[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4283 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4283

   To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to authorize the 
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to make grants for 
 the remediation of sediment contamination in certain areas of concern 
              in the Great Lakes, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 13, 2000

 Mr. Ehlers (for himself and Mr. Camp) introduced the following bill; 
       which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and 
   Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on International 
 Relations, for a 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 amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to authorize the 
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to make grants for 
 the remediation of sediment contamination in certain areas of concern 
              in the Great Lakes, 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 ``Great Lakes Protection and 
Restoration Act of 2000''.

              TITLE I--SEDIMENT REMEDIATION GRANT PROGRAM

SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE.

    This title may be cited as the ``Great Lakes Legacy Act of 2000''.

SEC. 102. GRANTS FOR THE REMEDIATION OF SEDIMENT CONTAMINATION AT AREAS 
              OF CONCERN.

    Section 118(c) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 
U.S.C. 1268(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(12) Grants for remediation of sediment contamination at 
        areas of concern.--
                    ``(A) In general.--In accordance with this 
                paragraph, the Administrator, acting through the Great 
                Lakes National Program Office described in subsection 
                (b), may make grants to States, Indian tribes (as 
                defined in section 518(h)), regional agencies, and 
                local governments to carry out qualified projects.
                    ``(B) Qualified project.--In this paragraph, a 
                qualified project is a project to be carried out in an 
                area of concern located wholly or in part in the United 
                States, that--
                            ``(i) remediates contaminated sediment;
                            ``(ii) prevents further or renewed 
                        contamination of sediment; or
                            ``(iii) monitors or evaluates contaminated 
                        sediment.
                    ``(C) Priority.--In selecting applicants to receive 
                grants under this paragraph, the Administrator shall 
                give priority to an applicant proposing to carry out a 
                qualified project that--
                            ``(i) remediates contaminated sediment;
                            ``(ii) is to be carried out in an area of 
                        concern located wholly within the United 
                        States;
                            ``(iii) has been identified in a remedial 
                        action plan submitted pursuant to paragraph 
                        (3), and is ready to be implemented; or
                            ``(iv) will use an innovative approach to 
                        or technique for remediation.
                    ``(D) Limitations.--The Administrator may not make 
                a grant under this paragraph to carry out any of the 
                following types of projects:
                            ``(i) A project located in an area of 
                        concern that the Administrator determines is 
                        likely to suffer further or renewed 
                        contamination from existing sources of 
                        pollutants into navigable waters.
                            ``(ii) A project that, following an 
                        evaluation of the short-term and long-term 
                        impacts of the project in relation to the 
                        reduction of risks to human health and the 
                        environment, the Administrator determines will 
                        be likely to have a greater adverse impact on 
                        human health and the environment than other 
                        remedial measures, including measures that do 
                        not involve active remediation.
                    ``(E) Non-federal matching requirement.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The non-Federal share of 
                        the cost of any project assisted under this 
                        paragraph shall be not less than 35 percent.
                            ``(ii) In-kind contributions.--The non-
                        Federal share of the cost of a project assisted 
                        under this paragraph may include the value of 
                        in-kind services contributed by a non-Federal 
                        source, including any in-kind service performed 
                        under a consent decree or administrative order, 
                        but not including any in-kind services 
                        performed under an enforcement order or 
                        judgment.
                            ``(iii) Operation and maintenance.--The 
                        non-Federal share of the cost of the operation 
                        and maintenance of any project assisted under 
                        this paragraph shall be 100 percent.
                    ``(F) Maintenance of effort.--No grant may be made 
                under this paragraph in any fiscal year to carry out a 
                project unless the grantee enters into such agreements 
                with the Administrator as the Administrator may require 
                to ensure that the grantee will maintain its aggregate 
                expenditures from all other sources for remediation 
                programs in the area of concern in which the project is 
                located at or above the average level of such 
                expenditures in its 2 fiscal years preceding the date 
                on which the grant is made.
                    ``(G) Consideration of risks, benefits, impacts, 
                implementation, and cost.--The Administrator shall 
                require that each applicant for assistance under this 
                paragraph demonstrate that each remedial action to be 
                implemented by a project to be assisted has been 
selected only after careful consideration of--
                            ``(i) the risks to human health and the 
                        environment posed by the remedial action and 
                        the contaminants to be remediated;
                            ``(ii) the benefits of the remedial action;
                            ``(iv) the short-term and long-term impacts 
                        of the remedial action;
                            ``(v) the likelihood that the remedial 
                        action can be implemented; and
                            ``(vi) the cost of the remedial action.
                    ``(H) Coordination.--In making grants under this 
                paragraph, the Administrator shall coordinate with the 
                Secretary of the Army, and with the Governors of States 
                in which projects assisted under this paragraph are 
                located, to ensure that Federal and State assistance 
                for remediation in areas of concern is used as 
                efficiently as possible.
                    ``(I) Authorization of appropriations.--
                            ``(i) In general.--In addition to other 
                        amounts authorized under this section, there is 
                        authorized to be appropriated to carry out this 
                        paragraph $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 
                        2001 through 2005.
                            ``(ii) Availability.--Funds appropriated 
                        under clause (i) shall remain available until 
                        expended.''.

          TITLE II--MORATORIUM ON EXPORTS OF BULK FRESH WATER

SEC. 201. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) the waters and water-dependent natural resources of the 
        Great Lakes Basin are precious public resources, held in trust 
        by the Great Lakes States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario 
        and Quebec;
            (2) authority over the Great Lakes is vested in the 
        Governors of the Great Lakes States by the Water Resources 
        Development Act of 1986;
            (3) the Great Lakes Charter of 1985 is a voluntary 
        international agreement that provides the procedural framework 
        for notice and consultation by the Great Lakes States and the 
        Canadian provinces concerning the withdrawal of water from the 
        Great Lakes Basin;
            (4) the Governors of the Great Lakes States, in exercise of 
        their authority under the Water Resources Development Act of 
        1986, and the premiers of the Canadian provinces have based 
        decisions on proposals to withdraw, divert, or use waters from 
        the Great Lakes Basin on the extent to which such proposals 
        conserve and protect waters and water-dependent resources of 
        the Great Lakes Basin;
            (5) decisionmaking must remain vested in the Governors of 
        the Great Lakes States and the premiers of the Canadian 
        provinces, who currently manage the Great Lakes Basin on a day-
        to-day basis;
            (6) demand for clean and fresh water is growing around the 
        world and bulk exports pose a unique challenge to the 
        management of the Great Lakes; and
            (7) the ecological effects of bulk exports of water from 
        the Great Lakes are unknown.

SEC. 202. MORATORIUM ON EXPORTS OF BULK FRESH WATER.

    (a) Moratorium on Exports.--No bulk fresh water from the Great 
Lakes Basin may be exported from the United States.
    (b) Lifting of Moratorium.--Subsection (a) shall cease to apply on 
the earlier of--
            (1) December 31, 2001; or
            (2) the effective date of an Act of Congress approving an 
        agreement among the Great Lakes States to implement a mechanism 
        that provides for a common conservation standard to make 
        decisions concerning the withdrawal and use of water from the 
        Great Lakes Basin.

SEC. 203. DEFINITIONS.

    As used in this title--
            (1) the term ``bulk fresh water'' means fresh water 
        extracted in amounts intended for transportation by tanker or 
        similar form of mass transportation, without further 
        processing;
            (2) the term ``Great Lakes Basin'' means the water within 
        Lakes Erie, Huron, Michigan, Ontario, St. Clair, and Superior, 
        within interconnecting waterways, within all other watercourses 
        draining into and between those lakes, and within all tributary 
        surface and underground channels or areas which drain into or 
        comprise part of any watershed draining into any of those 
        lakes; and
            (3) the term ``Great Lakes State'' means each of the States 
        of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, 
        Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
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