FIRE Act

Summary

Amends Clean Air Act rules for how air-quality monitoring data affected by exceptional events are defined, evaluated, and excluded. It adds explicit treatment for state actions to mitigate wildfire risk (like prescribed burns), revises the "exceptional event" definition and exclusions, lets Governors petition to remove certain event-affected data from regulatory uses, requires regional modeling for multistate events, and requires the EPA to publish and update a public petition-status website within a year.

• Rewrites the "exceptional event" definition and adds a new definition for state wildfire-mitigation actions (e.g., prescribed burns).
• Permits Governors to petition to exclude monitoring data tied to exceptional events or mitigation actions from many Clean Air Act regulatory determinations.
• Requires regional modeling/analysis when multiple States are involved or when the Administrator finds a multistate event.
• Requires a clear causal link (or reasonable expectation) between measured exceedances and the event or mitigation action to qualify for exclusion.
• Clarifies that ordinary stagnation, meteorological inversions, and pollution from source noncompliance are not exceptional events.
• Directs the EPA Administrator to create and monthly-update a public website showing petition status within 12 months.
• Adds an explicit policy recognition that wildfire-mitigation actions can reduce wildfire size and frequency.
• Expands the types of regulatory decisions from which data may be excluded, including NAAQS designations, attainment demonstrations, SIP adequacy findings, and certain preconstruction permitting determinations.