H.R. 8529: Fair Air Standards Act

The bill titled the "Fair Air Standards Act" aims to modify the Clean Air Act to facilitate the process for redesignating areas that are currently classified as ozone nonattainment zones to attainment areas, provided certain conditions are met. Here are the main points of the bill:

Redesignation Process

The bill specifies that an area currently designated as an ozone nonattainment area can be redesignated as an attainment area if the following conditions are fulfilled:

• The state must demonstrate that the area would have met the national ambient air quality standard for ozone by the set deadline, except for ozone or its precursors that come from outside the state.
• The governor of the state can submit this finding to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
• The EPA Administrator must respond to this submission within 180 days, either agreeing with the finding or not.
• If the Administrator agrees, they will formalize the redesignation as an attainment area.

Considerations for Redesignation

In making the determination on redesignation, both the governor and the EPA Administrator will take into account:

• Evidence from modeling or monitoring emissions from other states.
• Data related to ozone precursors coming from foreign countries.

Purpose

The underlying goal of the bill is to provide a clearer and potentially less burdensome process for areas affected by external pollution, allowing them to achieve a better air quality status more effectively.

Overall Impact

This legislation is designed to amend existing regulations to better reflect the impacts of pollution that crosses state and national boundaries when assessing an area's air quality status.

Relevant Companies

• GE - General Electric could be impacted as they have interests in environmental technologies.
• MDLZ - Mondelez International may face regulatory changes affecting their logistics and infrastructure due to air quality standards.
• DOW - Dow Inc. may need to consider emissions in their manufacturing processes and their jurisdictional implications due to the bill.