I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4757

To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to

establish an integrated environmental reporting system.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 26, 2000

Mr. SHAW (for himself, Mr. STUPAK, Mr. BOEHLERT, and Mr. METCALF) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in

each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to establish an integrated environmental reporting system.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Streamlined Environ5 mental Reporting and Pollution Prevention Act of 2000’’.

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

7 In this Act:
2

•HR 4757 IH

1 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis2 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ3 mental Protection Agency.

4 (2) INTEGRATED REPORTING SYSTEM.—The

5 term ‘‘integrated reporting system’’ means the inte6 grated environmental reporting system established

7 under section 3.

8 (3) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means an in9 dividual, trust, firm, joint stock company, corpora10 tion, partnership, or association, or a facility owned

11 or operated by the Federal Government or by a

12 State, tribal government, municipality, commission,

13 or political subdivision of a State.

14 (4) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘reporting

16 requirement’’ means—

17 (i) a routine, periodic, environmental

18 reporting requirement; and

19 (ii) any other reporting requirement

20 that the Administrator may by regulation

21 include within the meaning of the term.

22 (B) EXCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘reporting

23 requirement’’ does not include—

24 (i) the reporting of information relat25 ing to an emergency, except for informa-
3

•HR 4757 IH

1 tion submitted as part of a routine periodic

2 environmental report, and except for the

3 purpose specified in subparagraph (C); or

4 (ii) the reporting of information to the

5 Administrator relating only to business

6 transactions (and not to environmental or

7 regulatory matters) between the Adminis8 trator and a person, including information

9 provided—

10 (I) in the course of fulfilling a

11 contractual obligation between the Ad12 ministrator and the reporting person;

13 or

14 (II) in the filing of financial

15 claims against the Administrator.

16 (C) CERTAIN DATA STANDARDS FOR RE17 PORTING OF INFORMATION RELATING TO AN

18 EMERGENCY.—The Administrator shall imple19 ment data standards under section 3(b)(5)(A)

20 for the reporting of information relating to

21 emergencies.

22 SEC. 3. INTEGRATED REPORTING SYSTEM.

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 4 years after the

24 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall in25 tegrate and streamline the reporting requirements estab-
4

•HR 4757 IH

1 lished under laws administered by the Administrator for

2 each person subject to those reporting requirements—

3 (1) in accordance with subsection (b);

4 (2) to the extent not explicitly prohibited by Act

5 of Congress; and

6 (3) to the extent consistent with the preserva7 tion of the integrity, reliability, and security of the

8 data reported.

9 (b) COMPONENTS OF REPORTING SYSTEM.—In es10 tablishing the integrated reporting system, to ensure con11 sistency and facilitate use of the system, the Adminis12 trator shall—

13 (1) allow each person required to submit infor14 mation to the Administrator under reporting re15 quirements administered by the Administrator to re16 port the information to 1 point of contact—

17 (A) using a single electronic system or

18 paper form; and

19 (B) in the case of an annual reporting re20 quirement, at 1 time during the year;

21 (2)(A) allow each State, tribal, or local agency

22 that has been authorized or delegated authority to

23 implement a law administered by the Administrator

24 to report information regarding any person subject

25 to the law, as required under the law (including a
5

•HR 4757 IH

1 regulation), agreement, or other instrument, author2 izing or delegating the authority, to report to 1 point

3 of contact—

4 (i) using a single electronic system; and

5 (ii) in the case of an annual reporting re6 quirement, at 1 time during each year; and

7 (B) provide each State, tribal, or local agency

8 that reports through the integrated reporting system

9 full access to the data reported to the Administrator

10 through the system;

11 (3) provide a reporting person, upon request,

12 full access to information reported by the person to

13 the Administrator, or to any State, tribal, or local

14 agency that was subsequently reported to the Ad15 ministrator, in a variety of formats that includes a

16 format that the person may modify by incorporating

17 information applicable to the current reporting pe18 riod and then submit to the Administrator to comply

19 with a current reporting requirement;

20 (4)(A) consult with heads of other Federal

21 agencies to identify environmental or occupational

22 safety or health reporting requirements that are not

23 administered by the Administrator; and
6

•HR 4757 IH

1 (B) as part of the electronic version of the inte2 grated reporting system, post information that pro3 vides direction to the reporting person in—

4 (i) identifying requirements identified

5 under subparagraph (A) to which the person

6 may be subject; and

7 (ii) locating sources of information on

8 those requirements;

9 (5) in consultation with a committee of rep10 resentatives of State and tribal governments, report11 ing persons, environmental groups, information tech12 nology experts, and other interested parties (which,

13 at the discretion of the Administrator, may occur

14 through a negotiated rulemaking under subchapter

15 IV of chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code), im16 plement, and update as necessary, in each national

17 information system of the Environmental Protection

18 Agency that contains data reported under the re19 porting system established under this Act, data

20 standards for—

21 (A) the facility site (including a facility

22 registry identifier), geographic coordinates,

23 mailing address, affiliation, organization, envi24 ronmental interest, industrial classification, and
7

•HR 4757 IH

1 individuals that have management responsibility

2 for environmental matters at the facility site;

3 (B) units of measure;

4 (C) chemical, pollutant, waste, and biologi5 cal identification; and

6 (D) other items that the Administrator

7 considers to be appropriate;

8 (6) in consultation with the committee referred

9 to in paragraph (5), implement, and update as nec10 essary, a nomenclature throughout the integrated re11 porting system that uses terms that the Adminis12 trator believes are understandable to reporting per13 sons that do not have environmental expertise;

14 (7) consolidate reporting of data that, but for

15 consolidation under this paragraph, would be re16 quired to be reported to the integrated reporting sys17 tem at more than 1 point in the same data submis18 sion;

19 (8) provide for applicable data formats and sub20 mission protocols, including procedures for legally

21 enforceable electronic signature in accordance with

22 the Government Paperwork Elimination Act (44

23 U.S.C. 3504 note) that, as determined by the

24 Administrator—
8

•HR 4757 IH

1 (A) conform, to the maximum extent prac2 ticable, with public-domain standards for elec3 tronic commerce;

4 (B) are accessible to a substantial majority

5 of reporting persons; and

6 (C) provide for the integrity and reliability

7 of the data reported sufficient to satisfy the

8 legal requirement of proof beyond a reasonable

9 doubt;

10 (9) establish a National Environmental Data

11 Model that describes the major data types, signifi12 cant attributes, and interrelationships common to

13 activities carried out by the Administrator and by

14 State, tribal, and local agencies (including permit15 ting, compliance, enforcement, budgeting, perform16 ance tracking, and collection and analysis of environ17 mental samples and results), which the Adminis18 trator shall—

19 (A) use as the framework for databases on

20 which the data reported to the Administrator

21 through the integrated system shall be kept;

22 and

23 (B) allow other Federal agencies and

24 State, tribal, and local governments to use;
9

•HR 4757 IH

1 (10) establish an electronic commerce service

2 center, accessible through the point of contact estab3 lished under paragraph (1), to provide technical as4 sistance, as necessary and feasible, to each person

5 that elects to submit applicable electronic reports;

6 (11) provide each reporting person access,

7 through the point of contact established under para8 graph (1), to scientifically sound, publicly available

9 information on pollution prevention technologies and

10 practices;

11 (12) at the discretion of the Administrator, de12 velop, within the reporting system, different methods

13 by which the reporting person may electronically

14 provide the required information, in order to facili15 tate use of the system by different sectors, sizes, and

16 categories of reporting persons;

17 (13) provide protection of confidential business

18 information or records as defined under section 552a

19 of title 5, United States Code, so that each reported

20 item of data receives protection equivalent to the

21 protection that item of data would receive if the item

22 were reported to the Administrator through means

23 other than the integrated reporting system;

24 (14) develop (or cause to be developed), and

25 make available free of charge through the Internet,
10

•HR 4757 IH

1 software for use by the reporting person that, to the

2 maximum extent practicable, assists the person in

3 assembling necessary data, reporting information,

4 and receiving information on pollution prevention

5 technologies and practices as described in paragraph

6 (9); and

7 (15) provide a mechanism by which a reporting

8 person may, at the option of the reporting person,

9 electronically transfer information from the data sys10 tem of the reporting person to the integrated report11 ing system through the use, in the integrated report12 ing system, of—

13 (A) open data formats (such as the ASCII

14 format); and

15 (B) a standard that enables the definition,

16 transmission, validation, and interpretation of

17 data by software applications and by organiza18 tions through use of the Internet (such as the

19 XML standard).

20 (c) SCOPE OF DATA STANDARDS AND NOMEN21 CLATURE.—The data standards and nomenclature imple22 mented and updated under paragraphs (5) and (6) of sub23 section (b) shall not affect any regulatory standard or defi24 nition in effect on the date of enactment of this Act, except
11

•HR 4757 IH

1 to the extent that the Administrator amends, by regula2 tion, the standard or definition.

3 (d) USE OF REPORTING SYSTEM.—Nothing in this

4 Act requires that any person use the integrated reporting

5 system instead of an individual reporting system.

6 SEC. 4. INTERAGENCY COORDINATION.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—At the request of any Federal,

8 State, tribal, or local agency, the Administrator shall co9 ordinate the integration of reporting required under sec10 tion 3 with similar efforts by the agency that, as deter11 mined by the Administrator, are consistent with this Act.

12 (b) INTEGRATED REPORTING ACROSS JURISDIC13 TIONS.—Under subsection (a), the Administrator may de14 velop a procedure under which a person that is required

15 to report information under 1 or more laws administered

16 by the Administrator and 1 or more laws administered by

17 a State, tribal, or local agency may report all required

18 information—

19 (1) through 1 point of contact using a single

20 electronic system or paper form; and

21 (2) in the case of an annual reporting require22 ment, at 1 time each year.

23 (c) COMMON DATA FORMAT ACROSS JURISDIC24 TIONS.—To facilitate reporting by persons with facilities

25 in more than 1 State, tribal, or local jurisdiction, the Ad-
12

•HR 4757 IH

1 ministrator shall encourage the use of a common data for2 mat by any State, tribal, or local agency coordinating with

3 the Administrator under subsection (a).

4 (d) PROVISION OF INFORMATION.—At the request of

5 the Administrator, the head of a Federal department or

6 agency shall provide to the Administrator information on

7 reporting requirements established under a law adminis8 tered by the agency.

9 (e) SELECTIVE USE OF INTEGRATED REPORTING

10 SYSTEM.—The Administrator may design the integrated

11 system to allow a reporting person to use the integrated

12 reporting system for some purposes and not for others.

13 SEC. 5. REGULATIONS.

14 The Administrator may promulgate such regulations

15 as are necessary to carry out this Act.

16 SEC. 6. REPORTS.

17 Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment

18 of this Act, if the Administrator determines that 1 or more

19 provisions of law explicitly prohibit or hinder the integra20 tion of reporting and other actions required under this

21 Act, the Administrator shall submit to Congress a report

22 identifying those provisions.

23 SEC. 7. SAVINGS CLAUSE.

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this Act limits, modi25 fies, affects, amends, or otherwise changes, directly or in-
13

•HR 4757 IH

1 directly, any provision of Federal or State law or the obli2 gation of any person to comply with any provision of law.

3 (b) EFFECT.—Neither this Act nor the integrated re4 porting system shall alter or affect the obligation of a re5 porting person to provide the information required under

6 any reporting requirement.

7 (c) REPORTING.—Nothing in this Act authorizes the

8 Administrator to require the reporting of information that

9 is in addition to, or prohibit the reporting of, information

10 that is reported as of the day before the date of enactment

11 of this Act.

Æ