II

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 541

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to coordinate and promote

Great Lakes activities, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 10 (legislative day, MARCH 6), 1995

Mr. GLENN (for himself, Mr. DEWINE, Mr. LEVIN, and Mr. FEINGOLD) 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 coordinate and promote Great Lakes activities, 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 ‘‘Great Lakes Federal

5 Effectiveness Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. GREAT LAKES RESEARCH COUNCIL.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 118 of the Federal Water

8 Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1268) is amended—

9 (1) in subsection (a)(3)—
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1 (A) by striking subparagraph (E) and in2 serting the following:

3 ‘‘(E) ‘Council’ means the Great Lakes Re4 search Council established by subsection

5 (d)(1);’’;

6 (B) in subparagraph (I), by striking ‘‘and’’

7 at the end;

8 (C) in subparagraph (J), by striking the

9 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

10 (D) by adding at the end the following:

11 ‘‘(K) ‘Great Lakes research’ means the ap12 plication of scientific or engineering expertise to

13 explain, understand, and predict a physical,

14 chemical, biological, or socioeconomic process,

15 or the interaction of 1 or more of the processes,

16 in the Great Lakes ecosystem.’’;

17 (2) by striking subsection (d) and inserting the

18 following:

19 ‘‘(d) GREAT LAKES RESEARCH COUNCIL.—

20 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT OF COUNCIL.—There is

21 established a Great Lakes Research Council.

22 ‘‘(2) DUTIES OF COUNCIL.—The Council

23 shall—

24 ‘‘(A) advise and promote the coordination

25 of Federal Great Lakes research activities to
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1 avoid unnecessary duplication and ensure great2 er effectiveness in achieving protection of the

3 Great Lakes ecosystem through the goals of the

4 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement;

5 ‘‘(B) not later than 1 year after the date

6 of enactment of this subparagraph and bienni7 ally thereafter, after providing opportunity for

8 public review and comment, prepare and pro9 vide to interested parties a document that in10 cludes—

11 ‘‘(i) an assessment of the Great Lakes

12 research activities needed to fulfill the

13 goals of the Great Lakes Water Quality

14 Agreement;

15 ‘‘(ii) an assessment of Federal exper16 tise and capabilities in the activities needed

17 to fulfill the goals of the Great Lakes

18 Water Quality Agreement, including an in19 ventory of Federal Great Lakes research

20 programs, projects, facilities, and person21 nel; and

22 ‘‘(iii) recommendations for long-term

23 and short-term priorities for Federal Great

24 Lakes research, based on a comparison of

25 the assessment conducted under clause (i)
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1 and the assessment conducted under clause

2 (ii);

3 ‘‘(C) identify topics for and participate in

4 meetings, workshops, symposia, and conferences

5 on Great Lakes research issues;

6 ‘‘(D) make recommendations for the uni7 form collection of data for enhancing Great

8 Lakes research and management protocols re9 lating to the Great Lakes ecosystem;

10 ‘‘(E) advise and cooperate in—

11 ‘‘(i) improving the compatible integra12 tion of multimedia data concerning the

13 Great Lakes ecosystem; and

14 ‘‘(ii) any effort to establish a com15 prehensive multimedia data base for the

16 Great Lakes ecosystem; and

17 ‘‘(F) ensure that the results, findings, and

18 information regarding Great Lakes research

19 programs conducted or sponsored by the Fed20 eral Government are disseminated in a timely

21 manner, and in useful forms, to interested per22 sons, using to the maximum extent practicable

23 mechanisms in existence on the date of the dis24 semination, such as the Great Lakes Research
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1 Inventory prepared by the International Joint

2 Commission.

3 ‘‘(3) MEMBERSHIP.—

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Council shall con5 sist of 1 research manager with extensive

6 knowledge of, and scientific expertise and expe7 rience in, the Great Lakes ecosystem from each

8 of the following agencies and instrumentalities:

9 ‘‘(i) The Agency.

10 ‘‘(ii) The National Oceanic and At11 mospheric Administration.

12 ‘‘(iii) The National Biological Service.

13 ‘‘(iv) The United States Fish and

14 Wildlife Service.

15 ‘‘(v) Any other Federal agency or in16 strumentality that expends $1,000,000 or

17 more for a fiscal year on Great Lakes re18 search.

19 ‘‘(vi) Any other Federal agency or in20 strumentality that a majority of the Coun21 cil membership determines should be rep22 resented on the Council.

23 ‘‘(B) NONVOTING MEMBERS.—At the re24 quest of a majority of the Council membership,

25 any person who is a representative of a Federal
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1 agency or instrumentality not described in sub2 paragraph (A) or any person who is not a Fed3 eral employee may serve as a nonvoting member

4 of the Council.

5 ‘‘(4) CHAIRPERSON.—The chairperson of the

6 Council shall be a member of the Council from an

7 agency specified in clause (i), (ii), or (iii) of para8 graph (3)(A) who is elected by a majority vote of the

9 members of the Council. The chairperson shall serve

10 as chairperson for a period of 2 years. A member of

11 the Council may not serve as chairperson for more

12 than 2 consecutive terms.

13 ‘‘(5) EXPENSES.—While performing official du14 ties as a member of the Council, a member shall be

15 allowed travel or transportation expenses under sec16 tion 5703 of title 5, United States Code.

17 ‘‘(6) INTERAGENCY COOPERATION.—The head

18 of each Federal agency or instrumentality that is

19 represented on the Council—

20 ‘‘(A) shall cooperate with the Council in

21 implementing the recommendations developed

22 under paragraph (2);

23 ‘‘(B) may, on written request of the chair24 person of the Council, make available, on a re25 imbursable basis or otherwise, such personnel,
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1 services, or facilities as may be necessary to as2 sist the Council in carrying out the duties of

3 the Council under this section; and

4 ‘‘(C) shall, on written request from the

5 chairperson, furnish data or information nec6 essary to carry out the duties of the Council

7 under this section.

8 ‘‘(7) INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION.—The

9 Council shall cooperate, to the maximum extent

10 practicable, with the research coordination efforts of

11 the Council of Great Lakes Research Managers of

12 the International Joint Commission.

13 ‘‘(8) REIMBURSEMENT FOR REQUESTED ACTIVI14 TIES.—Each Federal agency or instrumentality rep15 resented on the Council may reimburse another Fed16 eral agency or instrumentality or a non-Federal en17 tity for costs associated with activities authorized

18 under this subsection that are carried out by the

19 other agency, instrumentality, or entity at the re20 quest of the Council.

21 ‘‘(9) FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ACT.—

22 The Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C.

23 App.) shall not apply to the Council.

24 ‘‘(10) EFFECT ON OTHER LAW.—Nothing in

25 this subsection affects the authority of any Federal
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1 agency or instrumentality, under any law, to under2 take Great Lakes research activities.’’;

3 (3) in subsection (e)—

4 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘the Pro5 gram Office and the Research Office shall pre6 pare a joint research plan’’ and inserting ‘‘the

7 Program Office, in consultation with the Coun8 cil, shall prepare a research plan’’; and

9 (B) in paragraph (3)(A), by striking ‘‘the

10 Research Office, the Agency for Toxic Sub11 stances and Disease Registry, and Great Lakes

12 States’’ and inserting ‘‘the Council, the Agency

13 for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and

14 Great Lakes States,’’; and

15 (4) in subsection (h)—

16 (A) in paragraph (1), by adding ‘‘and’’ at

17 the end;

18 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘; and’’

19 and inserting a period; and

20 (C) by striking paragraph (3).

21 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The second sen22 tence of section 403(a) of the Marine Protection, Re23 search, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1447b(a))

24 is amended by striking ‘‘Great Lakes Research Office au-
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1 thorized under’’ and inserting ‘‘Great Lakes Research

2 Council established by’’.

Æ