I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 3555

To coordinate environmental technology and research of the Federal

Government, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

NOVEMBER 19, 1993

Ms. ESHOO introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on Science, Space, and Technology

A BILL

To coordinate environmental technology and research of the

Federal Government, and for other purposes.

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 Tech5 nology Research Integration and Coordination Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. COORDINATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY

7 RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.

8 (a) INTERAGENCY COORDINATION.—The Director of

9 the Office of Science and Technology Policy shall, in co10 ordination with the heads of other Federal agencies that
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1 have substantial investment in the development and adop2 tion of environmental technologies, take any action nec3 essary—

4 (1) to ensure, to the maximum extent prac5 ticable, the coordinated, interagency promotion of

6 the research, development, and adoption of environ7 mental technologies; and

8 (2) to develop priorities for Federal environ9 mental technology research, development, and adop10 tion efforts.

11 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—In carrying out this section,

12 the Director of the Office of Science and Technology

13 Policy shall—

14 (1) review current Federally funded programs,

15 including Federal budget outlays for these programs,

16 to determine their role in the development and dis17 semination of environmental technologies;

18 (2) recommend the specific responsibilities of

19 each appropriate Federal agency to achieve the goals

20 and priorities developed under this section;

21 (3) describe the recommended levels of Federal

22 funding required for each Federal agency to carry

23 out the specific responsibilities recommended in

24 paragraph (2);
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1 (4) develop a means for ensuring, to the maxi2 mum extent practicable, that the principles of sus3 tainable economic development are integrated into

4 the research, development, and technology programs

5 of all Federal agencies;

6 (5) ensure that the efforts of the Federal Gov7 ernment are coordinated with the efforts of State

8 and local governments and private and nonprofit or9 ganizations promoting the research, development,

10 and demonstration of environmental technologies;

11 and

12 (6) submit to the Congress any recommenda13 tions regarding legislative or administrative action,

14 including recommendations on the roles of Federal

15 agencies, which may be required to carry out this

16 section.

17 (c) BUDGET COORDINATION.—The Director of the

18 Office of Science and Technology Policy shall annually as19 sess, before the President submits to the Congress the

20 budget for a fiscal year, the budget estimate of each rel21 evant Federal agency for consistency with the plans, re22 views, and priorities developed under this section. The Di23 rector shall make the results of the annual assessment

24 available to the appropriate elements of the Executive Of25 fice of the President, particularly the Office of Manage-
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1 ment and Budget, for use in the preparation of such

2 budget.

3 (d) ANNUAL REVIEW AND PLAN.—The Director of

4 the Office of Science and Technology shall annually sub5 mit to the Congress a report containing an evaluation and

6 plan that assesses the progress of Federal efforts in ad7 vancing the research, development, and adoption of envi8 ronmental technologies.

9 (e) NON-FEDERAL PARTICIPATION.—The Director of

10 the Office of Science and Technology Policy shall establish

11 mechanisms to ensure the participation of non-Federal en12 tities, including State and local governments, United

13 States industry, institutions of higher education, worker

14 organizations, professional associations, and United States

15 nonprofit organizations, in carrying out this section, in16 cluding the development of the plans and reviews devel17 oped under this section.

18 SEC. 3. INCORPORATION OF INFORMATION ON ENVIRON19 MENTAL TECHNOLOGIES INTO EXISTING

20 NETWORKS.

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the

22 date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator,

23 through the Office of Research and Development of the

24 Environmental Protection Agency and in cooperation with

25 the Under Secretary for Technology of the Department
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1 of Commerce and the heads of any other appropriate Fed2 eral agencies, shall, to the maximum extent practicable,

3 use existing information network capabilities of the Fed4 eral Government to provide access to data on environ5 mental technologies developed, tested, or verified under

6 programs established by this Act, and by other appro7 priate Federal and non-Federal sources. Such data shall

8 include information on—

9 (1) activities carried out under this Act and the

10 amendments made by this Act;

11 (2) performance standards regarding environ12 mental technologies;

13 (3) significant international developments in en14 vironmental technologies, fully coordinating with

15 other international technology information programs,

16 of the Federal Government; and

17 (4) other information determined by the Admin18 istrator to be of substantial value in promoting the

19 development and adoption of environmental tech20 nologies.

21 (b) USE OF EXISTING RESOURCES.—In carrying out

22 this section, the Administrator shall, to the maximum ex23 tent practicable—

24 (1) use existing public and private sector infor25 mation providers and carriers;
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1 (2) add to existing data sources; and

2 (3) integrate data described in subsection (a)

3 into other technology databases maintained by the

4 Environmental Protection Agency, the Department

5 of Commerce, the Department of Energy, and other

6 appropriate Federal agencies.

7 (c) OUTREACH.—The Administrator shall conduct

8 appropriate outreach efforts to advertise, deliver, and dis9 seminate the information made available through the net10 works referred to in subsection (a), including information

11 on participation in Alliances referred to in subsection (d).

12 (d) ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER AL13 LIANCES.—

14 (1) TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER.—The Adminis15 trator may enter into partnership agreements (in

16 this section referred to as ‘‘Alliances’’) with an agen17 cy of a State or local government, a non-profit orga18 nization in which a State or local government is a

19 member, an institution of higher education des20 ignated by a State or local government, or a manu21 facturing extension and outreach service or regional

22 technical assistance service approved by the Federal

23 Government or a State in order to—
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1 (A) facilitate access to information incor2 porated in the networks referred to in sub3 section (a); and

4 (B) transfer to entities referred to in para5 graph (2) other information that would enhance

6 the development and adoption of environmental

7 technologies.

8 (2) ENTITIES ELIGIBLE FOR ALLIANCE PAR9 TICIPATION.—Entities eligible for participation in an

10 Alliance include United States companies, United

11 States non-profit organizations, Federal laboratories,

12 United States institutions of higher education, spon13 soring organizations, and other organizations that

14 the Administrator considers to be appropriate.

15 (3) ALLIANCE ACTIVITIES.—Under a partner16 ship agreement referred to in paragraph (1), an Alli17 ance—

18 (A) may disseminate information made

19 available through the networks to any other en20 tity the Alliance considers necessary to advance

21 the goals of this section;

22 (B) is encouraged to collect, and dissemi23 nate to United States companies in the region,

24 information regarding opportunities for the

25 more efficient use of materials and energy and
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1 for waste minimization, materials conversion,

2 and recycling;

3 (C) is encouraged to provide technical as4 sistance to United States companies related to

5 activities under this subsection; and

6 (D) may undertake any other activities the

7 Administrator considers appropriate to carry

8 out this subsection.

9 (4) USE OF EXISTING PROGRAMS.—In selecting

10 partners for a partnership agreement referred to in

11 paragraph (1), the Administrator shall, to the maxi12 mum extent practicable, use existing programs for

13 technical assistance and technical information dis14 semination.

15 (5) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.—

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—To carry out this sub17 section, the Administrator may provide financial

18 assistance to an Alliance under terms and con19 ditions prescribed by the Administrator.

20 (B) LIMITATIONS.—The Administrator

21 may not provide financial assistance to an Alli22 ance under this subsection—

23 (i) for construction of facilities; or
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1 (ii) in an amount that exceeds a mi2 nority cost share of the activities carried

3 out by the Alliance under this subsection.

4 SEC. 4. USE OF ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTS

5 BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

6 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The President shall establish

7 a program for evaluating and approving the purchase by

8 the Federal Government of environmental technology

9 products. The President shall—

10 (1) work with established performance stand11 ards programs to ensure substitutability of environ12 mental technologies for conventional technologies for

13 the purposes of the Federal Government;

14 (2) establish a priority list of technologies for

15 inclusion under the program; and

16 (3) implement a plan for the procurement of

17 environmental technologies.

18 (b) REPORT.—Within one year after the date of the

19 enactment of this Act and annually thereafter, the Presi20 dent shall submit to the Congress a report describing the

21 progress made in carrying out this section and plans for

22 carrying out this section for the three years immediately

23 following the year in which the report is submitted.
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1 SEC. 5. STUDY OF REGULATORY INFLUENCES ON INNOVA2 TION IN ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGIES.

3 (a) REVIEW.—The Administrator, working with

4 State regulatory agencies, shall conduct a study of current

5 environmental regulations and their effect upon innovation

6 in environmental technologies and the introduction of new

7 environmental products.

8 (b) REPORT.—The Administrator shall, within one

9 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, submit

10 to the Congress a report on the results of the study de11 scribed in subsection (a). The report shall contain any

12 suggestions of the Administrator for actions that could be

13 taken to increase the regulatory incentives for industrial

14 use of new environmental technologies.

15 SEC. 6. STUDY OF THE IMPACT OF TAX INCENTIVES ON IN16 NOVATION IN ENVIRONMENTAL TECH17 NOLOGIES.

18 The President shall study the potential for efficiently

19 encouraging the development and use of environmental

20 technologies through tax incentives. The study shall—

21 (1) review existing environmental and tech22 nology development tax incentives and estimate their

23 impact on the development and use of environmental

24 technologies;

25 (2) assess the potential of alternative tax incen26 tives that are considered promising for accelerating
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1 the development and use of environmental tech2 nologies; and

3 (3) in coordination with the study of regulatory

4 effects on innovation in environmental technologies

5 established in section 5, assess the relationship be6 tween existing regulations and proposed regulatory

7 reforms on the influence of existing and potential

8 tax incentives.

9 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

10 For the purposes of this Act:

11 (1) The term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Ad12 ministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

13 (2) The term ‘‘environmental technology’’

14 means—

15 (A) a technology that is primarily intended

16 to improve the quality of the environment

17 through pollution reduction or remediation;

18 (B) a product, manufacturing process, or

19 service that is capable of cost-effectively replac20 ing the functions of an existing product, proc21 ess, or service, and as compared with the prod22 uct, process, or service it replaces, significantly

23 reducing overall pollution or significantly im24 proving the efficiency of energy or materials

25 use; or
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1 (C) a technology within the meaning of

2 subparagraphs (A) and (B).

3 (3) The term ‘‘sustainable economic develop4 ment’’ means the integration of environmental and

5 economic development concerns leading to long-term

6 economic development with reduced pollution and

7 the more efficient use of energy and materials.

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