Position on H.R. 6387, H.R. 6409 & H.R. 6398

Air pollution is a serious threat to our national parks and monuments. Dirty air ruins scenic views, harms nature, wildlife and historic sites and affects the health of visitors. It also contributes to the extreme weather national parks across the nation increasingly face.

Because of the Clean Air Act (CAA), our nation’s skies are cleaner than they were 20 years ago. NPCA documented in our 2024 Polluted Parks report specific improvements in park air quality over the last five years. Yet our nation’s job in cleaning our air is not done. According to air quality data we analyzed, forty-two of 399 national parks (11 percent) had air too dirty to breathe in 2023. This was a decrease from eighty-seven parks in 2019. Despite notable improvements, most parks – 338 (85 percent) – still have air quality that is unsatisfactory for the health of park visitors and wildlife; and 98 percent of our parks still struggle with hazy skies from air pollution that ruins scenic views.

Instead of improving air quality, the legislation being debated by the House of Representatives this week could result in more pollution harming national parks and delayed progress.

H.R. 6387 - Fire Improvement and Reforming Exceptional Events (FIRE) Act: NPCA opposes this legislation, which unnecessarily rewrites the definition of when certain air quality monitoring data for exceptional events can be excluded for purposes of certain regulatory decisions. By making this broad change instead of pursuing a more tailored approach, the bill could create new opportunities for states and industry to avoid steps to reduce controllable air pollution. Additionally, the disruption of existing processes for handling exceptional events in regulatory decision-making is unneeded. Section 319 of the CAA, and further regulations and guidance through the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Exceptional Events Rule, already clarifies the process for states to exclude air monitoring data affected by exceptional events like wildfires from being considered in the determination of their attainment status under the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) program. EPA’s 2016 Exceptional Events Rule and 2019 “Prescribed Fire Guidance” for state agencies also makes clear that prescribed fires can be eligible as an exceptional event. NPCA believes prescribed fire can be an important tool to protect communities from wildfire risk and coordinating this land management tool with air quality improvements is important. We do not see H.R. 6387 as a narrow approach to achieving that goal without weakening NAAQS oversight, implementation and progress toward cleaner air.

H.R. 6409 - Foreign Emissions and Nonattainment Clarification for Economic Stability (FENCES) Act: NPCA opposes this legislation, which could let areas of the country with polluted air blame foreign emissions too easily as a means of avoiding tangible measures to protect public health and improve air quality. The CAA already has a process for areas to obtain regulatory relief if they meet the NAAQS “but for emissions originating outside the United States.” Areas must still take the same reasonable steps any polluted area must take to reduce local air pollution. H.R.6409 upsets that sensible balance and could let states and industries avoid needed steps to clean up pollution that causes hazy skies and unhealthy air in and around our national parks and communities.

H.R. 6398 - Reducing and Eliminating Duplicative Environmental Regulations (RED Tape) Act: NPCA opposes this legislation, which removes the requirement for EPA to review and comment on newly authorized federal construction projects and other major federal agency actions if already required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). NPCA supports early engagement of all stakeholders – governmental and non-governmental – in the permitting process to identify problematic increases of air pollution before a project is fully developed. The CAA’s Section 309 requirements ensure early coordination between NEPA reviews and CAA policy embedding air-quality expertise in permitting decisions. H.R. 6398 dismantles that coordination, reducing early identification of air-quality compliance risks and shifts addressing air pollution issues to much later in the project development process.