Review - S 4510 Introduced – Fence Line Monitoring

Last month, Sen Duckworth (D,IL) introduced S 4510, the Public Health Air Quality Act of 2022. The bill would require the EPA to establish fence line monitoring equipment at facilities that store, use, or manufacture certain hazardous chemicals to monitor the release of those chemicals into the local environment. It would also require a wide variety of facilities to conduct point and perimeter monitoring for hazardous chemical emissions. The bill would authorize $277 million to fund the various programs of the bill.

Moving Forward

Duckworth and three of her six cosponsors {Carper (D,DE) (Chair), Markey (D,MA), and Merkley (D,OR)} are members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration. There is sufficient influence to see this bill considered in Committee. Because of expected strong Republican opposition to this bill because of the cost of compliance for covered companies, this bill would probably not be adopted in Committee, it would fail on a tie vote. The bill would certainly never make it to the floor of the Senate under the current cloture rules.

Commentary

I have long advocated for fence-line monitoring for toxic hazardous chemical releases as part of an effective emergency notification and response program like that included in §4(a)(2), but this bill goes well beyond that requirement. A more restricted monitoring program for emergency notification and response might have a better chance of passing.

 

For more details on the provisions of this bill, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/s-4510-introduced - subscription required.