II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1490 

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to require environmental 

accountability and reporting and to reauthorize the Chesapeake Bay Program. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 26, 2005 

Mr. SARBANES (for himself, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mr. ALLEN, and Mr. WARNER) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to require 

environmental accountability and reporting and to reauthorize the Chesapeake Bay 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 ‘‘Chesapeake Bay Pro5 gram Reauthorization and Environmental Accountability 

6 Act of 2005’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. CHESAPEAKE BAY ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNT2 ABILITY AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

3 Section 117 of the Federal Water Pollution Control 

4 Act (33 U.S.C. 1267) is amended— 

5 (1) by redesignating subsection (j) as sub6 section (l); 

7 (2) in subsection (e)(7), by inserting ‘‘by the 

8 Federal Government or a State government’’ after 

9 ‘‘funded’’ each place it appears; and 

10 (3) by inserting after subsection (i) the fol11 lowing: 

12 ‘‘(j) ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTABILITY.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IMPLEMENTATION PLAN.— 

14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 

15 days after the date of enactment of this para16 graph, the Administrator shall complete a plan 

17 for achieving the nutrient and sediment reduc18 tion goals described in the agreement entered 

19 into by the Chesapeake Executive Council enti20 tled ‘Chesapeake 2000’ and dated June 28, 

21 2000. 

22 ‘‘(B) INCLUSIONS.—The plan shall in23 clude— 

24 ‘‘(i) a timeline identifying— 
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1 ‘‘(I) annual goals for achieving 

2 the overall nutrient and sediment re3 duction goals; and 

4 ‘‘(II) the estimated annual costs 

5 of reaching the annual goals identified 

6 under subclause (I); 

7 ‘‘(ii) a description of any measure, in8 cluding monitoring or modeling, that the 

9 Administrator will use to assess progress 

10 made toward achieving a goal described in 

11 subparagraph (A) in— 

12 ‘‘(I) each jurisdictional tributary 

13 strategy basin of the Chesapeake Bay; 

14 and 

15 ‘‘(II) the Chesapeake Bay water16 shed as a whole; and 

17 ‘‘(iii) a description of any Federal or 

18 non-Federal activity necessary to achieve 

19 the nutrient and sediment reduction goals, 

20 including an identification of any party 

21 that is responsible for carrying out the ac22 tivity. 

23 ‘‘(2) ANNUAL TRIBUTARY HEALTH REPORT

24 CARD.— 
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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than Janu2 ary 31 of each year, the Administrator shall 

3 publish and widely circulate a ‘tributary health 

4 report card’ to evaluate, based on monitoring 

5 and modeling data, progress made during the 

6 preceding year (including any practice imple7 mented during the year), and overall progress 

8 made, in achieving and maintaining nutrient 

9 and sediment reduction goals for each major 

10 tributary of the Chesapeake Bay and each sepa11 rable segment of such a tributary. 

12 ‘‘(B) BASELINE.—The baseline for the re13 port card (referred to in this paragraph as the 

14 ‘baseline’) shall be the tributary cap load alloca15 tion agreement numbered EPA 903–R–03–007, 

16 dated December 2003, and entitled ‘Setting and 

17 Allocating the Chesapeake Bay Basin Nutrient 

18 and Sediment Loads: The Collaborative Proc19 ess, Technical Tools and Innovative Ap20 proaches’. 

21 ‘‘(C) INCLUSIONS.—The report card shall 

22 include, for each jurisdictional tributary strat23 egy basin of the Chesapeake Bay— 
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1 ‘‘(i) an identification of the total allo2 cation of nutrients and sediments under 

3 the baseline; 

4 ‘‘(ii) the monitored and modeled quan5 tities of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sedi6 ment reductions achieved during the pre7 ceding year, expressed numerically and as 

8 a percentage of reduction; 

9 ‘‘(iii) a list (organized from least to 

10 most progress made) that ranks the com11 parative progress made, based on the per12 centage of reduction under clause (ii), by 

13 each jurisdictional tributary strategy basin 

14 toward meeting the annual allocation goal 

15 of that jurisdictional tributary strategy 

16 basin for nitrogen, phosphorus, and sedi17 ment; and 

18 ‘‘(iv) to the maximum extent prac19 ticable, an identification of the principal 

20 sources of pollutants of the tributaries, in21 cluding airborne sources of pollutants. 

22 ‘‘(D) USE OF DATA; CONSIDERATION.—In 

23 preparing the report, the Administrator shall— 

24 ‘‘(i) use monitoring data and data 

25 submitted under paragraph (3)(A); and 
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1 ‘‘(ii) take into consideration drought 

2 and wet weather conditions. 

3 ‘‘(3) ACTIONS BY STATES.— 

4 ‘‘(A) SUBMISSION OF INFORMATION.—Not 

5 later than December 31 of each year, each of 

6 the States of Delaware, Maryland, New York, 

7 Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia and 

8 the District of Columbia shall submit to the Ad9 ministrator information describing, for each ju10 risdictional tributary strategy basin of the 

11 Chesapeake Bay located in the State or Dis12 trict, for the preceding year— 

13 ‘‘(i) the nutrient and sediment cap 

14 load allocation of the jurisdictional tribu15 tary strategy basin; 

16 ‘‘(ii) the principal sources of nutrients 

17 and sediment in the jurisdictional tributary 

18 strategy basin, by category; 

19 ‘‘(iii) for each category of pollutant 

20 source, the technologies or practices used 

21 to achieve reductions, including levels of 

22 best management practices implementation 

23 and sewage treatment plant upgrades; and 
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1 ‘‘(iv) any Federal, State, or non-Fed2 eral funding used to implement a tech3 nology or practice described in clause (iii). 

4 ‘‘(B) AUDIT.—Not later than 1 year after 

5 the date of enactment of this subparagraph, 

6 and triennially thereafter, the Inspector General 

7 of the Environmental Protection Agency shall 

8 audit the information submitted by States 

9 under subparagraph (A) for accuracy. 

10 ‘‘(C) FAILURE TO ACT.—The Adminis11 trator shall not make a grant to a State under 

12 this Act if the State fails to submit any infor13 mation in accordance with subparagraph (A). 

14 ‘‘(k) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 

15 ‘‘(1) OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET.— 

16 ‘‘(A) INITIAL REPORT.—Not later than 

17 180 days after the date of enactment of this 

18 subsection, the Director of the Office of Man19 agement and Budget shall submit to the appro20 priate committees of the Senate and the House 

21 of Representatives a report describing the feasi22 bility and advisability of— 

23 ‘‘(i) combining into a single fund cer24 tain or all funds (including formula and 

25 grant funds) made available to each Fed-
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1 eral agency to carry out restoration activi2 ties relating to the Chesapeake Bay; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) notwithstanding any issue relat4 ing to jurisdiction, distributing amounts 

5 from that fund in accordance with the pri6 ority of water quality improvement activi7 ties identified under the Chesapeake Bay 

8 Program. 

9 ‘‘(B) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than 

10 February 15 of each year, the Director of the 

11 Office of Management and Budget shall submit 

12 to the appropriate committees of the Senate 

13 and the House of Representatives a report con14 taining— 

15 ‘‘(i) an interagency crosscut budget 

16 that displays the proposed budget for use 

17 by each Federal agency in carrying out 

18 restoration activities relating to the Chesa19 peake Bay for the following fiscal year; 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(ii) a detailed accounting of all funds 

22 received and obligated by Federal and 

23 State governments (including formula and 

24 grant funds, such as State revolving loan 

25 funds and agriculture conservation funds) 
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1 to achieve the objectives of the Chesapeake 

2 Bay Program during the preceding fiscal 

3 year. 

4 ‘‘(2) ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY.—

5 Not later than April 15 of each year, the Adminis6 trator, in cooperation with appropriate Federal 

7 agencies, as determined by the Administrator, shall 

8 submit to the appropriate committees of the Senate 

9 and the House of Representatives a report con10 taining— 

11 ‘‘(A)(i) an estimate of the reduction in lev12 els of nutrients and sediments in the Chesa13 peake Bay and its tributaries; and 

14 ‘‘(ii) a comparison of each estimated reduc15 tion under clause (i) and the appropriate an16 nual goal described in the implementation plan 

17 under subsection (j)(1); 

18 ‘‘(B) based on review by the Administrator 

19 of the budget and implementation plans of each 

20 Federal agency, and any tributary strategy of 

21 an appropriate State agency— 

22 ‘‘(i) an estimate of the reductions in 

23 pollutants likely to occur as a result of 

24 each program of an agency under this sec-
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1 tion during the subsequent 1-year and 5-

2 year periods, including— 

3 ‘‘(I) an analysis of the success or 

4 failure of each program in achieving 

5 nutrient and sediment reduction; and 

6 ‘‘(II) an estimated timeline dur7 ing which a reduction in nutrient and 

8 sediment pollution will occur; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) accounting for other trend data, 

10 an estimate of the actual reduction in the 

11 quantities of nutrients and sediments in 

12 the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries 

13 from all sources that has occurred over the 

14 preceding 1-year and 5-year periods; and 

15 ‘‘(C) the technical basis and reliability of 

16 each estimate under this paragraph.’’. 

17 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

18 Section 117 of the Federal Water Pollution Control 

19 Act (33 U.S.C. 1267) is amended by striking subsection 

20 (l) (as redesignated by section 2) and inserting the fol21 lowing: 

22 ‘‘(l) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

23 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 
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1 $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2006 through 2010, 

2 to remain available until expended.’’.

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