States and local governments would have more leeway to claim Clean Air Act compliance waivers — not only skirting penalties because of industrial pollution blowing in from neighboring countries but also from wildfires and other sources — under legislation from Texas Republican Rep. August Pfluger.
The bill, dubbed the “Foreign Emissions and Nonattainment Clarification for Economic Stability (FENCES) Act,” would expand an existing exemption in the law to make it easier for problem areas to avoid formal nonattainment designations even if monitoring shows they are exceeding EPA ambient air standards for smog and or other common air pollutants.
Those exemptions have traditionally been rare; environmental advocates regard them warily for fear that they can serve to avoid tackling homegrown sources of air pollution.
Along with four other bills, a draft version of Pfluger’s measure was the subject of a September hearing by the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on the Environment on the theme of overhauling the permitting system.
