I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 5422

To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to

establish an integrated environmental reporting program.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 6, 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 program.

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

4 (2) INTEGRATED REPORTING PROGRAM.—The

5 term ‘‘integrated reporting program’’ means the in6 tegrated environmental reporting program estab7 lished under section 3.

8 (3) PAPER FORM.—The term ‘‘paper form’’

9 means a paper form or integrated series of paper

10 forms that—

11 (A) allows a person to report the same in12 formation that the person is able to report elec13 tronically under section 3(b)(1)(A); and

14 (B) provides the person essentially the

15 same instructions for reporting that would be

16 provided if the person were to report electroni17 cally under section 3(b)(1)(A).

18 (4) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means an in19 dividual, trust, firm, joint stock company, corpora20 tion, partnership, or association, or a facility owned

21 or operated by the Federal Government or by a

22 State, tribal government, municipality, commission,

23 or political subdivision of a State.

24 (5) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—
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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘reporting

2 requirement’’ means—

3 (i) a routine, periodic, environmental

4 reporting requirement; and

5 (ii) any other reporting requirement

6 that the Administrator may by regulation

7 include within the meaning of the term.

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

9 requirement’’ does not include—

10 (i) the reporting of information relat11 ing to an emergency, except for informa12 tion submitted as part of a routine periodic

13 environmental report;

14 (ii) the reporting of information to the

15 Administrator relating only to business

16 transactions (and not to environmental or

17 regulatory matters) between the Adminis18 trator and a person, including information

19 provided—

20 (I) in the course of fulfilling a

21 contractual obligation between the Ad22 ministrator and the reporting person;

23 or

24 (II) in the filing of financial

25 claims against the Administrator; or
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1 (iii) the reporting of specific items of

2 information protected as—

3 (I) confidential business informa4 tion, as described in section 552(b)(4)

5 of title 5, United States Code, or any

6 law administered by the Adminis7 trator; or

8 (II) personal privacy information

9 described in section 552a of title 5,

10 United States Code.

11 SEC. 3. INTEGRATED REPORTING PROGRAM.

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

13 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall in14 tegrate and streamline the reporting requirements estab15 lished under laws administered by the Administrator for

16 each person subject to those reporting requirements—

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

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

19 of Congress; and

20 (3) to the extent consistent with the preserva21 tion of the integrity, reliability, and security of the

22 data reported.

23 (b) COMPONENTS OF INTEGRATED REPORTING PRO24 GRAM.—In establishing the integrated reporting program,
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1 to ensure consistency and facilitate use of the program,

2 the Administrator shall—

3 (1) allow each person required to submit infor4 mation to the Administrator under reporting re5 quirements administered by the Administrator to re6 port the information to 1 point of contact—

7 (A) using a single electronic system or a

8 paper form; and

9 (B) in the case of any person subject to

10 more than 1 annual reporting requirement, at

11 1 time during the year;

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

13 that has been authorized or delegated authority to

14 implement a law administered by the Administrator

15 to report information to the Administrator regarding

16 any person subject to the law, as required under the

17 law (including a regulation), agreement, or other in18 strument, authorizing or delegating the authority, to

19 report to 1 point of contact—

20 (i) using a single electronic system;

21 and

22 (ii) in the case of a State, tribal, or

23 local agency required to submit more than

24 1 type of annual report, at 1 time during

25 each year; and
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1 (B) provide each State, tribal, or local agency

2 that reports to the Administrator through the inte3 grated reporting program full access to the data that

4 the agency has reported to the Administrator

5 through the program;

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

7 full access to information reported by the person to

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

9 agency that was subsequently reported to the Ad10 ministrator, in a variety of formats that includes a

11 format that the person may modify by incorporating

12 information applicable to the current reporting pe13 riod and then submit to the Administrator, or to a

14 State, tribal, or local agency as appropriate, to com15 ply with a current reporting requirement;

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

17 agencies to identify environmental or occupational

18 safety or health reporting requirements that are not

19 administered by the Administrator; and

20 (B) as part of the electronic version of the inte21 grated reporting program, post information that as22 sists the reporting person in locating sources of in23 formation on requirements identified under subpara24 graph (A) to which the person may be subject;
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1 (5) in consultation with State, tribal, and local

2 agencies, reporting persons, environmental groups,

3 information technology experts, and other interested

4 parties, establish, update as necessary, and, to the

5 extent relevant, implement in each national informa6 tion system of the Environmental Protection Agency

7 that contains data reported under the integrated re8 porting program established under this section, data

9 standards for—

10 (A) facility identification (including a facil11 ity registry identifier, geographic coordinates,

12 mailing address, affiliation, environmental in13 terest, and industrial classification);

14 (B) units of measure;

15 (C) chemical identification and biological

16 taxonomy;

17 (D) permitting, enforcement and compli18 ance, tribal identifiers, and geographic informa19 tion; and

20 (E) other items that the Administrator

21 considers to be appropriate;

22 (6) in consultation with the parties referred to

23 in paragraph (5), implement, and update as nec24 essary, a nomenclature throughout the integrated re25 porting program that uses terms that the Adminis-
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1 trator believes are understandable to reporting per2 sons that do not have environmental expertise;

3 (7) consolidate reporting of information that,

4 but for consolidation under this paragraph, would be

5 required to be reported to the integrated reporting

6 program at more than 1 point in the same data sub7 mission (except, in the case of the paper form, for

8 information used to facilitate the processing of the

9 paper form by the Administrator);

10 (8) provide for applicable data formats and sub11 mission protocols, including procedures for legally

12 enforceable electronic signature in accordance with

13 the Government Paperwork Elimination Act (44

14 U.S.C. 3504 note; 112 Stat. 2681–749) that, as de15 termined by the Administrator—

16 (A) conform, to the maximum extent prac17 ticable, with public-domain standards for elec18 tronic commerce;

19 (B) are accessible to a substantial majority

20 of reporting persons; and

21 (C) provide adequate assurance of the in22 tegrity and reliability of the data in accordance

23 with public domain standards;

24 (9) publish a document that describes the data

25 architecture used in the integrated reporting pro-
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1 gram and that describes the major data types, data

2 standards, significant attributes, and interrelation3 ships that are common to activities carried out by

4 the Administrator and by State, tribal, and local

5 agencies (such as permitting, compliance, enforce6 ment, and collection and analysis of environmental

7 samples and results), which the Administrator

8 shall—

9 (A) use as the framework for databases in

10 which the data reported to the Administrator

11 through the integrated reporting program are

12 kept; and

13 (B) allow other Federal agencies and

14 State, tribal, and local agencies to use;

15 (10) establish an electronic service center, ac16 cessible through the point of contact established

17 under paragraph (1), to assist reporting persons, as

18 necessary and feasible, to—

19 (A) identify reporting requirements admin20 istered by the Administrator and to which the

21 person may be subject;

22 (B) submit required data electronically;

23 and

24 (C) find and contact compliance assistance

25 providers;
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1 (11) provide each reporting person access,

2 through the point of contact established under para3 graph (1), to scientifically sound, publicly available

4 information on pollution prevention technologies and

5 practices;

6 (12) at the discretion of the Administrator, de7 velop, within the integrated reporting program, dif8 ferent methods by which the reporting person may

9 electronically provide the required information, in

10 order to facilitate use of the program by different

11 sectors, sizes, and categories of reporting persons;

12 (13) provide protection of confidential business

13 information, as described in section 552(b)(4) of

14 title 5, United States Code, or any law administered

15 by the Administrator, and personal privacy informa16 tion described in section 552a of title 5, United

17 States Code, so that each item of such information

18 reported to the Administrator through the integrated

19 reporting program receives protection equivalent to

20 the protection that item of information would receive

21 if the item were reported to the Administrator

22 through means other than the integrated reporting

23 program;
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1 (14) publish information to assist in, and other2 wise promote, the development of software for use by

3 reporting persons that helps reporting persons in—

4 (A) assembling, documenting, and submit5 ting information required under laws adminis6 tered by the Administrator; and

7 (B) receiving information on pollution pre8 vention technologies and practices as described

9 in paragraph (11); and

10 (15) provide a mechanism by which a reporting

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

12 electronically transfer information from the data sys13 tem of the reporting person to the integrated report14 ing program through the use, in the integrated re15 porting program, of—

16 (A) open data formats (such as the Amer17 ican Standard Code for Information Inter18 change (ASCII) format);

19 (B) a standard that enables the definition,

20 transmission, validation, and interpretation of

21 data by software applications and by organiza22 tions through use of the Internet (such as the

23 Extensible Markup Language (XML) stand24 ard); and
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1 (C) as appropriate, the use of electronic

2 signatures in conjunction with the transfer of

3 information.

4 (c) SCOPE OF DATA STANDARDS AND NOMEN5 CLATURE.—The data standards and nomenclature imple6 mented and updated under paragraphs (5) and (6) of sub7 section (b) shall not affect any regulatory standard or defi8 nition in effect on the date of enactment of this Act, except

9 to the extent that the Administrator amends, by regula10 tion, the standard or definition.

11 (d) USE OF INTEGRATED REPORTING PROGRAM.—

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this Act requires

13 that any person use the integrated reporting pro14 gram instead of a reporting method in existence on

15 the date of enactment of this Act.

16 (2) USE OF MULTIPLE METHODS.—The Admin17 istrator may design the integrated reporting pro18 gram to allow a reporting person to use the inte19 grated reporting program for the purposes of some

20 reports and not other reports.

21 (e) SUBMISSION OF CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.—

22 Nothing in this Act—

23 (1) requires the Administrator to allow the sub24 mission of confidential business information, as de25 scribed in section 552(b)(4) of title 5, United States
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1 Code, or any law administered by the Administrator,

2 or personal privacy information described in section

3 552a of title 5, United States Code, to the electronic

4 system described in subsection (b)(1)(A); or

5 (2) prevents the Administrator from allowing

6 the submission of confidential business information

7 or personal privacy information to the electronic sys8 tem described in subsection (b)(1)(A) if the Admin9 istrator determines that there are adequate safe10 guards for electronic submission of such information.

11 (f) FACILITY IDENTIFICATION DATA STANDARDS

12 FOR REPORTING OF INFORMATION RELATING TO EMER13 GENCY PLANNING.—After establishing the data standards

14 under subsection (b)(5)(A), the Administrator shall imple15 ment such data standards for information that is reported

16 to the Administrator relating to planning for emergencies.

17 SEC. 4. INTERAGENCY COORDINATION.

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

19 State, tribal, or local agency, the Administrator shall co20 ordinate the integration of reporting required under sec21 tion 3 with similar efforts by the agency that, as deter22 mined by the Administrator, are consistent with this Act.

23 (b) INTEGRATED REPORTING ACROSS JURISDIC24 TIONS.—Under subsection (a), the Administrator may de25 velop a procedure under which a person that is required
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1 to report information under 1 or more laws administered

2 by the Administrator and 1 or more laws administered by

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

4 information—

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

6 electronic system or a paper form; and

7 (2) in the case of any person subject to more

8 than 1 annual reporting requirement, at 1 time dur9 ing the year.

10 (c) COMMON DATA FORMAT ACROSS JURISDIC11 TIONS.—To facilitate reporting by persons with facilities

12 in more than 1 State, tribal, or local jurisdiction, the Ad13 ministrator shall encourage the use of a common data for14 mat by any State, tribal, or local agency coordinating with

15 the Administrator under subsection (a).

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

17 the Administrator, the head of a Federal agency shall pro18 vide to the Administrator information on reporting re19 quirements established under a law administered by the

20 agency.

21 SEC. 5. REGULATIONS.

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator may promul23 gate such regulations as are necessary to carry out this

24 Act.
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1 (b) MATTERS ADDRESSED.—The regulations may

2 address electronic record retention, security in data sub3 missions, the practical aspects of reporting, evidentiary

4 burdens, and other matters that are necessary to provide

5 for the integrity, reliability, and security of information

6 submitted to the Administrator or records maintained

7 under the laws administered by the Administrator.

8 SEC. 6. REPORTS.

9 Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment

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

11 provisions of law explicitly prohibit or hinder the integra12 tion of reporting and other actions required under this

13 Act, the Administrator shall submit to Congress a report

14 identifying those provisions.

15 SEC. 7. SAVINGS CLAUSE.

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this Act limits, modi17 fies, affects, amends, or otherwise changes, directly or in18 directly, any provision of Federal, State, tribal, or local

19 law or the obligation of any person to comply with any

20 provision of law.

21 (b) EFFECT.—Neither this Act nor the integrated re22 porting program alters or affects the obligation of a re23 porting person to provide the information required under

24 any reporting requirement, or to inform itself about appli25 cable laws and regulations.
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1 (c) REPORTING.—Nothing in this Act authorizes the

2 Administrator to—

3 (1) require the reporting or disclosure of infor4 mation that is in addition to information that is re5 quired to be reported as of the day before the date

6 of enactment of this Act, other than information

7 that is necessary to verify and validate information

8 submitted through the electronic system and the

9 identity of persons submitting such information; or

10 (2) eliminate the reporting of information that

11 is required to be reported, or restrict the disclosure

12 of information that may under law be disclosed, as

13 of the day before the date of enactment of this Act,

14 except as provided under section 3(b)(7) and as con15 sistent with section 3(b)(13).

16 (d) POINT OF REPORTING.—Nothing in this Act re17 quires that data being reported as of the date of enact18 ment of this Act by a reporting person through a State,

19 tribal, or local agency to the Administrator be reported

20 instead by the reporting person directly to the Adminis21 trator.

22 (e) STORAGE OF DATA.—Nothing in this Act affects

23 the manner in which the data assembled through the inte24 grated reporting program are stored.
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1 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

2 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out

3 this Act—

4 (1) $7,000,000 for fiscal year 2001;

5 (2) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2002;

6 (3) $13,000,000 for fiscal year 2003; and

7 (4) $14,000,000 for fiscal year 2004.

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