HOUSE BILL: ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS ACT (At Final Vote)

Relevant Senate Debate (although the bill was gutted Sad

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Quote from: Mr. Reactionary on May 09, 2018, 05:10:21 PM

While we await the votes on the proposed amendment, I will provide my summary. Several of these ideas were originally passed in the South.

Section 2 creates what is known as an audit privilege for enforcing environmental regulations. Basically, potential polluters design a policy of regularly inspecting and auditing their equipment and processes for environmental compliance. In the event that a violation is found, as long as it wasn’t purposeful, is reported, and is fixed, they will not be prosecuted for environmental violations. IRL state policies to this effect have helped reduce total violations, since there is an incentive for potential polluters to monitor and report rather than conceal violations.

Section 3 allows for reusing certain environmental impact studies rather than always requiring new long costly studies before development begins. This saves costs without really sacrificing data, as site specific factors that were not considered in prior studies must still be considered to comply with NEPA.

4-1 protects small farmers from being unfairly prosecuted because of the weather.

4-2 protects hunters and fishers from being unfairly prosecuted for hunting or fishing. Obama attempted a backdoor ban on hunting and fishing on federal land right using the tactic we are prohibiting in this bill.

~~4-3 protects poor, rural people who have to burn wood for heat from unnecessary efficiency standards that just push up costs.~~

4-4 eliminates federal regulations which require cars to be less crash resistant/more dangerous.

4-5 actually authorizes the creation of a new regulation (See its not all cuts) mandating acoustic switches on offshore oil drilling platforms. The added cost is outweighed by the added safety in this case.

4-6 keeps the EPA focused on enforcing the Clean Air Act on the statutory 2-fold areas of criteria pollutants and toxic hazardous air pollutants. The statutorily mandated criteria air pollutants are carbon monoxide, lead, ground-level ozone, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, and sulfur dioxide. There are a fair amount of hazardous air pollutants regulated; there are 187 and they are listed here: https://www.epa.gov/haps/initial-list-hazardous-air-pollutants-modifications

~~4-7 returns the maximum level of ozone to a higher level than it was in 2012 but not quite as high as it currently is, as the costs do outweigh the minimal direct benefits here.~~

5-1 brings back one of the original funding mechanisms of the superfund, which expired in 1995. Basically it was a tax on certain environmentally detrimental chemicals which were the reason for the contamination of most of the superfund sites the federal government has to pay to clean up. This will cause the cost of goods produced with the chemicals to go up which sucks, but I think this is a good way to ensure the superfund does not draw from general funds. This tax is set to expire at the end of 2022. Im not sure how to guesstimate potential revenue for this.

5-2 increases the tax on imported oil that is specially set aside for oil spill cleanup. It also eliminates a terrible loophole that exempts tar sands oil imports from the tax, even though there is more of a risk of that type of oil spill.

5-3 increases the tax on gas that is specially set aside for cleaning up damage from leaking underground gas storage tanks.

~~5-4 repeals the tax on the stuff plants breathe and we exhale.~~

5-5 increases the user fees on testing and marketing new chemicals.

5-6 fines people for interfering with pipeline inspections.

5-7 permanently extends this thing that gets renewed every 5 years that lets state and local governments pay extra for faster permit processing on clean water act permits.

5-8 eliminates a redundant grant program. $165 Million saved according to this: http://stormwater.wef.org/2017/05/fy2018-presidents-proposed-budget-seeks-to-eliminate-epa-runoff-pollution-grants-memo-says/

~~6-1 and 6-2 preempt local attacks on plastic shopping bags and fracking respectively.~~

7-1 - 7-4 are more environmental regulations to help pipeline safety. Specifically:

1. Authority to regulate gaseous carbon dioxide pipelines and liquid chlorine pipelines
2. Minimum safety requirements for tar sands oil pipelines
3. Helps the federal regulators get geospatial data of the pipelines they regulate
4. Requires automatic or remote-controlled excess flow shut-off valve on pipelines to increase safety

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