I 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5402 

To amend the Small Business Act to establish the Office of Environment, 

Energy, and Climate Change and to establish the Climate Change Center 

and Clearinghouse to provide support and information on climate change 

to small business concerns. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 12, 2008 

Mr. WELCH of Vermont (for himself, Mr. INSLEE, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. DAVIS

of Illinois, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. MILLER of North Carolina, Mr. VAN

HOLLEN, Mr. WYNN, Mr. HALL of New York, and Mr. CARNAHAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small 

Business 

A BILL 

To amend the Small Business Act to establish the Office 

of Environment, Energy, and Climate Change and to 

establish the Climate Change Center and Clearinghouse 

to provide support and information on climate change 

to small business concerns. 

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 ‘‘Climate Change Center 

5 and Clearinghouse Act of 2008’’. 


hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
2 

•HR 5402 IH

1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 The Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) There are 26.8 million small business con4 cerns in the United States, and they are the back5 bone of the American economy. However, small busi6 ness concerns face overwhelming obstacles in ad7 dressing climate change issues, such as reducing 

8 their carbon footprint while balancing business needs 

9 to remain economically competitive. 

10 (2) The United States Government is the larg11 est purchaser of goods and services in the world and 

12 plays a large role in influencing the overall business 

13 marketplace. In 2006, the United States Govern14 ment spent over $417 billion on goods and services 

15 in 8.3 million separate contract actions. Small busi16 ness concerns won approximately $80 billion in con17 tracts which is about 21.5 percent of the remaining 

18 prime contracts. 

19 (3) The Small Business Act of 1953 specified 

20 that small business concerns should be given every 

21 opportunity to compete fairly for the award of Fed22 eral contracts. Congress has long recognized the 

23 value of small business concerns because they are 

24 important sources of job creation and economic 

25 growth; however, small business concerns are typiVerDate Aug 31 2005 21:58 Feb 14, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5402.IH H5402

hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
3 

•HR 5402 IH

1 cally disadvantaged in competing against large 

2 firms. 

3 (4) The United States Environmental Protec4 tion Agency has created a directory to help small 

5 business concerns access financial services by State 

6 or service type (i.e. loans, consulting, credit, etc.) to 

7 help small business concerns achieve energy effi8 ciency through their Energy Star Small Business— 

9 Financial Resources Directory. 

10 (5) The fusion of a powerful purchasing mecha11 nism with green business practices provides a small 

12 business concern with significant incentives and op13 portunities for market penetration of environ14 mentally preferable products, for the development of 

15 green services, and for the adoption of green prac16 tices in their own facilities. 

17 (6) Many small business concerns have taken 

18 the first step in incorporating sustainable practices 

19 into their own business, however small business con20 cerns face obstacles in comparing the cost, perform21 ance, and life cycle environmental impacts of alter22 natives. Most small business concerns do not have 

23 the scientific and technical capability to fully assess 

24 the issues and choices to address the impact of cli25 mate change. In addition, small business concerns 


hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
4 

•HR 5402 IH

1 offering green products and services often face bar2 riers to market acceptance of environmentally pref3 erable products and services when competing with 

4 products or service practices that have long-standing 

5 market penetration. 

6 (7) It is vital for the competitiveness of the 

7 United States that small business concerns, includ8 ing small, minority-owned, women-owned, historically 

9 underutilized businesses (HUBZones), and veteran10 owned small business concerns be provided greater 

11 opportunity to become a procurement source for 

12 goods and services to Federal agencies. It is also 

13 critical that small business concerns be encouraged 

14 to develop and supply environmentally sound prod15 ucts and services. 

16 (8) By utilizing new energy efficient tech17 nologies and whole building design practices, small 

18 business concerns can save in long-term operating 

19 costs, become more competitive, improve the produc20 tivity and health of employees, and reduce their car21 bon footprint. 

22 (9) In the National Small Business Associa23 tion’s 2006 energy survey, the majority of owners of 

24 small business concerns said they have been affected 

25 by rising energy prices and that reducing energy 


hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
5 

•HR 5402 IH

1 costs would increase profitability. At the same time, 

2 over half of these entrepreneurs have not invested in 

3 energy efficient programs for their small business 

4 concerns. 

5 (10) There are many ways to increase energy 

6 efficiency. For example, an owner of a small busi7 ness concern who replaces twenty 100-watt incandes8 cent bulbs with 27-watt compact fluorescent bulbs 

9 would pay $400 up-front, but save $980 over one 

10 year. 

11 (11) Today, buildings account for more than a 

12 third of the carbon emissions in the United States. 

13 Whole building design practices, also known as green 

14 buildings, have a positive effect on the reduction of 

15 green house gases and the health of the environ16 ment, increase production of workers, and improve 

17 the water supply for communities. Studies have 

18 shown— 

19 (A) a 2 to 16 percent increase in produc20 tivity in buildings that incorporate whole build21 ing design practices; and 

22 (B) that an up-front investment of 2 per23 cent in whole building design practices, on aver24 age, results in life cycle savings of 20 percent 

25 of the total construction costs. 


hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
6 

•HR 5402 IH

1 (12) Some of the tools that a small business 

2 concern could use to design are— 

3 (A) green roofs, vegetated roof systems 

4 that passively perform no less than eight highly 

5 beneficial and cost-saving functions; 

6 (B) daylighting, because people respond, 

7 concentrate, and think better with diffuse, full8 spectrum light provided by the sun; 

9 (C) on-site renewable energy, produced 

10 from fuels that have a stable, predictable supply 

11 such as solar, wind, biomass, and ground 

12 sources; 

13 (D) natural ventilation, which can replace 

14 all or part of mechanical ventilation systems, 

15 improving indoor air quality and occupant com16 fort; and 

17 (E) integrated design, the method by 

18 which the design team identifies systems early 

19 in the process to provide a coordinated imple20 mentation of efficiency and building methods, 

21 realizing an exponential gain in savings and 

22 comfort. 


hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
7 

•HR 5402 IH

1 SEC. 3. OFFICE OF ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY, AND CLIMATE 

2 CHANGE. 

3 The Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.) is 

4 amended by redesignating section 37 as section 38, and 

5 by inserting after section 36 the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 38. OFFICE OF ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY, AND CLI7 MATE CHANGE. 

8 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established within 

9 the Small Business Administration an office to be known 

10 as the Office of Environment, Energy, and Climate 

11 Change headed by an Assistant Administrator for Envi12 ronment, Energy, and Climate Change, who shall be ap13 pointed by, and report to, the Administrator of the Small 

14 Business Administration. 

15 ‘‘(b) DUTIES.—The Office of Environment, Energy, 

16 and Climate Change shall— 

17 ‘‘(1) oversee and administer the Climate 

18 Change Center and Clearinghouse established under 

19 subsection (c); 

20 ‘‘(2) promote energy efficiency efforts for small 

21 business concerns; 

22 ‘‘(3) promote efforts to reduce energy costs of 

23 small business concerns; and 

24 ‘‘(4) oversee efforts by small business concerns 

25 to develop renewable energy technologies. 


hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
8 

•HR 5402 IH

1 ‘‘(c) CLIMATE CHANGE CENTER AND CLEARING2 HOUSE.— 

3 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established 

4 within the Office of Environment, Energy, and Cli5 mate Change an office to be known as the Climate 

6 Change Center and Clearinghouse (hereinafter in 

7 this section referred to as the ‘Center’). 

8 ‘‘(2) DUTIES OF THE CENTER.—The Center 

9 shall— 

10 ‘‘(A) provide scientific, economic, and tech11 nical information to small business concerns 

12 on— 

13 ‘‘(i) assessing and managing the tech14 nical, economic, and business impacts of 

15 climate change; and 

16 ‘‘(ii) cost savings and revenue gains 

17 made possible through carbon credit trad18 ing opportunities and Federal and State 

19 renewable energy and energy efficiency tax 

20 relief programs, purchase incentives, and 

21 rebate programs; 

22 ‘‘(B) ensure that the information described 

23 in subparagraph (A) is available to small busi24 ness concerns by— 


hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
9 

•HR 5402 IH

1 ‘‘(i) placing the information on a 

2 website accessible by small business con3 cerns; and 

4 ‘‘(ii) developing and carrying out na5 tionwide workshops for small business con6 cerns, with such workshops recorded and 

7 made available to small business concerns 

8 on a website and, if practicable, broadcast 

9 live on the internet; 

10 ‘‘(C) coordinate any efforts which are un11 dertaken by the Department of Energy’s Om12 budsman, the Environmental Protection Agen13 cy’s Small Business Ombudsman, the National 

14 Institute of Standards and Technology’s Manu15 facturing Extension Partnership, the Small 

16 Business and Agriculture Regulatory Enforce17 ment Ombudsman, the Office of Small and Dis18 advantaged Business Utilization within each 

19 Federal agency having procurement powers, 

20 and other appropriate Federal departments and 

21 agencies to provide technical, scientific, and en22 gineering support to small business concerns for 

23 the purpose of maintaining competitiveness 

24 while— 


hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
10 

•HR 5402 IH

1 ‘‘(i) developing green products or serv2 ices; 

3 ‘‘(ii) implementing green business 

4 practices; or 

5 ‘‘(iii) reducing the amount of pollution 

6 produced by the small business concern; 

7 ‘‘(D) develop a baseline study— 

8 ‘‘(i) that provides a broad analysis 

9 that aggregates small business energy con10 sumption and emissions; 

11 ‘‘(ii) that includes, but is not limited 

12 to, an analysis of the energy consumption 

13 and greenhouse gas emissions from proc14 esses, practices, and product developments 

15 of small business concerns; 

16 ‘‘(iii) the development of which the 

17 Center shall coordinate with similar efforts 

18 undertaken by other Federal agencies; and 

19 ‘‘(iv) which upon completion is made 

20 available to the public on a website. 

21 ‘‘(E) raise awareness among small business 

22 concerns of the information, technical support, 

23 and network opportunities made available 

24 through the Energy Star Program to reduce en25 ergy waste and energy costs; 


hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
11 

•HR 5402 IH

1 ‘‘(F) develop a carbon footprint website 

2 that contains— 

3 ‘‘(i) educational and technical infor4 mation on how small business concerns can 

5 reduce their carbon footprint; 

6 ‘‘(ii) links to tools and information re7 lating to carbon footprints available on 

8 other websites; and 

9 ‘‘(iii) a carbon footprint calculator 

10 which can calculate a rough estimate of a 

11 small business concern’s carbon emissions 

12 based on, but not limited to, the concern’s 

13 electricity usage, heating fuel usage, and 

14 fleet mileage; and 

15 ‘‘(G) develop a marketing plan and coordi16 nate with the Office of Small Business Develop17 ment Centers to raise awareness among small 

18 business concerns of the Center’s duties and 

19 available resources. 

20 ‘‘(3) DUTIES OF THE HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS

21 AND AGENCIES.—The head of each Federal depart22 ment or agency shall provide information to the Cen23 ter, upon request, unless otherwise prohibited by 

24 law. 

25 ‘‘(d) INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP.— 


hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
12 

•HR 5402 IH

1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The President shall estab2 lish an interagency working group, which shall be 

3 co-chaired by the Assistant Administrator for Envi4 ronment, Energy, and Climate Change and the Ad5 ministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency 

6 and shall include representatives from— 

7 ‘‘(A) the National Institute of Standards 

8 and Technology; 

9 ‘‘(B) the Department of Energy; 

10 ‘‘(C) the Department of Transportation; 

11 ‘‘(D) the Office of Small Business Develop12 ment Centers; 

13 ‘‘(E) small business concerns; and 

14 ‘‘(F) any additional agency that the Presi15 dent may designate. 

16 ‘‘(2) ADVISORS.—The co-chairs of the inter17 agency working group may appoint representatives 

18 from environmental groups and groups concerned 

19 with climate change to advise the working group. 

20 ‘‘(3) DUTIES.—The interagency working group 

21 shall— 

22 ‘‘(A) establish goals and priorities for the 

23 Center; and 


hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
13 

•HR 5402 IH

1 ‘‘(B) provide for interagency coordination, 

2 including budget coordination, of activities un3 dertaken by the Center. 

4 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.— 

5 ‘‘(1) GREEN PRODUCTS OR SERVICES AND

6 GREEN BUSINESS PRACTICES.—The Administrator 

7 of the Small Business Administration shall, in con8 sultation with the Environmental Protection Agency, 

9 the General Services Administration, and other ap10 propriate Federal departments and agencies, specify 

11 a detailed definition for the terms ‘green products or 

12 services’ and ‘green business practices’ for purposes 

13 of this section. 

14 ‘‘(2) GREENHOUSE GAS.—For purposes of this 

15 section, the term ‘greenhouse gas’ means— 

16 ‘‘(A) carbon dioxide; 

17 ‘‘(B) methane; 

18 ‘‘(C) nitrous oxide; 

19 ‘‘(D) hydrofluorocarbons; 

20 ‘‘(E) perfluorocarbons; or 

21 ‘‘(F) sulfur hexafluoride. 

22 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

23 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 

24 necessary to carry out this section.’’. 

Æ 


hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS