Ozone Standards Implementation Act of 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. TONKO. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chairman, here we go again. We should be addressing our failing infrastructure, funding the National Institutes of Health or the Centers for Disease Control to control Zika, helping the people of Flint who were exposed to lead in the drinking water, investing in clean energy, mitigating the risks of climate change, and fulfilling our constitutional responsibility to fund our government. Instead of attending to the many important challenges we face, we are here to consider yet another bill that will undermine our Clean Air Act.

Consideration of this bill is a waste of time. No wonder people across the country are frustrated and disappointed with Washington. We are not doing the things that will create opportunities to inspire our young people and fully employ everyone who wants and needs to work. Instead of doing something to improve public health and our environment, we are trying to undermine those dynamics.

H.R. 4775 is a bill that will do nothing to further improve our air quality. It offers no assistance to State and local governments. It offers no assistance to businesses that want to do the right thing and find ways to improve our environmental and social performance of their operations.

This bill creates new loopholes through which polluters will add toxic substances to our air and erode the substantial gains we have made in public health under the Clean Air Act.

H.R. 4775 has taken many approaches to undermining the Clean Air Act: it doubles the NAAQS review cycle from 5 to 10 years, which will prevent standards from being set using the most up-to-date science; it delays the implementation of the 2015 ozone NAAQS up to 8 years; and it alters the criteria for establishing a NAAQS from one based solely on protecting public health to one that would include considerations of affordability and current technical feasibility. These are just a few among many harmful changes in this bill.

That is why this bill has inspired such opposition. We have received letters of opposition signed by more than 130 environmental and public health organizations as well as a veto threat from the President's administration.

There is nothing new here. Once again, we hear the false choice presented: jobs or clean air. But that is not the choice, and we have decades of experience with local and Federal policy to regulate air pollution as proof that we do not have to choose between being employed and being healthy.

This false choice is even more absurd when you consider that there is one choice we must make every day about 20,000 times to stay alive: the choice to breathe. That is the average number of breaths that each adult takes every day of his or her life. Children, whose lungs are smaller average more breaths than that; and if you are exercising, that number will understandably be higher as well. That is a lot of exposure. So it is vitally important that the air we take in some 20,000 times per day is as clean as possible.

Ozone is extremely harmful. We have known this for about 70 years. We did not know the precise chemical nature of ozone back in 1947 when the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors established the Nation's first air pollution control program. Back then it was called smog. In the middle of a heat wave, the smog that formed over L.A. caused people's eyes to burn and a scraping sensation in their throats. It literally became painful to breathe.

Although Los Angeles has long been recognized as a location with special challenges in air pollution due to geography and prevailing weather patterns, it is not the only city that experienced these problems. They were reported in other industrial cities as well.

We have come a long way since that time, but we did not clean up the air significantly until we created an enforceable regulatory structure that applied a set of standards to both businesses and individuals.

H.R. 4775 undermines the single most important criteria in the Clean Air Act: the mandate to set a standard that will allow every one of our citizens, no matter their age or location, to take 20,000 breaths of clean, safe air every day. We can certainly afford clean air. In fact, we must afford clean air. We have demonstrated time and time again that we can develop and deploy technologies that will achieve those ends.

H.R. 4775 is a dangerous and unnecessary bill, and I oppose the bill. I urge my colleagues to reject this latest assault on public health and to support the further improvements of air quality for our constituents.

Mr. Chair, I include in the Record, for the sake of this dialogue, the over 130 letters of opposition we have received.

May 10, 2016.

Dear Representative: Clean air is fundamental for good health, and the Clean Air Act promises all Americans air that is safe to breathe. The undersigned public health and medical organizations urge you to oppose H.R. 4775, the so-called ``Ozone Standards Implementation Act of 2016.'' Despite the clear scientific evidence of the need for greater protection from ozone pollution, and the Clean Air Act's balanced implementation timeline that provides states clear authority and plenty of time to plan and then work to reduce pollution to meet the updated standard, H.R. 4775 imposes additional delays and sweeping changes that will threaten health, particularly the health of children, seniors and people with chronic disease.

In contrast to what the bill's title implies, H.R. 4775 reaches far beyond implementation of the current ozone standards. It also permanently weakens the Clean Air Act and future air pollution health standards for all criteria pollutants. Specifically, H.R. 4775 weakens implementation and enforcement of all lifesaving air pollution health standards including those for carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, particulate matter, and sulfur dioxide. It would also permanently undermine the Clean Air Act as a public health law.

The Clean Air Act requires that the Environmental Protection Agency review the science on the health impacts of carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, particulate matter, and sulfur dioxide air pollutants every five years and update these national ambient air quality standards according to the current science. H.R. 4775 would lengthen the review period of the air pollution health standards from once every five years to once every ten years for all criteria pollutants. As the science continues to evolve, EPA and states should have the best and most current data inform air pollution cleanup.

New research shows additional impacts that air pollution has on human health. For example, on March 29, 2016, a new study, Particulate Matter Exposure and Preterm Birth: Estimates of U.S. Attributable Burden and Economic Costs, was published that shows particulate air pollution is linked to nearly 16,000 preterm births per year. Under H.R. 4775, EPA would have to wait as much as a decade to consider new evidence when setting standards. Ten years is far too long to wait to protect public health from levels of pollution that the science shows are dangerous or for EPA to consider new information.

In the 2015 review of the ozone standard, EPA examined an extensive body of scientific evidence demonstrating that ozone inflames the lungs, causing asthma attacks, resulting in emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and premature deaths. A growing body of research indicates that ozone may also lead to central nervous system harm and may harm developing fetuses. In response to the evidence, EPA updated the ozone standards. While many of our organizations called for a more protective level, there is no doubt that the new 70 parts per billion standard provides greater health protections compared to the previous standard.

H.R. 4775 would delay implementation of these more protective air pollution standards for at least eight years. This means eight years of illnesses and premature deaths that could have been avoided. Parents will not be told the truth about pollution in their community and states and EPA will not work to curb pollution to meet the new standards. The public has a fundamental right to know when pollution in the air they breathe or the water they drink threatens health, and Congress must not add eight years of delay to health protections and cleanup.

H.R. 4775 would also permanently weaken implementation of the 2015 and future ozone standards. It would reduce requirements for areas with the most dangerous levels of ozone. Areas classified as being in ``extreme nonattainment'' of the standard would no longer need to build plans that include additional contingency measures if their initial plans fail to provide the expected pollution reductions. The Clean Air Act prioritizes reducing air pollution to protect the public's health, but H.R. 4775 opens a new opportunity for communities to avoid cleaning up, irrespective of the health impacts.

Further, the bill would greatly expand the definition of an exceptional event. Under the Clean Air Act, communities can demonstrate to EPA that an exceptional event--such as a wildfire--should not ``count'' in determining whether their air quality meets the national standards. This bill would recklessly expand the definition of exceptional events to include high pollution days when the air is simply stagnant-- the precise air pollution episodes the Clean Air Act was designed to combat--and declare those bad air days as ``exceptional.'' Changing the accounting rules will undermine health protection and avoid pollution cleanup.

Additionally, the bill would permanently weaken the Clean Air Act. The Clean Air Act is one of our nation's premier public health laws because it puts health first. The Act has a two-step process: first, EPA considers scientific evidence to decide how much air pollution is safe to breathe and sets the standard that is requisite to protect public health with an adequate margin of safety. Then, states work with EPA to develop a plan to clean up air pollution to meet the standard. Cost and feasibility are fully considered in the second phase during implementation of the standard.

This bill states that if EPA finds that ``a range of levels'' of an air pollutant protect public health with an adequate margin of safety, then EPA may consider technological feasibility in choosing a limit within that range. Further, the bill would interject implementation considerations including adverse economic and energy effects into the standard setting process. These changes will permanently weaken the core health-based premise of the Clean Air Act--protecting the public from known health effects of air pollution with a margin of safety.

H.R. 4775 is a sweeping attack on lifesaving standards that protect public health from air pollution. This bill is an extreme attempt to undermine our nation's clean air health protections. Not only does it delay the long-overdue updated ozone standards and weaken their implementation and enforcement, it also permanently weakens the health protections against many dangerous air pollutants and the scientific basis of Clean Air Act standards.

Please prioritize the health of your constituents and vote NO on H.R. 4775. Sincerely, Allergy & Asthma Network, Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Preventive Medicine, American Lung Association, American Public Health Association, American Thoracic Society, Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, Children's Environmental Health Network, Health Care Without Harm, March of Dimes, National Association of County & City Health Officials, National Environmental Health Association, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Public Health Institute, Trust for America's Health. ____ League of Conservation Voters, Washington, DC, June 7, 2016. Re: Oppose H.R. 4775--Extreme Attack on Smog Protections & the Clean Air Act. House of Representatives, Washington, DC.

Dear Representative: On behalf of our millions of members, the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) works to turn environmental values into national priorities. Each year, LCV publishes the National Environmental Scorecard, which details the voting records of members of Congress on environmental legislation. The Scorecard is distributed to LCV members, concerned voters nationwide, and the media.

LCV urges you to vote NO on H.R. 4775, the ``Ozone Standards Implementation Act,'' a radical bill that jeopardizes the health of the American people by undermining the EPA's recently-updated standards for ozone pollution (a.k.a. smog) and eviscerating a central pillar of the Clean Air Act.

The Clean Air Act was enacted with strong bipartisan support and is based on the central premise that clean air protections for dangerous pollutants like smog, soot, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and lead be based solely on the best-available health science. The law's drafters structured the law in this manner because Americans deserve to know if their air is safe to breathe or not. For the first time ever, H.R. 4775 would allow the EPA to consider factors unrelated to health, like technical feasibility in the initial standard setting process. States consider feasibility and cost when they implement the standards. This system has worked extremely well since 1970 as air quality has improved dramatically while the economy has grown.

The bill would also gut EPA's ozone standards, which were updated last fall. H.R. 4775 would delay these vital health protections by at least ten years and double the law's current five-year review periods for updating ozone and all national air quality standards allowing unhealthy air to persist even longer. High ozone levels pose a significant threat to our health, and are especially dangerous for children, the elderly, and asthmatics.

We urge you to REJECT H.R. 4775 and will strongly consider including votes on this bill in the 2016 Scorecard. If you need more information, please call my office and ask to speak with a member of our Government Relations team. Sincerely, Gene Karpinski, President. ____ June 7, 2016.

Dear Senator/Representative: On behalf of our millions of members, the undersigned 118 organizations urge you to oppose the ``Ozone Standards Implementation Act'' (H.R. 4775, S. 2882). The innocuous-sounding name is misleading: this legislation would actually systematically weaken the Clean Air Act without a single improvement, undermine Americans' 46-year right to healthy air based on medical science, and delay life-saving health standards already years overdue.

This bill's vision of ``Ozone Standards Implementation'' eliminates health benefits and the right to truly safe air that Americans enjoy under today's law. First, the legislation would delay for ten years the right to safer air quality, and even the simple right to know if the air is safe to breathe. Corporations applying for air pollution permits would be free to ignore new ground-level ozone (aka smog) health standards during these additional ten years. For the first time the largest sources of air pollution would be allowed to exceed health standards. The bill would also outright excuse the parts of the country suffering the worst smog pollution from having backup plans if they do not reduce pollution. The most polluted parts of the country should not stop doing everything they can to protect their citizens' health and environment by cleaning up smog pollution.

This bill is not content to merely weaken and delay reductions in smog pollution. It also strikes at our core right to clean air based on health and medical science. The medically-based health standards that the law has been founded on for 46 years instead could become a political football weakened by polluter compliance costs. This could well result in communities being exposed to unhealthy levels of smog and soot and sulfur dioxide and even toxic lead pollution. The bill would also double the law's five-year review periods for recognizing the latest science and updating health standards, which are already frequently years late; this means in practice that unhealthy air would persist for longer than ten years.

The legislation also weakens implementation of current clean air health standards. The bill expands exemptions for ``exceptional events'' that are not counted towards compliance with health standards for air quality, even when air pollution levels are unsafe. This will mean more unsafe air more often, with no responsibility to clean it up. Requirements meant to ensure progress toward reducing smog and soot pollution would shift from focusing on public health and achievability to economic costs. Despite the bland name ``Ozone Standards Implementation Act,'' this bill represents an extreme attack on the most fundamental safeguards and rights in the Clean Air Act.

Since 1970, the Federal Clean Air Act has been organized around one governing principle--that the EPA must set health standards based on medical science for dangerous air pollution, including smog, soot and lead, that protect all Americans, with ``an adequate margin of safety'' for vulnerable populations like children, the elderly and asthmatics. This legislation eviscerates that principle and protection. We urge you to oppose H.R. 4775 and S. 2882, to protect our families and Americans' rights to clean air. Sincerely,

350KC; 350 Loudoun; Alaska Community Action on Toxics; Alton Area Cluster UCM (United Congregations of Metro-East); Brentwood House California Latino Business Institute; Center for Biological Diversity; Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility; Chicago Physicians for Social Responsibility; Citizens for Clean Air; Clean Air Watch; Clean Water Action; Cleveland Environmental Action Network; Climate Action Alliance of the Valley; Connecticut League of Conservation Voters; Conservation Voters for Idaho; Conservation Voters of South Carolina; Dakota Resource Council; Earth Day Network; Earthjustice.

Earthworks; Environment Iowa; Environment America; Environment Arizona; Environment California; Environment Colorado; Environment Connecticut; Environment Florida; Environment Georgia; Environment Illinois; Environment Maine; Environment Maryland; Environment Massachusetts; Environment Michigan; Environment Minnesota; Environment Missouri; Environment Montana; Environment Nevada; Environment New Hampshire; Environment New Jersey.

Environment New Mexico; Environment North Carolina; Environment Ohio; Environment Oregon; Environment Rhode Island; Environment Texas; Environment Virginia; Environment Washington; Environmental Defense Action Fund; Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2); Environmental Law & Policy Center; Ethical Society of St. Louis; Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions; Florida Conservation Voters; Fort Collins Sustainability Group; GreenLatinos; Health Care Without Harm; Iowa Interfaith Power & Light; Jean-Michel Cousteau's Ocean Futures Society; KyotoUSA.

Labadie Environmental Organization (LEO); Latino Donor Collaborative; League of Conservation Voters; League of Women Voters; Maine Conservation Voters; Maryland League of Conservation Voters; Michigan League of Conservation Voters; Moms Clean Air Force; Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund; Montana Environmental Information Center; National Parks Conservation Association; Natural Resources Defense Council; NC League of Conservation Voters; Nevada Conservation League; New Mexico Environmental Law Center; New York League of Conservation Voters; Northern Plains Resource Council; OEC Action Fund; Ohio Organizing Collaborative, Communities United for Responsible Energy; Oregon League of Conservation Voters.

Partnership for Policy Integrity; PennEnvironment; People Demanding Action, Tucson Chapter; Physicians for Social Responsibility; Physicians for Social Responsibility, Maine Chapter; Physicians for Social Responsibility, Los Angeles Chapter; Physicians for Social Responsibility, Arizona Chapter; Physicians for Social Responsibility, SF Bay Area Chapter; Physicians for Social Responsibility, Tennessee Chapter; Physicians for Social Responsibility, Wisconsin Chapter; Powder River Basin Resource Council; Public Citizen; Public Citizen's Texas Office; RVA Interfaith Climate Justice Team; Safe Climate Campaign; San Juan Citizens Alliance; Sierra Club; Southern Environmental Law Center; Sustainable Energy & Economic Development (SEED) Coalition; Texas Campaign for the Environment.

Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services; Texas League of Conservation Voters; The Environmental Justice Center at Chestnut Hills United Church; Trust for America's Health; Union of Concerned Scientists; Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment; Valley Watch; Virginia Organizing; Virginia Interfaith Power & Light; Voces Verdes; Voices for Progress; Washington Conservation Voters; Western Colorado Congress; Western Organization of Resource Councils; Wisconsin Environmental Health Network; Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters; Wisconsin Environment; Wyoming Outdoor Council.

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