I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 585 
To direct the President to enter into an arrangement with the National 
Academy of Sciences to evaluate certain Federal rules and regulations 
for potentially harmful impacts on public health, air quality, water qual-
ity, plant and animal wildlife, global climate, or the environment; and 
to direct Federal departments and agencies to create plans to reverse 
those impacts that are determined to be harmful by the National Acad-
emy of Sciences. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 15, 2009 
Ms. LEE of California (for herself, Mr. STARK, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. GRIJALVA, 
Mr. CONYERS, and Mr. RUSH) introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on Science and Technology, and in addition 
to the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure, Natural Re-
sources, Agriculture, and Energy and Commerce, for a period to be sub-
sequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of 
such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To direct the President to enter into an arrangement with 
the National Academy of Sciences to evaluate certain 
Federal rules and regulations for potentially harmful im-
pacts on public health, air quality, water quality, plant 
and animal wildlife, global climate, or the environment; 
and to direct Federal departments and agencies to create 
plans to reverse those impacts that are determined to 
be harmful by the National Academy of Sciences. 
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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 ‘‘Environment and Pub-
lic Health Restoration Act of 2009’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
(a) GENERAL FINDINGS.—The Congress finds as fol-
lows: 
(1) As human beings, we share our environment 
with a wide variety of habitats and ecosystems that 
nurture and sustain a diversity of species. 
(2) The abundance of natural resources in our 
environment forms the basis for our economy and 
has greatly contributed to human development 
throughout history. 
(3) The accelerated pace of human development 
over the last several hundred years has significantly 
impacted our natural environment and its resources, 
the health and diversity of plant and animal wildlife, 
the availability of critical habitats, the quality of our 
air and our water, and our global climate. 
(4) The intervention of the Federal Government 
is necessary to minimize and mitigate human impact 
on the environment for the benefit of public health, 
maintain air quality and water quality, sustain the 
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diversity of plants and animals, combat global cli-
mate change, and protect the environment. 
(5) Laws and regulations in the United States 
have been created and promulgated to minimize and 
mitigate human impact on the environment for the 
benefit of public health, maintain air quality and 
water quality, sustain wildlife, and protect the envi-
ronment. 
(6) Such laws include the Antiquities Act of 
1906 (16 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) initiated by President 
Theodore Roosevelt to create the national park sys-
tem, the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 
(42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Clean Air Act (42 
U.S.C. 7401 et seq.), the Federal Water Pollution 
Control Act Amendments of 1972 (Public Law 92– 
500), the Clean Water Act of 1977 (Public Law 95– 
217), the Comprehensive Environmental Response, 
Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (Public 
Law 96–510), the Endangered Species Act of 1973 
(Public Law 93–205), and the National Forest Man-
agement Act of 1976 (Public Law 94–588). 
(7) Attempts to repeal or weaken key environ-
mental safeguards pose dangers to the public health, 
air quality, water quality, wildlife, and the environ-
ment. 
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(b) 
FINDINGS
ON
CHANGES
AND
PROPOSED 
CHANGES IN LAW.—The Congress finds that, since 2001, 
the following changes and proposed changes to existing 
law or regulations have negatively impacted or will nega-
tively impact the environment and public health: 
(1) CLEAN WATER.— 
(A) On May 9, 2002, the Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA) and the United 
States Army Corps of Engineers put forth a 
final rule that reconciled section 404 regula-
tions of the Clean Water Act by redefining the 
term ‘‘fill material’’ and amending the defini-
tion of the term ‘‘discharge of fill material’’, re-
versing a 25-year-old Clean Water Act regula-
tion. The new rule fails to restrict the dumping 
of hardrock mining waste, construction debris, 
and other industrial wastes into rivers, streams, 
lakes, and wetlands. The rule further allows de-
structive mountaintop removal coal mining com-
panies to dump waste into streams and lakes, 
polluting the surrounding natural habitat and 
poisoning plants and animals that depend on 
those water sources. 
(B) On February 12, 2003, the Environ-
mental Protection Agency published the rule 
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‘‘National Pollutant Discharge Elimination Sys-
tem Permit Regulation and Effluent Limitation 
Guidelines and Standards for Concentrated 
Animal Feeding Operations’’—new livestock 
waste regulations that aimed to control factory 
farm pollution but which would severely under-
mine existing Clean Water Act protections. This 
regulation allows large-scale animal factories to 
foul the Nation’s waters with animal waste, al-
lows livestock owners to draft their own pollu-
tion-management plans and avoid groundwater 
monitoring, legalizes the discharge of contami-
nated runoff water rich in nitrogen, phos-
phorus, bacteria, and metals, and ensures that 
large factory farms are not held liable for the 
environmental damage they cause. In a 2005 
Federal Court Decision (Waterkeeper Alliance 
et al. v. EPA, 399 F.3d 486 (2nd Cir. 2005)), 
major parts of the rule were upheld, others va-
cated, and still others remanded back to the 
EPA. On November 20, 2008, the Environ-
mental Protection Agency published a revised 
final rule which undermines environmental pro-
tection provisions by removing mandatory per-
mitting requirements and allowing large animal 
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farms to self-certify the absence of pollutant 
discharge activity. 
(C) On March 19, 2003, the Environ-
mental Protection Agency published a new rule 
regarding the Total Maximum Daily Load pro-
gram of the Clean Water Act, which regulates 
the maximum amount of a particular pollutant 
that can be present in a body of water and still 
meet water quality standards. The new rule 
withdrew the existing regulation put forth on 
July 13, 2000, and halted momentum in clean-
ing up polluted waterways throughout the coun-
try. By abandoning the existing rule, the Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency is undermining 
the effectiveness of clean-up plans and is allow-
ing States to avoid cleaning polluted waters en-
tirely by dropping them from their clean-up 
lists. Waterways play a crucial role in the lives 
of Americans and are critical to the livelihood 
of fish and wildlife. By dropping the July 2000 
rule, cleanup of existing polluted rivers, shore-
lines, and lakes will be delayed, harming more 
fish and wildlife and worsening the quality of 
drinking water. 
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(D) On December 2, 2008, the Environ-
mental Protection Agency and Army Corps of 
Engineers jointly issued a Guidance Document 
in the form of a Legal Memorandum, titled 
‘‘Clean Water Act Jurisdiction Following the 
U.S. Supreme Court’s Decision in Rapanos v. 
United States & Carabell v. United States’’. 
This new guidance dictates enforcement actions 
under the Clean Water Act, and calls for a 
complicated ‘‘case-by-case’’ analysis to deter-
mine Clean Water Act jurisdiction for water-
ways that do not flow all year long. Such ac-
tions endanger small streams and wetlands that 
serve as important habitats for aquatic life, 
which play a fundamental role in safeguarding 
sources of clean drinking water and mitigate 
the risks and effects of floods and droughts. 
Further, the definition provided therein for 
‘‘waters of the United States’’ is applicable to 
the Clean Water Act as a whole, potentially af-
fecting programs that control industrial pollu-
tion and sewage levels, prevent oil spills, and 
set water quality standards for all waters in the 
United States protected under the Clean Water 
Act. 
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(2) FORESTS AND LAND MANAGEMENT.— 
(A) On December 3, 2003, the President 
signed into law the Healthy Forests Restoration 
Act of 2003 (Public Law 108–148). Although 
the law attempts to reduce the risk of cata-
strophic forest fires, it provides a boon to tim-
ber companies by accelerating the aggressive 
thinning of backcountry forests that are far 
from at-risk communities. The law allows for 
increased logging of large, fire-resistant trees 
that are not in close proximity of homes and 
communities; it undermines critical protections 
for endangered species by exempting Federal 
land management agencies from consulting with 
the United States Fish and Wildlife Service be-
fore approving any action that could harm en-
dangered plants or wildlife; and it limits public 
participation by reducing the number of envi-
ronmental project reviews. 
(B) On April 21, 2008, the Department of 
Agriculture issued a Final Planning Rule and 
Record of Decision for National Forest System 
Land Management Planning. Similar to rules 
enacted by the Administration on January 5, 
2005, later remanded back to the agency in 
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Federal district court for violating the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the Endan-
gered Species Act of 1973, and the Administra-
tive Procedure Act (Citizens for Better Forestry 
v. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 481 F. Supp. 2d 
1059 (N.D. Cal. 2007)), this revised rule elimi-
nates strict forest planning standards estab-
lished in 1982, and opens millions of acres of 
public lands to damaging and invasive logging, 
mining, and drilling operations. These regula-
tions would reverse more than 20 years of pro-
tection for wildlife and national forests by re-
moving the overall goal of ensuring ecological 
sustainability in managing the national forest 
system, weakening the National Forest Man-
agement Act of 1976, and effectively ending the 
review of forest management plans under the 
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. 
(C) On September 20, 2006, the District 
Court for the Northern District of California 
vacated the Protection of Inventoried Roadless 
Areas rule, enacted on May 13, 2005, which 
gave State Governors 18 months to petition the 
Federal Government to either restore the pre-
vious rule for their States, or submit a new 
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management and development plan for national 
forest areas inventoried under the rule. Despite 
the enjoinment of the Administration’s 2005 
rule, and the subsequent restoration of the 
original Roadless Area Conservation Rule, the 
U.S. Forest Service has continued to allow 
States to petition for a special rule under the 
authority of the Administrative Procedure Act, 
publishing a final special rule for Idaho on Oc-
tober 16, 2008. As a result, 58.5 million acres 
of wild national forests are still vulnerable to 
logging, road building, and other developments 
that may fragment natural habitats and nega-
tively impact fish and wildlife. 
(D) On November 17, 2008, the Depart-
ment of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Manage-
ment (BLM) signed the Record of Decision 
(ROD) amending 12 resource management 
plans in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming opening 
up 2,000,000 acres of public lands to commer-
cial tar sands and oil shale exploration and de-
velopment. On November 18, 2008, the BLM 
published a final rule for Oil Shale Manage-
ment setting the policies and procedures for a 
commercial leasing program for the manage-
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ment of federally owned oil shale in these 3 
States. Previously barred by a Congressional 
Moratorium on the commercial leasing regula-
tions for oil shale until September 30, 2008, the 
development of oil shale on public lands poses 
a serious threat to land conservation, endan-
gered and threatened species, and critical habi-
tat. Domestic shale oil production permitted by 
these regulations is highly water and energy in-
tensive, the impacts of which will intensify ex-
isting water scarcity in the arid Western Region 
and potentially degrade air and water quality 
for surrounding populations. 
(3) CLEAN AIR.—On March 27, 2008, the En-
vironmental Protection Agency issued a new rule re-
vising National Ambient Air Quality Standards for 
Ozone (NAAQS), which sets new EPA air pollution 
limits for ground level ozone, or smog, allowed in the 
air. Despite a requirement that directs the EPA to 
set air pollution limits low enough, and with a ‘‘mar-
gin of safety’’ sufficient to protect even the most 
sensitive groups, this new rule sets primary and sec-
ondary standards at .075 parts per million, well 
above the lower level of .060 found to affect some 
healthy individuals. The Clean Air Scientific Advi-
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sory Committee unanimously recommended a range 
of .060 to .070 for the primary ozone NAAQS. Be-
cause existing law allows nonattainment areas up to 
twenty years to meet air quality standards, the long- 
term implications of this new standard and its ex-
tensive impact on public health across the country 
necessitate standards supported by available sci-
entific data in order to ensure adequate public pro-
tection from serious diseases linked to ozone pollu-
tion including asthma, emphysema, and bronchitis. 
Thirteen states have filed suit against this rule alleg-
ing that the newly promulgated Federal ozone stand-
ards fail to protect the elderly, children and people 
with respiratory ailments, such as asthma. 
(4) SCIENTIFIC
REVIEW.—On December 16, 
2008, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of the De-
partment of the Interior and the National Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Administration of the Department 
of Commerce jointly issued a new rule amending 
regulations governing interagency cooperation under 
section 7 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 
(ESA). This rule undermines the intention of the 
ESA to protect species and the ecosystems upon 
which they depend by allowing Federal agencies to 
carry out, permit, or fund an action without proper 
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environmental review and expert third-party con-
sultation from Federal wildlife experts. Under this 
new rule, Federal agencies can unilaterally cir-
cumvent the formal review process, eliminating long-
standing and scientifically grounded safeguards that 
serve to protect the biodiversity of our Nation’s eco-
systems and avert harm to thousands of endangered 
and threatened species. 
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It is the policy of the United States Government to 
work in conjunction with States, territories, tribal govern-
ments, international organizations, and foreign govern-
ments in order to act as a steward of the environment 
for the benefit of public health, maintain air quality and 
water quality, sustain the diversity of plant and animal 
species, combat global climate change, and protect the en-
vironment for future generations to enjoy. 
SEC. 4. STUDY AND REPORT ON PUBLIC HEALTH OR ENVI-
RONMENTAL IMPACT OF REVISED RULES, 
REGULATIONS, LAWS, OR PROPOSED LAWS. 
(a) STUDY.—Not later than 30 days after the date 
of enactment of this Act, the President shall enter into 
an arrangement under which the National Academy of 
Sciences will conduct a study to determine the impact on 
public health, air quality, water quality, wildlife, and the 
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environment of the following regulations, laws, and pro-
posed laws: 
(1) CLEAN WATER.— 
(A) Final Revisions to the Clean Water 
Act Regulatory Definitions of ‘‘Fill Material’’ 
and ‘‘Discharge of Fill Material’’, finalized and 
published in the Federal Register on May 9, 
2002 (67 FR 31129), amending title 40, Code 
of Federal Regulations, part 232. 
(B) Revised National Pollutant Discharge 
Elimination System Permit Regulation and Ef-
fluent Limitation Guidelines and Standards for 
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations in 
Response to the Waterkeeper Decision, finalized 
and published in the Federal Register on No-
vember 20, 2008 (73 FR 225), amending title 
40 Code of Federal Regulations, parts 9, 122, 
and 412. 
(C) A March 19, 2003, rule published in 
the Federal Register (68 FR 13608) with-
drawing a July 13, 2000, rule revising the 
Total Maximum Daily Load program of the 
Clean Water Act (65 FR 43586), amending 
title 40, Code of Federal Regulations, parts 9, 
122, 123, 124, and 130. 
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(D) Official Guidance Document, ‘‘Clean 
Water Act Jurisdiction Following the U.S. Su-
preme Court’s Decision in Rapanos v. United 
States & Carabell v. United States’’, issued on 
December 2, 2008, relating to jurisdiction 
under the Clean Water Act, section 404. 
(2) FORESTS AND LAND MANAGEMENT.— 
(A) Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 
2003, signed into law on December 3, 2003 
(Public Law 108–148). 
(B) National Forest System Land Manage-
ment Planning Rule, finalized and published in 
the Federal Register on April 21, 2008 (73 FR 
21468), replacing the 2005 final rule (70 FR 
1022, Jan. 5, 2005), as amended March 3, 
2006 (71 FR 10837) and the 2000 final rule 
adopted on November 9, 2000 (65 FR 67514) 
as amended on September 29, 2004 (69 FR 
58055), amending title 36, Code of Federal 
Regulations, part 219. 
(C) The application of the Administrative 
Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 551 to 559, 701 to 
706, et seq.), such that States may petition for 
a special rule for the roadless areas in all or 
part of said State. 
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(D) Record of Decision, ‘‘Oil Shale and 
Tar Sands Resources Resource Management 
Plan Amendments’’, issued on November 17, 
2008, along with the Final Rule, Oil Shale 
Management-General, published in the Federal 
Register on November 18, 2008 (73 FR 223), 
amending title 43, Code of Federal Regulations, 
parts 3900, 3910, 3920, and 3930. 
(3) CLEAN AIR.—Final Rule, National Ambient 
Air Quality Standards for Ozone, published in the 
Federal Register on March 27, 2008 (73 FR 
16436), amending title 40, Code of Federal Regula-
tions, parts 50 and 58. 
(4) SCIENTIFIC
REVIEW.—Final Rule, Inter-
agency Cooperation Under the Endangered Species 
Act, published in the Federal Register on December 
16, 2008, amending title 50, Code of Federal Regu-
lations, part 402. 
(b) METHOD.—In conducting the study under sub-
section (a), the National Academy of Sciences may utilize 
and compare existing scientific studies regarding the regu-
lations, laws, and proposed laws listed in subsection (a). 
(c) REPORT.—Under the arrangement entered into 
under subsection (a), not later than 270 days after the 
date on which such arrangement is entered into, the Na-
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tional Academy of Sciences shall make publicly available 
and shall submit to the Congress and to the head of each 
department and agency of the Federal Government that 
issued, implements, or would implement a regulation, law, 
or proposed law listed in subsection (a), a report con-
taining— 
(1) a description of the impact of all such regu-
lations, laws, and proposed laws on public health, air 
quality, water quality, wildlife, and the environment, 
compared to the impact of preexisting regulations, 
or laws in effect, including— 
(A) any negative impacts to air quality or 
water quality; 
(B) any negative impacts to wildlife; 
(C) any delays in hazardous waste cleanup 
that are projected to be hazardous to public 
health; and 
(D) any other negative impact on public 
health or the environment; and 
(2) any recommendations that the National 
Academy of Sciences considers appropriate to main-
tain, restore, or improve in whole or in part protec-
tions for public health, air quality, water quality, 
wildlife, and the environment for each of the regula-
tions, laws, and proposed laws listed in subsection 
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(a), which may include recommendations for the 
adoption of any regulation or law in place or pro-
posed prior to January 1, 2001. 
SEC. 5. DEPARTMENT AND AGENCY REVISION OF EXISTING 
RULES, REGULATIONS, OR LAWS. 
Not later than 180 days after the date on which the 
report is submitted pursuant to section 4(c), the head of 
each department and agency that has issued or imple-
mented a regulation or law listed in section 4(a) shall sub-
mit to the Congress a plan describing the steps such de-
partment or such agency will take, or has taken, to restore 
or improve protections for public health and the environ-
ment in whole or in part that were in existence prior to 
the issuance of such regulation or law. 
Æ 
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