(REPRINTED WITH ADOPTED AMENDMENTS)
"                    FIRST REPRINT      S.J.R. 23" 


Senate Joint Resolution No. 23--Committee on Natural 
    Resources

                   May 25, 1995
                 _____________

    Referred to Committee on Natural Resources


SUMMARY--Urges Congress to adopt proposals that are 
          equitable to all states for regulating air 
          quality within area surrounding Grand 
          Canyon. (BDR R-1899)

FISCAL NOTE:  Effect on Local Government: No.
              Effect on the State or on Industrial Insurance: No.



EXPLANATION--Matter in italics is new; matter in bra
ckets [ ] is material to be omitted.

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION--Urging Congress to adopt proposals that are 
        equitable to all states for regulating the air quality within 
        the area surrounding the Grand Canyon.


  WHEREAS, In 1977, the Congress of the United 
States amended the Clean Air Act for the purpose of 
correcting and preventing the continued deterioration of 
visibility in large national parks and wilderness areas 
resulting from the pollution of the air; and
  WHEREAS, This amendment did not provide 
adequate resources to carry out its provisions and targeted 
only a few of the major types of sources of the pollution 
affecting visibility; and
  WHEREAS, As a result, the Federal Government 
and the individual states were extremely slow in developing 
an effective program to reduce air pollution in these areas; 
and
  WHEREAS, The two emission control programs 
specifically concerned with visibility in national parks and 
wilderness areas include the program for Prevention of 
Significant Deterioration of Air Quality, which is directed 
mainly at new sources of pollution and a program for 
visibility protection which is primarily aimed at existing 
sources of pollution; and
  WHEREAS, The program for Prevention of 
Significant Deterioration of Air Quality requires that each 
new or enlarged "major emitting facility" locating near 
large national parks or wilderness areas install the "best 
available control technology," establish increments 
(allowable increases) that limit cumulative increases in 
levels of pollution in clean air areas, and, to some extent, 
have protected visibility by reducing the growth of 
emissions that contribute to regional haze; and
  WHEREAS, In 1990, the United States General 
Accounting Office issued a report which discussed some of 
the shortcomings of the program for Prevention of 
Significant Deterioration of Air Quality; and
  WHEREAS, This report indicated that federal 
land managers had failed to meet their responsibilities 
because of a lack of allocated time, personnel and data, 
and because the United States Environmental Protection 
Agency had failed to forward applications for permits; and
  WHEREAS, The report indicated that many 
sources of air pollution in national parks and wilderness 
areas are exempt from the requirements of the program for 
Prevention of Significant Deterioration of Air Quality 
because they are considered minor sources or because they 
existed before the program for Prevention of Significant 
Deterioration of Air Quality took effect; and
  WHEREAS, The other program for visibility 
protection, established by the amendments to the Clean Air 
Act of 1977, directs states to establish measures to achieve 
"reasonable progress" toward the national visibility goal 
and to require the installation of the "best available 
retrofit technology" on large sources contributing to air 
pollution at major national parks and wildlife areas; and
  WHEREAS, In 1980, the Environmental Protection 
Agency issued rules to control air pollution caused by 
visible plumes from nearby individual sources and expressed 
its intention to regulate regional haze at some future date 
"when improvement in monitoring techniques provides more 
data on source-specific levels of visibility impairment, 
regional scale-models become more refined, and scientific 
knowledge about the relationships between air pollutants and 
visibility improves"; and
  WHEREAS, To date, the Environmental Protection 
Agency has not proposed rules for the regulation of regional 
haze, but has required only regulation of air pollution that 
is attributable to individual sources through the use of 
simple techniques, and in the past 14 years only one 
source of pollution has been required to control its 
emissions pursuant to this program; and
  WHEREAS, It is evident that the Environmental 
Protection Agency has not been required to enforce the 
visibility provisions of the federal law and this failure 
should be addressed before any new legislation is passed 
which penalizes a regional area; and
  WHEREAS, In 1990, the Clean Air Act was once 
again amended to include numerous new statutes and 
amendments to existing statutes which called for more 
regulation of air quality for the purpose of providing 
continued and expanded efforts to improve air quality; and
  WHEREAS, The amendment added Section 169B 
which provided the mechanism for the Administrator of the 
Environmental Protection Agency to establish visibility 
transport regions and visibility transport commissions; and
  WHEREAS, That section specifically created The 
Grand Canyon Visibility Transport Commission which is 
required to prepare and submit to the Administrator of the 
Environmental Protection Agency by November 15, 1995, a 
report recommending what measures, if any, should be taken 
pursuant to the Clean Air Act to address adverse impacts on 
visibility from potential or projected growth in emissions 
in the region; and
  WHEREAS, The report will also discuss the 
establishment of clean air corridors in which additional 
restrictions in emissions may be appropriate to protect 
visibility in affected areas, the imposition of the 
requirements of the program for Prevention of Significant 
Deterioration of Air Quality which affect the construction 
of new or modified major stationary sources in those clean 
air corridors, the alternative siting analysis provisions as 
provided in the Clean Air Act, the imposition of 
nonattainment status requirements within clean air corridors 
and the adoption of regulations to provide long-range 
strategies for addressing regional haze which impairs 
visibility in affected areas; and
  WHEREAS, A total of $8,000,000 per year for 5 
years was authorized for appropriation to the Environmental 
Protection Agency and other federal agencies to conduct 
research to identify and evaluate sources and source regions 
of air pollution as well as regions that provide 
predominantly clean air to national parks and wilderness 
areas, but it does not appear that the Environmental 
Protection Agency has requested or received such an 
appropriation; and
  WHEREAS, With the exception of minor federal 
funding, the Grand Canyon Visibility Transport Commission is 
an unfunded mandate, and to date, most of the work which has 
been done pursuant to the mandate is the result of efforts 
made by state governments, industries and conservation 
groups; and
  WHEREAS, For these reasons, the amendments to 
the Clean Air Act adopted in 1990, including Section 169B, 
have not been fully implemented and allowed sufficient time 
to produce their desired effect; and
  WHEREAS, Certain scientific studies, 
assessments and inventories have shown that air quality in 
the Intermountain West Region continues to improve even 
though the amendments adopted in 1990 have not been fully 
implemented; and
  WHEREAS, The clean air corridor concept may 
result in a severe restraint on population growth and 
economic development in the western states, a result which 
was not intentional when Congress passed Section 169B of the 
Clean Air Act whereby the cleanest air in the nation, with 
the best visibility, may be managed by the Environmental 
Protection Agency as the dirtiest; and
  WHEREAS, The Nevada Legislature has grave 
concerns about the consequences of the recommendations which 
may be made by the Grand Canyon Visibility Transport 
Commission to the Administrator of the Environmental 
Protection Agency because of previously stated facts 
involving the federal regulation of visibility; now, 
therefore, be it
  RESOLVED BY THE SENATE AND ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF 
NEVADA, JOINTLY, That Congress is hereby urged to 
refrain from adopting additional statutes and the 
Environmental Protection Agency is hereby urged to refrain 
from adopting additional regulations which regulate air 
quality and visibility until the amendments to the Clean Air 
Act adopted in 1990 and the regulations adopted thereunder 
have been fully implemented and allowed sufficient time to 
produce their intended results; and be it further
  RESOLVED, That as part of its oversight of the 
regulatory program, Congress is hereby urged to resist 
proposals such as clean air corridors, the imposition of 
nonattainment status requirements within clean air corridors 
and the imposition of no-build provisions within a transport 
region that are not equitable to all states; and be it 
further
  RESOLVED, That Congress is hereby urged to 
support proposals that are equitable, such as the uniform 
application of the existing provisions of the program for 
Prevention of Significant Deterioration of Air Quality 
in the Clean Air Act and the imposition or addition of more 
stringent controls on existing sources of air pollution and 
visibility impairment; and be it further
  RESOLVED, That the Environmental Protection 
Agency and any other federal agency that regulates air 
quality are hereby urged to base any future regulations 
related to air quality and visibility on clear scientific 
evidence which is reviewed and confirmed by others within 
the scientific community; and be it further
  RESOLVED, That the Secretary of the Senate 
prepare and transmit a copy of this resolution to the Vice 
President of the United States as the presiding officer of 
the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, 
each member of the Nevada Congressional Delegation and the 
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; and be 
it further
  RESOLVED, That this resolution becomes 
effective upon passage and approval.

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