I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4757
To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to
establish an integrated environmental reporting system.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 26, 2000
Mr. SHAW (for himself, Mr. STUPAK, Mr. BOEHLERT, and Mr. METCALF) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Com-
merce, and in addition to the Committee on Transportation and Infra-
structure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned
A BILL
To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protec-
tion Agency to establish an integrated environmental re-
porting system.
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 ‘‘Streamlined Environ-
mental Reporting and Pollution Prevention Act of 2000’’.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-
trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ-
mental Protection Agency.
(2) INTEGRATED
REPORTING
SYSTEM.—The
term ‘‘integrated reporting system’’ means the inte-
grated environmental reporting system established
under section 3.
(3) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means an in-
dividual, trust, firm, joint stock company, corpora-
tion, partnership, or association, or a facility owned
or operated by the Federal Government or by a
State, tribal government, municipality, commission,
or political subdivision of a State.
(4) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—
(A) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘‘reporting
requirement’’ means—
(i) a routine, periodic, environmental
reporting requirement; and
(ii) any other reporting requirement
that the Administrator may by regulation
include within the meaning of the term.
(B) EXCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘reporting
requirement’’ does not include—
(i) the reporting of information relat-
ing to an emergency, except for informa-
tion submitted as part of a routine periodic
environmental report, and except for the
purpose specified in subparagraph (C); or
(ii) the reporting of information to the
Administrator relating only to business
transactions (and not to environmental or
regulatory matters) between the Adminis-
trator and a person, including information
provided—
(I) in the course of fulfilling a
contractual obligation between the Ad-
ministrator and the reporting person;
or
(II) in the filing of financial
claims against the Administrator.
(C) CERTAIN DATA STANDARDS FOR RE-
PORTING
OF
INFORMATION
RELATING
TO
AN
EMERGENCY.—The Administrator shall imple-
ment data standards under section 3(b)(5)(A)
for the reporting of information relating to
emergencies.
SEC. 3. INTEGRATED REPORTING SYSTEM.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 4 years after the
date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall in-
tegrate and streamline the reporting requirements estab-
lished under laws administered by the Administrator for
each person subject to those reporting requirements—
(1) in accordance with subsection (b);
(2) to the extent not explicitly prohibited by Act
of Congress; and
(3) to the extent consistent with the preserva-
tion of the integrity, reliability, and security of the
data reported.
(b) COMPONENTS OF REPORTING SYSTEM.—In es-
tablishing the integrated reporting system, to ensure con-
sistency and facilitate use of the system, the Adminis-
trator shall—
(1) allow each person required to submit infor-
mation to the Administrator under reporting re-
quirements administered by the Administrator to re-
port the information to 1 point of contact—
(A) using a single electronic system or
paper form; and
(B) in the case of an annual reporting re-
quirement, at 1 time during the year;
(2)(A) allow each State, tribal, or local agency
that has been authorized or delegated authority to
implement a law administered by the Administrator
to report information regarding any person subject
to the law, as required under the law (including a
regulation), agreement, or other instrument, author-
izing or delegating the authority, to report to 1 point
of contact—
(i) using a single electronic system; and
(ii) in the case of an annual reporting re-
quirement, at 1 time during each year; and
(B) provide each State, tribal, or local agency
that reports through the integrated reporting system
full access to the data reported to the Administrator
through the system;
(3) provide a reporting person, upon request,
full access to information reported by the person to
the Administrator, or to any State, tribal, or local
agency that was subsequently reported to the Ad-
ministrator, in a variety of formats that includes a
format that the person may modify by incorporating
information applicable to the current reporting pe-
riod and then submit to the Administrator to comply
with a current reporting requirement;
(4)(A) consult with heads of other Federal
agencies to identify environmental or occupational
safety or health reporting requirements that are not
administered by the Administrator; and
(B) as part of the electronic version of the inte-
grated reporting system, post information that pro-
vides direction to the reporting person in—
(i) 
identifying 
requirements 
identified
under subparagraph (A) to which the person
may be subject; and
(ii) locating sources of information on
those requirements;
(5) in consultation with a committee of rep-
resentatives of State and tribal governments, report-
ing persons, environmental groups, information tech-
nology experts, and other interested parties (which,
at the discretion of the Administrator, may occur
through a negotiated rulemaking under subchapter
IV of chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code), im-
plement, and update as necessary, in each national
information system of the Environmental Protection
Agency that contains data reported under the re-
porting system established under this Act, data
standards for—
(A) the facility site (including a facility
registry 
identifier), 
geographic 
coordinates,
mailing address, affiliation, organization, envi-
ronmental interest, industrial classification, and
individuals that have management responsibility
for environmental matters at the facility site;
(B) units of measure;
(C) chemical, pollutant, waste, and biologi-
cal identification; and
(D) other items that the Administrator
considers to be appropriate;
(6) in consultation with the committee referred
to in paragraph (5), implement, and update as nec-
essary, a nomenclature throughout the integrated re-
porting system that uses terms that the Adminis-
trator believes are understandable to reporting per-
sons that do not have environmental expertise;
(7) consolidate reporting of data that, but for
consolidation under this paragraph, would be re-
quired to be reported to the integrated reporting sys-
tem at more than 1 point in the same data submis-
sion;
(8) provide for applicable data formats and sub-
mission protocols, including procedures for legally
enforceable electronic signature in accordance with
the Government Paperwork Elimination Act (44
U.S.C. 3504 note) that, as determined by the
Administrator—
(A) conform, to the maximum extent prac-
ticable, with public-domain standards for elec-
tronic commerce;
(B) are accessible to a substantial majority
of reporting persons; and
(C) provide for the integrity and reliability
of the data reported sufficient to satisfy the
legal requirement of proof beyond a reasonable
doubt;
(9) establish a National Environmental Data
Model that describes the major data types, signifi-
cant attributes, and interrelationships common to
activities carried out by the Administrator and by
State, tribal, and local agencies (including permit-
ting, compliance, enforcement, budgeting, perform-
ance tracking, and collection and analysis of environ-
mental samples and results), which the Adminis-
trator shall—
(A) use as the framework for databases on
which the data reported to the Administrator
through the integrated system shall be kept;
and
(B) allow other Federal agencies and
State, tribal, and local governments to use;
(10) establish an electronic commerce service
center, accessible through the point of contact estab-
lished under paragraph (1), to provide technical as-
sistance, as necessary and feasible, to each person
that elects to submit applicable electronic reports;
(11) provide each reporting person access,
through the point of contact established under para-
graph (1), to scientifically sound, publicly available
information on pollution prevention technologies and
practices;
(12) at the discretion of the Administrator, de-
velop, within the reporting system, different methods
by which the reporting person may electronically
provide the required information, in order to facili-
tate use of the system by different sectors, sizes, and
categories of reporting persons;
(13) provide protection of confidential business
information or records as defined under section 552a
of title 5, United States Code, so that each reported
item of data receives protection equivalent to the
protection that item of data would receive if the item
were reported to the Administrator through means
other than the integrated reporting system;
(14) develop (or cause to be developed), and
make available free of charge through the Internet,
software for use by the reporting person that, to the
maximum extent practicable, assists the person in
assembling necessary data, reporting information,
and receiving information on pollution prevention
technologies and practices as described in paragraph
(9); and
(15) provide a mechanism by which a reporting
person may, at the option of the reporting person,
electronically transfer information from the data sys-
tem of the reporting person to the integrated report-
ing system through the use, in the integrated report-
ing system, of—
(A) open data formats (such as the ASCII
format); and
(B) a standard that enables the definition,
transmission, validation, and interpretation of
data by software applications and by organiza-
tions through use of the Internet (such as the
XML standard).
(c) SCOPE
OF DATA STANDARDS
AND NOMEN-
CLATURE.—The data standards and nomenclature imple-
mented and updated under paragraphs (5) and (6) of sub-
section (b) shall not affect any regulatory standard or defi-
nition in effect on the date of enactment of this Act, except
to the extent that the Administrator amends, by regula-
tion, the standard or definition.
(d) USE OF REPORTING SYSTEM.—Nothing in this
Act requires that any person use the integrated reporting
system instead of an individual reporting system.
SEC. 4. INTERAGENCY COORDINATION.
(a) IN GENERAL.—At the request of any Federal,
State, tribal, or local agency, the Administrator shall co-
ordinate the integration of reporting required under sec-
tion 3 with similar efforts by the agency that, as deter-
mined by the Administrator, are consistent with this Act.
(b) INTEGRATED REPORTING ACROSS JURISDIC-
TIONS.—Under subsection (a), the Administrator may de-
velop a procedure under which a person that is required
to report information under 1 or more laws administered
by the Administrator and 1 or more laws administered by
a State, tribal, or local agency may report all required
information—
(1) through 1 point of contact using a single
electronic system or paper form; and
(2) in the case of an annual reporting require-
ment, at 1 time each year.
(c) COMMON DATA FORMAT ACROSS JURISDIC-
TIONS.—To facilitate reporting by persons with facilities
in more than 1 State, tribal, or local jurisdiction, the Ad-
ministrator shall encourage the use of a common data for-
mat by any State, tribal, or local agency coordinating with
the Administrator under subsection (a).
(d) PROVISION OF INFORMATION.—At the request of
the Administrator, the head of a Federal department or
agency shall provide to the Administrator information on
reporting requirements established under a law adminis-
tered by the agency.
(e) SELECTIVE USE
OF INTEGRATED REPORTING
SYSTEM.—The Administrator may design the integrated
system to allow a reporting person to use the integrated
reporting system for some purposes and not for others.
SEC. 5. REGULATIONS.
The Administrator may promulgate such regulations
as are necessary to carry out this Act.
SEC. 6. REPORTS.
Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment
of this Act, if the Administrator determines that 1 or more
provisions of law explicitly prohibit or hinder the integra-
tion of reporting and other actions required under this
Act, the Administrator shall submit to Congress a report
identifying those provisions.
SEC. 7. SAVINGS CLAUSE.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this Act limits, modi-
fies, affects, amends, or otherwise changes, directly or in-
directly, any provision of Federal or State law or the obli-
gation of any person to comply with any provision of law.
(b) EFFECT.—Neither this Act nor the integrated re-
porting system shall alter or affect the obligation of a re-
porting person to provide the information required under
any reporting requirement.
(c) REPORTING.—Nothing in this Act authorizes the
Administrator to require the reporting of information that
is in addition to, or prohibit the reporting of, information
that is reported as of the day before the date of enactment
of this Act.
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