[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Pages 25063-25069]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Mr. HATCH:
  S. 2072. A bill to authorize Western States to make selections of 
public land within their borders in lieu of receiving 5 percent of the 
proceeds of the sale of public land lying within said States as 
provided by their respective enabling Acts; to the Committee on Energy 
and Natural Resources.
  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce The Action Plan 
for Public Land and Education Act of 2007. This bill would restore some 
balance to the way education is funded in many of the western States, 
where a large proportion of public land is owned by the Government. 
This bill would authorize the Secretary of the Interior and the 
Secretary of Agriculture to grant a small portion of these Federal 
lands to the states so they can generate the much needed education 
revenue.
  I wonder how many of my colleagues know that 10 of the 12 States with 
the largest pupil-per-teacher ratios are in the West? These 10 western 
States also have the lowest growth in per-pupil expenditures. And these 
ratios will only grow worse as growth in the West continues to out-pace 
the rest of the country. In fact, three of the fastest growing counties 
are in Utah.
  I would like to take a moment to discuss how the west has gotten into 
this situation. Let us take a look at Utah's history, which began when 
in July of 1894, the State Enabling Act was approved. This act allowed 
``the People of Utah to form a Constitution and State Government, and 
to be admitted into the Union.''
  However, Section 9 of the enabling act sets forth that ``five percent 
of the 


[[Page 25064]]


proceeds of the sales of public lands lying within said State, 
which shall be sold by the United States subsequent to the admission of 
said State into the Union . . . shall be paid to the said State, to be 
used as a permanent fund, the interest of which only shall be expended 
for the support of the common schools within said State.''
  The Federal Government never followed through on its promise. Our 
bill, the APPLE Act, S. 2072, would direct the Government to deliver on 
that promise.
  The Government's lack of follow-through on its promise is only 
exacerbated by the lack of a sales tax base in the west. Sales tax 
revenue, as we all know is generated on private lands. On average, the 
Federal Government owns 52 percent of the land located in the 13 
western States, while the remaining States average just 4 percent 
Federal land ownership. Federal ownership in Utah is about 65 percent, 
second only to Nevada.
  The problem is that sales tax is not being collected on these Federal 
lands, and public education is funded largely through sales tax 
revenues.
  Some may say that the west's education funding deficit is due to a 
lack of commitment or effort by the States. This is not true.
  The fact is that allocations to public education, by percentage, in 
the West matches or exceeds the rest of the Nation. In fact, western 
States pay on average 11.1 percent of their personal income to State 
and local taxes, whereas residents of the remaining States pay 10.9 
percent.
  I urge my colleagues to lend their support to addressing the west's 
education funding shortfall by helping me to pass the Action Plan for 
Public Land and Education Act of 2007.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. REID:
  S. 2076. A bill to amend the Federal Power Act to require the 
President to designate certain geographical areas as national renewable 
energy zones, and for other zones, and for other purposes; to the 
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the 
bill be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 2076

       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 ``Clean Renewable Energy and 
     Economic Development Act''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds that--
       (1) electricity produced from renewable resources--
       (A) helps to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and other 
     air pollutants;
       (B) enhances national energy security;
       (C) conserves water and finite resources; and
       (D) provides substantial economic benefits, including job 
     creation and technology development;
       (2) the potential exists for a far greater percentage of 
     electricity generation in the United States to be achieved 
     through the use of renewable resources, as compared to the 
     percentage of electricity generation using renewable 
     resources in existence as of the date of enactment of this 
     Act;
       (3) many of the best potential renewable energy resources 
     are located in rural areas far from population centers;
       (4) the lack of adequate electric transmission capacity is 
     a primary obstacle to the development of electric generation 
     facilities fueled by renewable energy resources;
       (5) the economies of many rural areas would substantially 
     benefit from the increased development of water-efficient 
     electric generation facilities fueled by renewable energy 
     resources;
       (6) more efficient use of existing transmission capacity, 
     better integration of resources, and greater investments in 
     distributed generation and off-grid solutions may increase 
     the availability of transmission and distribution capacity 
     for adding renewable resources and help keep ratepayer costs 
     low;
       (7) the Federal Government has not adequately invested in 
     or implemented an integrated approach to accelerating the 
     development, commercialization, and deployment of renewable 
     energy technologies and renewable electricity generation, 
     including through enhancing distributed generation or through 
     vehicle- and transportation-sector use; and
       (8) it is in the national interest for the Federal 
     Government to implement policies that would enhance the 
     quantity of electric transmission capacity available to take 
     full advantage of the renewable energy resources available to 
     generate electricity, and to more fully integrate renewable 
     energy into the energy policies of the United States, and to 
     address the tremendous national security and global warming 
     challenges of the United States.

     SEC. 3. NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY ZONES.

       (a) In General.--Title II of the Federal Power Act (16 
     U.S.C. 824 et seq.) is amended--
       (1) by inserting before the section heading of section 201 
     (16 U.S.C. 824 et seq.) the following:

        ``Subpart A--Regulation of Electric Utility Companies'';

     and
       (2) by adding at the end the following:

              ``Subpart B--National Renewable Energy Zones

     ``SEC. 231. DEFINITIONS.

       ``In this subpart:
       ``(1) Biomass.--
       ``(A) In general.--The term `biomass' means--
       ``(i) any lignin waste material that is segregated from 
     other waste materials and is determined to be nonhazardous by 
     the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; and
       ``(ii) any solid, nonhazardous, cellulosic material that is 
     derived from--

       ``(I) mill residue, precommercial thinnings, slash, brush, 
     or nonmerchantable material;
       ``(II) solid wood waste materials, including a waste 
     pallet, a crate, dunnage, manufacturing and construction wood 
     wastes, and landscape or right-of-way tree trimmings;
       ``(III) agriculture waste, including an orchard tree crop, 
     a vineyard, a grain, a legume, sugar, other crop byproducts 
     or residues, and livestock waste nutrients; or
       ``(IV) a plant that is grown exclusively as a fuel for the 
     production of electricity.

       ``(B) Inclusions.--The term `biomass' includes animal waste 
     that is converted to a fuel rather than directly combusted, 
     the residue of which is converted to a biological fertilizer, 
     oil, or activated carbon.
       ``(C) Exclusions.--The term `biomass' does not include--
       ``(i) municipal solid waste;
       ``(ii) paper that is commonly recycled; or
       ``(iii) pressure-treated, chemically-treated, or painted 
     wood waste.
       ``(2) Commission.--The term `Commission' means the Federal 
     Energy Regulatory Commission.
       ``(3) Distributed generation.--The term `distributed 
     generation' means--
       ``(A) reduced electricity consumption from the electric 
     grid because of use by a customer of renewable energy 
     generated at a customer site; and
       ``(B) electricity or thermal energy production from a 
     renewable energy resource for a customer that is not 
     connected to an electric grid or thermal energy source 
     pipeline.
       ``(4) Electricity consuming area.--The term `electricity 
     consuming area' means the area within which electric energy 
     would be consumed if new high-voltage electric transmission 
     facilities were to be constructed to access renewable 
     electricity in a national renewable energy zone.
       ``(5) Electricity from renewable energy.--The term 
     `electricity from renewable energy' means--
       ``(A) electric energy generated from solar energy, wind, 
     biomass, landfill gas, the ocean (including tidal, wave, 
     current, and thermal energy), geothermal energy, or municipal 
     solid waste; or
       ``(B) new hydroelectric generation capacity achieved from 
     increased efficiency, or an addition of new capacity, at an 
     existing hydroelectric project.
       ``(6) Federal transmitting utility.--The term `Federal 
     transmitting utility' means--
       ``(A) a Federal power marketing agency that owns or 
     operates an electric transmission facility; and
       ``(B) the Tennessee Valley Authority.
       ``(7) Fuel cell vehicle.--The term `fuel cell vehicle' 
     means an onroad vehicle or nonroad vehicle that uses a fuel 
     cell (as defined in section 803 of the Spark M. Matsunaga 
     Hydrogen Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16152)).
       ``(8) Grid-enabled vehicle.--The term `grid-enabled 
     vehicle' means an electric drive vehicle or fuel cell vehicle 
     that has the ability to communicate electronically with an 
     electric power provider or with a localized energy storage 
     system with respect to charging and discharging an onboard 
     energy storage device, such as a battery.
       ``(9) High-voltage electric transmission facility.--The 
     term `high-voltage electric transmission facility' means an 
     electric transmission facility that--
       ``(A) is necessary for the transmission of electric power 
     from a national renewable energy zone to an electricity-
     consuming area in interstate commerce; and
       ``(B) has a capacity in excess of 200 kilovolts.
       ``(10) Indian land.--The term `Indian land' means--
       ``(A) any land within the limits of any Indian reservation, 
     pueblo, or rancheria;
       ``(B) any land not within the limits of any Indian 
     reservation, pueblo, or rancheria title 
     
     
     [[Page 25065]]
     
     
     to which was, on the 
     date of enactment of this subpart--
       ``(i) held in trust by the United States for the benefit of 
     any Indian tribe or individual; or
       ``(ii) held by any Indian tribe or individual subject to 
     restriction by the United States against alienation;
       ``(C) any dependent Indian community; and
       ``(D) any land conveyed to any Alaska Native corporation 
     under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (42 U.S.C. 1601 
     et seq.).
       ``(11) Network upgrade.--The term `network upgrade' means 
     an addition, modification, or upgrade to the transmission 
     system of a transmission provider required at or beyond the 
     point at which the generator interconnects to the 
     transmission system of the transmission provider to 
     accommodate the interconnection of 1 or more generation 
     facilities to the transmission system of the transmission 
     provider.
       ``(12) Renewable electricity connection facility.--
       ``(A) In general.--The term `renewable electricity 
     connection facility' means an electricity generation or 
     transmission facility that uses renewable energy sources.
       ``(B) Inclusions.--The term `renewable electricity 
     connection facility' includes inverters, substations, 
     transformers, switching units, storage units and related 
     facilities, and other electrical equipment necessary for the 
     development, siting, transmission, storage, and 
     interconnection of electricity generated from renewable 
     energy sources.
       ``(13) Renewable energy credit.--The term `renewable energy 
     credit' means a unique instrument representing 1 or more 
     units of electricity generated from renewable energy that is 
     designated by a widely-recognized certification organization 
     approved by the Commission or the Secretary of Energy.
       ``(14) Renewable energy trunkline.--
       ``(A) In general.--The term `renewable energy trunkline' 
     means all transmission facilities and equipment within a 
     national renewable energy zone owned, controlled, or operated 
     by a transmission provider that is used to deliver 
     electricity from renewable energy to the point at which the 
     facility connects to a high-voltage transmission facility, 
     including any modifications, additions or upgrades to the 
     facilities and equipment, at a voltage of 115 kilovolts or 
     more.
       ``(B) Exclusion.--The term `renewable energy trunkline' 
     does not include a network upgrade.

     ``SEC. 232. DESIGNATION OF NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY ZONES.

       ``(a) Designations.--
       ``(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), not 
     later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this 
     subpart, the President shall designate as a national 
     renewable energy zone each geographical area that, as 
     determined by the President--
       ``(A) has the potential to generate in excess of 1 gigawatt 
     of electricity from renewable energy, a significant portion 
     of which could be generated in a rural area or on Federal 
     land within the geographical area;
       ``(B) has an insufficient level of electric transmission 
     capacity to achieve the potential described in subparagraph 
     (A); and
       ``(C) has the capability to contain additional renewable 
     energy electric generating facilities that would generate 
     electricity consumed in 1 or more electricity consuming areas 
     if there were a sufficient level of transmission capacity.
       ``(2) Exclusions.--The President shall not include in any 
     national renewable energy zone designated under paragraph (1) 
     any Federal land that (as of the date of enactment of this 
     subpart) is designated as a wilderness study area, national 
     park, national monument, national wildlife refuge, or area of 
     critical environmental concern, if the Federal land is 
     subject to protective management policies that are 
     inconsistent with energy development.
       ``(b) Renewable Energy Requirements.--In making the 
     designations required by subsection (a), the President shall 
     take into account Federal and State requirements for 
     utilities to incorporate renewable energy as part of the load 
     of electric generating facilities.
       ``(c) Consultation.--Before making any designation under 
     subsection (a), the President shall consult with--
       ``(1) the Governors of affected States;
       ``(2) the public;
       ``(3) public and private electricity and transmission 
     utilities and cooperatives;
       ``(4) public utilities commissions and regional electricity 
     planning organizations;
       ``(5) Federal and State land management and energy and 
     environmental agencies;
       ``(6) renewable energy companies;
       ``(7) local government officials;
       ``(8) renewable energy and energy efficiency interest 
     groups;
       ``(9) Indian tribes; and
       ``(10) environmental protection and land, water, and 
     wildlife conservation groups.
       ``(d) Recommendations.--Not sooner than 3 years after the 
     date of enactment of this subpart, and triennially 
     thereafter, the Secretary of Energy and the Federal 
     transmitting utilities, in cooperation with the Director of 
     the Bureau of Land Management, the Director of the United 
     States Geological Survey, the Commissioner of Reclamation, 
     the Director of the Forest Service, the Director of the 
     United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Secretary of 
     Defense, and after consultation with the Governors of the 
     States, shall recommend to the President and Congress--
       ``(1) specific areas with the greatest potential for 
     environmentally acceptable renewable energy resource 
     development; and
       ``(2) any modifications of laws (including regulations) and 
     resource management plans necessary to fully achieve that 
     potential, including identifying improvements to permit 
     application processes involving military and civilian 
     agencies.
       ``(e) Revision of Designations.--Based on the 
     recommendations received under subsection (d), the President 
     may revise the designations made under subsection (a), as 
     appropriate.

     ``SEC. 233. ENCOURAGING CLEAN ENERGY DEVELOPMENT IN NATIONAL 
                   RENEWABLE ENERGY ZONES.

       ``(a) Cost Recovery.--The Commission shall promulgate such 
     regulations as are necessary to ensure that a public utility 
     transmission provider that finances a high-voltage electric 
     transmission facility or other renewable electricity 
     connection facility located in 2 or more States and added in 
     a national renewable energy zone after the date of enactment 
     of this subpart recovers all prudently incurred costs, and a 
     reasonable return on equity, associated with the new 
     transmission capacity.
       ``(b) Alternative Transmission Financing Mechanism.--
       ``(1) In general.--The Commission shall permit a renewable 
     energy trunkline built by a public utility transmission 
     provider in a national renewable energy zone to be initially 
     funded through a transmission charge imposed on all 
     transmission customers of the transmission provider or, if 
     the renewable energy trunkline is built in an area served by 
     a regional transmission organization or independent system 
     operator, all of the transmission customers of the 
     transmission operator, if the Commission finds that--
       ``(A) the renewable energy resources that would use the 
     renewable energy trunkline are remote from the grid and load 
     centers;
       ``(B) the renewable energy trunkline will likely result in 
     multiple individual renewable energy electric generation 
     projects being developed by multiple competing developers; 
     and
       ``(C) the renewable energy trunkline has at least 1 project 
     subscribed through an executed generation interconnection 
     agreement with the transmission provider and has tangible 
     demonstration of additional interest.
       ``(2) New electric generation projects.--As new electric 
     generation projects are constructed and interconnected to the 
     renewable energy trunkline, the transmission services 
     contract holder for the generation project shall, on a 
     prospective basis, pay a pro rata share of the facility costs 
     of the renewable energy trunkline, thus reducing the effect 
     on the rates of customers of the public utility transmission 
     provider.
       ``(c) Federal Transmitting Utilities.--
       ``(1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the 
     designation of a national renewable energy zone, a Federal 
     transmitting utility that owns or operates 1 or more electric 
     transmission facilities in a State with a national renewable 
     energy zone shall identify specific additional high-voltage 
     or other renewable electricity connection facilities required 
     to substantially increase the generation of electricity from 
     renewable energy in the national renewable energy zone.
       ``(2) Lack of private funds.--If, by the date that is 3 
     years after the date of enactment of this subpart, no 
     privately-funded entity has committed to financing (through 
     self-financing or through a third-party financing arrangement 
     with a Federal transmitting utility) to ensure the 
     construction and operation of a high-voltage or other 
     renewable electricity connection facility identified pursuant 
     to paragraph (1) by a specified date, the Federal 
     transmitting utility responsible for the identification shall 
     finance such a transmission facility if the Federal 
     transmitting utility has sufficient bonding authority under 
     paragraph (3).
       ``(3) Bonding authority.--
       ``(A) In general.--In addition to any other authority to 
     issue and sell bonds, notes, and other evidence of 
     indebtedness, a Federal transmitting utility may issue and 
     sell bonds, notes, and other evidence of indebtedness in an 
     amount not to exceed, at any 1 time, an aggregate outstanding 
     balance of $10,000,000,000, to finance the construction of 
     transmission facilities identified pursuant to paragraph (1) 
     for the principal purposes of--
       ``(i) increasing the generation of electricity from 
     renewable energy; and
       ``(ii) conveying that electricity to an electricity 
     consuming area.
       ``(B) Recovery of costs.--A Federal transmitting utility 
     shall recover the costs of renewable electricity connection 
     facilities financed pursuant to paragraph (2) from entities 
     using the transmission facilities over a period of 50 years.
       ``(C) Nonliability of certain customers.--Individuals and 
     entities that, as of the date of enactment of this subpart, 
     are customers of a Federal transmitting utility shall not be 
     liable for the costs, in the form of increased rates charged 
     for electricity or 
     
     
     [[Page 25066]]
     
     
     transmission, of renewable electricity 
     connection facilities constructed pursuant to this section, 
     except to the extent the customers are treated in a manner 
     similar to all other users of the renewable electricity 
     connection facilities.
       ``(d) Operation of High-Voltage Transmission Lines Using 
     Renewable Energy Resources.--
       ``(1) Public utilities financing limitation.--The 
     regulations promulgated pursuant to this section shall, to 
     the maximum extent practicable, ensure that not less than 75 
     percent of the capacity of any high-voltage transmission 
     lines financed pursuant to subsection (c) is used for 
     electricity from renewable energy.
       ``(2) Non-public utilities access limitation.--
     Notwithstanding section 368 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 
     (42 U.S.C. 15926), the Commission shall promulgate 
     regulations to ensure, to the maximum extent practicable, 
     that not less than 75 percent of the capacity of high-voltage 
     transmission facilities sited primarily or partially on 
     Federal land and constructed after the date of enactment of 
     this subpart is used for electricity from renewable energy.

     ``SEC. 234. FEDERAL POWER MARKETING AGENCIES.

       ``(a) Promotion of Renewable Energy and Energy 
     Efficiency.--Each Federal transmitting utility shall--
       ``(1) identify and take steps to promote energy 
     conservation and renewable energy electric resource 
     development in the regions served by the Federal transmitting 
     utility;
       ``(2) use the purchasing power of the Federal transmitting 
     utility to acquire, on behalf of the Federal Government, 
     electricity from renewable energy and renewable energy 
     credits in sufficient quantities to meet the requirements of 
     section 203 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 
     15852); and
       ``(3) identify opportunities to promote the development of 
     facilities generating electricity from renewable energy on 
     Indian land.
       ``(b) Wind Integration Programs.--The Bonneville Power 
     Administration and the Western Area Power Administration 
     shall each establish a program focusing on the improvement of 
     the integration of wind energy into the transmission grids of 
     those Administrations through the development of transmission 
     products, including through the use of Federal hydropower 
     resources, that--
       ``(1) take into account the intermittent nature of wind 
     electric generation; and
       ``(2) do not impair electric reliability.
       ``(c) Solar Integration Program.--Each of the Federal Power 
     Administrations and the Tennessee Valley Authority shall 
     establish a program to carry out projects focusing on the 
     integration of solar energy, through photovoltaic 
     concentrating solar systems and other forms and systems, into 
     the respective transmission grids and into remote and 
     distributed applications in the respective service 
     territories of the Federal Power Administrations and 
     Tennessee Valley Authority, that--
       ``(1) take into account the solar energy cycle;
       ``(2) maximize the use of Federal land for generation or 
     energy storage, where appropriate; and
       ``(3) do not impair electric reliability.
       ``(d) Geothermal Integration Program.--The Bonneville Power 
     Administration and the Western Area Power Administration 
     shall establish a joint program to carry out projects 
     focusing on the development and integration of geothermal 
     energy resources into the respective transmission grids of 
     the Bonneville Power Administration and the Western Area 
     Power Administration, as well as non-grid, distributed 
     applications in those service territories, including projects 
     combining geothermal energy resources with biofuels 
     production or other industrial or commercial uses requiring 
     process heat inputs, that--
       ``(1) maximize the use of Federal land for the projects and 
     activities;
       ``(2) displace fossil fuel baseload generation or petroleum 
     imports; and
       ``(3) improve electric reliability.
       ``(e) Renewable Electricity and Energy Security Projects.--
       ``(1) In general.--The Federal transmitting utilities, 
     shall, in consultation with the Commission, the Secretary, 
     the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, 
     and such other individuals and entities as are necessary, 
     undertake geographically diverse projects within the 
     respective service territories of the utilities to acquire 
     and demonstrate grid-enabled and nongrid-enabled plug-in 
     electric and hybrid electric vehicles and related 
     technologies as part of their fleets of vehicles.
       ``(2) Increase in renewable energy use.--To the maximum 
     extent practicable, each project conducted pursuant to any of 
     subsections (b) through (d) shall include a component to 
     develop vehicle technology, utility systems, batteries, power 
     electronics, or such other related devices as are able to 
     substitute, as the main fuel source for vehicles, 
     transportation-sector petroleum consumption with electricity 
     from renewable energy sources.

     ``SEC. 235. RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER LAWS.

       ``Nothing in this subpart supersedes or affects any Federal 
     environmental, public health or public land protection, or 
     historic preservation law, including--
       ``(1) the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 
     U.S.C. 4321 et seq.);
       ``(2) the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et 
     seq.); and
       ``(3) the National Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470 
     et seq.).''.
       (b) Transmission Cost Allocation.--Section 206 of the 
     Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824e) is amended by adding at 
     the end the following:
       ``(f) Transmission Cost Allocation.--
       ``(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date 
     on which the President designates an area as a national 
     renewable energy zone under section 232, the State utility 
     commissions or other appropriate bodies having jurisdiction 
     over the public utilities providing service in the national 
     renewable energy zone or an adjacent electricity consuming 
     area may jointly propose to the Commission a cost allocation 
     plan for high-voltage electric transmission facilities built 
     by a public utility transmission provider that would serve 
     the electricity consuming area.
       ``(2) Approval.--The Commission may approve a plan proposed 
     under paragraph (1) if the Commission determines that--
       ``(A) taking into account the users of the transmission 
     facilities, the plan will result in rates that are just and 
     reasonable and not unduly discriminatory or preferential; and
       ``(B) the plan would not unduly inhibit the development of 
     renewable energy electric generation projects.
       ``(3) Cost allocation.--Unless a plan is approved by the 
     Commission under paragraph (2), the Commission shall fairly 
     allocate the costs of new high-voltage electric transmission 
     facilities built in the area by 1 or more public utility 
     transmission providers (recognizing the national and regional 
     benefits associated with increased access to electricity from 
     renewable energy) pursuant to a rolled-in transmission 
     charge.
       ``(4) Federal transmitting utility.--Nothing in this 
     subsection expands, directly or indirectly, the jurisdiction 
     of the Commission with respect to any Federal transmitting 
     utility.''.
       (c) Conforming Amendments.--
       (1) Section 3 of the Federal Power Act (42 U.S.C. 796) is 
     amended by adding at the end the following:
       ``(30) Electric drive vehicle.--
       ``(A) In general.--The term `electric drive vehicle' means 
     a vehicle that uses--
       ``(i) an electric motor for all or part of the motive power 
     of the vehicle; and
       ``(ii) off-board electricity wherever practicable.
       ``(B) Inclusions.--The term `electric drive vehicle' 
     includes--
       ``(i) a battery electric vehicle;
       ``(ii) a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle; and
       ``(iii) a plug-in hybrid fuel cell vehicle.''.
       (2) Subpart A of part II of the Federal Power Act (as 
     redesignated by subsection (a)) is amended--
       (A) in the heading of section 201, by striking ``part'' and 
     inserting ``subpart''; and
       (B) by striking ``this Part'' each place it appears and 
     inserting ``this subpart''.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. HARKIN (for himself, Mr. Kohl, and Mr. Durbin):
  S. 2077. A bill to establish a program to assure the safety of fresh 
produce intended for human consumption, and for other purposes; to the 
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, a year ago, there was a large-scale 
outbreak of food-borne illness caused by a virulent strain of E. coli 
in fresh bagged spinach. More than 200 people became ill, and three 
died. Since then, U.S. consumers have been bombarded with news of 
repeated cases of contaminated food--everything from peanut butter to 
seafood to pet food. Just this week, there was a recall of a Dole 
bagged salad product because of E. coli contamination.
  We need to restore the public's confidence in American fresh produce 
and the agency that regulates it. To that end, I am introducing the 
Fresh Produce Safe Act of 2007. My colleague Senator Kohl has joined me 
in co-sponsoring this legislation, and our aim is to create, for the 
first time, an effective national food safety framework for all fresh 
produce.
  Industry groups are acutely aware of the need to restore consumer 
confidence. For instance, the California leafy green produce industry 
has come up with a marketing agreement to certify the safety of its 
products. The Florida tomato industry has pushed the State to inspect 
and regulate its products. But this regional, patchwork approach is 
simply not adequate. We need a national program to ensure the safety of 
all fresh produce all across the country.
  Under the Fresh Produce Safety Act, FDA would have the authority to 
require produce companies to follow 


[[Page 25067]]


commonsense food safety guidelines. 
Those guidelines currently are only voluntary. Now, obviously, it would 
be a waste of resources to require the same stringent controls for, 
say, apples that we would require for leafy green produce. That is why 
the bill requires FDA to establish national standards tailored to 
specific types of produce and the particular risk factors arising from 
the way each is grown and handled. The legislation also requires 
stepped-up inspections of operations that grow and process fresh 
produce, such as spinach or lettuce.
  Other key provisions of the bill include a surveillance system to 
identify and stop the sources of fresh produce contamination, and a 
research program to better understand and prevent contamination of 
produce. The legislation would also require FDA to write rules to 
ensure that imported produce has been grown and processed under the 
same standards that we will have in the United States.
  The Fresh Produce Safety Act is timely for another reason. Eating 
fruits and vegetables promotes lower body weight, stronger bones, and 
lower risk of developing diet-related diseases such as diabetes. In 
recent years, major efforts and investments have encouraged people to 
eat these healthful foods. It can only turn people away from healthy 
eating to have continuous instances of E. coli contamination and fresh 
produce recalls.
  The American people need to have confidence that their fruits and 
vegetables are produced and handled in a safe and wholesome manner. 
That is exactly the goal of the Fresh Produce Safety Act.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. LAUTENBERG:
  S. 2080. A bill to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to 
ensure that sewage treatment plants monitor for and report discharges 
of raw sewage, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Environment 
and Public Works.
  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation 
to protect health and safety by notifying the public when there are 
potentially harmful sewage overflows in our streams, rivers, and 
coastal waters. This legislation, the Sewage Overflow Right-to-Know 
Act, would amend the Clean Water Act to require that owners and 
operators of publicly owned treatment works monitor their systems and 
notify the public when there is a sewage overflow with the potential to 
affect public health.
  The Clean Water Act is soon to celebrate its 35th anniversary, and 
despite great gains we are still far from achieving the goal of 
eliminating pollution discharges. EPA estimates that there are between 
23,000 and 75,000 sanitary sewer overflows each year. Those spills dump 
between 3 billion and 10 billion gallons of untreated sewage into our 
rivers, lakes and coastal waters annually. In addition, combined sewer 
overflows spill 850 billion gallons of contaminated stormwater into our 
waterways each year.
  Increased investment in our wastewater infrastructure is sorely 
needed to avoid having water quality return to what it was in the 
1970s. This is why I chaired a hearing of the Environment and Public 
Works Committee's Transportation Safety, Infrastructure Security and 
Water Quality Subcommittee yesterday on clean water funding, and I look 
forward to working to reauthorize the Clean Water State Revolving Fund 
this Congress.
  While we work toward closing the infrastructure funding gap and 
reducing sewage pollution, we must also keep citizens safe by informing 
them when there are sewage overflows. The EPA estimates that up to 3.5 
million people get sick each year from recreational contact with waters 
contaminated by sanitary sewer overflows alone.
  Currently, citizens are often needlessly unaware of sewage overflows. 
Although some individual utilities do an excellent job of public 
notification, many do not provide any communication to the public. The 
Clean Water Act does not require public notification under the National 
Pollutant Discharge Elimination System for sanitary sewer overflows, 
and State requirements, where they exist, are extremely variable. This 
legislation would remedy that situation by ensuring that publicly-owned 
treatment works employ a monitoring system to alert the operators when 
there is an overflow, and relaying that information to the public when 
there is potential harm to the public's health. In cases where the 
overflow has the potential for imminent and substantial harm, public 
health authorities and other affected entities, such as local drinking 
water treatment plants, must also be notified.
  This legislation also requires annual reporting to EPA or the State 
with a summary of all overflows and the plans in place to address the 
overflows. This will help provide a more comprehensive picture of 
sewage infrastructure problems, and increase public awareness of needed 
repairs and upgrades.
  Clean water and public health are priorities for New Jersey. Some 
sewer pipes in my State date back 150 years, and overflows are becoming 
more common. In one event earlier this year, 150 million gallons of 
untreated sewage mixed with stormwater spilled into the Hackensack 
River. The Sewage Overflow Right to Know Act establishes public 
notification of health risks posed by sewage overflows to keep our 
residents healthy while we continue to work to reduce sewage pollution.
  I ask unanimous consent that the full text of the bill be printed in 
the Record immediately following my statement.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mrs. CLINTON (for herself, Mr. Hatch, and Mr. Reid):
  S. 2082. A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to establish a 
Coordinated Environmental Public Health Network, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mrs. CLINTON. Mr. President, today, I am proud to join with my 
colleagues Senator Hatch and Senator Reid to introduce the Coordinated 
Environmental Public Health Network Act.
  More than 40 years ago, in her seminal work Silent Spring, Rachel 
Carson noted that ``For the first time in the history of the world 
every human being is now subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals 
from the moment of conception until death.''
  Her words remain true today. Not only are we subjected to chemicals, 
but we often don't have an understanding of the impact of these 
chemicals upon our health and the health of our children. I believe 
that it is past time for us to begin making the investments in research 
and technology that will allow us to understand the impact of the 
environmental exposures we face every day.
  We know that chronic diseases like asthma, heart and lung disease--
the chronic diseases that result in more than $750 billion in health 
care costs every year--are caused by three factors: genetics, behavior, 
and the environment.
  Since the publication of Silent Spring in 1962, we have come a long 
way in understanding two of those three factors. Through initiatives 
like the Human Genome Project, we have been making incredible strides 
in our understanding of the science of genetics, so that we can better 
prevent and treat diseases. We have made strides in behavior change, 
with initiatives like smoking cessation campaigns resulting in a 
reduction of some of these behavioral threats to our health.
  But we need to make more progress in our understanding of how the 
environment impacts our health. Far too often, these are silent health 
hazards that manifest themselves in unexpected cancers or other 
diseases. Yet we have no systematic way to collect and analyze the data 
that will allow us to make the linkages between environmental hazards 
and chronic illness clusters in various communities.
  Take, for example, central Harlem, where one out of every four 
children has asthma. Or Fallon, Nevada--a small town with about 8,000 
residents--where I attended an Environment and Public Works Committee 
hearing back in 2001 where we examined the high rates of leukemia among 
children in that community. There are examples like this from all over 
the country--


[[Page 25068]]


often from minority or low-income communities that bear a 
disproportionate burden of environmental pollution--and we need to do 
more to protect the health of Americans who are daily living with 
environmental hazards. But if we don't have information to identify 
areas of high disease incidence and understand what environmental 
pollutants exist in those neighborhoods, we cannot adequately address 
the risks posed to our health.
  The legislation I am introducing today will help us to understand 
those links. In establishing a coordinated environmental public health 
network, we can better track chronic diseases like cancer, asthma, and 
autism. We can establish critical information sharing between the 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental 
Protection Agency, so that those agencies can pool the information that 
can help researchers and the public identify and address risks. We can 
increase our resources for biomonitoring, so that we can measure levels 
of exposure to chemicals. And we can improve our environmental public 
health capacity, so that we have professionals who are trained to 
engage in rapid response to environmental health risks across our 
country.
  The Coordinated Environmental Public Health Tracking Network will 
allow us to make enormous gains in our understanding of environmental 
health, and give us the data necessary to make improvements for the 
health of our communities.
  I would like to thank Senators Hatch and Reid for joining me to raise 
awareness about these issues, and I look forward to working with my 
colleagues on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to 
move this bill forward.
  I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a letter of 
support.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be placed in 
the Record, as follows:
                                               September 19, 2007.

     Hon. Hillary Clinton,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
     Hon. Orrin Hatch,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Senators Clinton and Hatch: The undersigned 
     organizations join in supporting the Coordinated 
     Environmental Public Health Network Act of 2007. We are 
     pleased that your bill would require the Secretary of Health 
     and Human Services to establish and operate a Coordinated 
     Environmental Public Health Network and operate and maintain 
     National Environmental Health Rapid Response Services.
       Chronic diseases cause 70 percent of deaths in the U.S. and 
     are responsible for three-quarters of health care spending. 
     Yet, our public health system lacks the tools it needs to 
     gather sufficient information about these diseases. The air 
     that we breathe and the water that we drink can jeopardize 
     our health if contaminated with chemical, biological or other 
     hazards. It is critical that we have the ability to track the 
     relationship between environmental exposures and the 
     incidence and distribution of disease.
       In Fiscal Year 2002, Congress provided the Centers for 
     Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with funding to develop 
     the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program to 
     coordinate local, state, and federal health agencies' 
     collection of critical data. CDC selected pilot programs as 
     testing grounds for the tracking program. Unfortunately, 
     despite important information gleaned from the pilot 
     programs, due to limited funding, in August 2006 CDC was able 
     to award funding to only 16 states and one city. This 
     important program must be expanded to all 50 states.
       The Network would provide valuable information that health 
     officials and communities could use to monitor where and when 
     chronic diseases occur and to assess their potential links to 
     environmental hazards. It would coordinate among existing 
     surveillance and data collection systems. The Rapid Response 
     Services would provide an important service by helping to 
     develop strategies and protocols for a coordinated rapid 
     response to higher than expected incidence of chronic 
     conditions and potential environmental exposures.
       Your bill also recognizes the value of expanding the scope 
     and amount of biomonitoring data collected by the CDC and 
     State laboratories. Through biomonitoring techniques, CDC can 
     measure with great precision actual levels of chemicals in 
     people's bodies, investigate exposures, and study the causes 
     of diseases. Enhancing our biomonitoring capacity will help 
     expand our knowledge of chemical exposures in people and how 
     these chemicals affect their health.
       Finally, your bill addresses another need of public health 
     infrastructure--assuring a well-trained public health 
     workforce--by developing centers of excellence, a scholarship 
     program and an applied epidemiology fellowship program. 
     Providing support and incentives to ensure the availability 
     of a well-trained and robust environmental and public health 
     workforce is a critical component of establishing a well-
     equipped, modern public health system.
       It is the Federal Government that must provide the national 
     leadership and resources to initiate the action required to 
     protect Americans from environmental hazards. The Coordinated 
     Environmental Public Health Network Act of 2007 is a 
     necessary step that will help provide potentially lifesaving 
     information and also improve our public health 
     infrastructure. We appreciate your leadership on this 
     important issue and look forward to working with you on this 
     and other important public health initiatives in the future.
           Sincerely,
         Trust for America's Health, Action Now, Adapted Physical 
           Activity Council, Alliance for Healthy Homes, American 
           Association on Intellectual and Developmental 
           Disabilities, American College of Occupational and 
           Environmental Medicine, American College of Preventive 
           Medicine, American Lung Association, American Public 
           Health Association, Association of Public Health 
           Laboratories, Breast Cancer Action, Breast Cancer Fund, 
           California Safe Schools, Catholic Healthcare West, 
           Center for Science in the Public Interest, Clean Water 
           Action Midwest Office, Coalition for Clean Air, 
           Commonweal, Council of State and Territorial 
           Epidemiologists, Environmental Defense, Environmental 
           Health Network, Families Against Cancer and Toxics, 
           Healthy Building Network, Healthy Homes Collaborative, 
           Healthy Schools Network--Washington, DC, Institute for 
           Agriculture and Trade Policy, Institute for Children's 
           Environmental Health, Institute of Neurotoxicology & 
           Neurological Disorders, March of Dimes Foundation, 
           Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, MOMS 
           (Making Our Milk Safe), National Association for Public 
           Health Statistics and Information Systems, National 
           Association of County and City Health Officials, 
           National Association of Health Data Organization, 
           National Disease Clusters Alliance, National Research 
           Center for Women & Families, Olympic Environmental 
           Council, Oregon Environmental Council, Pesticide Action 
           Network North America, Physicians for Social 
           Responsibility, PTAirWatchers.org, Research Institute 
           for Independent Living, Sciencecorps, Tulane Center for 
           Applied Environmental Public Health, Tulane School of 
           Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Women's Voices for 
           the Earth.

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I am pleased to join my colleagues, Senator 
Clinton and Senator Reid, in introducing today the Coordinated 
Environmental Health Network Act.
  In modern society, we often take for granted the advances in public 
health measures made during the last century. Initiatives like drinking 
water protections and food safety programs have helped to counterattack 
infectious disease and add up to 25 years to the average human life 
expectancy.
  Yet America today is faced by new public health challenges along with 
recurrence of chronic and infectious diseases. Chronic diseases account 
for approximately 70 percent of all deaths every year, most of which 
are preventable. These diseases also cause major limitations in daily 
living for about 25 million Americans and contribute more than $750 
million to annual health care costs.
  As an example of a new health threat, the West Nile virus had never 
before been detected in this hemisphere before the 2000 outbreak in New 
York. In 2007 alone, 1,982 human cases have been reported in almost 
every State and the District of Columbia.
  Food-borne illnesses are estimated to cause 5,000 deaths a year; and 
asthma, a chronic condition, is the number one reason children miss 
school and is also expected to affect 29 million Americans within the 
next decade--more than twice the current number of people with asthma.
  We know that the environment plays an important role in health and 
human development; but we do not know to what extent. Scientific 
researchers have linked specific diseases and health effects to certain 
environmental causes--for instance, infected mosquito bites and the 
West Nile virus, or asbestos and lung cancer--but many other 


[[Page 25069]]


links remain unproven, such as those between aluminum and Alzheimer's 
disease, or exposure to disinfectant byproducts and bladder cancer.
  The bottom line is that, if we are going to prevent disease, 
researchers need more complete information about environmental factors, 
their effect on people, and the resulting health outcomes.
  The environmental exposure, biomonitoring, and incidence of chronic 
and infectious diseases data that do exist are not readily accessible 
by all the appropriate systems. Although the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention, CDC, has begun efforts in this area through its 
National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program--in which my home 
State of Utah is a participant--currently, no network exists to track 
environmental health data full-scale at the national level. 
Furthermore, at the state and local levels, environmental quality 
programs and classic public health programs are almost always based in 
different agencies.
  This disconnection among environmental health projects at local, 
state, and Federal levels jeopardizes our protection against 
environmental health threats. The threat of terrorist attacks with 
biological or chemical weapons has most certainly become a major public 
health concern; but it is important to keep in mind that weaknesses in 
the environmental public health infrastructure have led to large-scale 
vector-, water-, and food-borne outbreaks of infectious disease.
  In the 1998 Institute of Medicine, IOM, Report ``The Future of Public 
Health'', and the Pew Environmental Health Commission report 
``America's Environmental Health Gap: Why the Country Needs a 
Nationwide Health Tracking Network'', this fragmentation is clearly 
outlined as contributing to disjointed policy development, imbalanced 
service delivery and a generally weakened public health effort.
  The IOM report recommended that state and local health agencies 
strengthen their capacities for identification, understanding and 
control of environmental problems as health hazards.
  The Pew Commission report concluded that the environmental health gap 
results from the lack of basic information that could document possible 
links between environmental hazards and chronic disease, as well as 
information that our communities and health professionals need to 
reduce and prevent such health problems. In response to this problem, 
the Pew Commission proposed a nationwide health tracking network.
  Thirteen top public health groups, including the American Cancer 
Society, American Lung Association, and American Public Health 
Association endorsed the Pew report. This endorsement makes clear the 
message that the complexity of today's environmental public health 
problems requires coordinated responses from multiple agencies and 
organizations.
  The scientific community has also been asking for the ability to 
bridge this environmental health gap. In a 2004 Environmental Health 
Perspectives article, a consortium of public health researchers wrote:

       The ``building blocks'' of knowledge provided by a 
     nationwide environmental public health tracking network will 
     enable scientists to answer many of the troubling questions 
     we are asking today about what is making us sick. The result 
     will be new prevention strategies aimed at reducing and 
     ultimately preventing many of the chronic diseases and 
     disabling conditions that afflict millions of Americans.

  The common theme from these reports, and the message received from 
top public health organizations and researchers, is that there is a 
pressing need to establish environmental public health leadership at 
the Federal level.
  This legislation will help provide that leadership by establishing a 
Coordinated Environmental Public Health Network. It will make available 
the infrastructure by which local, state, and Federal agencies can 
share environmental public health information.
  This bill is designed to build upon the recommendations from the 
scientific and public health communities, as well as the program that 
the CDC has already begun to carry out.
  The Coordinated Environmental Health Network will connect state 
systems that are tracking chronic diseases, environmental exposures, 
and other risk factors so that the causes of priority chronic diseases 
can be identified, addressed, and ultimately prevented. Public health 
officials, scientific researchers, and the general public will have the 
information they need to fight against chronic disease.
  The Coordinated Environmental Health Network Act will provide states 
with grants to help develop the infrastructure they need in order to 
participate in the Nationwide Network.
  In order to educate the public and provide the information needed to 
fight chronic disease, this bill calls for a National Environmental 
Health Report that will provide annual findings of the Nationwide 
Health Tracking Network.
  This bill also aims to expand our environmental health infrastructure 
through the establishment and operation of regional biomonitoring labs, 
Environmental Health Centers of Excellence, applied epidemiology 
fellowships, and the John. H. Chafee Environmental Health Scholarship 
Program.
  A survey of registered voters conducted for the Pew Environmental 
Health Commission indicated that most Americans say that taking a 
national approach to tracking environmental health should be a priority 
of government at all levels.
  Without comprehensive environmental health tracking, policymakers and 
public health practitioners lack information that is critical to 
establishing sound environmental health priorities. In addition, the 
public is indirectly denied its right to know about environmental 
hazards, exposure levels and health outcomes in their communities--
information they want and have every reason to expect.
  Our country has one of the best health care systems in the world. 
Doctors are now successfully treating illnesses that were once 
considered debilitating or even terminal because we have made great 
investments in researching cures and finding treatments. It is time to 
make the same investment in preventing people from becoming sick in the 
first place. This bill is an important step forward in making that 
investment in the health of America, and I urge my colleagues to 
support it.

                          ____________________