Union Calendar No. 316
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 1742
[Report No. 106–512, Part I]
A BILL
To authorize appropriations for fiscal years 2000
and 2001 for the environmental and scientific re-
search, development, and demonstration pro-
grams, projects, and activities of the Office of
Research and Development and Science Advisory
Board of the Environmental Protection Agency,
and for other purposes.
APRIL 11, 2000
Committee on Commerce discharged; committed to the
Committee of the Whole House on the State of the
Union and ordered to be printed
IB
Union Calendar No. 316
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 1742
[Report No. 106–512, Part I]
To authorize appropriations for fiscal years 2000 and 2001 for the environ-
mental and scientific research, development, and demonstration pro-
grams, 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
MARCH 6, 2000
Reported with amendments and referred to the Committee on Commerce for
a period ending not later than April 7, 2000, for consideration of such
provisions of the bill and amendment as fall within the jurisdiction of
that committee pursuant to clause 1(f), rule X
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
APRIL 7, 2000
Referral to the Committee on Commerce extended for a period ending not
later than April 11, 2000
APRIL 11, 2000
Committee on Commerce discharged; committed to the Committee of the
Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on May 10, 1999]
A BILL
To authorize appropriations for fiscal years 2000 and 2001
for the environmental and scientific research, develop-
ment, and demonstration programs, projects, and activi-
ties of the Office of Research and Development and
Science Advisory Board of the Environmental Protection
Agency, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Environmental Protec-
tion Agency Office of Research and Development and
Science Advisory Board Authorization Act of 1999’’.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
For the purposes of this Act—
(1) the term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Admin-
istrator of the Agency;
(2) the term ‘‘Agency’’ means the Environmental
Protection Agency; and
(3) the term ‘‘Assistant Administrator’’ means
the Assistant Administrator for Research and Devel-
opment of the Agency.
SEC. 3. OFFICE OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.
(a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro-
priated to the Administrator for the Office of Research and
Development for environmental research and development
and scientific research, development, and demonstration
programs for which specific sums are not authorized under
other authority of law $504,022,100 for fiscal year 2000
and $519,940,600 for fiscal year 2001, to remain available
until expended, of which $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2000
and $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2001 shall be for the Mickey
Leland Urban Air Toxics Research Center, and of which
$5,000,000 for fiscal year 2000 and $5,000,000 for fiscal
year 2001 shall be for the Gulf Coast Hazardous Substance
Research Center.
(b) LIMITATION.—None of the amounts authorized
under subsection (a) may be obligated until 30 days after
the Administrator submits to the Committee on Science and
the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep-
resentatives, and the Committee on Environment and Pub-
lic Works and the Committee on Appropriations of the Sen-
ate, a report detailing, for fiscal year 2000 and each of the
2 previous fiscal years, for all Office of Research and Devel-
opment environmental research and development and sci-
entific research, development, and demonstration programs,
projects and activities, by appropriation goal and
objectives—
(1) a description of, and funding requested or al-
located for, each such program, project and activity;
(2) an identification of all recipients of funds to
conduct such programs, projects and activities; and
(3) an estimate of the amounts to be expended by
each recipient of funds identified under paragraph
(2).
(c) EXCLUSION.—In the computation of the 30-day pe-
riod described in subsection (b), there shall be excluded any
day on which either House of Congress is not in session
because of an adjournment of more than 3 days to a day
certain.
SEC. 4. SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH REVIEW.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall assign to
the Assistant Administrator the duties of—
(1) developing a strategic plan for environmental
research and development and scientific research, de-
velopment, and demonstration programs throughout
the Agency;
(2) integrating that strategic plan into ongoing
Agency environmental research and development and
scientific research, development, and demonstration
planning activities; and
(3) reviewing all Agency environmental research
and development and scientific research, development,
and demonstration programs to ensure the research,
development, and demonstration—
(A) is of high quality; and
(B) does not duplicate any other environ-
mental research and development and scientific
research, development, and demonstration pro-
grams being conducted by the Agency.
(b) REPORT.—The Assistant Administrator shall
transmit annually to the Administrator and to the Com-
mittee on Science and the Committee on Appropriations of
the House of Representatives, and to the Committee on En-
vironment and Public Works and the Committee on Appro-
priations of the Senate, a report detailing—
(1) all Agency environmental research and devel-
opment and scientific research, development, and
demonstration programs the Assistant Administrator
finds is not of sufficiently high quality; and
(2) all Agency environmental research and devel-
opment and scientific research, development, and
demonstration programs the Assistant Administrator
finds duplicate other Agency environmental research
and development and scientific research, development,
and demonstration programs.
SEC. 5. SCIENCE TO ACHIEVE RESULTS (STAR) GRADUATE
STUDENT FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM.
In carrying out the Science To Achieve Results
(STAR) Graduate Student Fellowship Program, the Ad-
ministrator shall ensure that any fellowship award to a stu-
dent selected after the date of the enactment of this Act is
used only to support scientific research that would further
missions of the Office of Research and Development.
SEC. 6. SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD.
(a) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Science Advisory Board
shall submit to Congress and to the Administrator an an-
nual report that contains the views of the Science Advisory
Board on proposed environmental research and develop-
ment and scientific research, development, and demonstra-
tion programs as described in the Agency’s budget. Such
report shall be submitted to Congress as soon as practicable
after the submission of the Agency’s budget to Congress. The
Administrator shall cooperate with the Chairperson of the
Science Advisory Board, particularly with respect to the
timely provision of budget information to the Science Advi-
sory Board, to allow the Science Advisory Board to carry
out its duties under this subsection.
(b) EVALUATION.—The Science Advisory Board shall
conduct periodic evaluations of selected areas of the current
and planned environmental research and development and
scientific research, development, and demonstration pro-
grams of the Agency. The areas of evaluation shall be se-
lected by the Administrator, in consultation with the
Science Advisory Board, the Office of Research and Devel-
opment, and other Agency programs, or by the appropriate
committees of the Congress in consultation with the Science
Advisory Board. Reports containing the Science Advisory
Board’s evaluations and recommendations shall be filed
with such committees and the Administrator. The Adminis-
trator shall provide to such committees a written response
to the Science Advisory Board’s evaluation and rec-
ommendations within 60 days after the Science Advisory
Board’s report has been submitted.
(c) SUBMISSION TO CONGRESS.—The Administrator
shall submit to the Congress any report required by law
to be submitted to the Administrator by the Science Advi-
sory Board. The Administrator shall make any such sub-
mission not later than 60 days after the Administrator re-
ceives the report from the Science Advisory Board.
(d) AUTHORIZATION.—There are authorized to be ap-
propriated to the Administrator $2,636,200 for fiscal year
2000 and $2,768,000 for fiscal year 2001 for activities of
the Science Advisory Board.
SEC. 7. NOTICE.
(a) REPROGRAMMING.—The Administrator may use
for any authorized activities of the Office of Research and
Development or the Science Advisory Board under this
Act—
(1) up to the lesser of $250,000 or 5 percent of
the total funding for a fiscal year of an environ-
mental research or development or scientific research,
development, or demonstration program, project or
activity of the Office of Research and Development or
the Science Advisory Board; or
(2) after the expiration of 60 days after trans-
mitting to the Committee on Science and the Com-
mittee on Appropriations of the House of Representa-
tives, and to the Committee on Environment and
Public Works and the Committee on Appropriations
of the Senate, a report described in subsection (b), up
to 25 percent of the total funding for a fiscal year of
an environmental research or development or sci-
entific research, development, or demonstration pro-
gram, project or activity of the Office of Research and
Development or the Science Advisory Board.
(b) REPORT.—(1) The report referred to in subsection
(a)(2) is a report containing a full and complete statement
of the action proposed to be taken and the facts and cir-
cumstances relied upon in support of such proposed action.
(2) In the computation of the 60-day period under sub-
section (a)(2), there shall be excluded any day on which
either House of Congress is not in session because of an
adjournment of more than 3 days to a day certain.
(c) LIMITATIONS.—In no event may funds be used pur-
suant to subsection (a) for an environmental research or
development or scientific research, development, or dem-
onstration program, project or activity for which funding
has been requested to the Congress but which has not been
funded by the Congress.
(d) ANNUAL OPERATING PLAN.—The Administrator
shall provide simultaneously to the Committee on Science
and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep-
resentatives, and to the Committee on Environment and
Public Works and the Committee on Appropriations of the
Senate, any annual operating plan or other operational
funding document, including any additions or amendments
thereto, provided to any committee of Congress.
(e) COPY OF REPORTS.—In addition to the documents
required under subsection (d), the Administrator shall pro-
vide copies simultaneously to the Committee on Science and
the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep-
resentatives, and to the Committee on Environment and
Public Works and the Committee on Appropriations of the
Senate, of any report relating to the environmental research
or development or scientific research, development, or dem-
onstration programs, projects or activities of the Office of
Research and Development or the Science Advisory Board
prepared at the direction of any committee of Congress.
(f) NOTICE OF REORGANIZATION.—The Administrator
shall provide notice to the Committee on Science and the
Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representa-
tives, and to the Committee on Environment and Public
Works and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate,
not later than 15 days before any major reorganization of
any environmental research or development or scientific re-
search, development, or demonstration program, project or
activity of the Office of Research and Development or the
Science Advisory Board.
SEC. 8. BUDGET REQUEST FORMAT.
The Administrator shall provide to the Congress, to be
transmitted at the same time as the Agency’s annual budget
request submission, a detailed justification for budget au-
thorization for the programs, projects and activities for
which funds are authorized by this Act. Each such docu-
ment shall include, for the fiscal year for which funding
is being requested and for the 2 previous fiscal years—
(1) a description of, and funding requested or al-
located for, each such program, project and activity;
(2) an identification of all recipients of funds to
conduct such programs, projects and activities; and
(3) an estimate of the amounts to be expended by
each recipient of funds identified under paragraph
(2).
The document required by this section shall be presented
in the format employed by, and with the level of detail in-
cluded in, the document entitled ‘‘Department of Energy FY
2000 Congressional Budget Request, DOE/CR–0062, Vol-
ume 3’’, dated February 1999.
SEC. 9. LIMITS ON USE OF FUNDS.
(a) TRAVEL.—Not more than 1 percent of the funds
authorized by this Act may be used either directly or indi-
rectly to fund travel costs of the Agency or travel costs for
persons awarded contracts or subcontracts by the Agency.
As part of the Agency’s annual budget request submission
to the Congress, the Administrator shall submit a report
to the Committee on Science and the Committee on Appro-
priations of the House of Representatives, and to the Com-
mittee on Environment and Public Works and the Com-
mittee on Appropriations of the Senate, that identifies—
(1) the estimated amount of travel costs by the
Agency and for persons awarded contracts or sub-
contracts by the Agency for the fiscal year of such
budget submission, as well as for the 2 previous fiscal
years;
(2) the major purposes for such travel; and
(3) the sources of funds for such travel.
(b) TRADE ASSOCIATIONS.—No funds authorized by
this Act may be used either directly or indirectly to fund
a grant, contract, subcontract, or any other form of finan-
cial assistance awarded by the Agency to a trade associa-
tion on a noncompetitive basis. As part of the Agency’s an-
nual budget request submission to the Congress, the Admin-
istrator shall submit a report to the Committee on Science
and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep-
resentatives, and to the Committee on Environment and
Public Works and the Committee on Appropriations of the
Senate, that identifies—
(1) the estimated amount of funds provided by
the Agency to trade associations, by trade association,
for the fiscal year of such budget submission, as well
as for the 2 previous fiscal years;
(2) the services either provided or to be provided
by each such trade association; and
(3) the sources of funds for services provided by
each such trade association.
(c) KYOTO PROTOCOL.—None of the funds authorized
by this Act may be used to propose or issue rules, regula-
tions, decrees, or orders for the purpose of implementation,
or in preparation for implementation, of the Kyoto Protocol
which was adopted on December 11, 1997, in Kyoto, Japan,
at the Third Conference of the Parties to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change, which has not
been submitted to the Senate for advice and consent to rati-
fication pursuant to article II, section 2, clause 2 of the
United States Constitution, and which has not entered into
force pursuant to article 25 of the Protocol.
(d) ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND
DEMONSTRATION PROJECT.—Of the amounts authorized
under section 3(a), $1,000,000 for fiscal year 2000 shall be
for a field-scale environmental research and development
project at an existing site for remediation of soils contami-
nated by recalcitrant hydrocarbon and lead contaminants
using technologies and processes capable of homogenizing
soil while injecting both oxidizers and catalysts to the degree
necessary for chemical oxidation to occur and that renders
lead contaminants essentially inert.
SEC. 10. LIMITATION ON DEMONSTRATIONS.
The Agency shall provide funding for scientific dem-
onstration projects of the Office of Research and Develop-
ment or the Science Advisory Board only for technologies
or processes that can be reasonably expected to yield new,
measurable benefits to the cost, efficiency, or performance
of the technology or process.
SEC. 11. FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION.
(a) REQUIREMENT.—None of the funds authorized to
be appropriated by this Act may be used to award, amend,
or modify a contract of the Office of Research and Develop-
ment or the Science Advisory Board in a manner that devi-
ates from the Federal Acquisition Regulation, unless the Ad-
ministrator grants, on a case-by-case basis, a waiver to
allow for such a deviation. The Administrator may not dele-
gate the authority to grant such a waiver.
(b) CONGRESSIONAL NOTICE.—At least 60 days before
a contract award, amendment, or modification for which
the Administrator intends to grant such a waiver, the Ad-
ministrator shall submit to the Committee on Science and
the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep-
resentatives, and to the Committee on Environment and
Public Works and the Committee on Appropriations of the
Senate, a report notifying the committees of the waiver and
setting forth the reasons for the waiver.
SEC. 12. REQUESTS FOR PROPOSALS.
None of the funds authorized to be appropriated by this
Act may be used by the Agency to prepare or initiate Re-
quests for Proposals (RFPs) for a program, project or activ-
ity if the program, project or activity has not been specifi-
cally authorized by Congress.
SEC. 13. PRODUCTION OR PROVISION OF ARTICLES OR
SERVICES.
None of the funds authorized to be appropriated by this
Act may be used by any program, project or activity of
the Office of Research and Development or the Science Advi-
sory Board to produce or provide articles or services for
the purpose of selling the articles or services to a person
outside the Federal Government, unless the Administrator
determines that comparable articles or services are not
available from a commercial source in the United States.
SEC. 14. ELIGIBILITY FOR AWARDS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall exclude
from consideration for grant agreements made after fiscal
year 1999 by the Office of Research and Development or
the Science Advisory Board, under the programs, projects
and activities for which funds are authorized under this
Act, any person who received funds, other than those de-
scribed in subsection (b), appropriated for a fiscal year
after fiscal year 1999, under a grant agreement from any
Federal funding source for a project that was not subjected
to a competitive, merit-based award process, except as spe-
cifically authorized by this Act. Any exclusion from consid-
eration pursuant to this section shall be effective for a pe-
riod of 5 years after the person receives such Federal funds.
(b) EXCEPTION.—Subsection (a) shall not apply to the
receipt of Federal funds by a person due to the membership
of that person in a class specified by law for which assist-
ance is awarded to members of the class according to a for-
mula provided by law or under circumstances permitting
other than full and open competition under the Federal Ac-
quisition Regulation.
(c) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the
term ‘‘grant agreement’’ means a legal instrument whose
principal purpose is to transfer a thing of value to the re-
cipient to carry out a public purpose of support or stimula-
tion authorized by a law of the United States, and does
not include the acquisition (by purchase, lease, or barter)
of property or services for the direct benefit or use of the
United States Government. Such term does not include a
cooperative agreement (as such term is used in section 6305
of title 31, United States Code) or a cooperative research
and development agreement (as such term is defined in sec-
tion 12(d)(1) of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innova-
tion Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3710a(d)(1))).
SEC. 15. INTERNET AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION.
The Administrator shall make available through the
Internet home page of the Environmental Protection Agency
the abstracts relating to all research grants and awards
made with funds authorized by this Act. Nothing in this
section shall be construed to require or permit the release
of any information prohibited by law or regulation from
being released to the public.
Amend the title to read as follows: ‘‘A bill to author-
ize appropriations for fiscal years 2000 and 2001 for the
environmental research and development and scientific
research, development, and demonstration programs of
the Office of Research and Development and Science Ad-
visory Board of the Environmental Protection Agency,
and for other purposes.’’.