I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 3529

To establish the President’s Total Environmental Quality Award and the

National Environmentally Sound Technology Award.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

NOVEMBER 18, 1993

Mr. SWETT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on Science, Space, and Technology

A BILL

To establish the President’s Total Environmental Quality

Award and the National Environmentally Sound Technology Award.

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 ‘‘Environmental Excel5 lence Recognition Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. PRESIDENT’S TOTAL ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

7 AWARD AND THE NATIONAL ENVIRON8 MENTALLY SOUND TECHNOLOGY AWARD.

9 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:
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1 (1) Award programs such as the Malcolm

2 Baldrige National Quality Award Program have

3 made substantial contributions to private enterprise

4 by providing a framework upon which organizations

5 can improve their operations and by focusing on is6 sues important to their competitiveness.

7 (2) A President’s Total Environmental Quality

8 Award Program modeled on the Malcolm Baldrige

9 Award Program would contribute to environmental

10 quality and sustainable economic development by—

11 (A) helping to stimulate United States

12 companies to develop and deploy environmental

13 technologies;

14 (B) recognizing the achievements of such

15 companies which successfully develop and de16 ploy environmental technologies; and

17 (C) establishing guidelines and criteria

18 that can be used by business, industrial, gov19 ernmental, and other organizations in evaluat20 ing their own development and deployment of

21 environmental technologies.

22 (b) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this section to

23 provide for the establishment and conduct of a President’s

24 Total Environmental Quality Award Program and a Na25 tional Environmentally Sound Technology Award Pro-
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1 gram under which awards are given to recognize the suc2 cessful development and deployment of environmental

3 technologies and under which information is disseminated

4 about such success.

5 (c) ESTABLISHMENT OF AWARDS.—The Stevenson6 Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C.

7 3701 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 23 the

8 following new sections:

9 ‘‘SEC. 24. PRESIDENT’S TOTAL ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

10 AWARD.

11 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is hereby established

12 the President’s Total Environmental Quality Award (in

13 this section referred to as the ‘Award’).

14 ‘‘(b) DESIGN.—The Award shall be evidenced by a

15 medal bearing the inscription ‘President’s Total Environ16 mental Quality Award’.

17 ‘‘(c) AWARD SELECTION PROCESS.—The Secretary,

18 in cooperation with the Secretary of Energy and the Ad19 ministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, shall

20 establish a process for the acceptance and evaluation of

21 Award applicants. The Secretary shall, to the maximum

22 extent practicable, use the same procedures and facilities

23 provided for the administration of the Malcolm Baldrige

24 Award, including the definition of award categories, the
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1 delegation of responsibilities, and provisions for publicity,

2 evaluation feed-back, and information transfer.

3 ‘‘(d) PRESENTATION OF AWARD.—

4 ‘‘(1) RECOMMENDATIONS BY SECRETARY.—The

5 Secretary shall submit to the President the rec6 ommendations of the Secretary for the selection of

7 Award applicants.

8 ‘‘(2) SELECTION BY THE PRESIDENT.—On the

9 basis of recommendations received under paragraph

10 (1), the President shall periodically select for receipt

11 of the Award United States companies and other or12 ganizations which in the judgment of the President

13 have substantially benefited the environmental, eco14 nomic, and social well-being of the United States

15 through the development and deployment of environ16 mental technologies, and which as a consequence are

17 deserving of special recognition.

18 ‘‘(3) PRESENTATION CEREMONY.—The Presi19 dent or the Vice President shall present the Award

20 to recipients selected under paragraph (2) with such

21 ceremony as the President or the Vice President

22 considers to be appropriate.

23 ‘‘(e) LIMITATION.—The information gathered in eval24 uating Award applications may be used only for the eval25 uation of such applications and for publicity by winners
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1 of the Award. Such information may not be used for regu2 latory or compliance purposes.

3 ‘‘(f) EVALUATION CRITERIA.—Criteria for evaluating

4 Award applications shall include the following:

5 ‘‘(1) The effectiveness of the organization’s de6 velopment and deployment of environmental tech7 nologies, as well as the organization’s provision for

8 environmental technologies in its future plans.

9 ‘‘(2) The effectiveness of energy and materials

10 use from the perspective of the life cycle of the pro11 duction, use, recycle, and disposal of a product.

12 ‘‘(3) The effective use of an integrated ap13 proach to pollution prevention and control that con14 siders all environmental media (liquid, solid, gase15 ous).

16 ‘‘(g) FUNDING.—The Secretary may seek and accept

17 gifts from public and private sources to carry out this sec18 tion. The Secretary may provide for the imposition of a

19 fee upon the organizations applying for the Award.

20 ‘‘(h) REPORT.—Not later than 3 years after the date

21 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit

22 to the President and the Congress a report on the progress

23 made in carrying out this section. The report shall include

24 any recommendations of the Secretary for any modifica25 tions of the Award the Secretary considers necessary.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 25. NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND TECH2 NOLOGY AWARD.

3 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a Na4 tional Environmentally Sound Technology Award for the

5 purpose of awarding individuals who have pioneered the

6 development and use of a highly innovative environmental

7 technology.

8 ‘‘(b) ADMINISTRATION.—Using the authority and

9 procedures established in section 24 and subject to the

10 conditions described in this section, the Secretary, in co11 operation with the Administrator of the Environmental

12 Protection Agency and the Secretary of Energy, shall re13 ceive and evaluate applications for the National Environ14 mentally Sound Technology Award and provide for presen15 tation of such Award.

16 ‘‘(c) QUALIFIED TECHNOLOGIES.—Technologies that

17 qualify for such Award shall include following:

18 ‘‘(1) Manufacturing technologies.

19 ‘‘(2) Industrial or consumer products.

20 ‘‘(3) Consumer services.

21 ‘‘(4) Recycling technologies.

22 ‘‘(d) QUALIFIED APPLICANTS.—Any citizen or per23 manent resident of the Unites States may qualify for such

24 Award. Any such individual who is employed by or other25 wise works for a business, Federal laboratory, or other or26 ganization may qualify for such Award only if the individ-
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1 ual was substantially involved in the invention or innova2 tion for which such Award is presented.

3 ‘‘(e) LIMITATION.—Not more than five such Awards

4 may be presented annually.

5 ‘‘(f) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the

6 term ‘environmental technology’ means—

7 ‘‘(1) a technology that is primarily intended to

8 improve the quality of the environment through pol9 lution reduction or remediation;

10 ‘‘(2) a product, manufacturing process, or serv11 ice that is capable of cost-effectively replacing the

12 functions of an existing product, process, or service,

13 and as compared with the product, process, or serv14 ice it replaces, significantly reducing overall pollution

15 or significantly improving the efficiency of energy or

16 materials use; or

17 ‘‘(3) a technology within the meaning of para18 graphs (1) and (2).’’.

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