H.R. 6387 — FIRE Act

This section revises Clean Air Act exceptional events provisions (42 U.S.C. 7619(b)) to include "actions to mitigate wildfire risk" (i.e., prescribed fires or similar measures per state-approved practices) alongside natural events (e.g., wildfires), human activities mirroring natural events, or unlikely-to-recur human activities—excluding air mass stagnation, meteorological inversions, or source noncompliance—in petitions to exclude affected air quality monitoring data from EPA determinations on exceedances, designations, attainment, and related actions. (As background, these provisions allow states to petition EPA to disregard data from uncontrollable events in national ambient air quality standard compliance to avoid penalizing areas for natural disasters.) Specifically, the section (1) updates the subsection heading, paragraph (1) definitions, and related exclusions; (2) in paragraph (2), revises the EPA rulemaking deadline to 18 months after FIRE Act enactment (from March 1, 2006), requires regional modeling for multistate events, and mandates a public website on petition status within 12 months (updated monthly); (3) in paragraph (3), inserts a principle recognizing wildfire mitigation's role in reducing fire magnitude and frequency, strengthens causal demonstration requirements, and expands petition criteria; and (4) strikes paragraph (4). (Thus, states may more readily exclude data from prescribed burns, supporting proactive wildfire management without risking nonattainment designations.)