[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 718 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 718

 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

                            February 9, 2005

   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 September 2004 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) of the Federal Water Pollution 
Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1268(c)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)(B) by inserting ``, subject to 
        paragraph (14),'' after ``establish''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(14) Surveillance network to monitor water quality.--
                    ``(A) Indicators.--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.
                    ``(B) Network.--Not later than 4 years after the 
                date of enactment of this paragraph, 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 subparagraph (A) and collect an initial 
                set of benchmark data from the network.
                    ``(C) Report.--Not later than 2 years after the 
                date of collection of the data described in 
                subparagraph (B), 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 subparagraph (B) 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--
            (1) in each of subsections (c)(12)(H)(i) and (c)(13)(B) by 
        striking ``2008'' and inserting ``2009''; and
            (2) 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)(12), 
        (c)(13), and (c)(14)) $32,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2006 
        through 2009.
            ``(2) Great lakes water quality indicators and 
        monitoring.--There are authorized to be appropriated to carry 
        out subsections (c)(1)(B) and (c)(14)--
                    ``(A) $5,000,000 for fiscal year 2006;
                    ``(B) $7,000,000 for fiscal year 2007;
                    ``(C) $9,000,000 for fiscal year 2008; and
                    ``(D) $11,000,000 for fiscal year 2009.''.
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