[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3265 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3265

 To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to reduce pollution 
resulting from impervious surfaces within the Chesapeake Bay watershed, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 20, 2009

 Mr. Connolly of Virginia (for himself and Ms. Norton) 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 reduce pollution 
resulting from impervious surfaces within the Chesapeake Bay watershed, 
                        and for other purposes.

    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 Restoration Act of 
2009''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Between the years 1990 and 2000, the population of the 
        Chesapeake Bay watershed increased 8 percent while impervious 
        surface cover increased 41 percent.
            (2) Suburban and urban stormwater runoff is the only major 
        source of pollution in the Chesapeake Bay watershed that is 
        increasing, as pollution from point sources and agriculture is 
        decreasing.
            (3) States, local governments, developers, and nonprofit 
        organizations have developed numerous development techniques 
        since the late 1990s, which use infiltration, plants, and 
        stormwater harvesting techniques to retain stormwater and 
        associated sedimentation and nutrient pollutants.
            (4) A study by the Environmental Protection Agency of low 
        impact development projects in the United States found that low 
        impact development stormwater management techniques are almost 
        always less expensive than traditional stormwater management 
        techniques.
            (5) Local governments throughout the Chesapeake Bay 
        watershed are proactively implementing retention techniques and 
        strict new requirements to reduce stormwater runoff.
            (6) The National Academy of Sciences recommends strong new 
        regulations with respect to stormwater runoff and the provision 
        of funding for local stormwater regulation efforts and finds 
        that retention measures that infiltrate, evapotranspire and 
        harvest stormwater are more effective than traditional 
        stormwater management infrastructure at protecting and 
        restoring stable hydrology.
            (7) Data from multiple jurisdictions with respect to the 
        health of fish and other organisms living in Chesapeake Bay 
        tributaries suggest a strong negative correlation between 
        impervious surface cover and stream health.
            (8) According to the Environmental Protection Agency's 
        Chesapeake Bay Program Office, an average of 100 acres of 
        forest are lost from the Chesapeake Bay watershed every day and 
        forest cover within the watershed has declined from 95 percent 
        to 58 percent.
            (9) Forests capture up to 85 percent of airborne nitrogen 
        pollution and infiltrate or evapotranspirate between 90 percent 
        and 95 percent of annual rainfall, preventing pollution 
        associated with stormwater runoff.

SEC. 3. REDUCTION OF POLLUTION RESULTING FROM IMPERVIOUS SURFACES.

    Section 117 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 
1267) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (j) as subsection (k); and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (i) the following:
    ``(j) Reduction of Pollution Resulting From Impervious Surfaces.--
            ``(1) Permits.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Not later than January 1, 2009, 
                each unit of local government within the Chesapeake Bay 
                watershed that discharges stormwater through a storm 
                sewer system, regardless of storm sewer system 
                ownership and, without regard to the size of the 
                population shall obtain and comply with a permit under 
                section 402(p).
                    ``(B) Requirements.--A permit under section 402(p) 
                for a unit of local government within the Chesapeake 
                Bay watershed shall include requirements to ensure that 
                a project to develop land within the jurisdiction of 
                such unit of local government, which affects land that 
                is more than one acre in size and that is less than 5 
                percent covered by impervious surfaces prior to the 
                project, is carried out in a manner that not less than 
                the volume of the 95th percentile precipitation event 
                shall infiltrate, evapotranspirate from, or be 
                harvested and used on such site after the project is 
                completed.
                    ``(C) Definition of 95th percentile precipitation 
                event.--The 95th percentile precipitation event is the 
                event whose precipitation total is greater than or 
                equal to 95 percent of all 24-hour storm events on an 
                annual basis.
            ``(2) Grant program.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Administrator is authorized 
                to make grants to a unit of local government with a 
                permit described under paragraph (1).
                    ``(B) Uses.--A grant under subparagraph (A) may be 
                used by a unit of local government for the following:
                            ``(i) Costs associated with complying with 
                        such permit.
                            ``(ii) Costs associated with implementing a 
                        project that is designed, constructed, and 
                        maintained to meet the relevant performance 
                        standard of part (1)(B).
                    ``(C) Matching requirement.--A grant for costs 
                associated with implementing a low impact development 
                project may not be in an amount that exceeds 75 percent 
                of such costs.
            ``(3) On-site retention guidance.--Not later than June 1, 
        2010, the Administrator shall issue guidance with respect to 
        the implementation of practices that retain stormwater on-site 
        through infiltration, evapotranspiration, or harvesting, to 
        assist entities affected by the permit described under 
        paragraph (1) to meet the requirements of such permit.
            ``(4) Forest cover.--Not later than January 1, 2012, the 
        Administrator shall coordinate with the heads of other Federal 
        departments and agencies to develop plans to maximize forest 
        cover on land owned by the Federal Government in the Chesapeake 
        Bay watershed through the preservation of existing forest cover 
        and the development of reforestation plans with respect to land 
        that has been disturbed or developed in the past.
            ``(5) Unit of local government defined.--In this 
        subsection, the term `unit of local government' means any 
        county, city, or other general purpose political subdivision, 
        including regional authorities of a State with jurisdiction 
        over land use.
            ``(6) Authorization of appropriations.--In addition to 
        amounts authorized to be appropriated or otherwise made 
        available to carry out this section, there is authorized to be 
        appropriated to the Administrator $1,500,000,000 to carry out 
        this subsection, to remain available until expended.''.
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