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A bill to amend the Clean Air to repeal the grandfather status for electric utility units.

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.

Official summary

Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Oct 9, 1998

Amends the Clean Air Act to require emissions standards of performance for new or modified fossil fuel-fired electric utility units to apply to grandfathered units (units that were not subject to standards set forth in Federal regulations pertaining to fossil fuel-fired steam generators for which construction is commenced after August 17, 1971, and certain other steam generating units or to subsequent standards for such units) that: (1) have the capacity to generate more than 25 megawatts of electrical output per hour; and (2) generate electricity that flows through transmission or connected facilities that cross State lines (including electricity in a transaction that for regulatory purposes is treated as an intrastate rather than an interstate transaction). Requires grandfathered units to comply with standards established before this Act's enactment within five years of this Act's enactment and within three years of enactment of any standard established after this Act's enactment. Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, to provide an alternative means of complying with such standards, to: (1) establish national annual limitations for calendar year 2003 and subsequent years for each pollutant subject to standards at a level equal to the aggregate emissions of each pollutant that would result from application of the standards to all affected electric utility units; (2) allocate transferable allowances for such pollutants to such units in an annual quantity not to exceed such limitations based on each unit's share of the total electric generation from such units in each year; and (3) require grandfathered units to meet standards by emitting no more of each regulated pollutant than the quantity of allowances held by such units for the year.

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Who introduced it

Sen. Lieberman, Joseph I. [D-CT] · D–CT

Committees

  • Environment and Public Works Committee
6 cosponsorship records, including any withdrawals

Actions

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  1. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.

  2. Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S12177-12178)

  3. Introduced in Senate

Bill text & related measures

Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.

Related bills identified by Congress.gov

No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.

Source last updated: Sep 8, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.

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