Clean Air and Building Infrastructure Improvement Act

The Clean Air and Building Infrastructure Improvement Act would require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to publish final regulations and guidance for implementing any final rule that establishes or revises a national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) at the same time that the final NAAQS is issued. The goal is to ensure states, permitting authorities, and permit applicants have guidance on submitting and processing preconstruction permits under the new or revised standard. If the EPA fails to publish the implementing regulations and guidance concurrently, the new or revised standard would not apply to the review or disposition of preconstruction permit applications until those implementing rules and guidance are published. The bill also preserves core permitting obligations (such as Best Available Control Technology (BACT) and Lowest Achievable Emission Rate (LAER)) and state flexibility to impose stricter requirements. In addition, the bill makes a targeted exception relating to the 2024 Primary Annual PM2.5 standard, providing that certain preconstruction permit reviews would not be subject to that specific standard under defined conditions, as described in Section 3. The bill defines key terms and clarifies that nothing precludes further guidance or regulation after the initial implementing rules are published.