[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3540 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3540

To coordinate the life-cycle assessment activities and resources of the 
       Federal Government relating to environmental technologies.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 18, 1993

 Mrs. Morella introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
              Committee on Science, Space, and Technology

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To coordinate the life-cycle assessment activities and resources of the 
       Federal Government relating to environmental technologies.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. LIFE-CYCLE ASSESSMENTS.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Life-cycle assessments have much potential for 
        identifying opportunities for achieving more environmentally 
        sound products, processes, and services and enhanced industrial 
        efficiency.
            (2) Methods of life-cycle assessment are underused in both 
        the public and private sectors, particularly as applied to 
        sustainable economic development.
            (3) The data necessary for meaningful life-cycle assessment 
        are often difficult to acquire, and no system exists to make 
        such data readily available to public and private groups.
    (b) Life-Cycle Assessment Coordination.--
            (1) In general.--The Director of the Office of Science and 
        Technology Policy, as part of activities to coordinate 
        environmental technology research, development, and adoption, 
        shall coordinate Federal activities and resources that are 
        applied to life-cycle assessment in order to maximize the 
        contribution of life-cycle assessments to sustainable economic 
        development.
            (2) Implementation.--In carrying out this subsection, the 
        Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy shall--
                    (A) ensure that the life-cycle assessment resources 
                of each Federal agency are developed and disseminated 
                in a coordinated fashion, partitioning agency 
                responsibilities, where appropriate;
                    (B) coordinate with State and local governments 
                developing life-cycle assessment resources; and
                    (C) consider the life-cycle assessment capabilities 
                of the private sector.
            (3) Other activities.--In carrying out this subsection, the 
        Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy shall 
        also encourage appropriate Federal agencies--
                    (A) to collect, develop, and disseminate 
                information regarding analytic methods and, as 
                required, to develop such methods, that will 
                significantly enhance the ability of United States 
                companies and other organizations to evaluate materials 
                extraction, transportation, conversion, end use, 
                recycling, and disposal, and their associated costs and 
                environmental impacts;
                    (B) to utilize, to the fullest extent practicable, 
                existing networks and supporting databases providing 
                ready access to nonproprietary information that will 
                facilitate the use of life-cycle assessments; and
                    (C) to sponsor demonstrations for public policy and 
                business decisionmakers of the effective use of the 
                database and methodologies described in this section.
    (c) Annual Review.--The Director of the Office of Science and 
Technology Policy shall annually submit to the Congress a report 
containing an evaluation of the life-cycle assessment activities of the 
Federal Government.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    For the purposes of this Act:
            (1) The term ``environmental technology'' means--
                    (A) a technology that is primarily intended to 
                improve the quality of the environment through 
                pollution reduction or remediation;
                    (B) a product, manufacturing process, or service 
                that is capable of cost-effectively replacing the 
                functions of an existing product, process, or service, 
                and as compared with the product, process, or service 
                it replaces, significantly reducing overall pollution 
                or significantly improving the efficiency of energy or 
                materials use; or
                    (C) a technology within the meaning of 
                subparagraphs (A) and (B).
            (2) The term ``life-cycle assessment'' means the assessment 
        of the complete systems involved in converting resources to 
        products, including resource extraction, materials conversion, 
        energy use, end use, recycling, and disposal, and their 
        associated costs.
            (3) The term ``sustainable economic development'' means the 
        integration of environmental and economic development concerns 
        leading to long-term economic development with reduced 
        pollution and the more efficient use of energy and materials.

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