jiayi-li23/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Topic: Environment — Drinking Water
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2011-04-14 00:00:00

Comprehensive Gulf of Mexico Recovery, Restoration, and Resiliency Act - Establishes the Gulf of Mexico Recovery Council, which shall be composed of members of the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force. Requires the Council, in coordination with the natural resource trustees designated with respect to natural resource damages relating to the Gulf oil spill in connection with the blowout and explosion of the mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater Horizon on April 20, 2010, to: (1) develop the Comprehensive Gulf of Mexico Recovery Plan to restore, revitalize, and increase the resiliency of the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem; (2) provide grants to local political subdivisions affected by the oil spill for activities relating to Gulf coast economic development, ecosystem restoration, and public health rehabilitation; (3) establish the Gulf of Mexico Observation System, which shall be implemented through a Gulf of Mexico Exploration Research Center, to observe, monitor, and map the Gulf in a comprehensive manner; (4) establish a Fishery Endowment to ensure the long-term sustainability of fish stocks and the recreational, commercial, and charter fishing industry in the Gulf; and (5) administer the Gulf of Mexico Recovery Fund established by this Act for activities relating to economic development, ecosystem restoration, and public rehabilitation. Establishes the Citizens' Advisory Committee to report on: (1) the achievement of safe operations in the Gulf of oil and gas activities; (2) unresolved problems and concerns with operations, activities, and plans; and (3) the operations and expenditures, needs, issues, and recommendations of such Committee. Establishes the Scientific Advisory Committee to: (1) provide advice to the Council regarding the science behind the Plan and the long-term monitoring and restoration of the Gulf Coast ecosystem; and (2) report to the Council on the science regarding the impacts to the Gulf and the Gulf coast from the oil spill; (3) the progress of restoration activities; and (4) the Plan's implementation.
Topic: Environment — Drinking Water
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2011-05-03 00:00:00

Drinking Water Right to Know Act - Amends the Safe Drinking Water Act to direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to require a public water system that detects an unregulated contaminant included in EPA's list of unregulated contaminants to be monitored by public water systems and included in the national drinking water occurrence data base, to continue to monitor for the detected contaminant for such period, at such frequency, and at such levels of concentration as the Administrator determines to be appropriate. Authorizes the data contained in the national drinking water contaminant occurrence data base to be used by the public. Requires the Administrator to: (1) evaluate the extent to which such data is accessible to and useable by the public; and (2) make such data more accessible to and useable by the public.
Topic: Environment — Drinking Water
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2011-05-12 00:00:00

Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative Reauthorization Act of 2011 - Amends the Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative Act to define "Northwest Straits" as the marine waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and of Puget Sound from the Canadian border to the south end of Snohomish County, Washington. Sets forth the membership of the Northwest Straits Advisory Commission. Directs the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere, to appoint an employee of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to serve as a liaison between the Commission and the Department of Commerce and to attend the Commission's meetings and events as a nonvoting participant. States the goal of the Commission as the protection and restoration of the marine waters, habitats, and species of the Northwest Straits region in Washington to achieve ecosystem health and sustainable resource use. Enumerates the duties of the Commission and establish benchmarks for its work. Requires the Commission to submit annual reports to Congress and the Under Secretary on its activities and its progress in achieving specified benchmarks. Authorizes the Manager of the Shorelands and Environmental Assistance Program of Washington's Department of Ecology, upon the recommendation of the Commission and the Director of the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, to appoint and terminate a Director of the Commission. Requires the Director to be confirmed by the Commission. Provides for the establishment of marine resources committees in specified counties of Washington. Authorizes the Director of the Commission and the Director of the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve to establish the Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Foundation as a nonprofit foundation to support the Commission and the marine resources committees established by this Act. Authorizes appropriations.
Topic: Environment — Drinking Water
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2011-05-12 00:00:00

National Endowment for the Oceans Act - Establishes in the Treasury the National Endowment for the Oceans which shall fund grants for programs to restore, protect, maintain, or understand living marine resources and their habitats, and ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes resources, including baseline scientific research, ocean observing, and other programs in coordination with federal and state agencies. Authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to make grants for such purposes. Requires state matching funds for specified projects. States that programs funded in Great Lakes states shall also seek to attain the goals embodied in the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Plan, the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Strategy, the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, or other collaborative planning efforts of the Great Lakes Region. Directs the Secretary to make grants to: (1) coastal states or affected Indian tribes, and (2) regional planning bodies to create and implement regional strategic plans. Directs the Secretary to establish a National Endowment for the Oceans Council.
Topic: Environment — Drinking Water
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2011-05-12 00:00:00

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to deny a tax deduction for business-related expenses paid or incurred by a responsible party relating to an incident resulting in the discharge of oil into the navigable waters, other than an incident caused by an act of God or an act of war.
Topic: Environment — Drinking Water
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2011-05-16 00:00:00

Small System Safe Drinking Water Act of 2011 - Amends the Safe Drinking Water Act to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): (1) to convene a working group to study barriers to using specified treatments; (2) to develop model guidance to assist states in regulating and promoting such treatment options; and (3) when establishing affordability criteria for variance technology, to consider specified cost factors, to give extra weight to households below the poverty level and to communities that meet state affordability criteria, and to ensure that the criteria are not more costly, on a per-capita basis, to a small public water system than the per capita cost to a large water system of acquiring feasible technology. Requires the Administrator or a state, before initiating any enforcement action, to ensure that sufficient funds have been made available to assist each public water system that serves fewer than 10,000 individuals in meeting regulation requirements.Revises provisions allowing an exemption of a system from maximum containment level and treatment technique requirements to: (1) increase the population threshold; and (2) allow state determinations of a renewal period. Revises technical assistance provisions to require water systems serving fewer than 10,000 individuals to receive adequate technical assistance and training to meet requirements of final rules. Gives priority to systems not in compliance with specified rules concerning disinfectants and disinfection byproducts, arsenic and compliance and new source monitoring, or groundwater or any other final rule promulgated by the Administrator after this Act's enactment. Establishes pilot programs to: (1) explore new technologies or approaches to comply with a drinking water standard; and (2) research technology transfer issues and disinfection strategies relating to drinking water.
Topic: Environment — Drinking Water
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2011-06-29 00:00:00

Replaces the map subtitled "Sachuest Point Unit RI-04P, Easton Beach Unit RI-05P, Almy Pond Unit RI-06, Hazards Beach Unit RI-07," included in the set of maps entitled "John H. Chafee Coastal Barrier Resources System" (referred to in the Coastal Barrier Resources Act as the set of maps entitled "Coastal Barrier Resources System") relating to certain units in Rhode Island, with the map entitled "John H. Chafee Coastal Barrier Resources System Sachuest Point Unit RI-04P, Easton Beach Unit RI-05P, Almy Pond Unit RI-06, and Hazards Beach Unit RI-07" and dated September 30, 2009.
Topic: Environment — Drinking Water
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2011-07-14 00:00:00

Silviculture Regulatory Consistency Act - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to prohibit the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from requiring a permit under national pollutant discharge elimination system permitting requirements for a discharge resulting from the conduct of any silvicultural activity, such as nursery operations, site preparation, reforestation, thinning, prescribed burning, pest and fire control, harvesting operations, surface drainage, or road use, construction, and maintenance, from which there is runoff. Specifies that nothing in this Act exempts silvicultural activity from permit requirements for the discharge of dredged or fill material into navigable waters.
Topic: Environment — Drinking Water
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2011-09-19 00:00:00

End Unnecessary Mailers Act of 2011 - Amends the Safe Drinking Water Act to give community water systems for which there were no violations of the maximum contaminant level for any regulated contaminant during the year the option to: (1) mail the annual consumer confidence report on the level of contaminants in the drinking water purveyed by that system to each customer (required under current law); or (2) make such report available on the system's website and, upon request, by mail. Requires a system that elects the latter to provide customers notice, in the manner elected by the customers to pay their bill, of such report's availability and that the system has remained in compliance with maximum contaminant levels.
Topic: Environment — Drinking Water
Subject: Water resources development
Date: 2011-10-06 00:00:00

Water Infrastructure Resiliency and Sustainability Act of 2011 - Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to: (1) establish the Water Infrastructure Resiliency and Sustainability Program to provide grants to owners or operators of water systems for programs or projects to increase the resiliency or adaptability of the systems to any ongoing or forecasted changes to the hydrologic conditions of a U.S. region; and (2) give priority to owners or operators of water systems that are at the greatest and most immediate risk of facing significant negative impacts due to changing hydrologic conditions. Requires the Administrator to ensure that the list of grant applications funded include a substantial number that propose to use innovative approaches that: (1) promote more efficient water use, water conservation, water reuse, or recycling; (2) use decentralized, low-impact development technologies and nonstructural approaches, including practices that use, enhance, or mimic the natural hydrological cycle or protect natural flows; (3) reduce stormwater runoff or flooding by protecting or enhancing natural ecosystem functions; (4) modify, upgrade, enhance, or replace existing water system infrastructure in response to changing hydrologic conditions; (5) improve water quality or quantity for agricultural and municipal uses, including through salinity reduction; and (6) provide multiple benefits, including to water supply enhancement or demand reduction, water quality protection or improvement, increased flood protection, and ecosystem protection or improvement.
Topic: Environment — Drinking Water
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2011-10-13 00:00:00

Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia Research and Control Amendments Act of 2011 - Amends the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 1998 to include the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as a member of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia. Requires such Task Force to: (1) establish a national harmful algal bloom and hypoxia program; (2) develop and publish a national harmful algal blooms and hypoxia action strategy; (3) assess interagency work and spending plans for implementing such program's activities; (4) review such program's distribution of federal grants and funding to address research priorities; (5) promote the development of new technologies for predicting, monitoring, and mitigating harmful algal blooms and hypoxia conditions; and (6) report on hypoxia. Gives primary responsibility for administering such program to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Requires the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere to: (1) develop a national strategy to understand, detect, predict, control, mitigate, and respond to marine and freshwater hypoxia events; (2) prepare work and spending plans for implementing such program and develop and implement the regional research and action plans; (3) identify additional research, development, and demonstration needs and priorities relating to monitoring, prevention, control, mitigation, and response to marine and freshwater harmful algal blooms and hypoxia; (4) integrate and augment existing education programs to improve public understanding of the causes, impacts, and mitigation efforts for such blooms and hypoxia; (5) provide resources to train state and local coastal and water resource managers in the methods and technologies for monitoring, controlling, and mitigating such blooms and hypoxia; (6) support regional efforts to control and mitigate outbreaks; (7) maintain and enhance NOAA's competitive programs relating to such blooms and hypoxia; (8) carry out marine and Great Lakes harmful algal bloom and hypoxia events response activities; and (9) increase the availability to entities of analytical facilities and technologies, operational forecasts, and reference and research materials. Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), through the Task Force, with respect to such program's freshwater aspects (except for those aspects occurring in the Great Lakes), to: (1) research the ecology of freshwater harmful algal blooms; (2) monitor and respond to such blooms events in lakes, rivers, and reservoirs; and (3) mitigate and control such blooms. Sets forth reporting requirements for the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force. Authorizes appropriations for FY2011-FY2015 for developing such regional research and action plans and related reports.
Topic: Environment — Drinking Water
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2011-11-09 00:00:00

Foreign Oil Pollution Act - Amends the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 to make each responsible party for a foreign offshore unit from which oil is discharged outside the navigable waters or the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) before entering or posing a substantial threat to enter the navigable waters or EEZ liable for specified removal costs and damages that result from such incident. Redefines "foreign offshore unit" to include a facility which is located within the EEZ. Prohibits a limit on liability under such Act for any incident involving a foreign offshore unit in which oil is discharged and enters or poses a substantial threat to enter such waters or EEZ. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to eliminate the $1 billion per incident limitation on expenditures from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund for incidents involving a foreign offshore unit in which oil is discharged and enters or poses a substantial threat to enter such waters or the EEZ.
Topic: Environment — Drinking Water
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2012-02-16 00:00:00

State Waters Partnership Act of 2012 - Expresses the sense of Congress that the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): (1) should take into account the effect of numeric nutrient criteria for nitrogen or phosphorus developed to meet the water quality requirements of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) on the economy, job creation, consumers, municipalities, agriculture, small business, and other affected sectors; and (2) should not promulgate or enforce nutrient criteria that would result in a negative economic impact of at least 15% on any such sector. Prohibits the Administrator from proposing, promulgating, or enforcing numeric nutrient criteria for any stream, lake, spring, canal, estuary, or marine water of Florida until the Administrator makes a final determination in accordance with such Act regarding the Florida amended rule approved for adoption by the Environmental Regulation Commission on December 8, 2011. Provides that if the Administrator determines that such rule meets the requirements of such Act: (1) the Adminstrator shall withdraw specified regulations concerning site-specific alternative criteria, and (2) the Administrator shall be prohibited from proposing or promulgating numeric nutrient criteria for streams, lakes, springs, canals, estuaries, or marine waters of Florida based on EPA's January 14, 2009, determination regarding numeric nutrient criteria.
Topic: Environment — Drinking Water
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2012-03-06 00:00:00

Upper Mississippi Conservation and River Protection Act of 2012 or the Upper Mississippi CARP Act - Directs the Chief of Engineers to: (1) study the feasibility of temporarily closing the lock at the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam, or implementing control measures at the lock, including permanently closing the lock, modifying lock operations, or using an alternative technology barrier, to manage the threat of Asian carp traveling up the Mississippi River in Minnesota; and (2) assess the potential impacts, including environmental and economic impacts, of temporarily closing the lock or continuing to operate it and of implementing the control measures or not implementing such measures. Authorizes the Chief to close the lock upon determining that closure is justified based on the assessment of potential impacts. Requires the Chief to close the lock upon determining that a live adult Asian carp has been captured above Lock and Dam 2 or that a juvenile Asian carp has been captured above Lock and Dam 4. Allows the Chief to reopen the lock upon determining that adequate measures are in place to manage the threat. Directs the Council on Environmental Quality to incorporate the Upper Mississippi River and tributaries, the Minnesota River, and the St. Croix River into the Asian Carp Control Strategy Framework of the Council. Expresses the sense of Congress that federal agencies researching Asian carp control technologies should partner with state and local shareholders, giving priority to collaborative partnerships in which such shareholders contribute to the cost of the research.
Topic: Environment — Drinking Water
Subject: Water resources development
Date: 2012-03-07 00:00:00

Grassroots Rural and Small Community Water Systems Assistance Act - Calls for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to prioritize the types of technical assistance to enable small public water systems to comply with national primary drinking water regulations that are the most beneficial to small and rural communities, based on their input. Amends the Safe Drinking Water Act to: (1) authorize appropriations to the Administrator of EPA for FY2012-FY2017 for such assistance; and (2) allow the Administrator to use such funds to provide technical assistance to nonprofit organizations that provide to small public water systems onsite technical assistance, circuit-rider technical assistance programs, onsite and regional training, assistance with implementing source water protection plans, and assistance with implementation monitoring plans, rules, regulations, and water security enhancements. Directs the Administrator to give preference to nonprofit organizations that are determined to be the most qualified and experienced and that the small community water systems find to be the most beneficial and effective.
Topic: Environment — Drinking Water
Subject: Water resources development
Date: 2012-03-29 00:00:00

North American Wetlands Conservation Extension Act of 2012 - Amends the North American Wetlands Conservation Act to extend through FY2017 the authorization of appropriations for allocations to carry out approved wetlands conservation projects.
Topic: Environment — Drinking Water
Subject: Agriculture and food
Date: 2012-04-18 00:00:00

Chesapeake Bay Watershed Fairness Act of 2012 - Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture (USDA) to provide technical assistance to a Chesapeake Bay state (Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia) to: (1) assist in developing water quality goals that reduce losses of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment from agricultural or nonindustrial private forest land in the Chesapeake Bay watershed; (2) assist in developing protocols to confirm producer or owner compliance with water quality laws; and (3) harmonize water quality trading technical guidelines in preparation for interstate trading. Authorizes the Secretary to provide: (1) financial and technical assistance to a Chesapeake Bay state to assist agricultural producers or owners promote water quality goals or conduct water quality trading preparation activities, and (2) technical assistance to agricultural producers and owners of nonindustrial private forest land in the Chesapeake Bay watershed for conservation services. Amends the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 to set aside certain watershed funds for projects located within the watershed of any water for which the federal government has established a multi-state maximum daily pollutant load, with priority given to projects that address agricultural and silvicultural sources. Directs the Secretary to coordinate with each federal agency owning or operating a facility within the Chesapeake Basin the development of plans that maximize forest cover at the facility.
Topic: Environment — Drinking Water
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2012-06-05 00:00:00

Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to revise the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Restoration Program to: (1) limit grants by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to no more than 75% of project costs; and (2) authorize the appropriation of $20 million or the lowest amount appropriated to carry out such Program for any of the preceding five fiscal years, whichever is less, for each of FY2013-FY2017.