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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Seventh Legislature, Second Regular Session
clean air act; EPA powers
Purpose
Urges the U.S.
Congress to clearly define the Environmental Protection Agency's
(EPA's) powers and duties and end the EPA's regulation overreach on the
economy.
Background
The EPA is an
agency of the United States with the mission of ensuring that: 1) Americans
have clean air, land and water; 2) national efforts to reduce environmental
risks are based on the best available scientific information; 3) federal laws
protecting human health and the environment are administered and enforced
fairly, effectively and as the U.S. Congress intended; and
4) contaminated lands and toxic sites are cleaned up and revitalized. To
accomplish this mission, the EPA develops and enforces regulations, awards
grants, studies environmental issues and sponsors partnerships (EPA).
The federal Clean Air Act requires the EPA to establish National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for air pollutants that endanger public health or welfare, in the EPA Administrator's judgement, and to regulate emissions of hazardous air pollutants. The NAAQS must be designed to protect public health with an adequate margin of safety and to protect public welfare from any known or anticipated adverse effects. The NAAQS also require the EPA to review the scientific data upon which the standards are based every five years (U.S. Congress).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
1. Urges the U.S. Congress to clearly define the EPA's powers and duties and end the EPA's regulation overreach on the economy.
2. Directs the Secretary of State to transmit a copy of the memorial to the President of the U.S. Senate, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and each Member of the U.S. Congress from Arizona.
Prepared by Senate Research
January 22, 2026
SB/SF/hk