Communities and Environment First Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8948 To authorize the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to enter into cooperative agreements with States to carry out grant pro- grams to assist in remediation and relocation efforts relating to haz- ardous air pollution, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 10, 2020 Mr. RICHMOND introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, and Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider- ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To authorize the Administrator of the Environmental Protec- tion Agency to enter into cooperative agreements with States to carry out grant programs to assist in remedi- ation and relocation efforts relating to hazardous air pollution, 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Communities and En- 4 vironment First Act of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:48 Dec 27, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8948.IH H8948 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8948 IH SEC. 2. FOR COMMUNITIES TRUST FUND. 1 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF FUND.— 2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter A of chapter 98 3 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by 4 adding at the end the following new section: 5 ‘‘SEC. 9512. FOR COMMUNITIES TRUST FUND. 6 ‘‘(a) CREATION OF TRUST FUND.—There is estab- 7 lished in the Treasury of the United States a trust fund, 8 to be known as the ‘For Communities Trust Fund’, con- 9 sisting of such amounts as may be made available to such 10 Trust Fund as provided in this section or section 9602(b). 11 ‘‘(b) TRANSFERS TO TRUST FUND.—For each of fis- 12 cal years 2021 through 2031, there are authorized to be 13 transferred to the For Communities Trust Fund amounts 14 equivalent to the taxes received in the Treasury under sec- 15 tions 4661 and 4671. 16 ‘‘(c) EXPENDITURES.—Amounts in the For Commu- 17 nities Trust Fund shall be made available without further 18 appropriation to carry out section 6 of the Communities 19 and Environment First Act of 2020.’’. 20 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 21 for subchapter A of chapter 98 of such Code is amended 22 by adding at the end the following new item: 23 ‘‘Sec. 9512. For Communities Trust Fund.’’. VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:35 Jan 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H8948.IH H8948 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8948 IH (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 1 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 2 December 31, 2020. 3 SEC. 3. SECTION 4661 TAXES TRANSFERRED FOR COMMU- 4 NITIES TRUST FUND ONLY. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 9507(b)(1) of the Internal 6 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘, 4661, 7 or 4671’’. 8 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 4661 of 9 such Code is amended by striking subsection (c). 10 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 11 this section shall apply to taxes imposed after December 12 31, 2020. 13 SEC. 4. MODIFICATION OF CHEMICAL EXCISE TAXES. 14 (a) ADJUSTMENT FOR INFLATION OF EXCISE TAX 15 ON CERTAIN CHEMICALS.—Section 4661(b) of the Inter- 16 nal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read as follows: 17 ‘‘(b) AMOUNT OF TAX.— 18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The amount of the tax im- 19 posed by subsection (a) shall be determined in ac- 20 cordance with the following table: 21 ‘‘In the case of: The tax is the following amount per ton: Acetylene $11.35 Benzene 11.35 Butane 11.35 Butylene 11.35 Butadiene 11.35 Ethylene 11.35 Methane 8.02 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:35 Jan 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8948.IH H8948 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8948 IH ‘‘In the case of: The tax is the following amount per ton: Naphthalene 11.35 Propylene 11.35 Toluene 11.35 Xylene 11.35 Ammonia 6.15 Antimony 10.37 Antimony trioxide 8.74 Arsenic 10.37 Arsenic trioxide 7.95 Barium sulfide 5.36 Bromine 10.37 Cadmium 10.37 Chlorine 6.29 Chromium 10.37 Chromite 3.54 Potassium dichromate 3.94 Sodium dichromate 4.36 Cobalt 10.37 Cupric sulfate 4.36 Cupric oxide 8.37 Cuprous oxide 9.25 Hydrochloric acid 0.68 Hydrogen fluoride 9.86 Lead oxide 9.65 Mercury 10.37 Nickel 10.37 Phosphorus 10.37 Stannous chloride 6.64 Stannic chloride 4.94 Zinc chloride 5.17 Zinc sulfate 4.43 Potassium hydroxide 0.51 Sodium hydroxide 0.65 Sulfuric acid 0.61 Nitric acid 0.56. ‘‘(2) ADJUSTMENT FOR INFLATION.— 1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a cal- 2 endar year beginning after 2021, each of the 3 amounts in the table in paragraph (1) shall be 4 increased by an amount equal to— 5 ‘‘(i) such amount, multiplied by 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:48 Dec 27, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8948.IH H8948 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8948 IH ‘‘(ii) the cost-of-living adjustment de- 1 termined under section 1(f)(3) for the cal- 2 endar year, determined by substituting 3 ‘calendar year 2020’ for ‘calendar year 4 2016’ in subparagraph (A)(ii) thereof. 5 ‘‘(B) ROUNDING.—If any amount as ad- 6 justed under subparagraph (A) is not a multiple 7 of $0.01, such amount shall be rounded to the 8 next lowest multiple of $0.01.’’. 9 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 10 this section shall apply to taxes imposed after December 11 31, 2020. 12 SEC. 5. SECTION 4671 TAX REVIVED WITH RESPECT TO CER- 13 TAIN CHEMICALS. 14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 4671 of the Internal Rev- 15 enue Code of 1986 is amended— 16 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘substance 17 sold or used by the importer thereof’’ and inserting 18 ‘‘substance’’— 19 (A) ‘‘sold or used by the importer thereof, 20 and’’; and 21 (B) ‘‘described in the table in section 22 4661(b)’’; 23 (2) by amending subsection (c) to read as fol- 24 lows: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:48 Dec 27, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8948.IH H8948 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8948 IH ‘‘(c) EXEMPTIONS FOR SUBSTANCES TAXED UNDER 1 SECTION 4661.—No tax shall be imposed by this section 2 on the sale or use of any substance if tax is imposed on 3 such sale or use under section 4661.’’; and 4 (3) by striking subsection (e). 5 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 6 this section shall apply to taxes imposed after December 7 31, 2020. 8 SEC. 6. STATE GRANT PROGRAMS. 9 (a) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.—The Administrator of 10 the Environmental Protection Agency shall, from amounts 11 made available to carry out this section for a fiscal year, 12 award grants on a competitive basis to States that have 13 entered into a cooperative agreement with the Adminis- 14 trator to carry out a grant program described in sub- 15 section (b). 16 (b) GRANT PROGRAM.—A State may use amounts 17 awarded to such State pursuant to subsection (a) only to 18 carry out a grant program to make grants to entities— 19 (1) to assist in relocation efforts for individuals 20 or groups of individuals who live within 5 miles of 21 a designated facility; or 22 (2) to protect or remediate areas affected by 23 emissions of hazardous air pollutants, or releases of 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:48 Dec 27, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8948.IH H8948 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 8948 IH hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants, 1 from a designated facility. 2 (c) ELIGIBILITY.—In order to receive a grant under 3 a grant program described in subsection (b), an entity— 4 (1) shall propose to use the grant to carry out 5 a project— 6 (A) to assist in relocation efforts for indi- 7 viduals or groups of individuals who live within 8 5 miles of a designated facility; or 9 (B) to protect or remediate an area af- 10 fected by emissions of hazardous air pollutants, 11 or releases of hazardous substances, pollutants, 12 or contaminants, from a designated facility; and 13 (2) shall be a nonprofit organization, or institu- 14 tion of higher education, with an environmentally fo- 15 cused mission. 16 (d) INCLUSION OF ACQUISITION OF PROPERTY.—As- 17 sistance for relocation efforts that is provided using a 18 grant received under a grant program described in sub- 19 section (b) may include acquisition of property— 20 (1) for an individual or group of individuals de- 21 scribed in subsection (b)(1); or 22 (2) owned by an individual or group of individ- 23 uals described in subsection (b)(1). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:48 Dec 27, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8948.IH H8948 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 8948 IH (e) PRIORITY.—In making grants under a grant pro- 1 gram described in subsection (b), a State shall give pri- 2 ority to individuals and groups of individuals that reside 3 closest to a designated facility. 4 (f) REVIEW BY PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIALS.—A 5 State carrying out a grant program described in sub- 6 section (b) shall ensure that public health officials of such 7 State review any health-related data submitted in support 8 of an application for a grant under such grant program. 9 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 10 (1) DESIGNATED FACILITY.—The term ‘‘des- 11 ignated facility’’ means a facility or site— 12 (A) that is not owned by the Federal Gov- 13 ernment; and 14 (B) that is— 15 (i) a major source or an area source, 16 as defined in section 112 of the Clean Air 17 Act (42 U.S.C. 7412), to which emissions 18 standards promulgated under such section 19 112 apply; or 20 (ii) listed on the National Priorities 21 List under section 105 of the Comprehen- 22 sive Environmental Response, Compensa- 23 tion, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 24 9605). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:48 Dec 27, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8948.IH H8948 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 8948 IH (2) HAZARDOUS AIR POLLUTANT.—The term 1 ‘‘hazardous air pollutant’’ has the meaning given 2 such term in section 112(a)(6) of the Clean Air Act 3 (42 U.S.C. 7412(a)(6)). 4 (3) HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE.—The term ‘‘haz- 5 ardous substance’’ has the meaning given such term 6 in section 101 of the Comprehensive Environmental 7 Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 8 (42 U.S.C. 9601). 9 (4) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each 10 State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 11 and each territory of the United States. 12 (h) REGULATIONS AND GUIDANCE.—The Adminis- 13 trator may issue such regulations and guidance as are nec- 14 essary to implement a grant program under this section. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:48 Dec 27, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8948.IH H8948 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS