In committee
FIRE Act
Under this bill, smoke from controlled burns and other state-approved efforts to prevent severe wildfires will not count against a community’s federal air quality score. State governors can ask federal regulators to disregard these temporary smoke spikes so local areas do not face penalties or stricter restrictions on local industries. If smoke crosses state lines, federal regulators must perform the regional tracking and analysis to support these requests, and all exemption petitions will be published on a monthly updated public website.
People affected—not determinable from the text provided
Fiscal magnitude—not determinable from the text provided
Reach43provisional · pending reviewrigor: heuristic llm
What this bill touches.
Federal lands & resourcesPollution & development−35Federal vs. state/local−20
Who it helps · who it burdens.
Who it helps
- State governments and air quality regulatorsAllows governors to petition the EPA to exclude air pollution data caused by state-approved wildfire risk mitigation (such as prescribed burns) from clean air compliance determinations, and allows states to meet demonstration requirements with a 'reasonably expected' causal link rather than proving definitive causation (Sec. 2(5)(B), Sec. 2(5)(C)).
- Prescribed fire practitioners and forest managersGains regulatory relief under Clean Air Act standards by having prescribed burns and activities designed to mirror natural processes recognized as exceptional events or wildfire mitigation actions, shielding these practices from causing regulatory air quality violations (Sec. 2(2)(D), Sec. 2(2)(F), Sec. 2(5)(C)).
Who it burdens
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)Must propose revised regulations within 18 months, conduct regional air quality modeling and analysis on behalf of states during multistate air events, and create and maintain a public website updated monthly tracking petition statuses (Sec. 2(3)(A), Sec. 2(3)(C)).