163 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Administrator shall 
audit and inspect a treatment works identified under 
subsection (a)(1), as necessary, for purposes of de-
termining compliance with this section. 
‘‘(2) ACCESS.—In conducting an audit or in-
spection of a treatment works under paragraph (1), 
the Administrator shall have access to the owners, 
operators, employees and contractor employees, and 
employee representatives, if any, of such treatment 
works. 
‘‘(3) CONFIDENTIAL
COMMUNICATION
OF
IN-
FORMATION;
AIDING
INSPECTIONS.—The Adminis-
trator shall offer nonsupervisory employees of a 
treatment works the opportunity confidentially to 
communicate information relevant to the compliance 
or noncompliance of the owner or operator of the 
treatment works with this section, including compli-
ance or noncompliance with any regulation or re-
quirement adopted by the Administrator in further-
ance of the purposes of this section. A representative 
of each certified or recognized bargaining agent de-
scribed in subsection (f)(3)(B), if any, or, if none, a 
nonsupervisory employee, shall be given an oppor-
tunity to accompany the Administrator during the 
physical inspection of any treatment works for the 
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164 
purpose of aiding such inspection, if representatives 
of the treatment works will also be accompanying 
the Administrator on such inspection. 
‘‘(i) PROTECTION OF INFORMATION.— 
‘‘(1) PROHIBITION OF PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF 
PROTECTED
INFORMATION.—Protected information 
shall— 
‘‘(A) be exempt from disclosure under sec-
tion 552 of title 5, United States Code; and 
‘‘(B) not be made available pursuant to 
any State, local, or tribal law requiring disclo-
sure of information or records. 
‘‘(2) INFORMATION SHARING.— 
‘‘(A)
IN
GENERAL.—The
Administrator 
shall prescribe such regulations, and may issue 
such orders, as necessary to prohibit the unau-
thorized disclosure of protected information, as 
described in paragraph (7). 
‘‘(B) SHARING OF PROTECTED INFORMA-
TION.—The
regulations
under
subparagraph 
(A) shall provide standards for and facilitate 
the appropriate sharing of protected informa-
tion with and among Federal, State, local, and 
tribal authorities, first responders, law enforce-
ment officials, supervisory and nonsupervisory 
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165 
treatment works personnel with security, oper-
ational, or fiduciary responsibility for the sys-
tem designated by the owner or operator of the 
treatment works, and facility employee rep-
resentatives designated by the owner or oper-
ator of the treatment works, if any. 
‘‘(C)
INFORMATION
SHARING
PROCE-
DURES.—Such standards shall include proce-
dures for the sharing of all portions of the vul-
nerability assessment and site security plan of 
a treatment works relating to the roles and re-
sponsibilities of the employees or contractor em-
ployees of a treatment works under subsection 
(f)(1) with a representative of each certified or 
recognized bargaining agent representing such 
employees, if any, or, if none, with at least one 
supervisory and at least one non-supervisory 
employee with roles and responsibilities under 
subsection (f)(1). 
‘‘(D) PENALTIES.—Protected information, 
as described in paragraph (7), shall not be 
shared except in accordance with the standards 
provided by the regulations under subparagraph 
(A). Whoever discloses protected information in 
knowing violation of the regulations and orders 
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166 
issued under subparagraph (A) shall be fined 
under title 18, United States Code, imprisoned 
for not more than one year, or both, and, in the 
case of a Federal officeholder or employee, shall 
be removed from Federal office or employment. 
‘‘(3) TREATMENT OF INFORMATION IN ADJU-
DICATIVE PROCEEDINGS.—In any judicial or admin-
istrative proceeding, protected information, as de-
scribed in paragraph (7), shall be treated in a man-
ner consistent with the treatment of sensitive secu-
rity information under section 525 of the Depart-
ment of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 
2007 (120 Stat. 1381). 
‘‘(4)
OTHER
OBLIGATIONS
UNAFFECTED.— 
Nothing in this section amends or affects an obliga-
tion of the owner or operator of a treatment works 
to— 
‘‘(A) submit or make available information 
to employees of the treatment works, employee 
organizations, or a Federal, State, local, or trib-
al government agency under any other provision 
of law; or 
‘‘(B) comply with any other provision of 
law. 
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167 
‘‘(5) CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT.—Nothing in 
this section permits or authorizes the withholding of 
information from Congress or any committee or sub-
committee thereof. 
‘‘(6) DISCLOSURE
OF
INDEPENDENTLY
FUR-
NISHED
INFORMATION.—Nothing
in
this
section 
amends or affects any authority or obligation of a 
Federal, State, local, or tribal agency to protect or 
disclose any record or information that the Federal, 
State, local, or tribal agency obtains from a treat-
ment works or the Administrator under any other 
provision of law except as provided in subsection 
(d)(5). 
‘‘(7) PROTECTED INFORMATION.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this 
section, the term ‘protected information’ means 
any of the following: 
‘‘(i)
Vulnerability
assessments
and 
site security plans under this section, in-
cluding any assessment developed under 
subsection (b)(3)(B). 
‘‘(ii) Documents directly related to the 
Administrator’s review of assessments and 
plans described in clause (i) and, as appli-
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cable, the State’s review of an assessment 
developed under subsection (b)(3)(B). 
‘‘(iii) Documents directly related to 
inspections and audits under this section. 
‘‘(iv) Orders, notices, or letters re-
garding the compliance of a treatment 
works described in subsection (a)(1) with 
the requirements of this section. 
‘‘(v) Information required to be pro-
vided to, or documents and records created 
by, the Administrator under subsection 
(b)(2). 
‘‘(vi) Documents directly related to se-
curity drills and training exercises, security 
threats
and
breaches
of
security,
and 
maintenance, calibration, and testing of se-
curity equipment. 
‘‘(vii) Other information, documents, 
and records developed for the purposes of 
this section that the Administrator has de-
termined by regulation would be detri-
mental to the security of a treatment 
works if disclosed. 
‘‘(B)
DETRIMENT
REQUIREMENT.—For 
purposes of clauses (ii), (iii), (iv), (v), and (vi) 
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of subparagraph (A), the only portions of docu-
ments, records, orders, notices, and letters that 
shall be considered protected information are 
those portions that— 
‘‘(i) the Secretary has determined by 
regulation would be detrimental to the se-
curity of a treatment works if disclosed; 
and 
‘‘(ii) are developed by the Adminis-
trator, the State, or the treatment works 
for the purposes of this section. 
‘‘(C) EXCLUSIONS.—Notwithstanding sub-
paragraphs (A) and (B), the term ‘protected in-
formation’ does not include— 
‘‘(i) information, other than a security 
vulnerability assessment or site security 
plan, that the Administrator has deter-
mined by regulation to be— 
‘‘(I)
appropriate
to
describe 
treatment works compliance with the 
requirements of this title and the Ad-
ministrator’s implementation of such 
requirements; and 
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‘‘(II) not detrimental to the secu-
rity of one or more treatment works if 
disclosed; or 
‘‘(ii) information, whether or not also 
contained in a security vulnerability assess-
ment, site security plan, or in a document, 
record, order, notice, or letter, or portion 
thereof, described in any of clauses (ii) 
through (vii) of subparagraph (A) that is 
obtained from another source with respect 
to which the Administrator has not made 
a determination under either subparagraph 
(A)(vii) or (B), including— 
‘‘(I) information that is required 
to be made publicly available under 
any other provision of law; and 
‘‘(II) information that a treat-
ment
works
has
lawfully
disclosed 
other than in a submission to the Ad-
ministrator pursuant to a requirement 
of this title. 
‘‘(j) VIOLATIONS.—For the purposes of section 309 
of this Act, any violation of any requirement of this sec-
tion, including any regulations promulgated pursuant to 
this section, by an owner or operator of a treatment works 
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described in subsection (a)(1) shall be treated in the same 
manner as a violation of a permit condition under section 
402 of this Act. 
‘‘(k) REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 
‘‘(1) PERIODIC
REPORT.—Not later than 3 
years after the effective date of the regulations 
issued under subsection (b) and every 3 years there-
after, the Administrator shall transmit to the Com-
mittee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the 
House of Representatives and the Committee on En-
vironment and Public Works of the Senate a report 
on progress in achieving compliance with this sec-
tion. 
‘‘(2) CONTENTS OF THE REPORT.—Each such 
report shall include, at a minimum, the following: 
‘‘(A) A generalized summary of measures 
implemented by the owner or operator of a 
treatment works identified under subsection 
(a)(1) in order to meet each risk-based per-
formance standard established by this section. 
‘‘(B) A summary of how the treatment 
works, differentiated by risk-based tier assign-
ment, are complying with the requirements of 
this section during the period covered by the re-
port
and
how
the
Administrator
is
imple-
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menting and enforcing such requirements dur-
ing such period, including— 
‘‘(i) the number of treatment works 
that provided the Administrator with infor-
mation
pursuant
to
subsection 
(b)(2)(B)(iii); 
‘‘(ii) the number of treatment works 
assigned to each risk-based tier; 
‘‘(iii) the number of vulnerability as-
sessments and site security plans sub-
mitted by treatment works; 
‘‘(iv) the number of vulnerability as-
sessments and site security plans approved 
or found to have a significant deficiency 
under subsection (d)(2) by the Adminis-
trator; 
‘‘(v) the number of treatment works 
without approved vulnerability assessments 
or site security plans; 
‘‘(vi) the number of treatment works 
that have been assigned to a different risk- 
based tier due to implementation of a 
method to reduce the consequences of a 
chemical release from an intentional act 
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173 
and a description of the types of such im-
plemented methods; 
‘‘(vii) the number of audits and in-
spections conducted by the Administrator; 
and 
‘‘(viii) any other regulatory data the 
Administrator determines appropriate to 
describe the compliance of owners or oper-
ators of treatment works with the require-
ments of this section and the Administra-
tor’s implementation of such requirements. 
‘‘(3)
PUBLIC
AVAILABILITY.—A
report
sub-
mitted under this section shall be made publicly 
available. 
‘‘(l) GRANTS
FOR VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENTS, 
SECURITY ENHANCEMENTS,
AND WORKER TRAINING 
PROGRAMS.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Administrator may 
make a grant to a State, municipality, or inter-
municipal or interstate agency— 
‘‘(A) to conduct or update a vulnerability 
assessment, site security plan, or emergency re-
sponse plan for a publicly owned treatment 
works identified under subsection (a)(1); 
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‘‘(B) to implement a security enhancement 
at a publicly owned treatment works identified 
under subsection (a)(1), including a method to 
reduce the consequences of a chemical release 
from an intentional act, identified in an ap-
proved site security plan and listed in para-
graph (2); 
‘‘(C) to implement an additional security 
enhancement at a publicly owned treatment 
works identified under subsection (a)(1), includ-
ing a method to reduce the consequences of a 
chemical release from an intentional act, identi-
fied in an approved site security plan; and 
‘‘(D) to provide for security-related train-
ing of employees or contractor employees of the 
treatment works and training for first respond-
ers and emergency response providers. 
‘‘(2)
GRANTS
FOR
SECURITY
ENHANCE-
MENTS.— 
‘‘(A) PREAPPROVED SECURITY ENHANCE-
MENTS.—The Administrator may make a grant 
under paragraph (1)(B) to implement a secu-
rity enhancement of a treatment works for one 
or more of the following: 
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