I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4922

To ensure that certain controversial changes to the Environmental Protection

Agency’s total maximum daily load program and permit program be

subjected to adequate public and congressional analysis and review.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 24, 2000

Mr. STENHOLM (for himself, Mr. DICKEY, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. HAYES, Mr.

SANDLIN, Mr. BOEHLERT, Mr. SHOWS, Mr. COMBEST, Mr. BOYD, Mr.

SHERWOOD, Mr. TURNER, Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr. BALDACCI, Mr.

CHAMBLISS, Mr. BERRY, Mr. EWING, Mrs. CLAYTON, Mr. HUTCHINSON,

Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota, and Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin) introduced

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation

and Infrastructure

A BILL

To ensure that certain controversial changes to the Environmental Protection Agency’s total maximum daily load

program and permit program be subjected to adequate

public and congressional analysis and review.

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 ‘‘TMDL Regulatory Ac5 countability Act of 2000’’.
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1 SEC. 2. ENSURING CONSIDERATION OF THE VIEWS OF THE

2 PUBLIC.

3 The Administrator shall—

4 (1) publish, not later the 5th day following the

5 date of enactment of this Act, in the Federal Reg6 ister a notice soliciting public comment for 120 days

7 on revisions to regulations pertaining to the national

8 pollutant discharge elimination system program and

9 the water quality planning and management pro10 gram published in the Federal Register on July 13,

11 2000 (65 Fed. Reg. 43586);

12 (2) solicit comments from each State regarding

13 the impact of such revisions on implementation and

14 effectiveness of existing State programs;

15 (3) hold public meetings for the purpose of re16 ceiving public comments on such revisions, including

17 meetings at locations that will provide a reasonable

18 opportunity for citizens of rural communities to both

19 attend and provide comments; and

20 (4) maintain a record of all public comments on

21 such revisions, including comments from States

22 under paragraph (2) and comments received at pub23 lic meetings under paragraph (3), in a publicly avail24 able docket and, not later than the 180th day fol25 lowing such date of enactment, publish a response to

26 the comments in the Federal Register.
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1 SEC. 3. FILLING DATA GAPS.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than the 120th day fol3 lowing the date of enactment of this Act, the Adminis4 trator shall transmit to Congress an analysis of the moni5 toring data needed for development and implementation

6 of TMDLs. Such analysis shall address the data gaps

7 identified by the Comptroller General in the March 2000

8 report issued by the General Accounting Office, entitled

9 ‘‘Water Quality, Key EPA and State Decisions Limited

10 By Inconsistent and Incomplete Data’’, including gaps in

11 data needed to—

12 (1) assess all State waters;

13 (2) identify waters that are impaired;

14 (3) identify pollution sources;

15 (4) develop TMDLs; and

16 (5) develop plans to implement TMDLs.

17 (b) DATA COLLECTION COSTS.—The analysis under

18 subsection (a) shall include an estimate of the cost of col19 lecting the monitoring data.

20 (c) STATE INPUT.—In conducting the analysis under

21 subsection (a) and estimating the costs under subsection

22 (b), the Administrator shall solicit comments from each

23 State regarding the analysis and estimate.

24 SEC. 4. IMPROVING SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING.

25 (a) STUDY REQUIRED.—The Administrator shall

26 make arrangements with the National Academy of
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1 Sciences to conduct a study on the scientific bases under2 lying the development of TMDLs.

3 (b) SCOPE.—The study shall include an evaluation of

4 each of the following:

5 (1) The information required to identify sources

6 of pollutant loadings and their respective contribu7 tions to water quality impairment.

8 (2) The information required to allocate reduc9 tions in pollutant loadings among sources.

10 (3) Whether such information is available for

11 use by States.

12 (4) Whether such information, if available, is

13 reliable.

14 (5) If such information is not available or is not

15 reliable, what methodologies should be used to ob16 tain such information.

17 (c) REVIEW.—Before submitting a report under sub18 section (d), the National Academy of Sciences shall pro19 vide appropriate Federal, State, and public and private

20 sector interests an opportunity to review and submit writ21 ten comments on the report. The final report shall incor22 porate such comments if appropriate.

23 (d) REPORT.—Not later than the 240th day following

24 the date of enactment of this Act, the National Academy

25 of Sciences shall transmit a report on the study to the
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1 Administrator and Congress. The report shall include rec2 ommendations of the National Academy of Sciences for

3 improving the methodologies evaluated under the study.

4 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is

5 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section

6 $3,000,000. Such sums shall remain available until ex7 pended.

8 SEC. 5. ENSURING PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING OF THE BENE9 FITS AND COSTS OF REGULATORY CHANGES.

10 (a) UMRA ANALYSIS.—

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—With respect to the revisions

12 referred to in section 2, the Administrator shall pre13 pare a written statement containing the information

14 specified in section 202(a) of the Unfunded Man15 dates Reform Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1532(a); 109

16 Stat. 64–65) and shall conduct the analyses required

17 under section 205 of such Act (2 U.S.C. 1535).

18 (2) RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COMPTROLLER

19 GENERAL.—In preparing the statement and con20 ducting the analyses referred to in paragraph (1)—

21 (A) the Administrator shall address the

22 concerns regarding the economic analysis per23 formed by the Administrator on these regu24 latory changes identified by the Comptroller

25 General in a June 21, 2000, report entitled
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1 ‘‘Clean Water Act: Proposed Revisions to EPA

2 Regulations to Clean Up Polluted Waters’’; and

3 (B) the Administrator, consistent with the

4 recommendations of the Comptroller General,

5 shall—

6 (i) use alternative baseline assump7 tions, including an assumption that accu8 rately reflects the water quality data cur9 rently available for the development and

10 implementation of TMDLs, and conduct a

11 sensitivity analysis to assess the effect of

12 different assumptions on the analyses;

13 (ii) quantify benefits using the same

14 baseline assumptions used to quantify

15 costs; and

16 (iii) consider costs to regulated enti17 ties and other Federal agencies, as well as

18 costs to States.

19 (b) EFFECTS ON SMALL ENTITIES.—The Adminis20 trator shall conduct analyses of the effects of the revisions

21 referred to in section 2 on small entities, including small

22 businesses, small organizations, and small governmental

23 organizations. Such analyses shall include, at a

24 minimum—
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1 (1) a description of and an estimate of the

2 number of small entities to which the regulations, as

3 revised, would apply;

4 (2) the cost to small entities resulting from im5 plementation of the regulations, as revised, by States

6 and the Environmental Protection Agency; and

7 (3) a description of the steps the Administrator

8 has taken to minimize the significant economic im9 pact on small entities, including a statement of the

10 factual, policy, and legal reasons for selecting the al11 ternative adopted in the final rule and why each one

12 of the other significant alternatives to the rule con13 sidered by the Administrator that affect the impact

14 on small entities was rejected.

15 (c) INFORMATION FROM RELEVANT FEDERAL AGEN16 CIES.—In conducting the analyses under subsections (a)

17 and (b), the Administrator shall obtain information from

18 relevant Federal agencies, including the Department of

19 Agriculture, the Department of Defense, and the Small

20 Business Administration.

21 (d) REVIEW BY THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL.—At

22 least 60 days before publishing an analysis in the Federal

23 Register for public notice and comment under subsection

24 (e), the Administrator shall provide the Comptroller Gen-
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1 eral with an opportunity to review and comment on such

2 analysis.

3 (e) PUBLIC REVIEW AND COMMENT.—The Adminis4 trator shall publish the analyses required under sub5 sections (a) and (b) in the Federal Register not later than

6 150th day after the date of enactment of this Act and

7 shall solicit public comment for a period of not less than

8 60 days. Comments received shall be included in the pub9 licly available docket maintained under section 2.

10 (f) RESPONSE TO COMMENTS.—Not later than the

11 60th day following the last day of the comment period

12 under subsection (e), the Administrator shall publish a re13 sponse to comments in the Federal Register.

14 SEC. 6. USE OF INFORMATION TO IMPROVE CLEAN WATER

15 ACT PROGRAMS.

16 (a) AGENCY REVIEW OF INFORMATION AND REGULA17 TIONS.—The Administrator shall review all information

18 provided or developed under sections 2, 3, 4, and 5 and

19 shall consider whether or not the Administrator should

20 change the revisions referred to in section 2 based upon

21 such information.

22 (b) EXPLANATION TO CONGRESS.—Upon completing

23 the review, but not later than the 270th day following the

24 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall

25 transmit to Congress an explanation of the Administra-
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1 tor’s decision to change or not to change the revisions re2 ferred to in section 2.

3 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

4 In this Act, the following definitions shall apply:

5 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis6 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ7 mental Protection Agency.

8 (2) TMDL.—The term ‘‘TMDL’’ has the

9 meaning that the term ‘‘total maximum daily load’’

10 has under section 303(d)(1)(C) of the Federal Water

11 Pollution Control Act (23 U.S.C. 1313(d)(1)(C)).

12 (3) SMALL ENTITY.—The term ‘‘small entity’’

13 has the meaning such term has in section 601 of

14 title 5, United States Code.

15 (4) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean16 ing such term has under section 502 of the Federal

17 Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1362).

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