[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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