Great Lakes Nutrient Removal Assistance Act

Summary: Great Lakes Nutrient Removal Assistance Act  This bill amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish a program to provide grants to states in the Great Lakes System (i.e., Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin) and municipalities in those states to install nutrient removal technologies at a municipal wastewater treatment facility that has a permitted design capacity to treat an annual average of at least 500,000 gallons of wastewater per day.  The EPA must give priority to facilities at which nutrient removal technology installations would: (1) produce the greatest nutrient load reductions at points of discharge, (2) result in the greatest environmental benefits to the Great Lakes System, and (3) help meet the objectives related to nutrients outlined in Annex 4 of the 2012 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Great Lakes Nutrient Removal 
Assistance Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) ineffective wastewater treatment is one of the most 
        common sources of water pollution;
            (2) nutrient pollution, particularly phosphorus loading, 
        continues to be one of the most significant water quality 
        issues facing the Great Lakes System;
            (3) limiting phosphorus loads is key to controlling 
        excessive algal growth, and a coordinated Great Lakes System-
        wide strategy to change how nutrients are discharged is urgent; 
        and
            (4) nutrient removal technology is one of the most 
        reliable, cost effective, and direct methods for reducing the 
        flow of phosphorus and other harmful nutrients from point 
        sources in the Great Lakes System.

SEC. 3. NUTRIENT REMOVAL TECHNOLOGY GRANT PROGRAM.

    Section 118 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 
1268) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(i) Nutrient Removal Technology Grant Program.--
            ``(1) Grant program.--
                    ``(A) Establishment.--Not later than 1 year after 
                the date of enactment of this subsection, the 
                Administrator shall establish a program within the 
                Environmental Protection Agency to make grants to Great 
                Lakes States, and municipalities thereof, to install, 
                at eligible facilities, nutrient removal technologies 
                that are designed to reduce total nutrients in 
                discharged wastewater.
                    ``(B) Priority.--In making a grant under this 
                subsection, the Administrator shall--
                            ``(i) consult with the Program Office; and
                            ``(ii) give priority to eligible facilities 
                        at which the installation of nutrient removal 
                        technologies would--
                                    ``(I) produce the greatest nutrient 
                                load reductions at points of discharge;
                                    ``(II) result in the greatest 
                                environmental benefits to the Great 
                                Lakes System; and
                                    ``(III) help meet the objectives 
                                related to nutrients outlined in Annex 
                                4 of the Great Lakes Water Quality 
                                Protocol of 2012.
                    ``(C) Application.--A Great Lakes State, or 
                municipality thereof, may submit to the Administrator 
                an application for a grant under this subsection in 
                such form, and including such information, as the 
                Administrator may prescribe.
                    ``(D) Grant.--If the Administrator approves an 
                application submitted under this subsection, the 
                Administrator may make a grant to the applicant in an 
                amount not to exceed 55 percent of the cost of 
                installing the nutrient removal technologies at the 
                eligible facility with respect to which the application 
                was submitted.
            ``(2) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) Great lakes water quality protocol of 2012.--
                The term `Great Lakes Water Quality Protocol of 2012' 
                means the Great Lakes Water Quality Protocol of 2012, 
                signed at Washington on September 7, 2012 (further 
                amending the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement).
                    ``(B) Eligible facility.--The term `eligible 
                facility' means a municipal wastewater treatment 
                facility that--
                            ``(i) as of the date of enactment of this 
                        subsection, has a permitted design capacity to 
                        treat an annual average of at least 500,000 
                        gallons of wastewater per day; and
                            ``(ii) is located within the Great Lakes 
                        System in any of the Great Lakes States.
            ``(3) Authorization of appropriations.--
                    ``(A) In general.--In addition to other amounts 
                authorized under this section, there is authorized to 
                be appropriated to carry out this subsection 
                $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2016 through 
                2020. Such sums shall remain available until expended.
                    ``(B) Administrative costs.--The Administrator may 
                use not to exceed 4 percent of any amount made 
                available under subparagraph (A) to pay administrative 
                costs incurred in carrying out this subsection.''.