IB 
Union Calendar No. 209 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1644 
[Report No. 114–277] 
To amend the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 to 
ensure transparency in the development of environmental regulations, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 26, 2015 
Mr. MOONEY of West Virginia (for himself, Mr. LAMBORN, and Mr. JOHNSON 
of Ohio) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Natural Resources 
OCTOBER 1, 2015 
Additional sponsors: Mr. BARR, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. JENKINS of West Virginia, 
Mr. MCKINLEY, Mr. CRAMER, Mrs. LUMMIS, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, Mr. 
COOK, Mr. MESSER, Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky, Mr. ZINKE, Mr. MCCLIN-
TOCK, Mr. THOMPSON
of Pennsylvania, Mr. WESTERMAN, Mr. 
NEWHOUSE, Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. GUTHRIE, Mr. ROKITA, 
Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. ROTHFUS, Mr. GRIFFITH, Mrs. RADEWAGEN, Mr. 
LAMALFA, Mr. BOST, Mr. TIPTON, Mr. FLEISCHMANN, Mr. KELLY of 
Pennsylvania, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. LATTA, Mr. KELLY of Mississippi, Mr. 
JOYCE, and Mr. JORDAN 
OCTOBER 1, 2015 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 26, 2015] 
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A BILL 
To amend the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act 
of 1977 to ensure transparency in the development of 
environmental regulations, and for other purposes. 
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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 ‘‘Supporting Transparent 
Regulatory and Environmental Actions in Mining Act’’ or 
the ‘‘STREAM Act’’. 
SEC. 2. PUBLICATION OF SCIENTIFIC PRODUCTS FOR 
RULES AND RELATED ENVIRONMENTAL IM-
PACT 
STATEMENTS, 
ENVIRONMENTAL 
AS-
SESSMENTS, AND ECONOMIC ASSESSMENTS. 
(a) REQUIREMENT.—Title V of the Surface Mining 
Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 1251 et 
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 530. PUBLICATION OF SCIENTIFIC PRODUCTS FOR 
RULES 
AND 
RELATED 
ENVIRONMENTAL 
ANALYSES, AND ECONOMIC ASSESSMENTS. 
‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary shall make 
publicly available 90 days before the publication of 
any draft, proposed, supplemental, final, or emer-
gency rule under this Act, or any related environ-
mental analysis, economic assessment, policy, or guid-
ance, each scientific product the Secretary relied on 
in developing the rule, environmental analysis, eco-
nomic assessment, policy, or guidance. 
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‘‘(2) FEDERALLY
FUNDED
SCIENTIFIC
PROD-
UCTS.—For those scientific products receiving Federal 
funds in part, or in full, the Secretary shall also 
make publicly available the raw data used for the fed-
erally funded scientific product. 
‘‘(b) COMPLIANCE.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—Failure to make publicly 
available any scientific product 90 days before the 
publication of— 
‘‘(A) any draft, proposed, or supplemental 
rule, environmental analysis, economic assess-
ment, policy or guidance shall extend by one day 
the comment period for each day such scientific 
product is not made available; or 
‘‘(B) any final or emergency rule shall 
delay the effective date of the final or emergency 
rule by 60 days plus each day the scientific 
product is withheld. 
‘‘(2) DELAY LONGER THAN 6 MONTHS.—If the 
Secretary fails to make publicly available any sci-
entific product for longer than 6 months, the Sec-
retary shall withdraw the rule, environmental anal-
ysis, economic assessment, policy, or guidance. 
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‘‘(3) EXCEPTION.—This subsection shall not 
apply if a delay in the publication of a rule will pose 
an imminent and severe threat to human life. 
‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) PUBLICLY AVAILABLE.—The term ‘publicly 
available’ means published on the Internet via a pub-
licly accessible website under the Secretary’s control. 
‘‘(2) ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS.—The term ‘en-
vironmental analysis’ means environmental impact 
statements and environmental assessments prepared 
pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act 
of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). 
‘‘(3) SCIENTIFIC PRODUCT.—The term ‘scientific 
product’ means any product that— 
‘‘(A) employs the scientific method for 
inventorying, monitoring, experimenting, study-
ing, researching, or modeling purposes; and 
‘‘(B) is relied upon by the Secretary in the 
development of any rule, environmental analysis, 
economic assessment, policy, or guidance. 
‘‘(4) RAW DATA.—The term ‘raw data’— 
‘‘(A) except as provided in subparagraph 
(B), means any computational process, or quan-
titative or qualitative data, that is relied on in 
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a scientific product to support a finding or ob-
servation; and 
‘‘(B) does not include such data or proc-
esses— 
‘‘(i) that are protected by copyright; 
‘‘(ii) that contain personally identifi-
able information, sensitive intellectual prop-
erty, trade secrets, or business-sensitive in-
formation; or 
‘‘(iii) to the extent that such data and 
processes are covered by the provisions of 
part C of title XI of the Social Security Act 
(42 U.S.C. 1320d et seq.), regulations pro-
mulgated pursuant to section 264(c) of the 
Health Insurance Portability and Account-
ability Act of 1996 (42 U.S.C. 1320d–2 
note), and the provisions of subtitle D of 
title XIII of the Health Information Tech-
nology for Economic and Clinical Health 
Act (42 U.S.C. 17921 et seq.).’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents in 
the first section of such Act is amended by adding at the 
end of the items relating to such title the following: 
‘‘Sec. 530. Publication of scientific products for rules and related environmental 
analyses, and economic assessments.’’. 
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SEC. 3. STUDY OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CERTAIN RULE. 
(a) REQUIREMENT.—Title VII of the Surface Mining 
Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 1291 et 
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 722. STUDY OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CERTAIN 
RULE. 
‘‘(a) STUDY.—No later than 90 days after the date of 
the enactment of the STREAM Act, the Secretary of the In-
terior, in consultation with the Interstate Mining Compact 
Commission and its State members, shall enter into an ar-
rangement with the National Academy of Sciences, for exe-
cution by the Board on Earth Sciences and Resources, to 
conduct a comprehensive study on the regulatory effective-
ness of the ‘Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation Oper-
ations Permanent Regulatory Program; Stream Buffer 
Zones and Fish, Wildlife, and Related Environmental Val-
ues’ Final Rule published June 30, 1983 (48 Fed. Reg. 
30312), and amended September 30, 1983 (48 Fed. Reg. 
44777), in protecting perennial and intermittent streams 
through the use of stream buffer zones. If the study deter-
mines the existence of regulatory inefficiencies, then the 
study shall include suggestions and recommendations for 
increasing the effectiveness of the rule. 
‘‘(b) RESULTS OF THE STUDY.—Not later than 2 years 
after execution of the arrangements under subsection (a), 
the Board on Earth Sciences and Resources shall submit 
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to the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Rep-
resentatives and the Committee on Energy and Natural Re-
sources of the Senate, appropriate Federal agencies, and the 
Governor of each of the States represented on the Interstate 
Mining Compact Commission the results of the study con-
ducted under subsection (a). 
‘‘(c) FUNDING.—There is authorized to be appro-
priated to the Secretary of the Interior $1,000,000 for fiscal 
year 2016 and $1,000,000 for fiscal year 2017 for the pur-
poses of this section. 
‘‘(d) PROHIBITION ON NEW REGULATIONS.—The Sec-
retary shall not issue any final or other regulations per-
taining to the proposed rule entitled ‘Stream Protection 
Rule’ (80 Fed. Reg. 44436) or relating to stream buffer 
zones, until one year after the Secretary has submitted the 
results of the study in accordance with subsection (b). If 
the Secretary proposes any such regulations after such sub-
mission, the Secretary shall take into consideration the 
findings of the study.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents in 
the first section of such Act is amended by adding at the 
end of the items relating to such title the following: 
‘‘Sec. 720. Subsidence. 
‘‘Sec. 721. Research. 
‘‘Sec. 722. Study of the effectiveness of certain rule.’’. 
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SEC. 4. COMPLIANCE WITH OTHER FEDERAL LAWS. 
Section 702 of the Surface Mining Control and Rec-
lamation Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 1291) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as 
subsection (d) and (e), respectively; and 
(2) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(c) COMPLIANCE WITH OTHER FEDERAL LAWS.— 
Nothing in this Act authorizes the Secretary to take any 
action by rule, regulation, notice, policy, guidance, or order 
that duplicates, implements, interprets, enforces, or deter-
mines any action taken under an Act referred to in sub-
section (a) or any regulation or rule promulgated there-
under.’’. 
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