[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6387 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 6387
To amend the Clean Air Act to require revisions to regulations
governing the review and handling of air quality monitoring data
influenced by exceptional events or actions to mitigate wildfire risk.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
December 3, 2025
Mr. Evans of Colorado introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Clean Air Act to require revisions to regulations
governing the review and handling of air quality monitoring data
influenced by exceptional events or actions to mitigate wildfire risk.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Fire Improvement and Reforming
Exceptional Events Act'' or the ``FIRE Act''.
SEC. 2. AIR QUALITY MONITORING DATA INFLUENCED BY EXCEPTIONAL EVENTS OR
ACTIONS TO MITIGATE WILDFIRE RISK.
Section 319(b) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7619(b)) is
amended--
(1) in the subsection heading, by inserting ``Or Actions To
Mitigate Wildfire Risk'' after ``Events'';
(2) in paragraph (1)--
(A) in the paragraph heading, by striking
``Definition of exceptional event'' and inserting
``Definitions'';
(B) in subparagraph (A), by redesignating clauses
(i) through (iv), as subclauses (I) through (IV),
respectively;
(C) by striking ``(A)'' and all that follows
through ``an event that--'' and inserting the
following:
``(A) Exceptional event.--
``(i) In general.--The term `exceptional
event' means an event that--'';
(D) by amending subclause (III) of subparagraph
(A)(i), as redesignated, to read as follows:
``(III) is an event that is--
``(aa) a natural event;
``(bb) caused by a human
activity that is intended to
mirror the occurrence or
reoccurrence of a natural
event; or
``(cc) caused by a human
activity that is unlikely to
recur; and'';
(E) by striking subparagraph (B) and inserting the
following:
``(ii) Exclusions.--In this subsection, the
term `exceptional event' does not include--
``(I) ordinarily occurring
stagnation of air masses;
``(II) meteorological inversions;
or
``(III) air pollution relating to
source noncompliance.''; and
(F) by adding at the end the following:
``(B) Action to mitigate wildfire risk.--The term
`action to mitigate wildfire risk' means a prescribed
fire or similar measure, undertaken in accordance with
State approved practices, to reduce the risk and
severity of wildfires.'';
(3) in paragraph (2)--
(A) in subparagraph (A)--
(i) by striking ``March 1, 2006'' and
inserting ``18 months after the date of
enactment of the FIRE Act'';
(ii) by inserting ``revisions to'' before
``regulations''; and
(iii) by adding ``or actions to mitigate
wildfire risk'' before the period at the end;
(B) in subparagraph (B)--
(i) by inserting ``including proposed
revisions to regulations,'' after
``subparagraph (A),'';
(ii) by inserting ``or action to mitigate
wildfire risk'' after ``an exceptional event'';
and
(iii) by striking ``paragraph (3)'' and
inserting ``this section''; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(C) Regional analysis.--When more than one State
notifies the Administrator of its intent to submit a
petition pursuant to this section for an exceptional
event or an action to mitigate wildfire risk for the
same air quality event, or, if the Administrator
determines such a multistate air quality event has
occurred, the Administrator shall conduct regional
modeling and analysis sufficient to satisfy the
demonstration required for an exceptional event or an
action to mitigate wildfire risk petition for such air
quality event.
``(D) Transparency.--Not later than 12 months after
the date of enactment of the FIRE Act, the
Administrator shall establish, and thereafter update
monthly, a public website describing the status of all
petitions submitted pursuant to this section for
exceptional events and actions to mitigate wildfire
risk.'';
(4) in paragraph (3)(A)--
(A) by redesignating clauses (ii) through (v) as
clauses (iii) through (vi), respectively; and
(B) by inserting after clause (i) the following:
``(ii) the principle that actions to
mitigate wildfire risk can play an important
role in reducing the magnitude and frequency of
wildfires;'';
(5) in paragraph (3)(B)--
(A) in clause (i), by inserting ``or action to
mitigate wildfire risk'' before ``must be'';
(B) by amending clause (ii) to read as follows:
``(ii) a clear causal relationship must
exist, or be reasonably expected to exist,
between the measured exceedances of a national
ambient air quality standard and the
exceptional event or action to mitigate
wildfire risk to demonstrate that the
exceptional event or action to mitigate
wildfire risk caused a specific air pollution
concentration at a particular air quality
monitoring location;''; and
(C) by amending clause (iv) to read as follows:
``(iv) there are criteria and procedures
for the Governor of a State to petition the
Administrator to exclude air quality monitoring
data that is directly due to exceptional events
or actions to mitigate wildfire risk from use
in determinations by the Administrator with
respect to--
``(I) area or source exceedances or
violations of the national ambient air
quality standards;
``(II) the designation,
redesignation, classification, or
reclassification of an area;
``(III) the demonstration by a
State of attainment of a national
ambient air quality standard;
``(IV) attainment determinations;
``(V) attainment date extensions;
``(VI) finding a State
implementation plan to be inadequate;
or
``(VII) preconstruction
demonstrations under section
165(a)(3).''; and
(6) by striking paragraph (4).
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