II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1458 

To amend the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 to 

ensure scientific transparency in the development of environmental regulations and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 22, 2015 

Mr. COATS (for himself, Mr. MANCHIN, and Mrs. CAPITO) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act 

of 1977 to ensure scientific transparency in the development of environmental regulations 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 ‘‘Supporting Trans5 parent Regulatory and Environmental Actions in Mining 

6 Act of 2015’’ or the ‘‘STREAM Act of 2015’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. PUBLICATION OF SCIENTIFIC PRODUCTS FOR 

2 RULES AND RELATED ENVIRONMENTAL IM3 PACT STATEMENTS, ENVIRONMENTAL AS4 SESSMENTS, AND ECONOMIC ASSESSMENTS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title V of the Surface Mining 

6 Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 1251 

7 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 530. PUBLICATION OF SCIENTIFIC PRODUCTS FOR 

9 RULES AND RELATED ENVIRONMENTAL IM10 PACT STATEMENTS, ENVIRONMENTAL AS11 SESSMENTS, AND ECONOMIC ASSESSMENTS. 

12 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

13 ‘‘(1) AGENCY ACTION.—The term ‘agency ac14 tion’ has the meaning given the term in section 551 

15 of title 5, United States Code. 

16 ‘‘(2) BACKGROUND INFORMATION.—The term 

17 ‘background information’ means— 

18 ‘‘(A) a biographical document, including a 

19 curriculum vitae or resume, that details the ex20 haustive, professional work history, education, 

21 and any professional memberships of a person; 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(B) the amount and date of any Federal 

24 grants or contracts received by that person. 

25 ‘‘(3) ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT.—The term ‘eco26 nomic assessment’ means any assessment prepared 

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1 by a Federal agency in accordance with section 

2 6(a)(3)(C) of Executive Order 12866 (5 U.S.C. 601 

3 note; relating to regulatory planning and review). 

4 ‘‘(4) ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT.—The 

5 term ‘environmental assessment’ has the meaning 

6 given the term in section 1508.9 of title 40, Code of 

7 Federal Regulations. 

8 ‘‘(5) ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT.— 

9 The term ‘environmental impact statement’ means 

10 any environmental impact statement or similar anal11 ysis required under the National Environmental Pol12 icy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). 

13 ‘‘(6) PUBLICLY AVAILABLE.—The term ‘pub14 licly available’ means published online on— 

15 ‘‘(A) a publicly accessible website that al16 lows the submission of comments on proposed 

17 regulations and related documents published by 

18 the Federal Government; 

19 ‘‘(B) a publicly accessible website of the 

20 Secretary; and 

21 ‘‘(C) the website of the Federal Register. 

22 ‘‘(7) RAW DATA.—The term ‘raw data’ means 

23 any computational process or quantitative or quali24 tative data processed from a source that is relied 

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1 upon in a scientific product to support a finding or 

2 observation. 

3 ‘‘(8) RELIED UPON.—The term ‘relied upon’ 

4 means explicitly cited or referenced in a rule, envi5 ronmental impact statement, environmental assess6 ment, or economic assessment. 

7 ‘‘(9) RULE.—The term ‘rule’ has the meaning 

8 given the term in section 551 of title 5, United 

9 States Code. 

10 ‘‘(10) SCIENTIFIC METHOD.—The term ‘sci11 entific method’ means a method of research under 

12 which— 

13 ‘‘(A) a problem is identified; 

14 ‘‘(B) relevant data are gathered; 

15 ‘‘(C) a hypothesis is formulated from the 

16 data; and 

17 ‘‘(D) the hypothesis is empirically tested in 

18 a manner specified by documented protocols 

19 and procedures. 

20 ‘‘(11) SCIENTIFIC PRODUCT.—The term ‘sci21 entific product’ means any product that— 

22 ‘‘(A) employs the scientific method for 

23 inventorying, monitoring, experimenting, study24 ing, researching, and modeling purposes; and 

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1 ‘‘(B) is relied upon by the Secretary in de2 velopment of any rule, environmental impact 

3 statement, environmental assessment, or eco4 nomic assessment. 

5 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary shall— 

6 ‘‘(1) make publicly available on the date of the 

7 publication of any draft, final, emergency, or supple8 mental rule under this Act, or any related environ9 mental impact statement, environmental assessment, 

10 or economic assessment, each scientific product the 

11 Secretary relied upon in developing the rule, environ12 mental impact statement, environmental assessment, 

13 or economic assessment; and 

14 ‘‘(2) for those scientific products receiving Fed15 eral funds, also make publicly available— 

16 ‘‘(A) the raw data used for the federally 

17 funded scientific product; and 

18 ‘‘(B) background information of the au19 thors of the scientific study. 

20 ‘‘(c) COMPLIANCE.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

22 failure to comply with the publication requirements 

23 of subsection (b)— 

24 ‘‘(A) with respect to draft or supplemental 

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1 ronmental assessments, or economic assess2 ments shall extend by 1 day the notice and 

3 comment period for each day of noncompliance; 

4 or 

5 ‘‘(B) with respect to final or emergency 

6 rules, shall delay the effective date of the final 

7 rule by 60 days plus an additional day for each 

8 day of noncompliance. 

9 ‘‘(2) WITHDRAWAL.—If the Secretary fails to 

10 comply with the publication requirements of sub11 section (b) for more than 180 days after the date of 

12 publication of any rule, or any related environmental 

13 impact statement, environmental assessment, or eco14 nomic assessment, under this Act, the Secretary 

15 shall withdraw the rule, environmental impact state16 ment, environmental assessment, or economic assess17 ment.’’. 

18 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con19 tents for the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act 

20 of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 1201 et seq.) is amended by inserting 

21 after the item relating to section 529 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 530. Publication of scientific products for rules and related environmental 

impact statements, environmental assessments, and economic 

assessments.’’. 

22 SEC. 3. COMPLIANCE WITH OTHER FEDERAL LAWS. 

23 Section 702 of the Surface Mining Control and Rec24 lamation Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 1292) is amended— 

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1 (1) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as 

2 subsection (e) and (f), respectively; and 

3 (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(c) COMPLIANCE WITH OTHER FEDERAL LAWS.— 

6 Nothing in this Act authorizes the Secretary to take any 

7 action by rule, interpretive rule, policy, regulation, notice, 

8 or order that duplicates any action taken under an Act 

9 referred to in subsection (a) (including regulations and 

10 rules). 

11 ‘‘(d) DEFERENCE TO IMPLEMENTING AGENCIES AND

12 STATE AUTHORITIES.—In carrying out this Act (including 

13 rules, interpretive rules, policies, regulations, notices, or 

14 orders), the Secretary— 

15 ‘‘(1) shall defer to the determinations of an 

16 agency or State authority implementing an Act re17 ferred to in subsection (a) with respect to any agen18 cy action under the jurisdiction of the agency or 

19 State authority, as applicable; and 

20 ‘‘(2) shall not make any determination regard21 ing any agency action subject to an Act referred to 

22 in subsection (a).’’. 

Æ 

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