Ozone Standards Implementation Act of 2016

Ozone Standards Implementation Act of 2016

This bill amends the Clean Air Act by revising the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) program.

(Sec. 2) The bill delays the implementation of the ozone NAAQS that were published in 2015. The bill extends until: (1) October 26, 2024, the deadline for states to submit designations to implement the 2015 ozone NAAQS; and (2) October 26, 2025, the deadline for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to designate state areas as attainment, nonattainment, or unclassifiable areas with respect to the 2015 ozone NAAQS. States must submit a state implementation plan (SIP) by October 26, 2026, to implement, maintain, and enforce the 2015 ozone NAAQS.

The bill exempts from the 2015 ozone standards certain preconstruction permit applications that were completed or submitted before a final designation was made.

(Sec. 3) The bill also changes the review cycle for criteria pollutant NAAQS from a 5-year review cycle to a 10-year review cycle. The EPA may not complete its next review of ozone NAAQS before October 26, 2025.

The EPA may consider, as a secondary consideration, likely technological feasibility in establishing and revising NAAQS for a pollutant if a range of air quality levels for such pollutant are requisite to protect public health with an adequate margin of safety.

Prior to establishing or revising NAAQS, the EPA must obtain advice from its scientific advisory committee regarding potential adverse public health, welfare, social, economic, or energy effects which may result from attaining and maintaining NAAQS.

The EPA must publish regulations and guidance for implementing NAAQS concurrently with the issuance of a new or revised standard. New or revised NAAQS shall not apply to preconstruction permits for constructing or modifying a stationary source of air pollutants until those regulations and guidance have been published.

The bill provides that in Extreme Ozone Nonattainment Areas, contingency measures are not required to be included in nonattainment plans. Technological achievability and economic feasibility must be taken into consideration in plan revisions for milestones for particulate matter nonattainment areas.

The bill redefines "exceptional events," by including stagnation of air masses that are not ordinarily occurring.

The EPA must: (1) report on foreign emissions and their impact on compliance with the NAAQS program in the United States, (2) study and report on the atmospheric formation of ozone and effective control strategies, and (3) incorporate the results of the study into rules and guidance implementing the 2015 ozone standards.

(Sec. 5) The bill specifies that no additional funds are authorized for carrying out the requirements of this bill.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov