Representative John Curtis (R-UT) introduced legislation to prevent states from being punished for wildfire emissions. This legislation provides automatic waivers for air quality monitoring data that is directly due to catastrophic wildfires, ensuring Utah is not punished for emissions outside their control, and that are often on federal lands.
“Western States are disproportionally effected by wildfires, skewing data that comes from air quality monitors and leading to undo penalties from the federal government,” said Rep. Curtis. “Utah experiences this firsthand and this legislation will remove the bureaucratic red tape to ensure we can focus on recovery and rebuilding, not EPA waivers and legal jargon.”
When states experience catastrophic or controlled fire, they are often in nonattainment for EPA reporting which comes with potential penalties. Currently they qualify for a waiver, but the timeline to process this request overtakes the processing time and the states have to report numbers consistent with nonattainment before agencies are able finalize the waiver. The bill will provide automatic waivers for any state that does a preventative controlled burn or is impacted by catastrophic wildfire that would put them in the nonattainment category.
To read the bill, click here.
