[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2257 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2257

    To provide for a 1-year moratorium on the disclosure of certain 
 submissions under section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act to provide for 
the reporting of certain site security information to the Congress, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 17, 1999

 Mr. Green of Texas (for himself, Mr. Dingell, Mr. Brown of Ohio, Mr. 
  Waxman, Mr. Strickland, Mr. Barrett of Wisconsin, Mr. Pallone, Mr. 
Stupak, Mr. Towns, Mrs. Capps, Ms. DeGette, Mr. Deutsch, Ms. Eshoo, and 
Mr. Hall of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
    the Committee on Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on 
Government Reform, and the Judiciary, for the period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To provide for a 1-year moratorium on the disclosure of certain 
 submissions under section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act to provide for 
the reporting of certain site security information to the Congress, and 
                          for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Chemical Security Act of 1999''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    For purposes of this Act:
            (1) The term ``Administrator'' means the Administrator of 
        the Environmental Protection Agency.
            (2) The term ``Off-site Consequence Analysis Submission'' 
        means only the off-site consequence portion of a risk 
        management plan submitted to the Administrator under section 
        68.165 of title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations, as in 
        effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.
            (3) The term ``covered stationary source'' means a 
        stationary source of any air pollutant that is required to 
        submit a risk management plan under section 112(r)(7)(B) of the 
        Clean Air Act.
            (4) The term ``official use'' means any action that is 
        intended to carry out a function of a Federal, State, or local 
        agency or entity having responsibility for planning for or 
        responding to chemical releases at a stationary source. Such 
        term includes disclosing the results of an Off-site Consequence 
        Analysis Submission in any format different than that used in 
        the Submission.
            (5) The term ``authorized contractor'' means a person 
        having responsibility for handling risk management plans under 
        subparagraph (B) of section 112(r)(7) of the Clean Air Act 
        under contract with the Administrator, the Chemical Safety and 
        Hazard Investigation Board, a State, or a local agency or 
        entity referred to in clause (iii) of such subparagraph (B).

SEC. 3. ONE-YEAR MORATORIUM FOR CONGRESSIONAL CONSIDERATION.

    (a) Prohibition.--
            (1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of any 
        Federal, State, or local law that provides for freedom of 
        information or public disclosure of governmental information, 
        in order to provide for Congressional consideration of the 
        effects of the public disclosure required under clause (iii) of 
        section 112(r)(7)(B) of the Clean Air Act and for consideration 
        of the reports under section 4 of this Act, no Off-site 
        Consequence Analysis Submission shall be disclosed, or made 
        available, to the public or to any person or entity by the 
        Administrator, the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation 
        Board, a State, a local agency or an entity referred to in such 
        clause (iii), or any authorized contractor.
            (2) One-year period.--The prohibition set forth in 
        paragraph (1) shall apply only for a period ending 1-year after 
        the date of the enactment of this Act.
            (3) Permitted disclosure.--The prohibition set forth in 
        paragraph (1) shall not apply to disclosure of an Off-site 
        Consequence Analysis Submission for official use only pursuant 
        to clause (iii) of section 112(r)(7)(B) of the Clean Air Act to 
        the Administrator, the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation 
        Board, a State, a local agency or an entity referred to in such 
        clause (iii), or any authorized contractor.
    (b) Penalty.--The violation of the prohibition set forth in 
subsection (a) shall be an infraction punishable under section 3571 of 
title 18 of the United States Code. In any case in which more than one 
Off-site Consequence Analysis Submission has been disclosed or made 
available in violation of subsection (a), the violation with respect to 
each such Submission shall be considered a separate violation for 
purposes of such section 3571. The total of all penalties imposed on a 
single person or organization for violations of subsection (a) shall 
not exceed $100,000.
    (c) Disclosure without Facility Identification.--Notwithstanding 
the moratorium under subsection (a), after June 21, 1999, the 
Administrator shall make information from risk management plans, 
including information from the Off-site Consequence Analysis 
Submissions, available to the public in accordance with section 
112(r)(7)(B)(iii) of the Clean Air Act in a form which does not include 
any information concerning the identity or location of the covered 
stationary sources for which such plans were prepared.
    (d) Emergency Planning Meetings.--Not later than 180 days after the 
date of enactment of this Act, each owner or operator of a covered 
stationary source shall convene a meeting with community 
representatives, employees and contractors working at the covered 
stationary source and with local emergency planning committees and 
other appropriate emergency responders to discuss the measures 
necessary to prevent, and protect the source from, attacks by 
terrorists and other criminals. Not later than 10 months after the date 
of enactment of this Act, each such owner or operator shall send a 
certification to the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation 
stating that such meeting has been held within one year prior to, or 
within 10 months after, the date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 4. SITE SECURITY STUDY AND REPORTS TO CONGRESS.

    (a) Site Security.--The Attorney General, using available data to 
the extent possible, and analyzing a sampling of covered stationary 
sources selected at the discretion of the Attorney General, and in 
consultation with appropriate State, local, and Federal governmental 
agencies, affected industry and the public, shall review the 
vulnerability of covered stationary sources to criminal and terrorist 
activity, current industry practices regarding site security, security 
of transportation of extremely hazardous substances, and the 
effectiveness of this Act. Six months after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Attorney General shall submit a report to the Congress 
containing the results of the review, together with recommendations for 
reducing vulnerability to criminal and terrorist activity through 
inherently safer practices and site security, and the need for 
additional legislation. If the report recommends information security 
measures, it shall describe the means by which any individual shall be 
guaranteed access to risk management information without a geographical 
restriction. The Attorney General shall submit updates of such report 
biennially after the submission of the first report.
    (d) Comptroller General Report.--Not later than 180 days after the 
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 
shall submit a report to the Congress on the health and environmental 
effects of public disclosure of information. In preparing such report 
the Comptroller General shall consult with the Administrator and 
appropriate representatives of the States, local governments, affected 
industries, emergency responders, and public interest groups and shall 
undertake a specific examination of the reduction in toxic chemical 
releases associated with the reporting requirements of section 313 of 
the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (Toxics 
Release Inventory).

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 
necessary to carry out this Act.
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