whenever required to do so by the President, by
law, or by the Secretary, or when considered ap-
propriate by the Director; and
(F) making readily accessible or, to the ex-
tent practicable, disseminating all publicly
available data collected under subparagraph (A)
or (B), in a timely manner and using dissemi-
nation methods that will maximize the utility of
such publicly available information to the public.
(2) TECHNICAL
CAPABILITIES
TO
PERFORM
ANALYSES.—The Director shall establish and main-
tain the scientific, engineering, statistical, and other
technical capability to perform analysis of environ-
mental quality and related public health and eco-
nomic data, to—
(A) verify the accuracy of items of environ-
mental quality and related public health and
economic data submitted to the Director; and
(B) ensure the coordination and com-
parability of that data.
(d) POWERS OF DIRECTOR.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director is authorized on
a nonexclusive basis, to exercise and enforce any au-
thority vested in the Secretary by law that relates to
the collection, gathering, reporting, evaluating, analy-
sis, or dissemination of environmental quality data
and related measures of public health in order to
carry out fully the functions of the Director.
(2) ACTIONS NOT SUBJECT TO APPROVAL.—The
Director shall not be required to—
(A) obtain the approval of any other officer
or employee of the Department in connection
with the collection, compilation, evaluation,
analysis, or dissemination of any information;
or
(B) obtain, prior to publication, the ap-
proval of any other officer or employee of the
United States with respect to the substance of
any reports prepared in accordance with law.
(3) PROVIDING ASSISTANCE.—The Director may,
upon request, provide technical assistance to offices of
the Department and to other Federal agencies for the
purpose of assuring the technical quality and the co-
ordination of statistical activities of the Department.
Such assistance may include reviewing data collection
plans, survey designs, and pretests, management of
data, and quality of data. The Director shall, upon
request, promptly provide any information or analy-
sis in the possession of the Bureau to any office with-
in the Department which such office determines re-
lates to the functions of such office.
(4) COLLECTION OF DATA FROM OTHER AGEN-
CIES, PERSONS, ETC.—Subject to other applicable
provisions of law, the Director, in carrying out re-
sponsibilities under this Act, may collect data from
such Federal agencies, State or local governments or
instrumentalities, Indian tribes, businesses, and other
individuals, persons, organizations, and institutions
as the Director considers appropriate.
(5) USE
OF
DATA
COLLECTED
BY
FEDERAL
AGENCIES.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—The Director may—
(i) use data collected by any Federal
agency, and
(ii) enter into interagency or intra-
agency agreements for the collection of data
for the purposes of this section.
(B) PROVISION OF DATA TO DIRECTOR.—
Subject to applicable law, all Federal agencies
(including agencies in the Department) shall
provide to the Director, in a timely manner and
to the extent possible in a usable electronic for-
mat, any data that the Director requires to carry
out responsibilities under this Act.
(C) COOPERATIVE COLLECTION OF DATA.—
The Director may—
(i) arrange with any agency, organiza-
tion, or institution for the cooperative col-
lection of data for the purposes of this
section, and
(ii) assign employees of the Bureau to
any such agency, organization, or institu-
tion to assist in such collection.
(6) OBTAINING EMPLOYEES AND SERVICES.—The
Director—
(A) may select, appoint, and employ such
officers and employees as may be necessary to
carry out the functions of the Bureau, subject
to—
(i) the provisions of title 5, United
States Code, governing appointments in the
competitive service, and
(ii) the provisions of chapter 51 and
subchapter III of chapter 53 of such title re-
lating to classification and General Sched-
ule pay rates; and
(B) may obtain services as authorized by
section 3109 of title 5, United States Code, at a
rate not to exceed the equivalent daily rate pay-
able for level V of the Executive Schedule under
section 5316 of such title.
(e) STAFF.—The Secretary shall ensure that the Bu-
reau of Environmental Statistics has staff sufficient to en-
able the Director to efficiently carry out the duties of the
Director.
(f) CONTINUING PERFORMANCE OF FUNCTIONS OF DI-
RECTOR.—An individual who, on the effective date of this
Act, is performing any of the functions required by this sec-
tion to be performed by the Director may continue to per-
form such functions until such functions are assigned to an
individual appointed as the Director under this Act.
(g) AVAILABILITY OF DIRECTOR TO CONGRESS; SPE-
CIAL REPORTS.—The Director—
(1) shall be available to the Congress to provide
testimony on subjects under the authority of the Di-
rector as any committee of the Congress may request,
including on environmental quality data and related
measures of public health and analyses thereof;
(2) shall, notwithstanding any limitation con-
tained in this section or any other provision of law,
make available to any committee of the Congress hav-
ing jurisdiction over any program of the Department,
upon written request of the committee, any informa-
tion reported or otherwise obtained, and any evalua-
tion or analysis made, by the Director or any officer
or employee of the Bureau under this section that
relates to that program; and
(3) may provide, and charge for, statistical
records, compilations, surveys, and reports to State
and local officials, public and private organizations,
and individuals.
(h) CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director may not make
public any information obtained under this section
that is exempt from disclosure pursuant to subsection
(b)(4) of section 552 of title 5, United States Code, ex-
cept as provided in subsection (d) of that section and
this section.
(2) ACCESS TO INFORMATION IN POSSESSION OF
OTHER FEDERAL AGENCY.—In furtherance and not in
limitation of any other authority, the Director, on be-
half of the Secretary, shall have access to environ-
mental and related public health, economic, and sta-
tistical information in the possession of the Depart-
ment or any other Federal agency, except informa-
tion—
(A) the disclosure of which to another Fed-
eral agency is expressly prohibited by law; or