[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1257 Introduced in House (IH)]
109th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1257
To amend the Clean Air Act to authorize critical use exemption amounts
for methy bromide as identified by the United States State Department
for the years 2006 and 2007, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 10, 2005
Mr. Radanovich (for himself, Mr. Blunt, Mr. Cardoza, Mr. Whitfield, Mr.
Shimkus, Mr. Herger, Mr. Foley, Mr. Kingston, Mr. Issa, Mrs. Emerson,
Mr. Berry, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Mr. Simpson, Mr. Otter, Mr.
Doolittle, Mr. Costa, Mr. Pombo, and Mr. Jones of North Carolina)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Clean Air Act to authorize critical use exemption amounts
for methy bromide as identified by the United States State Department
for the years 2006 and 2007, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) methyl bromide is a highly effective fumigant used to
control insects, nematodes, weeds, and pathogens in more than
100 crops in domestic agriculture, in forest and ornamental
nurseries, and in wood products;
(2) the United States Department of Agriculture has spent
well over $100,000,000 attempting to find effective
alternatives to methyl bromide yet there are still many
domestic agriculture uses with no alternatives;
(3) the critical use exemption of the Montreal Protocol
allows for the use of ozone depleting substances beyond the
phase-out date if there are no technically and economically
feasible alternatives or substitutes available and the lack of
such options would result in a significant market disruption;
(4) accordingly, in 2001, the United States Environmental
Protection Agency and the United States Department of
Agriculture began the process under the Montreal Protocol to
document the amount of methyl bromide needed for critical uses
in domestic agriculture;
(5) the United States Environmental Protection Agency
assembled more than 45 Ph.D.s and other qualified reviewers
with expertise in both biological and economic issues to review
applications for methyl bromide critical use exemptions;
(6) rigorous review by the United States Environmental
Protection Agency of the critical use applications reduced by
22 percent the amount of methyl bromide initially requested by
agricultural sectors; and
(7) as confirmed by the Parties to the Montreal Protocol in
the ``Report of the Sixteenth Meeting of the Parties to the
Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer'',
the concept of ``availability'' in the context of the critical
use exemptions shall be primarily guided by the alternative's
market presence in sufficient quantities and accessibility,
taking into account, among other things, regulatory
constraints;
(8) after extensive research and technical review, the
United States State Department and the United States
Environmental Protection Agency have concluded that the
critical use methyl bromide that has been requested qualifies
as ``critical'' since it has been determined that for each use
the lack of availability of methyl bromide for that use would
result in a significant market disruption;
(9) after extensive research and technical review, the
United States State Department and the United States
Environmental Protection Agency have concluded that there are
no technically and economically feasible alternatives or
substitutes available that are acceptable from the standpoint
of the environment and health and that are suitable to the
crops and circumstances for the critical use methyl bromide
that has been requested in the nomination;
(10) the conclusions of the United States State Department
and the United States Environmental Protection Agency are
consistent with the restatement adopted at the Sixteenth
Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol of the criteria
that should be used to approve critical use requests;
(11) the United States 2006 CUE request represents
approximately .4 percent of the ozone depletion potential from
all ozone depleting substances in all countries when the
Montreal Protocol was negotiated in 1987;
(12) therefore, given the statistically minor impact on the
ozone layer and the lack of suitable feasible alternatives for
all uses at this time, legislation is needed in order to ensure
a reasonable transition for United States agriculture to the
complete phase-out of methyl bromide, legislation is necessary
to authorize the critical use exemption amounts identified by
the State Department for the year 2006, as reflected in the
Report of the Sixteenth Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal
Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, Decision
XVI/2, Critical Use Exemptions Annex, Section IIA, IIB, and
Section III, and for the year 2007, as reflected in the Report
of the First Extraordinary Meeting of the Parties to the
Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer,
Annex III.
SEC. 2. CRITICAL USE EXEMPTIONS FOR METHYL BROMIDE.
Section 604(d)(6) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7671c(d)(6)) is
amended by inserting the following at the end thereof: ``For the year
2006, the United States critical use exemption shall be the sum of the
amounts identified in Decision XVI/2, Annex (Critical Use Exemptions),
Section IIA and Section III of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol as
set forth in Table I and, for the year 2007, the amount identified in
submissions of the United States State Department at the first
Extraordinary Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol as set
forth in Table I. The United States critical use exemptions for the
years 2006 and 2007 established by this section shall not be subject to
the conflict provision of section 614(b) of this Act. The Administrator
shall issue a final rule within 90 days of the enactment of this
sentence to authorize critical-use exemptions of the amounts listed in
Table 1 below and to allocate these amounts for critical-use exemptions
for each of the years 2006 and 2007.
``Critical Use Exemptions
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Critical Use Exemption 2006: Critical Use Exemption 2007:
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The amount approved by the Parties to the The amount submitted for the
Montreal Protocol (6897.68 tonnes) year 2007 by the U.S. State
recorded in Decision XVI, Annex (Critical Department at the first
Use Exemptions), Section IIA, and the Extraordinary Meeting of
amount approved in the interim by the the Parties to the Montreal
Parties to the Montreal Protocol Protocol (8425 tonnes)
(2194.583 tonnes) recorded in the recorded in the Report of
Sixteenth Meeting of the Parties to the the First Extraordinary
Montreal Protocol on Substances that Meeting of the Parties to
Deplete the Ozone Layer, Critical Use the Montreal Protocol on
Exemptions Annex, Section III, for a Substances that Deplete the
total of 9092.263 tonnes Ozone Layer, Annex III,
Appendix I)''.
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