[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1644 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1644

  To amend the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 to 
 ensure transparency in the development of environmental regulations, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 26, 2015

Mr. Mooney of West Virginia (for himself, Mr. Lamborn, and Mr. Johnson 
   of Ohio) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 to 
 ensure transparency in the development of environmental regulations, 
                        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 ``Supporting Transparent Regulatory 
and Environmental Actions in Mining Act'' or the ``STREAM Act''.

SEC. 2. PUBLICATION OF SCIENTIFIC PRODUCTS FOR RULES AND RELATED 
              ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENTS, ENVIRONMENTAL 
              ASSESSMENTS, AND ECONOMIC ASSESSMENTS.

    (a) Requirement.--Title V of the Surface Mining Control and 
Reclamation Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) is amended by adding 
at the end the following:

``SEC. 530. PUBLICATION OF SCIENTIFIC PRODUCTS FOR PROPOSED RULES AND 
              RELATED ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENTS, ENVIRONMENTAL 
              ASSESSMENTS, AND ECONOMIC ASSESSMENTS.

    ``(a) Requirement.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall make publicly 
        available, by online publication and in the Federal Register, 
        90 days before the publication of any draft, supplemental, 
        final, or emergency rule under this Act, or any related 
        environmental analysis or economic assessment, each scientific 
        product the Secretary relied on in developing the rule, 
        environmental analysis, or economic assessment.
            ``(2) Federally funded scientific products.--For those 
        scientific products receiving Federal funds in part, or in 
        full, the Secretary shall also make publicly available--
                    ``(A) the raw data used for the federally funded 
                scientific product; and
                    ``(B) background information of the authors of the 
                scientific study.
    ``(b) Compliance.--
            ``(1) In general.--Failure to make publicly available any 
        scientific product 90 days prior to the publication of--
                    ``(A) any draft, or supplemental rule, 
                environmental analysis, or economic assessment shall 
                extend by one day the notice and comment period for 
                each day such scientific study is not made available; 
                or
                    ``(B) any final or emergency rule shall delay the 
                effective date of the final rule by 60 days plus each 
                day the scientific product is withheld.
            ``(2) Delay longer than 6 months.--If the Secretary 
        withholds any scientific product for longer than 6 months, the 
        Secretary shall withdraw the rule, environmental analysis, or 
        economic assessment.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in the first section 
of such Act is amended by adding at the end of the items relating to 
such title the following:

``Sec. 530. Publication of scientific products for proposed rules and 
                            related environmental impact statements, 
                            environmental assessments, and economic 
                            assessments.''.

SEC. 3. STUDY OF THE ``SURFACE COAL MINING AND RECLAMATION OPERATIONS 
              PERMANENT REGULATORY PROGRAM; STREAM BUFFER ZONES AND 
              FISH, WILDLIFE, AND RELATED ENVIRONMENTAL VALUES'' FINAL 
              RULE PUBLISHED JUNE 30, 1983 (48 FED. REG. 30312 ET 
              SEQ.), AND AMENDED SEPTEMBER 30, 1983 (48 FED. REG. 44777 
              ET SEQ.).

    (a) Requirement.--Title VII of the Surface Mining Control and 
Reclamation Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 1291 et seq.) is amended by adding 
at the end the following:

``SEC. 722. STUDY OF THE `SURFACE COAL MINING AND RECLAMATION 
              OPERATIONS PERMANENT REGULATORY PROGRAM; STREAM BUFFER 
              ZONES AND FISH, WILDLIFE, AND RELATED ENVIRONMENTAL 
              VALUES' FINAL RULE PUBLISHED JUNE 30, 1983 (48 FED. REG. 
              30312 ET SEQ.), AND AMENDED SEPTEMBER 30, 1983 (48 FED. 
              REG. 44777 ET SEQ.).

    ``(a) Study.--No later than 90 days after the date of the enactment 
of the STREAM Act, the Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with 
the Interstate Mining Compact Commission, shall contract with the 
National Academy of Sciences, for execution by the Board on Earth 
Sciences and Resources, to conduct a detailed, comprehensive study of 
the effectiveness of the `Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation 
Operations Permanent Regulatory Program; Stream Buffer Zones and Fish, 
Wildlife, and Related Environmental Values' Final Rule published June 
30, 1983 (48 Fed. Reg. 30312 et seq.), and amended September 30, 1983 
(48 Fed. Reg. 44777 et seq.), in protecting perennial and intermittent 
streams through the use of stream buffer zones.
    ``(b) Report.--Not later than 2 years after execution of the 
contract under subsection (a), the Board on Earth Sciences and 
Resources shall submit to the Committee on Natural Resources of the 
House of Representatives and the Committee on Energy and Natural 
Resources of the Senate, appropriate Federal agencies, and the Governor 
of each of the States represented on the Interstate Mining Compact 
Commission a report containing--
            ``(1) the findings of the study conducted under subsection 
        (a); and
            ``(2) recommendations, if any, regarding changes that would 
        improve the effectiveness of the permitted activities as 
        covered by the rule described in subsection (a).
    ``(c) Funding.--There is authorized to be appropriated to the 
Secretary of the Interior $1,000,000 for fiscal year 2016 and 
$1,000,000 for fiscal year 2017 for the purposes of this section.
    ``(d) Prohibition on New Regulations.--The Secretary may not issue 
any proposed or final regulations under this Act relating to stream 
buffer zones or stream protection until one year after the publication 
of the report described in subsection (b). If the Secretary proposes 
any such regulations after the date of publication of the report, the 
Secretary shall take into consideration the findings and 
recommendations of the report.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in the first section 
of such Act is amended by adding at the end of the items relating to 
such title the following:

``Sec. 722. Study of the `Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation 
                            Operations Permanent Regulatory Program; 
                            Stream Buffer Zones and Fish, Wildlife, and 
                            Related Environmental Values' final rule 
                            published June 30, 1983 (48 Fed. Reg. 30312 
                            et seq.), and amended September 30, 1983 
                            (48 Fed. Reg. 44777 et seq.).''.

SEC. 4. AMENDMENT TO SURFACE MINING CONTROL AND RECLAMATION ACT OF 
              1977.

    Section 702 of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 
1977 (30 U.S.C. 1292) is amended by redesignating subsections (c) and 
(d) as subsections (d) and (e), respectively, and by inserting after 
subsection (b) the following:
    ``(c) Compliance With Other Federal Laws.--Nothing in this Act 
authorizes the Secretary to take any action by rule, regulation, 
notice, or order that duplicates, enforces, or determines compliance 
with any of the Acts listed in subsection (a) or any regulation or rule 
promulgated thereunder.''.
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