FENCES Act

Changes how the Clean Air Act treats pollution that drifts in from outside the United States. Section 2(a) amends section 179B so that foreign emissions count in the 'but for' analysis 'regardless of whether such emissions result from human activity.' Section 2(b) adds a new subsection (e) barring designation of an area as nonattainment for a national ambient air quality standard if the area would attain the standard but for emissions from outside the United States. Section 2(c) adds a new section 179C that shields a state from Clean Air Act sanctions and fees under sections 179 and 185 for areas classified Severe or Extreme for ozone or Serious for particulate matter, when the state demonstrates it would have avoided the deficiency or attained the standard but for emissions from outside the nonattainment area, an exceptional event, or uncontrollable mobile-source emissions. The state must renew that demonstration at least once every five years, and the relief does not remove the underlying obligation to keep working to attain the standard.

At least 20 organizations named this measure in a lobbying filing. A floor, not a total: they were counted by the client name on 55 quarterly reports filed by 3 lobbying firms and by 17 organizations lobbying for themselves in 2025 Q4, 2026 Q1, 2026 Q2 and 2026 Q3. An organization that lobbied this measure without naming it is not counted here.

4 of those filings did not cite this bill by number. They named a short title it shares with its Senate companion, S 3836, so the reference belongs to the pair rather than to one chamber’s vehicle.

The filings record that lobbying was reported on the measure. The form has no per-bill dollar figure and no field for a position, so nothing here says how much was spent or which side an organization took.

5 of them, in no ranking: American Petroleum Institute; American Lung Association; Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A.; National Mining Association; Earthjustice Action. Listed as filed, in the order the filings were read, and 15 others are not shown. These are not the largest, the earliest or the most active: we keep five names per measure, and the filings give no ranking.

From the LD-2 quarterly lobbying filings published at lda.gov by the Senate Office of Public Records. Read for 2025 Q1, 2025 Q2, 2025 Q3, 2025 Q4, 2026 Q1, 2026 Q2 and 2026 Q3. Our copy holds 24 fewer filings for 2025 Q1, 39 fewer filings for 2025 Q2, 42 fewer filings for 2025 Q3, 33 fewer filings for 2025 Q4, 28 fewer filings for 2026 Q1, 48 fewer filings for 2026 Q2 and 218 fewer filings for 2026 Q3 than the Senate's register counts, so those quarters are the filings we could read rather than every one filed. 2026 Q4 is still inside its filing window, so that quarter is only the filings posted so far.