SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Supporting Trans-
parent 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 
guidance, each scientific product the Secretary relied 
on in developing the rule, environmental analysis, 
economic assessment, policy, or guidance. 
‘‘(2) FEDERALLY
FUNDED
SCIENTIFIC
PROD-
UCTS.—For those scientific products receiving Fed-
eral funds in part, or in full, the Secretary shall also
make publicly available the raw data used for the 
federally 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 sci-
entific product is not made available; or 
‘‘(B) any final or emergency rule shall 
delay the effective date of the final or emer-
gency rule by 60 days plus each day the sci-
entific 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. 
‘‘(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 ‘pub-
licly available’ means published on the Internet via 
a publicly accessible website under the Secretary’s 
control. 
‘‘(2) ENVIRONMENTAL
ANALYSIS.—The term 
‘environmental analysis’ means environmental im-
pact statements and environmental assessments pre-
pared pursuant to the National Environmental Pol-
icy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). 
‘‘(3) SCIENTIFIC
PRODUCT.—The term ‘sci-
entific product’ means any product that— 
‘‘(A) employs the scientific method for 
inventorying, monitoring, experimenting, study-
ing, researching, or modeling purposes; 
‘‘(B) is relied upon by the Secretary in the 
development of any rule, environmental anal-
ysis, economic assessment, policy, or guidance; 
and 
‘‘(C) is not protected under copyright laws. 
‘‘(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 
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 
property, trade secrets, or business-sen-
sitive information; 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 
promulgated pursuant to section 264(c) of 
the Health Insurance Portability and Ac-
countability Act of 1996 (42 U.S.C. 
1320d–2 note), and the provisions of sub-
title D of title XIII of the Health Informa-
tion Technology 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.’’.
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 Interior, in consultation with the Interstate Mining 
Compact Commission and its State members, shall enter 
into an arrangement with the National Academy of 
Sciences, for execution by the Board on Earth Sciences 
and Resources, to conduct a comprehensive study on the 
regulatory effectiveness of the ‘Surface Coal Mining and 
Reclamation Operations Permanent Regulatory Program; 
Stream Buffer Zones and Fish, Wildlife, and Related En-
vironmental Values’ Final Rule published June 30, 1983 
(48 Fed. Reg. 30312), and amended September 30, 1983 
(48 Fed. Reg. 44777), in protecting perennial and inter-
mittent streams through the use of stream buffer zones. 
If the study determines the existence of regulatory ineffi-
ciencies, then the study shall include suggestions and rec-
ommendations for increasing the effectiveness of the rule. 
‘‘(b) RESULTS OF THE STUDY.—Not later than 2 
years after execution of the arrangements under sub-
section (a), the Board on Earth Sciences and Resources
shall submit to the Committee on Natural Resources of 
the House of Representatives and the Committee on En-
ergy and Natural Resources of the Senate, appropriate 
Federal agencies, and the Governor of each of the States 
represented on the Interstate Mining Compact Commis-
sion the results of the study conducted under subsection 
(a). 
‘‘(c) FUNDING.—There is authorized to be appro-
priated to the Secretary of the Interior $1,000,000 for fis-
cal year 2016 and $1,000,000 for fiscal year 2017 for the 
purposes of this section. 
‘‘(d) PROHIBITION
ON NEW REGULATIONS.—The 
Secretary shall not issue any final or other regulations 
pertaining to the proposed rule entitled ‘Stream Protec-
tion Rule’ (80 Fed. Reg. 44436) or relating to stream 
buffer zones, until 1 year after the Secretary has sub-
mitted the results of the study in accordance with sub-
section (b). If the Secretary proposes any such regulations 
after such submission, the Secretary shall take into con-
sideration 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.’’.
SEC. 4. COMPLIANCE WITH OTHER FEDERAL LAWS. 
Section 702 of the Surface Mining Control and Rec-
lamation Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 1292) 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 
determines any action taken under an Act referred to in 
subsection (a) or any regulation or rule promulgated 
thereunder.’’. 
Passed the House of Representatives January 12, 
2016. 
Attest: 
Clerk.
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 1644 
AN ACT 
To amend the Surface Mining Control and Rec-
lamation Act of 1977 to ensure transparency in 
the development of environmental regulations, 
and for other purposes.