Voices for Environmental Justice Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2431 To authorize the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to award grants to entities to enable such entities to participate in decisions impacting the health and safety of their communities in connection with the release of certain hazardous air pollutants and the permitting of solid waste disposal facilities and hazardous waste facilities, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 8, 2021 Mr. RUIZ (for himself, Mr. TONKO, Ms. BARRAGA´N, and Ms. DEGETTE) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To authorize the Administrator of the Environmental Protec- tion Agency to award grants to entities to enable such entities to participate in decisions impacting the health and safety of their communities in connection with the release of certain hazardous air pollutants and the per- mitting of solid waste disposal facilities and hazardous waste facilities, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:11 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2431.IH H2431 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2431 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Voices for Environ- 2 mental Justice Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE COMMUNITY TECH- 4 NICAL ASSISTANCE GRANTS. 5 Title III of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7601 et 6 seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new 7 section: 8 ‘‘SEC. 330. ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE COMMUNITY TECH- 9 NICAL ASSISTANCE GRANTS. 10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator may award 11 grants to eligible entities to enable such entities to partici- 12 pate in decisions impacting the health and safety of their 13 communities in connection with an actual or potential re- 14 lease of a covered hazardous air pollutant. 15 ‘‘(b) TIMING.— 16 ‘‘(1) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 12 months 17 after the date of enactment of this section, the Ad- 18 ministrator shall publish guidance describing the 19 process for eligible entities to apply for a grant 20 under this section, including the required content 21 and form of applications, the manner in which appli- 22 cations must be submitted, and any applicable dead- 23 lines. 24 ‘‘(2) FIRST GRANT.—Not later than 180 days 25 after the issuance of guidance under paragraph (1), 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:11 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2431.IH H2431 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2431 IH the Administrator shall award the first grant under 1 this section. 2 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—To be eligible for a grant 3 under this section, an applicant shall be a group of individ- 4 uals who reside in a community that— 5 ‘‘(1) is a population of color, a community of 6 color, an indigenous community, or a low-income 7 community; and 8 ‘‘(2) is in close proximity to the site of an ac- 9 tual or potential release of a covered hazardous air 10 pollutant. 11 ‘‘(d) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity receiving a 12 grant under this section shall use the grant to participate 13 in decisions impacting the health and safety of the commu- 14 nity involved in connection with an actual or potential re- 15 lease of a covered hazardous air pollutant, including— 16 ‘‘(1) interpreting information with regard to the 17 nature of the hazard, cumulative impacts studies, 18 health impacts studies, remedial investigation and 19 feasibility studies, agency decisions, remedial design, 20 and operation and maintenance of necessary mon- 21 itors; and 22 ‘‘(2) performing additional air pollution moni- 23 toring. 24 ‘‘(e) LIMITATIONS ON AMOUNT; RENEWAL.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:11 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2431.IH H2431 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2431 IH ‘‘(1) AMOUNT.— 1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The amount of a 2 grant under this section (excluding any renew- 3 als of the grant) may not exceed $50,000 for 4 any grant recipient. 5 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—The Administrator 6 may waive the limitation in subparagraph (A) 7 with respect to an applicant in any case where 8 the Administrator determines that such waiver 9 is necessary for the community involved to ob- 10 tain the necessary technical assistance. 11 ‘‘(2) RENEWAL.—Grants may be renewed for 12 each step in the regulatory, removal, or remediation 13 process in connection with a facility with the poten- 14 tial to release a covered hazardous air pollutant. 15 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 16 ‘‘(1) The term ‘community of color’ means any 17 geographically distinct area the population of color 18 of which is higher than the average population of 19 color of the State in which the community is located. 20 ‘‘(2) The term ‘covered hazardous air pollutant’ 21 means a hazardous air pollutant (as defined in sec- 22 tion 112 of the Clean Air Act) that— 23 ‘‘(A) is listed on the toxics release inven- 24 tory under section 313(c) of the Emergency 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:11 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2431.IH H2431 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2431 IH Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act 1 of 1986; or 2 ‘‘(B) is identified as carcinogenic by an as- 3 sessment under the Integrated Risk Informa- 4 tion System (IRIS) of the Environmental Pro- 5 tection Agency. 6 ‘‘(3) The term ‘indigenous community’ means— 7 ‘‘(A) a federally recognized Indian Tribe; 8 ‘‘(B) a State-recognized Indian Tribe; 9 ‘‘(C) an Alaska Native or Native Hawaiian 10 community or organization; and 11 ‘‘(D) any other community of indigenous 12 people, including communities in other coun- 13 tries. 14 ‘‘(4) The term ‘low income’ means an annual 15 household income equal to, or less than, the greater 16 of— 17 ‘‘(A) an amount equal to 80 percent of the 18 median income of the area in which the house- 19 hold is located, as reported by the Department 20 of Housing and Urban Development; and 21 ‘‘(B) 200 percent of the Federal poverty 22 line. 23 ‘‘(5) The term ‘population of color’ means a 24 population of individuals who identify as— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:11 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2431.IH H2431 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2431 IH ‘‘(A) Black; 1 ‘‘(B) African American; 2 ‘‘(C) Asian; 3 ‘‘(D) Pacific Islander; 4 ‘‘(E) another non-White race; 5 ‘‘(F) Hispanic; 6 ‘‘(G) Latino; or 7 ‘‘(H) linguistically isolated.’’. 8 SEC. 3. ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE COMMUNITY SOLID 9 WASTE DISPOSAL TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE 10 GRANTS. 11 (a) GRANTS.—Subtitle D of the Solid Waste Disposal 12 Act (42 U.S.C. 6941 et seq.) is amended by adding at 13 the end the following new section: 14 ‘‘SEC. 4011. ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE COMMUNITY TECH- 15 NICAL ASSISTANCE GRANTS. 16 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator may award 17 grants to eligible entities to enable such entities to partici- 18 pate in decisions impacting the health and safety of their 19 communities relating to the permitting or permit renewal 20 of a solid waste disposal facility or hazardous waste facil- 21 ity. 22 ‘‘(b) TIMING.— 23 ‘‘(1) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 12 months 24 after the date of enactment of this section, the Ad- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:11 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2431.IH H2431 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2431 IH ministrator shall publish guidance describing the 1 process for eligible entities to apply for a grant 2 under this section, including the required content 3 and form of applications, the manner in which appli- 4 cations must be submitted, and any applicable dead- 5 lines. 6 ‘‘(2) FIRST GRANT.—Not later than 180 days 7 after the issuance of guidance under paragraph (1), 8 the Administrator shall award the first grant under 9 this section. 10 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—To be eligible for a grant 11 under this section, an applicant shall be a group of individ- 12 uals who reside in a community that— 13 ‘‘(1) is a population of color, a community of 14 color, an indigenous community, or a low-income 15 community; and 16 ‘‘(2) is in close proximity to a facility described 17 in subsection (a) for which a decision relating to a 18 permit or permit renewal for such facility is re- 19 quired. 20 ‘‘(d) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity receiving a 21 grant under this section shall use the grant to participate 22 in decisions impacting the health and safety of the commu- 23 nity involved that are related to the permitting or permit 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:11 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2431.IH H2431 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2431 IH renewal of a solid waste disposal facility or hazardous 1 waste facility, including— 2 ‘‘(1) interpreting information with regard to— 3 ‘‘(A) cumulative impacts studies; 4 ‘‘(B) health impacts studies; 5 ‘‘(C) relevant agency decisions; and 6 ‘‘(D) operation and maintenance of nec- 7 essary monitors; and 8 ‘‘(2) performing environmental monitoring. 9 ‘‘(e) LIMITATIONS ON AMOUNT; RENEWAL.— 10 ‘‘(1) AMOUNT.— 11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The amount of a 12 grant under this section (excluding any renew- 13 als of the grant) may not exceed $50,000 for 14 any grant recipient. 15 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—The Administrator 16 may waive the limitation in subparagraph (A) 17 with respect to an applicant in any case where 18 the Administrator determines that such waiver 19 is necessary for the community involved to ob- 20 tain the necessary technical assistance. 21 ‘‘(2) RENEWAL.—Grants may be renewed for 22 each step in the process for the permitting or permit 23 renewal of a solid waste disposal facility or haz- 24 ardous waste facility. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:11 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2431.IH H2431 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 2431 IH ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 1 ‘‘(1) The term ‘community of color’ means any 2 geographically distinct area the population of color 3 of which is higher than the average population of 4 color of the State in which the community is located. 5 ‘‘(2) The term ‘indigenous community’ means— 6 ‘‘(A) a federally recognized Indian Tribe; 7 ‘‘(B) a State-recognized Indian Tribe; 8 ‘‘(C) an Alaska Native or Native Hawaiian 9 community or organization; and 10 ‘‘(D) any other community of indigenous 11 people, including communities in other coun- 12 tries. 13 ‘‘(3) The term ‘low income’ means an annual 14 household income equal to, or less than, the greater 15 of— 16 ‘‘(A) an amount equal to 80 percent of the 17 median income of the area in which the house- 18 hold is located, as reported by the Department 19 of Housing and Urban Development; and 20 ‘‘(B) 200 percent of the Federal poverty 21 line. 22 ‘‘(4) The term ‘population of color’ means a 23 population of individuals who identify as— 24 ‘‘(A) Black; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:11 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2431.IH H2431 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 2431 IH ‘‘(B) African American; 1 ‘‘(C) Asian; 2 ‘‘(D) Pacific Islander; 3 ‘‘(E) another non-White race; 4 ‘‘(F) Hispanic; 5 ‘‘(G) Latino; or 6 ‘‘(H) linguistically isolated.’’. 7 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 8 for the Solid Waste Disposal Act is amended by adding 9 after the item relating to section 4010 the following: 10 ‘‘Sec. 4011. Environmental justice community technical assistance grants.’’. SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 11 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 12 section 330 of the Clean Air Act (as added by section 2 13 of this Act) and section 4011 of the Solid Waste Disposal 14 Act (as added by section 3 of this Act) $5,000,000 for 15 each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:11 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2431.IH H2431 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS