[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1490 Introduced in Senate (IS)]








109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1490

      To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to require 
   environmental accountability and reporting and to reauthorize the 
                        Chesapeake Bay Program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 26, 2005

  Mr. Sarbanes (for himself, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Allen, and Mr. Warner) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
               Committee on Environment and Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
      To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to require 
   environmental accountability and reporting and to reauthorize the 
                        Chesapeake Bay Program.

    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 ``Chesapeake Bay Program 
Reauthorization and Environmental Accountability Act of 2005''.

SEC. 2. CHESAPEAKE BAY ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTABILITY AND REPORTING 
              REQUIREMENTS.

    Section 117 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 
1267) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (j) as subsection (l);
            (2) in subsection (e)(7), by inserting ``by the Federal 
        Government or a State government'' after ``funded'' each place 
        it appears; and
            (3) by inserting after subsection (i) the following:
    ``(j) Environmental Accountability.--
            ``(1) Implementation plan.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Not later than 180 days after 
                the date of enactment of this paragraph, the 
                Administrator shall complete a plan for achieving the 
                nutrient and sediment reduction goals described in the 
                agreement entered into by the Chesapeake Executive 
                Council entitled `Chesapeake 2000' and dated June 28, 
                2000.
                    ``(B) Inclusions.--The plan shall include--
                            ``(i) a timeline identifying--
                                    ``(I) annual goals for achieving 
                                the overall nutrient and sediment 
                                reduction goals; and
                                    ``(II) the estimated annual costs 
                                of reaching the annual goals identified 
                                under subclause (I);
                            ``(ii) a description of any measure, 
                        including monitoring or modeling, that the 
                        Administrator will use to assess progress made 
                        toward achieving a goal described in 
                        subparagraph (A) in--
                                    ``(I) each jurisdictional tributary 
                                strategy basin of the Chesapeake Bay; 
                                and
                                    ``(II) the Chesapeake Bay watershed 
                                as a whole; and
                            ``(iii) a description of any Federal or 
                        non-Federal activity necessary to achieve the 
                        nutrient and sediment reduction goals, 
                        including an identification of any party that 
                        is responsible for carrying out the activity.
            ``(2) Annual tributary health report card.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Not later than January 31 of 
                each year, the Administrator shall publish and widely 
                circulate a `tributary health report card' to evaluate, 
                based on monitoring and modeling data, progress made 
                during the preceding year (including any practice 
                implemented during the year), and overall progress 
                made, in achieving and maintaining nutrient and 
                sediment reduction goals for each major tributary of 
                the Chesapeake Bay and each separable segment of such a 
                tributary.
                    ``(B) Baseline.--The baseline for the report card 
                (referred to in this paragraph as the `baseline') shall 
                be the tributary cap load allocation agreement numbered 
                EPA 903-R-03-007, dated December 2003, and entitled 
                `Setting and Allocating the Chesapeake Bay Basin 
                Nutrient and Sediment Loads: The Collaborative Process, 
                Technical Tools and Innovative Approaches'.
                    ``(C) Inclusions.--The report card shall include, 
                for each jurisdictional tributary strategy basin of the 
                Chesapeake Bay--
                            ``(i) an identification of the total 
                        allocation of nutrients and sediments under the 
                        baseline;
                            ``(ii) the monitored and modeled quantities 
                        of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment 
                        reductions achieved during the preceding year, 
                        expressed numerically and as a percentage of 
                        reduction;
                            ``(iii) a list (organized from least to 
                        most progress made) that ranks the comparative 
                        progress made, based on the percentage of 
                        reduction under clause (ii), by each 
                        jurisdictional tributary strategy basin toward 
                        meeting the annual allocation goal of that 
                        jurisdictional tributary strategy basin for 
                        nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment; and
                            ``(iv) to the maximum extent practicable, 
                        an identification of the principal sources of 
                        pollutants of the tributaries, including 
                        airborne sources of pollutants.
                    ``(D) Use of data; consideration.--In preparing the 
                report, the Administrator shall--
                            ``(i) use monitoring data and data 
                        submitted under paragraph (3)(A); and
                            ``(ii) take into consideration drought and 
                        wet weather conditions.
            ``(3) Actions by states.--
                    ``(A) Submission of information.--Not later than 
                December 31 of each year, each of the States of 
                Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, 
                and West Virginia and the District of Columbia shall 
                submit to the Administrator information describing, for 
                each jurisdictional tributary strategy basin of the 
                Chesapeake Bay located in the State or District, for 
                the preceding year--
                            ``(i) the nutrient and sediment cap load 
                        allocation of the jurisdictional tributary 
                        strategy basin;
                            ``(ii) the principal sources of nutrients 
                        and sediment in the jurisdictional tributary 
                        strategy basin, by category;
                            ``(iii) for each category of pollutant 
                        source, the technologies or practices used to 
                        achieve reductions, including levels of best 
                        management practices implementation and sewage 
                        treatment plant upgrades; and
                            ``(iv) any Federal, State, or non-Federal 
                        funding used to implement a technology or 
                        practice described in clause (iii).
                    ``(B) Audit.--Not later than 1 year after the date 
                of enactment of this subparagraph, and triennially 
                thereafter, the Inspector General of the Environmental 
                Protection Agency shall audit the information submitted 
                by States under subparagraph (A) for accuracy.
                    ``(C) Failure to act.--The Administrator shall not 
                make a grant to a State under this Act if the State 
                fails to submit any information in accordance with 
                subparagraph (A).
    ``(k) Reporting Requirements.--
            ``(1) Office of management and budget.--
                    ``(A) Initial report.--Not later than 180 days 
                after the date of enactment of this subsection, the 
                Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall 
                submit to the appropriate committees of the Senate and 
                the House of Representatives a report describing the 
                feasibility and advisability of--
                            ``(i) combining into a single fund certain 
                        or all funds (including formula and grant 
                        funds) made available to each Federal agency to 
                        carry out restoration activities relating to 
                        the Chesapeake Bay; and
                            ``(ii) notwithstanding any issue relating 
                        to jurisdiction, distributing amounts from that 
                        fund in accordance with the priority of water 
                        quality improvement activities identified under 
                        the Chesapeake Bay Program.
                    ``(B) Annual report.--Not later than February 15 of 
                each year, the Director of the Office of Management and 
                Budget shall submit to the appropriate committees of 
                the Senate and the House of Representatives a report 
                containing--
                            ``(i) an interagency crosscut budget that 
                        displays the proposed budget for use by each 
                        Federal agency in carrying out restoration 
                        activities relating to the Chesapeake Bay for 
                        the following fiscal year; and
                            ``(ii) a detailed accounting of all funds 
                        received and obligated by Federal and State 
                        governments (including formula and grant funds, 
                        such as State revolving loan funds and 
                        agriculture conservation funds) to achieve the 
                        objectives of the Chesapeake Bay Program during 
                        the preceding fiscal year.
            ``(2) Environmental protection agency.--Not later than 
        April 15 of each year, the Administrator, in cooperation with 
        appropriate Federal agencies, as determined by the 
        Administrator, shall submit to the appropriate committees of 
        the Senate and the House of Representatives a report 
        containing--
                    ``(A)(i) an estimate of the reduction in levels of 
                nutrients and sediments in the Chesapeake Bay and its 
                tributaries; and
                    ``(ii) a comparison of each estimated reduction 
                under clause (i) and the appropriate annual goal 
                described in the implementation plan under subsection 
                (j)(1);
                    ``(B) based on review by the Administrator of the 
                budget and implementation plans of each Federal agency, 
                and any tributary strategy of an appropriate State 
                agency--
                            ``(i) an estimate of the reductions in 
                        pollutants likely to occur as a result of each 
                        program of an agency under this section during 
                        the subsequent 1-year and 5-year periods, 
                        including--
                                    ``(I) an analysis of the success or 
                                failure of each program in achieving 
                                nutrient and sediment reduction; and
                                    ``(II) an estimated timeline during 
                                which a reduction in nutrient and 
                                sediment pollution will occur; and
                            ``(ii) accounting for other trend data, an 
                        estimate of the actual reduction in the 
                        quantities of nutrients and sediments in the 
                        Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries from all 
                        sources that has occurred over the preceding 1-
                        year and 5-year periods; and
                    ``(C) the technical basis and reliability of each 
                estimate under this paragraph.''.

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    Section 117 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 
1267) is amended by striking subsection (l) (as redesignated by section 
2) and inserting the following:
    ``(l) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section $50,000,000 for each of fiscal 
years 2006 through 2010, to remain available until expended.''.
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