[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 185 (Wednesday, December 10, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Page S10884]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page S10884]]
  SENATE RESOLUTION 729--EXPRESSING THE OPPOSITION OF THE SENATE TO A 
 PROPOSED REGULATION BY THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, NOW UNDER 
REVIEW IN THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET, THAT WOULD UNDERCUT AIR 
   QUALITY PROTECTIONS ESTABLISHED BY CONGRESS IN THE CLEAN AIR ACT 
   AMENDMENTS OF 1977 FOR NATIONAL PARKS, NATIONAL WILDERNESS AREAS, 
               NATIONAL MONUMENTS, AND NATIONAL SEASHORES

  Mr. ALEXANDER (for himself, Mrs. Boxer, Ms. Collins, Mr. Carper, Mr. 
Warner, Mr. Bingaman, Ms. Snowe, Mr. Salazar, Mrs. Dole, and Mr. 
Tester) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Environment and Public Works:

                              S. Res. 729

       Whereas, in 1977, under part C of title I of the Clean Air 
     Act (42 U.S.C. 7470 et seq.), the prevention of significant 
     deterioration (PSD) program was established ``to preserve, 
     protect, and enhance the air quality in national parks, 
     national wilderness areas, national monuments, national 
     seashores, and other areas of special national or regional 
     natural, recreational, scenic, or historic value'', which 
     areas are known as class I areas;
       Whereas Congress sought to protect air quality in class I 
     areas through, among other things, the establishment of 
     strict limits on additional amounts of air pollution, known 
     as increments, allowed in class I areas over baseline 
     conditions;
       Whereas Congress required protection of air quality not 
     just from long-term pollution increases, but also from short-
     term fluctuations and spikes, and Congress therefore created 
     and required both annual and short-term increments;
       Whereas, on June 6, 2007, the Environmental Protection 
     Agency (EPA) proposed a rule under the PSD program that would 
     replace the congressionally-established short-term pollution 
     increments with less protective annual average emission 
     rates;
       Whereas, according to the National Park Service Comments on 
     EPA's Proposed Rule Regarding PSD Increment Modeling 
     Procedures Clarification/Modification (ER No.: DEC-06/0006), 
     ``the protection of short term PSD increments cannot be 
     assured using annual average emission rates'', and the 
     proposed rule ``ignores . . . reality'';
       Whereas EPA's proposed rule would make multiple additional 
     changes to the PSD program that conflict with Congress's 
     statutory scheme, set forth in section 160 of the Clean Air 
     Act (42 U.S.C. 7470), ``to preserve, protect, and enhance the 
     air quality in national parks, national wilderness areas, 
     national monuments, national seashores, and other areas of 
     special national or regional natural, recreational, scenic, 
     or historic value'';
       Whereas during EPA's initial review of the PSD proposal in 
     2007, each of EPA's 10 regional offices expressed grave 
     concerns that the changes to the PSD program proposed by EPA 
     would undermine protection of air quality in class I areas;
       Whereas EPA submitted a proposed PSD rule to the Office of 
     Management and Budget in October 2008 that did not 
     incorporate the concerns expressed by the National Park 
     Service and EPA regional offices;
       Whereas half of EPA's 10 regional administrators formally 
     dissented from the draft final rule now under review in the 
     Office of Management and Budget, and 4 other EPA regional 
     administrators criticized the draft final rule in writing; 
     and
       Whereas the National Park Service and all 10 EPA regional 
     offices have uniformly concluded that EPA's proposed changes 
     to the PSD program would make it easier for large pollution 
     sources to locate closer to national parks, national 
     wilderness areas, national monuments, and national seashores, 
     leading to more harmful air pollution in these areas: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) recognizes that air pollution levels in class I areas 
     can vary significantly over the course of a year, a month, or 
     even a day, and that short-term pollution spikes are capable 
     of endangering visitors, wildlife, and scenic values in 
     national parks, national wilderness areas, national 
     monuments, national seashores, and other class I areas;
       (2) affirms that the PSD program is intended to preserve, 
     protect, and enhance air quality in class I areas not just 
     over the long term, but also over the shorter time periods 
     delineated in the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.);
       (3) finds that EPA has proposed multiple changes to the PSD 
     program that would conflict with Congress's statutory scheme 
     to preserve, protect, and enhance the air quality in national 
     parks, national wilderness areas, national monuments, 
     national seashores, and other areas of special natural, 
     recreational, scenic, or historic value; and
       (4) expresses its opposition to EPA's proposed rule 
     entitled ``Prevention of Significant Deterioration New Source 
     Review: Refinement of Increment Modeling Procedures'' (72 
     Fed. Reg. 31372 (June 6, 2007)), and urges the rule be 
     withdrawn.

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