lcalvobartolome/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Water resources development
Date: 2007-02-16 00:00:00

South Orange County Recycled Water Enhancement Act - Amends the Reclamation Wastewater and Groundwater Study and Facilities Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior, in cooperation with: (1) the city of San Juan Capistrano, California, to participate in the design, planning, and construction of an advanced water treatment plant facility and recycled water system; and (2) the city of San Clemente, California, to participate in the design, planning, and construction of a project to expand reclaimed water distribution, storage, and treatment facilities. Limits the federal share of the cost of each project to 25%. Bars the Secretary from providing funds for operation and maintenance. Authorizes appropriations. Terminates the Secretary's authority to carry out this Act 10 years after the date of its enactment.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2007-03-19 00:00:00

National Estuary Protection Act - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to: (1) prohibit as a matter of national policy the construction or use of a floating storage regasification unit in an estuary of national significance; and (2) require national estuary grant program applicants to certify to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency that they will not construct or use a floating storage regasification unit on an estuary of national significance, unless ordered to do so by a federal agency or court.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2007-03-19 00:00:00

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent the tax deduction for charitable contributions by individuals and corporations of real property interests for conservation purposes.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2007-03-29 00:00:00

Chesapeake's Healthy and Environmentally Sound Stewardship of Energy and Agriculture Act of 2007 or CHESSEA Act of 2007 - Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to extend funding for the the environmental quality incentives program. Gives program allocation priority to interstate watersheds. Provides a cost-share payment exception for limited resource and beginning farmers. Provides: (1) cost-share and incentive payments for private forest owners to carry out specified conservation activities; and (2) state performance incentives. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to enter into agreements with states containing all or a portion of a large waterbody or its tributaries for water quality initiatives. (States that the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries shall be one of such waterbodies.) Authorizes appropriations. Directs (currently, authorizes) the Secretary to pay the cost of conservation innovation grants. Makes such grants available for projects that include a technology transfer plan. Extends: (1) the conservation reserve program; (2) the conservation security program; and (3) the wetlands reserve program. Directs the Secretary to establish a conservation planning pilot program in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Federal Crop Insurance Act to: (1) extend the agricultural management assistance program; and (2) make Virginia eligible for such assistance. Amends the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 with respect to the biorefinery and biofuel grant program to: (1) extend such program; and (2) provide grants for Chesapeake Bay Watershed states (Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia and the District of Columbia) to develop the commercial viability of no-till soybean biodiesel production, cellulosic ethanol production, manure to energy processes, and other technologies that promote the conversion of biomass to fuels and chemicals and the reduction of nutrient impacts to water. Extends the renewable energy systems and energy efficiency improvements program. Obligates amounts for Chesapeake Bay Watershed states.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2007-04-18 00:00:00

Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program Act - Amends the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 to authorize the Secretary of Commerce to conduct a Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program to protect important coastal and estuarine areas that have significant conservation, recreation, ecological, historical, or aesthetic values and that are threatened by conversion from their natural, undeveloped, or recreational state to other uses or that could be managed or restored to effectively conserve, enhance, or restore ecological function. Requires the program to be administered by the National Ocean Service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) through the Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management.Authorizes the Secretary to make Program grants to coastal states with approved coastal zone management plans or National Estuarine Research Reserve units for the purpose of acquiring property that will further the goals of an approved Coastal Zone Management Plan or Program, a National Estuarine Research Reserve management plan, a regional or state watershed protection or management plan, or a state coastal land acquisition plan.Directs the Secretary to allocate funds to coastal states or National Estuarine Research Reserves through a competitive grant process with guidelines that meet specified requirements, including that: (1) each participating coastal state shall ensure that the acquisition of property or easements shall complement working waterfront needs; and (2) priority shall be given to lands that can be effectively managed and protected, that have significant ecological value, that are under an imminent threat of conversion to a use that will diminish their natural, undeveloped, or recreational state, and that serve to mitigate the adverse impacts caused by coastal population growth in the coastal environment.Provides that grant awards may be used to purchase land, including an easement, only from a willing seller. Prohibits any such purchase from being the result of a forced taking. Provides that grant funds under the Program shall require a 100% match from nonfederal sources, subject to a waiver by the Secretary for underserved and other specified communities or for other appropriate reasons. Reserves 15% of program funds for acquisitions benefiting the National Estuarine Research Reserve.Specifies that when property is acquired under this program, the grant recipient shall provide assurances that: (1) title will be held by the recipient (or another public agency designated by the recipient) in perpetuity; (2) property will be managed consistent with the purpose of the Program; and (3) funds will be returned to the Secretary for redistribution if the property is sold, exchanged, or divested. Authorizes appropriations.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2007-04-24 00:00:00

National Landscape Conservation System Act - Establishes in the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) the National Landscape Conservation System (thus, enacting into law the National Landscape Conservation System [NLCS] created by BLM in 2000) in order to conserve, protect, and restore nationally significant landscapes that have outstanding cultural, ecological, and scientific values for the benefit of current and future generations. Requires that the NLCS include each of the following areas administered by BLM: (1) each area that is designated as a national monument, a national conservation area, a wilderness study area, a national scenic trail or historic trail designated as a component of the National Trails System, a component of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, or a component of the National Wilderness Preservation System; and (2) any area designated by Congress to be administered for conservation purposes, including the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Area (as designated under the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Act of 2000), the Headwaters Forest Reserve, the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, and any additional area designated by Congress for inclusion in the NLCS. Prohibits anything in this Act from: (1) being construed to enhance, diminish, or modify any law or proclamation under which the components of the NLCS specified above were established, or are managed, including, but not limited to, the Alaska National Interest Land Conservation Act, the Wilderness Act, the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, the National Trails System Act, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976; (2) creating a federal cause of action based on inclusion within the NLCS; (3) intending to additionally restrict or hinder energy development within such system; (4) affecting the authority, jurisdiction, or responsibility of the several states to manage, control, or regulate fish and resident wildlife under state law or regulations, including the regulation of, or access to, hunting, fishing, trapping, and recreational shooting on BLM-managed public land; (5) limiting access to such activities; (6) affecting current grazing rights or operations due to inclusion in the NLCS; and (7) impeding any efforts by the Department of Homeland Security to secure U.S. borders.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2007-05-22 00:00:00

Clean Water Restoration Act of 2007 - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to replace the term "navigable waters," throughout the Act, with the term "waters of the United States," defined to mean all waters subject to the ebb and flow of the tide, the territorial seas, and all interstate and intrastate waters and their tributaries, including lakes, rivers, streams (including intermittent streams), mudflats, sandflats, wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, natural ponds, and all impoundments of the foregoing, to the fullest extent that these waters, or activities affecting them, are subject to the legislative power of Congress under the Constitution. Declares that nothing in such Act shall be construed as affecting the authority of the Secretary of the Army or the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the provisions of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act related to discharges: (1) composed entirely of agricultural return flows; (2) of stormwater runoff from oil, gas, and mining operations; or (3) of dredged or fill materials resulting from normal farming, silviculture, and ranching activities or from activities with respect to which a state has an approved program, or for the purposes of maintenance of currently serviceable structures or drainage ditches, construction or maintenance of farm or stock ponds, irrigation ditches, or farm, forest, or temporary roads for moving mining equipment, or construction of temporary sedimentation basins on construction sites.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2007-05-23 00:00:00

Sewage Overflow Community Right-to-Know Act - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to require owners or operators of publicly owned treatment works to: (1) institute monitoring systems to provide timely alerts of sewer overflows; (2) notify the public, not later than 24 hours after receiving knowledge, of such overflows in areas where human health is potentially affected; (3) notify public health authorities and other affected entities, in the case of an overflow that may imminently and substantially endanger human health, immediately after the owner or operator knows of the overflow; (4) report each overflow on discharge monitoring reports to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the state; and (5) annually report to the Administrator or the state on the total number of overflows in a calendar year.Makes specified exceptions to notification and reporting requirements for backups into single-family residences and for overflows that occur in the course of treatment works maintenance, respectively.Requires annual summary reports by states to the Administrator.Requires the Administrator to issue regulations, including to establish overflow assessment guidance and develop communications measures to provide notification under this Act. Provides procedures for review and approval, after issuance of such regulations, of state notification programs. Makes the monitoring systems eligible for state water pollution control revolving fund assistance.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2007-09-20 00:00:00

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through 2008 the tax deduction for charitable contributions of real property made for conservation purposes.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2007-10-18 00:00:00

Brownfields Redevelopment Promotion Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent the taxpayer election to expense (deduct in the current taxable year) expenditures made for environmental remediation (i.e., abatement or control of hazardous substances at contaminated sites).
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Water resources development
Date: 2007-10-24 00:00:00

Water Use Efficiency and Conservation Research Act - Requires the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Assistant Administrator for Research and Development to establish a research and development program to promote water use efficiency and conservation, including: (1) technologies and processes that enable the collection, storage, treatment, and reuse of rainwater, stormwater, and greywater; (2) water storage and distribution systems; and (3) behavioral, social, and economic barriers to achieving greater water use efficiency.Requires the Assistant Administrator to coordinate the development of a strategic research plan for the water use efficiency and conservation research and development program established by this Act with all other EPA research and development strategic plans.Requires the Assistant Administrator to: (1) facilitate the adoption of technology and processes to promote water use efficiency and conservation; and (2) collect and disseminate information on technologies and processes to promote water use efficiency and conservation, including information on incentives and impediments to development and commercialization, best practices, and anticipated increases in water use efficiency and conservation resulting from the implementation of specific technologies and processes.Requires at least four projects under which funding is provided for the incorporation into a building (at least one residential and one commercial building) of the latest water use efficiency and conservation technologies and designs.Requires biennial reports to Congress on research and development projects initiated under this Act, outreach and communication activities concerning water use efficiency and conservation, and development and implementation of the strategic research plan.Directs the EPA Administrator to enter into an arrangement with the National Academy of Sciences for completion of a study of "low impact" (mimicking predevelopment hydrology) and "soft path" (using natural capacities of ecosystems) strategies for management of water supply, wastewater, and stormwater.Authorizes appropriations.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2007-12-13 00:00:00

Household Water Conservation Challenge Act of 2007 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow individual taxpayers a tax credit for reducing water usage in their residences.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Water resources development
Date: 2008-02-14 00:00:00

Amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to require the President to establish a grant program for the revitalization of waterfront brownfield sites. Authorizes such grants to be used for reuse planning, site characterization and assessment, or remediation at waterfront brownfields sites, including the integration of activities related to the design and implementation of water quality improvements, low impact development approaches, green infrastructure, remediation and management of sediments, or flood damage prevention associated with brownfields remediation and reuse. Authorizes the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide training, research, and technical assistance to individuals and organizations to facilitate waterfront brownfields revitalization. Authorizes funding for brownfields revitalization for FY2008-FY2012. Requires the Administrator to establish and serve as chairperson of a task force on waterfront brownfields revitalization that shall identify: (1) funding and technical assistance resources; (2) barriers to and solutions for revitalization; and (3) methods to coordinate interagency efforts.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2008-06-18 00:00:00

Dona Ana County Planned Growth, Open Space, and Rangeland Preservation Act of 2008 - Designates special preservation and rangeland preservation areas in Dona Ana County, New Mexico, and directs the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the Bureau of Land Management, to manage such areas to promote conservation of grazing land, wildlife habitats, and open spaces. Allows the Secretary to acquire non-federal land in such areas from a state, local government, or non-profit organization through purchase, exchange, or donation. Requires the Secretary to develop a comprehensive plan for the long-range protection and management of rangeland preservation areas.Authorizes an exchange of land between the United States and New Mexico State University.Requires the Secretary to: (1) conduct a sale of specified federal lands in Dona Ana County; and (2) use the proceeds of such sale for certain purposes, including payments to the County and for the acquisition of environmentally sensitive land, the development of parks, trails, and natural areas, and for rangeleand improvements.Establishes the Dona Ana County Land Disposal Advisory Board to advise the Secretary on the disposal of federal lands.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2008-07-10 00:00:00

Great Lakes Legacy Reauthorization Act of 2008 - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to define: (1) "site characterization" as a process for monitoring and evaluating sediment contamination under the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) guidance for the assessment of contaminated sediment in an area of concern in the United States; and (2) "potentially responsible party" to mean an individual or entity that may be liable under any federal or state authority used to facilitate the cleanup and protection of the Great Lakes.Includes aquatic habitat restoration activities among activities the Great Lakes National Program Office is authorized to implement for the remediation of sediment contamination in areas of concern.Prohibits the Administrator from implementing such a remediation project unless: (1) each nonfederal sponsor has entered into a written agreement under which each party agrees to carry out its responsibilities and requirements for the project; and (2) the Administrator provides assurance that EPA has conducted a reasonable inquiry to identify potentially responsible parties.Revises provisions concerning the nonfederal share of project costs.Requires the Administrator to implement, at federal expense, one site characterization per site within a project for the remediation of contaminated sediment. Repeals a prohibition against implementing a project unless the nonfederal sponsor agrees to maintain aggregate expenditures from all other sources for remediation programs in the area of concern or above the average level of such expenditures in the two fiscal years preceding the date the project is initiated.Authorizes appropriations through FY2010 for: (1) such remediation projects; (2) a public information program to provide information relating to such remediation; and (3) the development and use of innovative approaches, technologies, and techniques for such remediation. Limits to 20% of the amount of funds appropriated for remediation projects that may be used for site characterization.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2007-01-04 00:00:00

Paul Coverdell Homestead Open Space Preservation and Conservation Act of 2006 (sic) - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow certain tax-exempt conservation organizations a tax credit for expenditures to acquire and maintain real property interests exclusively for conservation purposes.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Water resources development
Date: 2007-03-01 00:00:00

Directs the Secretary of the Army to: (1) carry out restoration projects along the Middle Rio Grande in New Mexico, from Cochiti Dam to the headwaters of the Elephant Butte Dam; and (2) consult with certain local environmental groups in carrying out such projects. Requires non-federal interests to pay 25% of total project costs and 100% of operation, maintenance, repair, replacement, and rehabilitation costs. Prohibits recreational features of a project from comprising more than 30% of the total project cost.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: International affairs
Date: 2007-03-12 00:00:00

Torture Victims Relief Reauthorization Act of 2007 - Amends the Torture Victims Relief Act of 1998 to authorize appropriations for FY2008-FY2009 to: (1) the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide grants to programs in the United States to cover the costs of services provided by domestic treatment centers in the rehabilitation of victims of torture (including treatment of the physical and psychological effects of torture), social and legal services, and research and training of health care providers outside of treatment centers or programs to enable them to provide such services; (2) the President for grants to treatment centers and programs in foreign countries that carry out projects and activities specifically designed to treat victims of torture for the physical and psychological effects of torture; and (3) the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Water resources development
Date: 2007-03-13 00:00:00

Modifies the Union River, Maine, navigation project by redesignating a specified portion of the project as an anchorage area.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Water resources development
Date: 2007-03-29 00:00:00

Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to: (1) establish within the Natural Resources Conservation Service a stream habitat improvement program to provide cost-share payments to landowners for stream habitat improvement projects; and (2) provide a higher payment share to a landowner who carries out a project in partnership with a nonprofit organization. Gives priority for projects that: (1) remove a small dam or in-stream structure; (2) improve fish passage; (3) protect streamside areas; (4) improve water flow; or (5) improve in-stream flow quality or temperature regimes. Authorizes the Secretary to provide a higher payment share to a landowner who carries out a priority project.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2007-04-18 00:00:00

Conservation Reserve Program Tax Fairness Act of 2007 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code and the Social Security Act to treat payments under the Conservation Acreage Reserve Program as rentals from real estate and thus not self employment income subject to employment tax. Transfers from the general fund of the Treasury to specified social security trust funds amounts necessary to cover any reductions in trust fund revenues resulting from this Act.