Ozone Standards Implementation Act of 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his efforts on this very important legislation.

Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of H.R. 4775, the Ozone Standards Implementation Act of 2016, so States will have the flexibility and tools to reasonably and effectively meet the new EPA ozone standards.

Since the proposal of EPA's 2008 ozone standards, States have continually worked to implement air quality standards to comply with EPA's clean air requirements. However, EPA's implementation regulations for the 2008 standards were not published until March 6, 2015, and then the revised ozone standards were issued in October of 2015.

States now face the prospect of simultaneously implementing two ozone standards at the same time. H.R. 4775 remedies this problem by creating a phase-in approach to the 2008 and 2015 ozone standards, extending the final designations under the 2015 standards to 2025.

It would also make reforms to the National Ambient Air Quality Standards to provide flexibility and structure to actions taken to implementing and revising these standards. States should be given the flexibility to implement air quality standards in a way that is cost effective and efficient.

I want to thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Olson) for introducing this bill. I also encourage my colleagues to support this legislation to ensure States are able to implement EPA ozone standards without harming their overall economy.

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