
approved by the Senate. The House counterpart legislation was sponsored
by our California colleague, Mr. Costa,
[[Page H5295]]
and has been approved by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
The bill allows the Environmental Protection Agency to continue using
supplemental environmental projects funds to retrofit existing diesel
powered engines with emission reduction controls. Diesel emissions from
on and off-road vehicles and engines account for more than one-half of
the nitrogen oxide and particulate matter emissions from all mobile
sources. The Environmental Protection Agency has issued regulations to
limit emissions from new diesel engines and vehicles, but those rules
only apply to the new vehicles, not to the heavy duty diesel fleet that
is on America's roads today. And given the long life of many diesel
vehicles and engines, it's estimated that the existing fleet of
vehicles will not be entirely cycled out of existence until about the
year 2030.
In order to achieve emission reductions from that very large existing
diesel fleet, a number of actions have been taken in order to retrofit
those vehicles with emission reduction technologies. For example, the
Environmental Protection Agency has administered the Clean School Bus
Program for a number of years, providing grants to school districts
across the Nation for the purpose of retrofitting diesel powered school
buses.
As another example, Congress has provided funding for diesel
retrofits under the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program. And
in addition, the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act was included as part of
the Energy Policy Act of 2005. That Act authorizes the expenditure of
$200 million annually over a 5-year period for grant and for loan
programs funding diesel project retrofits.
Most recently, $49.2 million was appropriated by the Congress for
that program as a part of the fiscal year 2008 appropriations bill.
In addition to these programs administered by EPA, private entities
have also often funded clean diesel programs as part of settlement
agreements that have been reached with the Environmental Protection
Agency in cases in which the agency had alleged that the private entity
had committed violations of the environmental laws. These supplemental
environmental projects used for diesel emission reductions have totaled
$45.5 million from fiscal year 2001 through fiscal year 2006, and
they've been a very valuable source of obtaining emission reductions
from the existing diesel fleet.
But as matters now stand, this very valuable tool to obtain diesel
emission reductions from the older vehicles can no longer be used. The
Environmental Protection Agency has concluded that because Congress
appropriated funds for the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act, which is
targeted toward older vehicle retrofits, supplemental environmental
projects for diesel retrofits may no longer be used.
That decision interprets the Miscellaneous Receipts Act, which
prohibits agencies from augmenting from other sources their budgets as
approved by the Congress. Because of that Act, the EPA has determined
that it can no longer use private funding from case settlements to
accomplish diesel retrofits since Congress has directly appropriated
some funds for that purpose.
In view of the fact that there are 10 million heavy duty diesel
vehicles and other engines in use today, the continued use of
supplemental environmental projects in case settlements is both cost
effective and environmentally beneficial.
Mr. Costa's bill would assure their continued use. The measure enjoys
bipartisan support and has been endorsed by more than 45 interested
organizations, including a broad range of health, environmental and
industry groups.
The measure would simply grant to EPA specific authority to accept
diesel emission reduction supplemental environmental projects as part
of settling alleged violations of environmental laws, provided that the
projects protect human health or the environment, are related to the
underlying violation, do not constitute activities the defendant would
otherwise legally be required to perform, and do not provide funds for
the staff of the agency or contractors in order to carry out internal
EPA operations.
I commend Mr. Costa for his fine work in bringing this measure to the
House, and I urge passage of the Senate bill which incorporates his
legislation.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. TERRY. I yield myself as much time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise in support of Senate bill 2146, a very
commonsense based solution to dealing with older diesel technology.
Retrofitting simply is a cost-effective way to address the issues. It
produces immediate emissions reductions and eliminates these really
unnecessary infrastructure requirements.
So with that, I'm going to urge all of my colleagues to support us in
this measure.
Before I reserve my time, I yield to the gentleman to answer if he
has any other speakers.
Mr. BOUCHER. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Costa will be
speaking. He is the only other speaker which we have. After he
finishes, I will be yielding back our time as well.
Mr. TERRY. Since they have the right to close, anyway, I'm going to
yield back our time and let them wrap it up.
Mr. BOUCHER. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from
California (Mr. Costa). He is the author of the legislation we are
considering.
Mr. COSTA. Congressman Boucher and Congressman Terry, I want to thank
you and your staffs for the hard work that you've done with your
colleagues. The Energy and Commerce Committee has made a significant
difference in bringing this legislation to the floor.
This measure, along with its companion measure, Senate bill 2146, is,
I think, very important to ensuring that we provide improved
opportunities for air quality, as well as throughout the country.
I also want to thank my cosponsors in the House bill, which includes
the original cosponsors, Congressmen Cardoza, McNerney, Congressman
Nunes, as well as Representative Butterfield, Representatives Hill,
Kind, Matheson, Matsui, Bono Mack, Shimkus and again Congressman Terry.
This measure, combined with Senate 2146, will allow the Environmental
Protection Agency to continue the prior practice of accepting diesel
emission reduction projects as part of an environmental settlement
agreement. These settlement agreements are important when you're trying
to reach an accord with the private sector and still, at the same time,
clean up the air.
For many years the Environmental Protection Agency has funded diesel
retrofit projects through the Supplemental Environment Projects,
otherwise known as SEPS with the corporations as part of overall
settlement agreements. From fiscal year 2001 to fiscal year 2006, the
Environmental Protection Agency entered into diesel emission reductions
with these settlement environment projects valued at over $45 million.
This bill will help maintain this separate private funding source as a
part of a private/public partnership for these projects and, at the
same time, improve air quality in basins throughout the country that
have regional air issues that they are in noncompliance with.
This is particularly of importance in my own district that I share
with my colleagues, Congressmen Nunes and McCarthy and Congressmen
Radanovich and Cardoza, as well as McNerney. The San Joaquin Valley
area is a non attainment area, and consequently, we have difficult
challenges trying to become an attainment area, especially when we
consider that we are one of the fastest growing regions in California.
The air basin is 250 miles long, but it's shaped in a valley where
you have mountain ranges on each side. Therefore, we not only have our
own stationary and mobile sources of emission that we create, but
because we're in the center of the transportation hub between Northern
and Southern California, actually, all the way along the west coast, we
have interstate transportation on 99 and Highway 5, which is no
contribution of ours, but it's part of interstate transportation that
contributes to the emissions that we have to deal with. So, therefore,
this is an important measure.
We have among the highest rates of childhood asthma in the State. We
[[Page H5296]]
have other issues that we are continuing to deal with.
Today, 90 percent of the commercial trucks are powered by diesel
engines. Two-thirds of all farm and construction equipment run on
diesel engines. Therefore, this measure can make a difference.
California does lead the Nation in clean diesel technology, and some
of the cleanest types of diesel fuel anywhere in the world. But even
retrofit projects have their role and play a significant contribution
to improving air quality, not only in our district but throughout the
country.
Finally, in addition, retrofitting clean diesel technologies for
diesel vehicles and equipment, I think, is one of the most cost
effective strategies for achieving tangible and immediate air quality
benefits. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that these
retrofit projects have a 13:1 benefit-to-cost ratio, meaning that the
$45 million invested between 2001 and 2006 translates to over $600
million of health benefits that also benefit young people, children who
have asthma cases, those who have cardiovascular issues and the like.
I want to again thank my colleagues, Congressman Terry, Congressman
Boucher and your staffs and all those who are cosponsors of this
important measure. This is cost effective. It's meaningful. It will
improve air quality throughout the country.
At this time I want to urge all of my colleagues to support the
passage of this measure.
Mr. BOUCHER. Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and
yield back the balance of our time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Boucher) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the Senate bill, S. 2146, as amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. BOUCHER. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be
postponed.
____________________