[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 54 Introduced in House (IH)]







111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 H. R. 54

    To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to establish a 
  deadline for restricting sewage dumping into the Great Lakes and to 
 fund programs and activities for improving wastewater discharges into 
                            the Great Lakes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 6, 2009

Mr. Kirk (for himself and Mr. Lipinski) 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 establish a 
  deadline for restricting sewage dumping into the Great Lakes and to 
 fund programs and activities for improving wastewater discharges into 
                            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 Water Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON SEWAGE DUMPING INTO THE GREAT LAKES.

    Section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (22 U.S.C. 
1342) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(s) Prohibition on Sewage Dumping Into the Great Lakes.--
            ``(1) In general.--A publicly owned treatment works is 
        prohibited from intentionally diverting waste streams to bypass 
        any portion of a treatment facility at the treatment works if 
        the diversion results in a discharge into the Great Lakes 
        unless--
                    ``(A)(i) the bypass is unavoidable to prevent loss 
                of life, personal injury, or severe property damage;
                    ``(ii) there is not a feasible alternative to the 
                bypass, such as the use of auxiliary treatment 
                facilities, retention of untreated wastes, or 
                maintenance during normal periods of equipment 
                downtime; and
                    ``(iii) the treatment works provides notice of the 
                bypass in accordance with the requirements of this 
                subsection; or
                    ``(B) the bypass does not cause effluent 
                limitations to be exceeded, and the bypass is for 
                essential maintenance to ensure efficient operation of 
                the treatment facility.
            ``(2) Limitation.--The requirement of paragraph (1)(A)(ii) 
        is not satisfied if adequate back-up equipment should have been 
        installed in the exercise of reasonable engineering judgment to 
        prevent the bypass and the bypass occurred during normal 
        periods of equipment downtime or preventive maintenance.
            ``(3) Notice requirements.--A publicly owned treatment 
        works shall provide to the Administrator (or to the State in 
        the case of a State that has a permit program approved under 
        this section)--
                    ``(A) prior notice of an anticipated bypass; and
                    ``(B) notice of an unanticipated bypass within 24 
                hours following the time the treatment works first 
                becomes aware of the bypass.
            ``(4) Follow-up notice requirements.--In the case of an 
        unanticipated bypass for which a publicly owned treatment works 
        provides notice under paragraph (3)(B), the treatment works 
        shall provide to the Administrator (or to the State in the case 
        of a State that has a permit program approved under this 
        section), not later than 5 days following the date on which the 
        treatment works first becomes aware of the bypass, a follow-up 
        notice containing a description of--
                    ``(A) the cause of the bypass;
                    ``(B) the reason for the bypass;
                    ``(C) the period of bypass, including the exact 
                dates and times;
                    ``(D) if the bypass has not been corrected, the 
                anticipated time the bypass is expected to continue;
                    ``(E) the volume of the discharge resulting from 
                the bypass;
                    ``(F) any public access areas that may be impacted 
                by the bypass; and
                    ``(G) steps taken or planned to reduce, eliminate, 
                and prevent reoccurrence of the bypass.
            ``(5) Public availability of notices.--A publicly owned 
        treatment works providing a notice under this subsection, and 
        the Administrator (or the State in the case of a State that has 
        a permit program approved under this section) receiving such a 
        notice, shall each post the notice, within 48 hours of 
        providing or receiving the notice (as the case may be), in a 
        searchable database accessible on the Internet.
            ``(6) Sewage blending.--Bypasses prohibited by this section 
        include bypasses resulting in discharges from a publicly owned 
        treatment works that consist of effluent routed around 
        treatment units and thereafter blended together with effluent 
        from treatment units prior to discharge.
            ``(7) Definitions.--In this subsection, the following 
        definitions apply:
                    ``(A) Bypass.--The term `bypass' means an 
                intentional diversion of waste streams to bypass any 
                portion of a treatment facility which results in a 
                discharge into the Great Lakes.
                    ``(B) Great lakes.--The term `Great Lakes' has the 
                meaning given such term by section 118(a)(3).
                    ``(C) Treatment facility.--The term `treatment 
                facility' includes all wastewater treatment units used 
                by a publicly owned treatment works to meet secondary 
                treatment standards or higher, as required to attain 
                water quality standards, under any operating 
                conditions.
                    ``(D) Treatment works.--The term `treatment works' 
                has the meaning given that term in section 212.
            ``(8) Implementation.--Not later than 180 days after the 
        date of enactment of this subsection, the Administrator shall 
        establish procedures to ensure that permits issued under this 
        section (or under a State permit program approved under this 
        section) to a publicly owned treatment works include 
        requirements to implement this subsection.
            ``(9) Increase in maximum civil penalty for violations 
        occurring after january 1, 2029.--Notwithstanding any provision 
        of section 309, in the case of a violation of this subsection 
        occurring on or after January 1, 2029, or any violation of a 
        permit limitation or condition implementing this subsection 
        occurring after such date, the maximum civil penalty which 
        shall be assessed for the violation shall be $100,000 per day 
        for each day the violation occurs.
            ``(10) Applicability.--This subsection shall apply to a 
        bypass occurring after the last day of the one-year period 
        beginning on the date of enactment of this subsection.''.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF GREAT LAKES CLEANUP FUND.

    (a) In General.--Title V of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act 
(33 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) is amended by redesignating section 519 as 
section 520 and inserting after section 518 the following:

``SEC. 519. ESTABLISHMENT OF GREAT LAKES CLEANUP FUND.

    ``(a) Creation of Fund.--There is established in the Treasury of 
the United States a trust fund to be known as the `Great Lakes Cleanup 
Fund' (in this section referred to as the `Fund').
    ``(b) Transfers to Fund.--Effective January 1, 2029, there are 
authorized to be appropriated to the Fund amounts equivalent to the 
penalties collected for violations of section 402(s).
    ``(c) Administration of Fund.--The Administrator shall administer 
the Fund.
    ``(d) Use of Funds.--The Administrator shall make the amounts in 
the Fund available to the Great Lakes States for programs and 
activities for improving wastewater discharges into the Great Lakes, 
including habitat protection and wetland restoration. The Administrator 
shall allocate such amounts among the Great Lakes States based on the 
proportional amount attributable to each Great Lakes State for 
penalties collected for violations of section 402(s).
    ``(e) Priority.--In selecting programs and activities to be funded 
using amounts made available under this section, a Great Lakes State 
shall give priority consideration to programs and activities that 
address violations of section 402(s) resulting in the collection of 
penalties.
    ``(f) Definitions.--In this section, the terms `Great Lakes' and 
`Great Lakes States' have the meanings given such terms in section 
118(a)(3).''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment to State Revolving Fund Program.--Section 
607 of such Act (33 U.S.C. 1387) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(a) In General.--'' before ``There is''; 
        and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) Treatment of Great Lakes Cleanup Fund.--For purposes of this 
title, amounts made available from the Great Lakes Cleanup Fund under 
section 519 shall be treated as funds authorized to be appropriated to 
carry out this title and as funds made available under this title, 
except that such funds shall be made available to the Great Lakes 
States as provided in section 519.''.
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