S. 88 · 114th Congress
General Duty Clarification Act of 2015
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Never voted on. It didn't reach a floor vote before the 114th Congress ended, so it expired. A bill has to be introduced again to be considered in a new Congress.
R
VitterSponsorNo cosponsors.
This bill amends the Clean Air Act to revise the general duty clause, which addresses the prevention of accidental releases of hazardous air substances.
What it does: CRS summary · Introduced in Senate · Jan 7, 2015
General Duty Clarification Act of 2015
This bill amends the Clean Air Act to revise the general duty clause, which addresses the prevention of accidental releases of hazardous air substances. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must: (1) promulgate regulations defining the terms "extremely hazardous substance," "appropriate hazard assessment techniques," and "design and maintain a safe facility"; and (2) issue guidelines to ensure enforcement of those provisions by EPA's regional offices in a uniform and appropriate manner across all regions of the United States. (The general duty clause requires owners and operators of stationary sources that produce, process, handle, or store hazardous substances to identify those substances at their facilities and take the necessary steps to prevent and minimize accidental releases of those substances.)
This bill excludes an emission resulting from an act intended to cause harm from the definition of "accidental release." Under the revised definition, the EPA may not use the general duty clause to regulate accidental release due to terrorist attacks.
In exercising its authority under the clause, the EPA is prohibited from requiring a stationary source to consider or implement particular designs, approaches, or technologies relating to manufacturing, processing, handling, or storage of hazardous substances.
Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov
About this bill and sources
Official title: General Duty Clarification Act of 2015
Latest action (Jan 7, 2015): Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Policy area: Environmental Protection · Origin: Senate · Introduced: Jan 7, 2015
Official page on Congress.gov · Bill text (GovInfo) · Status record (XML)
No recorded floor vote found.