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106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1742

To authorize appropriations for fiscal years 2000 and 2001 for the environmental and scientific research, development, and demonstration programs, projects, and activities of the Office of Research and Development

and Science Advisory Board of the Environmental Protection Agency,

and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 10, 1999

Mr. CALVERT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Science

A BILL

To authorize appropriations for fiscal years 2000 and 2001

for the environmental and scientific research, development, and demonstration programs, projects, and activities of the Office of Research and Development and

Science Advisory Board of the Environmental Protection

Agency, 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 Protec5 tion Agency Office of Research and Development and

6 Science Advisory Board Authorization Act of 1999’’.
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1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

2 For the purposes of this Act—

3 (1) the term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Ad4 ministrator of the Agency;

5 (2) the term ‘‘Agency’’ means the Environ6 mental Protection Agency; and

7 (3) the term ‘‘Assistant Administrator’’ means

8 the Assistant Administrator for Research and Devel9 opment of the Agency.

10 SEC. 3. OFFICE OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro12 priated to the Administrator for the Office of Research

13 and Development for environmental and scientific re14 search, development, and demonstration programs,

15 projects, and activities for which specific sums are not au16 thorized under other authority of law $504,022,100 for

17 fiscal year 2000 and $519,940,600 for fiscal year 2001,

18 to remain available until expended, of which—

19 (1) $37,300,000 for fiscal year 2000 and

20 $38,419,000 for fiscal year 2001 shall be for envi21 ronmental and scientific research, development, and

22 demonstration programs, projects, and activities re23 lated to the Comprehensive Environmental Re24 sponse, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980,

25 subject to section 9(e) of this Act;
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1 (2) $1,000,000 for fiscal year 2000 and

2 $1,030,000 for fiscal year 2001 shall be for environ3 mental and scientific research, development, and

4 demonstration programs, projects, and activities re5 lated to oil spills;

6 (3) $600,000 for fiscal year 2000 and $618,000

7 for fiscal year 2001 shall be for environmental and

8 scientific research, development, and demonstration

9 programs, projects, and activities related to leaking

10 underground storage tanks; and

11 (4) $491,715,100 for fiscal year 2000 and

12 $506,466,600 for fiscal year 2001 shall be for other

13 environmental and scientific research, development,

14 and demonstration programs, projects, and activities

15 of the Office of Research and Development.

16 (b) LIMITATION.—None of the amounts authorized

17 under subsection (a) may be obligated until 30 days after

18 the Administrator submits to the Committee on Science

19 and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of

20 Representatives, and the Committee on Environment and

21 Public Works and the Committee on Appropriations of the

22 Senate, a report detailing, for fiscal year 2000 and each

23 of the 2 previous fiscal years, for all Office of Research

24 and Development environmental and scientific research,
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1 development, and demonstration programs, projects, and

2 activities, by appropriation goal and objectives—

3 (1) a description of, and funding requested or

4 allocated for, each such program, project, and activ5 ity;

6 (2) an identification of all recipients of funds to

7 conduct such programs, projects, and activities; and

8 (3) an estimate of the amounts to be expended

9 by each recipient of funds identified under para10 graph (2).

11 (c) EXCLUSION.—In the computation of the 30-day

12 period described in subsection (b), there shall be excluded

13 any day on which either House of Congress is not in ses14 sion because of an adjournment of more than 3 days to

15 a day certain.

16 SEC. 4. SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH REVIEW.

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall assign to

18 the Assistant Administrator the duties of—

19 (1) developing a strategic plan for environ20 mental and scientific research, development, and

21 demonstration programs, projects, and activities

22 throughout the Agency;

23 (2) integrating that strategic plan into ongoing

24 Agency planning activities; and
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1 (3) reviewing all Agency environmental and sci2 entific research, development, and demonstration

3 programs, projects, and activities to ensure the re4 search, development, and demonstration—

5 (A) is of high quality; and

6 (B) does not duplicate any other environ7 mental and scientific research, development,

8 and demonstration programs, projects, and ac9 tivities being conducted by the Agency.

10 (b) REPORT.—The Assistant Administrator shall

11 transmit annually to the Administrator and to the Com12 mittee on Science and the Committee on Appropriations

13 of the House of Representatives, and to the Committee

14 on Environment and Public Works and the Committee on

15 Appropriations of the Senate, a report detailing—

16 (1) all Agency environmental and scientific re17 search, development, and demonstration programs,

18 projects, and activities the Assistant Administrator

19 finds is not of sufficiently high quality; and

20 (2) all Agency environmental and scientific re21 search, development, and demonstration programs,

22 projects, and activities the Assistant Administrator

23 finds duplicate other Agency environmental and sci24 entific research, development, and demonstration

25 programs, projects, and activities.
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1 SEC. 5. SCIENCE TO ACHIEVE RESULTS (STAR) GRADUATE

2 STUDENT FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM.

3 In carrying out the Science To Achieve Results

4 (STAR) Graduate Student Fellowship Program, the Ad5 ministrator shall ensure that any fellowship award to a

6 student selected after the date of the enactment of this

7 Act is used only to support scientific research that would

8 further missions of the Office of Research and Develop9 ment in fields in which there exists or is projected to exist

10 a shortage in the number of scientists.

11 SEC. 6. SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD.

12 (a) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Science Advisory Board

13 shall submit to Congress and to the Administrator an an14 nual report that contains the views of the Science Advisory

15 Board on proposed environmental and scientific research,

16 development, and demonstration programs, projects, and

17 activities as described in the Agency’s budget. Such report

18 shall be submitted to Congress as soon as practicable after

19 the submission of the Agency’s budget to Congress. The

20 Administrator shall cooperate with the Chairperson of the

21 Science Advisory Board, particularly with respect to the

22 timely provision of budget information to the Science Ad23 visory Board, to allow the Science Advisory Board to carry

24 out its duties under this subsection.

25 (b) EVALUATION.—The Science Advisory Board shall

26 conduct periodic evaluations of selected areas of the cur-
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1 rent and planned environmental and scientific research,

2 development, and demonstration programs, projects, and

3 activities of the Agency. The areas of evaluation shall be

4 selected by the Science Advisory Board in consultation

5 with the Administrator, the Office of Research and Devel6 opment, other Agency programs, and appropriate commit7 tees of the Congress. Reports containing the Science Advi8 sory Board’s evaluations and recommendations shall be

9 filed with such committees and the Administrator. The

10 Administrator shall provide to such committees a written

11 response to the Science Advisory Board’s evaluation and

12 recommendations within 60 days after the Science Advi13 sory Board’s report has been submitted.

14 (c) REVIEW OF CERTAIN PROGRAMS, PROJECTS, AND

15 ACTIVITIES.—The Science Advisory Board shall annually

16 review the environmental and scientific research, develop17 ment, and demonstration programs, projects, and activi18 ties of the Agency and shall include the results of such

19 review in the annual report required by subsection (a).

20 (d) SUBMISSION TO CONGRESS.—The Administrator

21 shall submit to the Congress any report required by law

22 to be submitted to the Administrator by the Science Advi23 sory Board. The Administrator shall make any such sub24 mission not later than 60 days after the Administrator

25 receives the report from the Science Advisory Board.
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1 (e) AUTHORIZATION.—There are authorized to be ap2 propriated to the Administrator $2,636,200 for fiscal year

3 2000 and $2,768,000 for fiscal year 2001 for activities

4 of the Science Advisory Board.

5 SEC. 7. NOTICE.

6 (a) REPROGRAMMING.—The Administrator may use

7 for any authorized activities of the Office of Research and

8 Development or the Science Advisory Board under this

9 Act—

10 (1) up to the lesser of $250,000 or 5 percent

11 of the total funding for a fiscal year of an environ12 mental or scientific research, development, or dem13 onstration program, project, or activity of the Office

14 of Research and Development or the Science Advi15 sory Board; or

16 (2) after the expiration of 60 days after trans17 mitting to the Committee on Science and the Com18 mittee on Appropriations of the House of Represent19 atives, and to the Committee on Environment and

20 Public Works and the Committee on Appropriations

21 of the Senate, a report described in subsection (b),

22 up to 25 percent of the total funding for a fiscal

23 year of an environmental or scientific research, de24 velopment, or demonstration program, project, or ac-
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1 tivity of the Office of Research and Development or

2 the Science Advisory Board.

3 (b) REPORT.—(1) The report referred to in sub4 section (a)(2) is a report containing a full and complete

5 statement of the action proposed to be taken and the facts

6 and circumstances relied upon in support of such proposed

7 action.

8 (2) In the computation of the 60-day period under

9 subsection (a)(2), there shall be excluded any day on

10 which either House of Congress is not in session because

11 of an adjournment of more than 3 days to a day certain.

12 (c) LIMITATIONS.—In no event may funds be used

13 pursuant to subsection (a) for an environmental or sci14 entific research, development, or demonstration program,

15 project, or activity for which funding has been requested

16 to the Congress but which has not been funded by the

17 Congress.

18 (d) ANNUAL OPERATING PLAN.—The Administrator

19 shall provide simultaneously to the Committee on Science

20 and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of

21 Representatives, and to the Committee on Environment

22 and Public Works and the Committee on Appropriations

23 of the Senate, any annual operating plan or other oper24 ational funding document, including any additions or
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1 amendments thereto, provided to any committee of Con2 gress.

3 (e) COPY OF REPORTS.—In addition to the docu4 ments required under subsection (d), the Administrator

5 shall provide copies simultaneously to the Committee on

6 Science and the Committee on Appropriations of the

7 House of Representatives, and to the Committee on Envi8 ronment and Public Works and the Committee on Appro9 priations of the Senate, of any report relating to the envi10 ronmental or scientific research, development, or dem11 onstration programs, projects, or activities of the Office

12 of Research and Development or the Science Advisory

13 Board prepared at the direction of any committee of Con14 gress.

15 (f) NOTICE OF REORGANIZATION.—The Adminis16 trator shall provide notice to the Committee on Science

17 and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of

18 Representatives, and to the Committee on Environment

19 and Public Works and the Committee on Appropriations

20 of the Senate, not later than 15 days before any major

21 reorganization of any environmental or scientific research,

22 development, or demonstration program, project, or activ23 ity of the Office of Research and Development or the

24 Science Advisory Board.
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1 SEC. 8. BUDGET REQUEST FORMAT.

2 The Administrator shall provide to the Congress, to

3 be transmitted at the same time as the Agency’s annual

4 budget request submission, a detailed justification for

5 budget authorization for the programs, projects, and ac6 tivities for which funds are authorized by this Act. Each

7 such document shall include, for the fiscal year for which

8 funding is being requested and for the 2 previous fiscal

9 years—

10 (1) a description of, and funding requested or

11 allocated for, each such program, project, and activ12 ity;

13 (2) an identification of all recipients of funds to

14 conduct such programs, projects, and activities; and

15 (3) an estimate of the amounts to be expended

16 by each recipient of funds identified under para17 graph (2).

18 The document required by this section shall be presented

19 in the format employed by, and with the level of detail

20 included in, the document entitled ‘‘Department of Energy

21 FY 2000 Congressional Budget Request, DOE/CR–0062,

22 Volume 3’’, dated February 1999.

23 SEC. 9. LIMITS ON USE OF FUNDS.

24 (a) TRAVEL.—Not more than 1 percent of the funds

25 authorized by this Act may be used either directly or indi26 rectly to fund travel costs of the Agency or travel costs
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1 for persons awarded grants, contracts, subcontracts, or

2 any other form of financial assistance by the Agency. As

3 part of the Agency’s annual budget request submission to

4 the Congress, the Administrator shall submit a report to

5 the Committee on Science and the Committee on Appro6 priations of the House of Representatives, and to the

7 Committee on Environment and Public Works and the

8 Committee on Appropriations of the Senate, that

9 identifies—

10 (1) the estimated amount of travel costs by the

11 Agency and for persons awarded grants, contracts,

12 subcontracts, or any other form of financial assist13 ance by the Agency for the fiscal year of such budg14 et submission, as well as for the 2 previous fiscal

15 years;

16 (2) the major purposes for such travel; and

17 (3) the sources of funds for such travel.

18 (b) TRADE ASSOCIATIONS.—No funds authorized by

19 this Act may be used either directly or indirectly to fund

20 a grant, contract, subcontract, or any other form of finan21 cial assistance awarded by the Agency to a trade associa22 tion on a noncompetitive basis. As part of the Agency’s

23 annual budget request submission to the Congress, the

24 Administrator shall submit a report to the Committee on

25 Science and the Committee on Appropriations of the
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1 House of Representatives, and to the Committee on Envi2 ronment and Public Works and the Committee on Appro3 priations of the Senate, that identifies—

4 (1) the estimated amount of funds provided by

5 the Agency to trade associations, by trade associa6 tion, for the fiscal year of such budget submission,

7 as well as for the 2 previous fiscal years;

8 (2) the services either provided or to be pro9 vided by each such trade association; and

10 (3) the sources of funds for services provided by

11 each such trade association.

12 (c) KYOTO PROTOCOL.—None of the funds author13 ized by this Act may be used either directly or indirectly

14 for the purpose of implementation, or in preparation for

15 implementation, of the Kyoto Protocol which was adopted

16 on December 11, 1997, in Kyoto, Japan, at the Third

17 Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Frame18 work Convention on Climate Change, unless it has been

19 ratified by the Senate and has entered into force pursuant

20 to article 25 of the Protocol.

21 (d) HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING AND COMMU22 NICATIONS (HPCC) PROGRAM.—None of the funds au23 thorized by this Act may be used for the Agency’s High

24 Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC)

25 Program.
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1 (e) ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT,

2 AND DEMONSTRATION PROJECT.—Of the amounts au3 thorized under section 3(a)(1), $1,000,000 for fiscal year

4 2000 shall be for a field-scale environmental research, de5 velopment, and demonstration project at an existing site

6 for remediation of soils contaminated by recalcitrant hy7 drocarbon and lead contaminants using technologies and

8 processes capable of homogenizing soil while injecting both

9 oxidizers and catalysts to the degree necessary for chem10 ical oxidation to occur and that renders lead contaminants

11 essentially inert.

12 SEC. 10. LIMITATION ON DEMONSTRATIONS.

13 The Agency shall provide funding for environmental

14 or scientific demonstration programs, projects, or activi15 ties of the Office of Research and Development or the

16 Science Advisory Board only for technologies or processes

17 that are substantially new, and not for incremental im18 provements to technologies that exist in the marketplace,

19 except as specifically authorized by this Act.

20 SEC. 11. FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION.

21 (a) REQUIREMENT.—None of the funds authorized to

22 be appropriated by this Act may be used to award, amend,

23 or modify a contract of the Office of Research and Devel24 opment or the Science Advisory Board in a manner that

25 deviates from the Federal Acquisition Regulation, unless
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1 the Administrator grants, on a case-by-case basis, a waiver

2 to allow for such a deviation. The Administrator may not

3 delegate the authority to grant such a waiver.

4 (b) CONGRESSIONAL NOTICE.—At least 60 days be5 fore a contract award, amendment, or modification for

6 which the Administrator intends to grant such a waiver,

7 the Administrator shall submit to the Committee on

8 Science and the Committee on Appropriations of the

9 House of Representatives, and to the Committee on Envi10 ronment and Public Works and the Committee on Appro11 priations of the Senate, a report notifying the committees

12 of the waiver and setting forth the reasons for the waiver.

13 SEC. 12. REQUESTS FOR PROPOSALS.

14 None of the funds authorized to be appropriated by

15 this Act may be used by the Agency to prepare or initiate

16 Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for a program, project, or

17 activity if the program, project, or activity has not been

18 specifically authorized by Congress.

19 SEC. 13. PRODUCTION OR PROVISION OF ARTICLES OR

20 SERVICES.

21 None of the funds authorized to be appropriated by

22 this Act may be used by any program, project, or activity

23 of the Office of Research and Development or the Science

24 Advisory Board to produce or provide articles or services

25 for the purpose of selling the articles or services to a per-
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1 son outside the Federal Government, unless the Adminis2 trator determines that comparable articles or services are

3 not available from a commercial source in the United

4 States.

5 SEC. 14. ELIGIBILITY FOR AWARDS.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall exclude

7 from consideration for grant agreements made after fiscal

8 year 1999 by the Office of Research and Development or

9 the Science Advisory Board, under the programs, projects,

10 and activities for which funds are authorized under this

11 Act, any person who received funds, other than those de12 scribed in subsection (b), appropriated for a fiscal year

13 after fiscal year 1999, under a grant agreement from any

14 Federal funding source for a project that was not sub15 jected to a competitive, merit-based award process, except

16 as specifically authorized by this Act. Any exclusion from

17 consideration pursuant to this section shall be effective for

18 a period of 5 years after the person receives such Federal

19 funds.

20 (b) EXCEPTION.—Subsection (a) shall not apply to

21 the receipt of Federal funds by a person due to the mem22 bership of that person in a class specified by law for which

23 assistance is awarded to members of the class according

24 to a formula provided by law.
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1 (c) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the

2 term ‘‘grant agreement’’ means a legal instrument whose

3 principal purpose is to transfer a thing of value to the

4 recipient to carry out a public purpose of support or stim5 ulation authorized by a law of the United States, and does

6 not include the acquisition (by purchase, lease, or barter)

7 of property or services for the direct benefit or use of the

8 United States Government. Such term does not include

9 a cooperative agreement (as such term is used in section

10 6305 of title 31, United States Code) or a cooperative re11 search and development agreement (as such term is de12 fined in section 12(d)(1) of the Stevenson-Wydler Tech13 nology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3710a(d)(1))).

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