[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2942 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2942

 To establish a national clearinghouse for information on incidents of 
     environmental terrorism and to establish a program to reduce 
                        environmental terrorism.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 25, 2003

Ms. Hooley of Oregon introduced the following bill; which was referred 
                   to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To establish a national clearinghouse for information on incidents of 
     environmental terrorism and to establish a program to reduce 
                        environmental terrorism.

    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 ``Environmental Terrorism Reduction 
Act''.

SEC. 2. NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL TERRORISM CLEARINGHOUSE.

    (a) In General.--The Attorney General shall establish and maintain 
a national clearinghouse for information on incidents of crime and 
terrorism--
            (1) committed against or directed at any commercial 
        activity because of the perceived impact or effect of such 
        commercial activity on the environment; or
            (2) committed against or directed at any person because of 
        such person's perceived connection with or support of any 
        activity described in paragraph (1).
    (b) Clearinghouse.--The clearinghouse established under subsection 
(a) shall--
            (1) accept, collect, and maintain information on incidents 
        described in subsection (a) that is submitted to the 
        clearinghouse by Federal, State, and local law enforcement 
        agencies, by law enforcement agencies of foreign countries, and 
        by victims of such incidents;
            (2) collate and index such information for purposes of 
        cross-referencing; and
            (3) upon request from a Federal, State, or local law 
        enforcement agency, or from a law enforcement agency of a 
        foreign country, provide such information to assist in the 
        investigation of an incident described in subsection (a).

SEC. 3. ENVIRONMENTAL TERRORISM REDUCTION PROGRAM.

    (a) Establishment.--There is established in the Department of 
Justice a program to be known as the Environmental Terrorism Reduction 
Program.
    (b) Designation.--The Attorney General, upon consultation with the 
heads of Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies and the 
Governor of each applicable State, may designate any specified area of 
the United States as a high intensity environmental terrorism area. 
After making such a designation and in order to provide Federal 
assistance to the area so designated, the Attorney General may--
            (1) obligate such sums as appropriated for the 
        Environmental Terrorism Reduction Program;
            (2) direct the temporary reassignment of Federal personnel 
        to such area, subject to the approval of the head of the 
        department or agency that employs such personnel; and
            (3) coordinate activities under this subsection 
        (specifically administrative, recordkeeping, and funds 
        management activities) with State and local officials.
    (c) Factors for Consideration.--In considering whether to designate 
an area under this section as a high intensity environmental terrorism 
area, the Attorney General shall consider, in addition to such other 
criteria as the Attorney General considers to be appropriate, the 
extent to which--
            (1) the area is a center of crimes committed in the name of 
        the environment;
            (2) State and local law enforcement agencies have committed 
        resources to respond to the environmental terrorism problem in 
        the area, thereby indicating a determination to respond 
        aggressively to the problem;
            (3) environmental terrorism activities in the area are 
        having a harmful impact in other areas of the country; and
            (4) a significant increase in allocation of Federal 
        resources is necessary to respond adequately to environmental 
        terrorism activities in the area.
                                 <all>