[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2668 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2668

 To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to direct the Great 
Lakes National Program Office of the Environmental Protection Agency to 
 develop, implement, monitor, and report on a series of indicators of 
  water quality and related environmental factors in the Great Lakes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              July 8, 2003

   Mrs. Miller of Michigan introduced the following bill; which was 
     referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to direct the Great 
Lakes National Program Office of the Environmental Protection Agency to 
 develop, implement, monitor, and report on a series of indicators of 
  water quality and related environmental factors in the Great Lakes.

    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 Controlled Data 
Collection and Monitoring Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) there are no comprehensive, regularly-collected data 
        that reveal whether the water quality or related environmental 
        factors of the Great Lakes have improved as a result of efforts 
        to remediate and protect the Great Lakes;
            (2) that lack of data was confirmed in May 2003 in a report 
        by the General Accounting Office that concluded that existing 
        data were inadequate to assess the overall progress of 
        restoration efforts in the Great Lakes; and
            (3) without those data, it is impossible to determine 
        whether--
                    (A) progress is being made toward achieving the 
                goals contained in the Great Lakes Water Quality 
                Agreement between the United States and Canada; or
                    (B) Federal and State water quality standards and 
                remediation programs are effective.

SEC. 3. GREAT LAKES WATER QUALITY INDICATORS AND MONITORING.

    (a) In General.--Section 118(c)(1) of the Federal Water Pollution 
Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1268(c)(1)) is amended by striking subparagraph 
(B) and inserting the following:
                    ``(B)(i) Not later than 2 years after the date of 
                enactment of this clause, the Administrator, in 
                cooperation with Canada and appropriate Federal 
                agencies (including the United States Geological 
                Survey, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
                Administration, and the United States Fish and Wildlife 
                Service), shall develop and implement a set of science-
                based indicators of water quality and related 
                environmental factors in the Great Lakes, including, at 
                a minimum, measures of toxic pollutants that have 
                accumulated in the Great Lakes for a substantial period 
                of time, as determined by the Program Office.
                    ``(ii) Not later than 4 years after the date of 
                enactment of this clause, the Administrator shall 
                establish a Federal network for the regular monitoring 
                of, and collection of data throughout, the Great Lakes 
                basin with respect to the indicators described in 
                clause (i) and collect an initial set of benchmark data 
                from the network.
                    ``(iii) Not later than 2 years after the date of 
                collection of the data described in clause (ii), and 
                biennially thereafter, the Administrator shall submit 
                to Congress, and make available to the public, a report 
                (in addition to the report required under paragraph 
                (10)), that--
                            ``(I) describes the water quality and 
                        related environmental factors of the Great 
                        Lakes (including any changes in those factors), 
                        as determined through the regular monitoring of 
                        indicators under clause (ii) for the period 
                        covered by the report; and
                            ``(II) identifies any emerging problems in 
                        the water quality or related environmental 
                        factors of the Great Lakes.''.
    (b) Authorization of Appropriations.--Section 118 of the Federal 
Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1268) is amended by striking 
subsection (h) and inserting the following:
    ``(h) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            ``(1) In general.--There is authorized to be appropriated 
        to carry out this section (other than subsection (c)(1)(B)) 
        $32,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2004 through 2008.
            ``(2) Great lakes water quality indicators and 
        monitoring.--There are authorized to be appropriated to carry 
        out subsection (c)(1)(B)--
                    ``(A) $5,000,000 for fiscal year 2004;
                    ``(B) $7,000,000 for fiscal year 2005;
                    ``(C) $9,000,000 for fiscal year 2006; and
                    ``(D) $11,000,000 for fiscal year 2007.''.
                                 <all>