{"bills":[{"photos":{"featured":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/s88-114/featured_general-duty-clarification-act-of-2015-1467073261.jpg","featured_large":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/s88-114/featured_large_general-duty-clarification-act-of-2015-1467073261.jpg","shareable":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/bills/s88-114.png"},"introduced_on":"2015-01-07","title_override":"Clarifying the EPA's Role in Regulating Hazardous Chemical Facilities","summary_override":"This bill deals with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations of chemical plants and language in the Clean Air Act. Specifically, the bill addresses a provision known as the \"General Duty Clause.\" At present, the clause states that facilities using or possessing chemicals—such as oil and gas producers, refineries, and chemical manufacturers —have a “general duty” to identify hazards which may result from a chemical release and to take “necessary steps” to prevent such releases. Specifically, the bill would:

Require EPA to complete a rulemaking process before finding any facility in violation of the General Duty Clause;
Require definitions of “extremely hazardous substance,” “appropriate hazard assessment techniques,” and “design and maintain a safe facility” in any General Duty Clause regulation;
Require EPA to issue guidelines to ensure that EPA enforcement procedures are uniform across its Regions;
Prohibit the EPA from regulating chemical facility security under the General Duty Clause, reinforcing exclusive jurisdiction under the Department of Homeland Security.

","official_title":"A bill to amend the Clean Air Act to clarify the definition of accidental release, and for other purposes.","short_title":"General Duty Clarification Act of 2015","popular_title":null,"short_summary":"General Duty Clarification Act of 2015\n\nThis bill amends the Clean Air Act to revise the general duty clause, which addresses the prevention of accidental releases of hazardous air substances. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must: (1) promulgate regulations defining the terms \"extremely hazardous substance,\" \"appropriate hazard assessment techniques,\" and \"design and maintain a safe facility\"; and (2) issue guidelines to ensure enforcement of those provisions by EPA's regional offices in a uniform and appropriate manner across all regions of the United States. (The general duty clause requires owners and operators of stationary sources that produce, process, handle, or store hazardous substances to identify those substances at their facilities and take the necessary steps to prevent and minimize accidental releases of those substances.)\n\nThis bill excludes an emission resulting from an act intended to cause harm from the definition of \"accidental release.\" Under the revised de...","summarized":true,"cost":null,"cost_commentary":"A CBO cost estimate is unavailable. ","impact":"Facilities that harbor chemicals that may be considered hazardous; local communities near these facilities; the EPA.","argument_for":"This bill amends vague legislative language while more fully defining the EPA's role in regulating chemical facilities.","argument_against":"The bill waters down the already weak regulatory protections of hyper-dangerous industrial sites, potentially hurting public safety.","bill_type":"s","published":true,"type":"FederalBill","id":"s88-114","bill_id":"s88-114","formal_id":"S. 88","chamber":"senate","congress":114,"last_action_at":"2015-01-07T00:00:00.000Z","active":false,"enacted":false,"enacted_at":null,"vetoed":false,"last_vote_at":null,"debated_on":null,"congress_url":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th/senate-bill/88","plain_text_url":"http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-114s88is/html/BILLS-114s88is.htm","shareable_image_url":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/bills/s88-114.png","congress_full_text_url":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th/senate-bill/88/text","is_current_congress":false,"last_version_on":"2015-01-07","related_bill_ids":[],"progress":"Introduced","house_passage_result":false,"senate_passage_result":false,"position_count":39,"committees":[{"name":"Committee on Environment and Public Works","chamber":"senate","committee_id":"SSEV","subcommittee":false}],"links":{"rollCalls":"/api/roll_calls?bill_id=s88-114","details":"/api/bills/s88-114/details","sharingMessage":"/api/sharing_messages/s88-114","positionsFor":"/api/bills/s88-114/positions/for","positionsAgainst":"/api/bills/s88-114/positions/against"},"upcoming":false,"cosponsors_count":0,"slug":"s88-114-general-duty-clarification-act-of-2015","latest_chamber_votes_id":null,"official_url":null,"target_video":true,"following":false,"vote_count":880,"yea_vote_count":502,"nay_vote_count":375,"passed_house":false,"passed_senate":false,"vote_id":null,"my_position_id":null,"topic_ids":["environment"],"issue_ids":["environment","epa"],"sponsor_id":527}],"votes":[],"issues":[{"id":"environment","name":"Environment","slug":"environment","description":"Congressional legislation related to research and regulation of the Environment, including: Air and water quality, Pollution, Climate Change, Recycling, Radioactive Waste, Hazardous Wastes and Toxic Substances. ","page_title":"Federal legislation related to environmental protections and regulation - Vote on Bills, Stay informed, Hold Your Reps Accountable","icons":{"black":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/environment/black_environment-1429042042.svg","grey":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/environment/grey_environment-1429042042.svg","white":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/environment/white_environment-1429042042.svg"},"cover_image_url":null,"is_following":false},{"id":"epa","name":"EPA","slug":"epa","description":"Vote on the latest federal legislation regarding EPA. Make your voice heard about the issues you care about.\r\n","page_title":"EPA Legislation - Vote on Bills, Stay informed, Hold Your Reps Accountable","icons":{"black":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/epa/black_epa-1434998540.svg","grey":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/epa/grey_epa-1434998540.svg","white":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/epa/white_epa-1434998540.svg"},"cover_image_url":null,"is_following":false}],"users":[{"name":"Jake","vote_count":454,"photos":{"large":"https://graph.facebook.com/100000348990666/picture?width=150&height=150","small":"https://graph.facebook.com/100000348990666/picture?width=75&height=75","tiny":"https://graph.facebook.com/100000348990666/picture?width=20&height=20","facebook":"https://graph.facebook.com/100000348990666/picture"},"links":{"following":"/api/users/QZOjGbWB/following","followers":"/api/users/QZOjGbWB/followers"},"about_me":"My opinions are drawn from logical reasoning.","twitter_id":null,"facebook_id":null,"youtube_id":null,"google_plus_id":null,"website":null,"slug":null,"issue_count":19,"is_following":null,"influence_score":1600,"influence_level":30,"follower_count":12,"following_count":4,"position_count":65,"id":"QZOjGbWB","partner_id":null}],"bill_position":{"flagged":false,"id":"1e172a29-24bc-4a4f-b198-e86101b66ab5","argument_for":null,"argument_against":"This further limits the EPA's ability to regulate, in this case against dirty energy. The EPA is clearly pushing towards renewable, these energy company dinosaurs need to adapt or die. They are the reason we're still so energy dependent and they're bad for the environment.","show_argument_for":false,"show_argument_against":true,"upvote_count":1,"upvotes_for_count":null,"upvotes_against_count":1,"has_upvoted":false,"endorsement_count":1,"links":{"self":"https://www.causes.com/positions/1e172a29-24bc-4a4f-b198-e86101b66ab5"},"body":"This further limits the EPA's ability to regulate, in this case against dirty energy. The EPA is clearly pushing towards renewable, these energy company dinosaurs need to adapt or die. They are the reason we're still so energy dependent and they're bad for the environment.","stance":"nay","created_at":"2015-12-05T18:14:14.269Z","shareable_image_url":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/positions/1e172a29-24bc-4a4f-b198-e86101b66ab5.png","note_color":null,"note_text":null,"bill_id":"s88-114","user_id":"QZOjGbWB","endorser_ids":["QZOjGbWB"]}}

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Clarifying the EPA's Role in Regulating Hazardous Chemical Facilities