[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4757 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4757

To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to 
        establish an integrated environmental reporting system.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 26, 2000

   Mr. Shaw (for himself, Mr. Stupak, Mr. Boehlert, and Mr. Metcalf) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
   Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Transportation and 
   Infrastructure, 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 require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to 
        establish an integrated environmental reporting system.

    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 ``Streamlined Environmental Reporting 
and Pollution Prevention Act of 2000''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
        Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
            (2) Integrated reporting system.--The term ``integrated 
        reporting system'' means the integrated environmental reporting 
        system established under section 3.
            (3) Person.--The term ``person'' means an individual, 
        trust, firm, joint stock company, corporation, partnership, or 
        association, or a facility owned or operated by the Federal 
        Government or by a State, tribal government, municipality, 
        commission, or political subdivision of a State.
            (4) Reporting requirement.--
                    (A) In general.--The term ``reporting requirement'' 
                means--
                            (i) a routine, periodic, environmental 
                        reporting requirement; and
                            (ii) any other reporting requirement that 
                        the Administrator may by regulation include 
                        within the meaning of the term.
                    (B) Exclusions.--The term ``reporting requirement'' 
                does not include--
                            (i) the reporting of information relating 
                        to an emergency, except for information 
                        submitted as part of a routine periodic 
                        environmental report, and except for the 
                        purpose specified in subparagraph (C); or
                            (ii) the reporting of information to the 
                        Administrator relating only to business 
                        transactions (and not to environmental or 
                        regulatory matters) between the Administrator 
                        and a person, including information provided--
                                    (I) in the course of fulfilling a 
                                contractual obligation between the 
                                Administrator and the reporting person; 
                                or
                                    (II) in the filing of financial 
                                claims against the Administrator.
                    (C) Certain data standards for reporting of 
                information relating to an emergency.--The 
                Administrator shall implement data standards under 
                section 3(b)(5)(A) for the reporting of information 
                relating to emergencies.

SEC. 3. INTEGRATED REPORTING SYSTEM.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 4 years after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Administrator shall integrate and streamline the 
reporting requirements established under laws administered by the 
Administrator for each person subject to those reporting requirements--
            (1) in accordance with subsection (b);
            (2) to the extent not explicitly prohibited by Act of 
        Congress; and
            (3) to the extent consistent with the preservation of the 
        integrity, reliability, and security of the data reported.
    (b) Components of Reporting System.--In establishing the integrated 
reporting system, to ensure consistency and facilitate use of the 
system, the Administrator shall--
            (1) allow each person required to submit information to the 
        Administrator under reporting requirements administered by the 
        Administrator to report the information to 1 point of contact--
                    (A) using a single electronic system or paper form; 
                and
                    (B) in the case of an annual reporting requirement, 
                at 1 time during the year;
            (2)(A) allow each State, tribal, or local agency that has 
        been authorized or delegated authority to implement a law 
        administered by the Administrator to report information 
        regarding any person subject to the law, as required under the 
        law (including a regulation), agreement, or other instrument, 
        authorizing or delegating the authority, to report to 1 point 
        of contact--
                    (i) using a single electronic system; and
                    (ii) in the case of an annual reporting 
                requirement, at 1 time during each year; and
            (B) provide each State, tribal, or local agency that 
        reports through the integrated reporting system full access to 
        the data reported to the Administrator through the system;
            (3) provide a reporting person, upon request, full access 
        to information reported by the person to the Administrator, or 
        to any State, tribal, or local agency that was subsequently 
        reported to the Administrator, in a variety of formats that 
        includes a format that the person may modify by incorporating 
        information applicable to the current reporting period and then 
        submit to the Administrator to comply with a current reporting 
        requirement;
            (4)(A) consult with heads of other Federal agencies to 
        identify environmental or occupational safety or health 
        reporting requirements that are not administered by the 
        Administrator; and
            (B) as part of the electronic version of the integrated 
        reporting system, post information that provides direction to 
        the reporting person in--
                    (i) identifying requirements identified under 
                subparagraph (A) to which the person may be subject; 
                and
                    (ii) locating sources of information on those 
                requirements;
            (5) in consultation with a committee of representatives of 
        State and tribal governments, reporting persons, environmental 
        groups, information technology experts, and other interested 
        parties (which, at the discretion of the Administrator, may 
        occur through a negotiated rulemaking under subchapter IV of 
        chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code), implement, and 
        update as necessary, in each national information system of the 
        Environmental Protection Agency that contains data reported 
        under the reporting system established under this Act, data 
        standards for--
                    (A) the facility site (including a facility 
                registry identifier), geographic coordinates, mailing 
                address, affiliation, organization, environmental 
                interest, industrial classification, and individuals 
                that have management responsibility for environmental 
                matters at the facility site;
                    (B) units of measure;
                    (C) chemical, pollutant, waste, and biological 
                identification; and
                    (D) other items that the Administrator considers to 
                be appropriate;
            (6) in consultation with the committee referred to in 
        paragraph (5), implement, and update as necessary, a 
        nomenclature throughout the integrated reporting system that 
        uses terms that the Administrator believes are understandable 
        to reporting persons that do not have environmental expertise;
            (7) consolidate reporting of data that, but for 
        consolidation under this paragraph, would be required to be 
        reported to the integrated reporting system at more than 1 
        point in the same data submission;
            (8) provide for applicable data formats and submission 
        protocols, including procedures for legally enforceable 
        electronic signature in accordance with the Government 
        Paperwork Elimination Act (44 U.S.C. 3504 note) that, as 
        determined by the Administrator--
                    (A) conform, to the maximum extent practicable, 
                with public-domain standards for electronic commerce;
                    (B) are accessible to a substantial majority of 
                reporting persons; and
                    (C) provide for the integrity and reliability of 
                the data reported sufficient to satisfy the legal 
                requirement of proof beyond a reasonable doubt;
            (9) establish a National Environmental Data Model that 
        describes the major data types, significant attributes, and 
        interrelationships common to activities carried out by the 
        Administrator and by State, tribal, and local agencies 
        (including permitting, compliance, enforcement, budgeting, 
        performance tracking, and collection and analysis of 
        environmental samples and results), which the Administrator 
        shall--
                    (A) use as the framework for databases on which the 
                data reported to the Administrator through the 
                integrated system shall be kept; and
                    (B) allow other Federal agencies and State, tribal, 
                and local governments to use;
            (10) establish an electronic commerce service center, 
        accessible through the point of contact established under 
        paragraph (1), to provide technical assistance, as necessary 
        and feasible, to each person that elects to submit applicable 
        electronic reports;
            (11) provide each reporting person access, through the 
        point of contact established under paragraph (1), to 
        scientifically sound, publicly available information on 
        pollution prevention technologies and practices;
            (12) at the discretion of the Administrator, develop, 
        within the reporting system, different methods by which the 
        reporting person may electronically provide the required 
        information, in order to facilitate use of the system by 
        different sectors, sizes, and categories of reporting persons;
            (13) provide protection of confidential business 
        information or records as defined under section 552a of title 
        5, United States Code, so that each reported item of data 
        receives protection equivalent to the protection that item of 
        data would receive if the item were reported to the 
        Administrator through means other than the integrated reporting 
        system;
            (14) develop (or cause to be developed), and make available 
        free of charge through the Internet, software for use by the 
        reporting person that, to the maximum extent practicable, 
        assists the person in assembling necessary data, reporting 
        information, and receiving information on pollution prevention 
        technologies and practices as described in paragraph (9); and
            (15) provide a mechanism by which a reporting person may, 
        at the option of the reporting person, electronically transfer 
        information from the data system of the reporting person to the 
        integrated reporting system through the use, in the integrated 
        reporting system, of--
                    (A) open data formats (such as the ASCII format); 
                and
                    (B) a standard that enables the definition, 
                transmission, validation, and interpretation of data by 
                software applications and by organizations through use 
                of the Internet (such as the XML standard).
    (c) Scope of Data Standards and Nomenclature.--The data standards 
and nomenclature implemented and updated under paragraphs (5) and (6) 
of subsection (b) shall not affect any regulatory standard or 
definition in effect on the date of enactment of this Act, except to 
the extent that the Administrator amends, by regulation, the standard 
or definition.
    (d) Use of Reporting System.--Nothing in this Act requires that any 
person use the integrated reporting system instead of an individual 
reporting system.

SEC. 4. INTERAGENCY COORDINATION.

    (a) In General.--At the request of any Federal, State, tribal, or 
local agency, the Administrator shall coordinate the integration of 
reporting required under section 3 with similar efforts by the agency 
that, as determined by the Administrator, are consistent with this Act.
    (b) Integrated Reporting Across Jurisdictions.--Under subsection 
(a), the Administrator may develop a procedure under which a person 
that is required to report information under 1 or more laws 
administered by the Administrator and 1 or more laws administered by a 
State, tribal, or local agency may report all required information--
            (1) through 1 point of contact using a single electronic 
        system or paper form; and
            (2) in the case of an annual reporting requirement, at 1 
        time each year.
    (c) Common Data Format Across Jurisdictions.--To facilitate 
reporting by persons with facilities in more than 1 State, tribal, or 
local jurisdiction, the Administrator shall encourage the use of a 
common data format by any State, tribal, or local agency coordinating 
with the Administrator under subsection (a).
    (d) Provision of Information.--At the request of the Administrator, 
the head of a Federal department or agency shall provide to the 
Administrator information on reporting requirements established under a 
law administered by the agency.
    (e) Selective Use of Integrated Reporting System.--The 
Administrator may design the integrated system to allow a reporting 
person to use the integrated reporting system for some purposes and not 
for others.

SEC. 5. REGULATIONS.

    The Administrator may promulgate such regulations as are necessary 
to carry out this Act.

SEC. 6. REPORTS.

    Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, if 
the Administrator determines that 1 or more provisions of law 
explicitly prohibit or hinder the integration of reporting and other 
actions required under this Act, the Administrator shall submit to 
Congress a report identifying those provisions.

SEC. 7. SAVINGS CLAUSE.

    (a) In General.--Nothing in this Act limits, modifies, affects, 
amends, or otherwise changes, directly or indirectly, any provision of 
Federal or State law or the obligation of any person to comply with any 
provision of law.
    (b) Effect.--Neither this Act nor the integrated reporting system 
shall alter or affect the obligation of a reporting person to provide 
the information required under any reporting requirement.
    (c) Reporting.--Nothing in this Act authorizes the Administrator to 
require the reporting of information that is in addition to, or 
prohibit the reporting of, information that is reported as of the day 
before the date of enactment of this Act.
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