lcalvobartolome/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2009-10-07 00:00:00

Water Efficiency, Conservation, and Adaptation Act of 2009 - Establishes within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) a WaterSense program to identify and promote water efficient products, buildings, landscapes, facilities, processes, and services (products, facilities, and services) so as to: (1) reduce water use and the strain on water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure; (2) conserve energy used to pump, heat, transport, and treat water; and (3) preserve water resources through voluntary labeling of, or other forms of communications about, products, facilities, and services that meet the highest water efficiency and performance criteria. Sets forth the duties of Administrator of the EPA under the program, including to: (1) establish a WaterSense label and certification procedures and to promote labeled products, facilities, and services for reducing water use and ensuring performance; (2) review and update WaterSense criteria for categories of products, facilities, and services; (3) estimate and make available the production and relative market shares of, and the savings of water, energy, and capital costs of water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure attributable to, labeled products, facilities, and services; (4) notify the public of any changes on the adoption of a new or revised WaterSense category, specification, installation criterion, or other criterion and explain such changes; (5) implement other voluntary approaches in commercial, institutional, residential, industrial, and municipal sectors to encourage recycling and reuse technologies to improve water efficiency or lower water use; and (6) apply the WaterSense label as appropriate to water-using products that are labeled by the Energy Star program. Requires the Administrator to: (1) allocate funds to establish and implement a program of financial incentives for consumer purchase and installation of water-efficient products, facilities, and services; and (2) make grants to owners or operators of specified water systems to address any ongoing or forecasted climate-related impact on the water quality or quantity of a region of the United States for the purposes of mitigating or adapting to the impacts of climate change.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2010-02-23 00:00:00

Columbia River Restoration Act of 2010 - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to: (1) establish within EPA a Columbia River Program Team, located within the Oregon Operations Office for EPA's Region 10; and (2) appoint a Team Leader who shall be highly qualified to support the development and implementation of projects, programs, and studies necessary to implement the Columbia River Basin Toxics Reduction Action Plan developed by EPA and the Columbia River Toxics Reduction Working Group in 2010. Directs the Administrator, acting through the Team Leader, to: (1) assist and support the implementation of the Action Plan and the Estuary Partnership Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan adopted by EPA and the Governors of Oregon and Washington on October 20, 1999; (2) coordinate the implementation of, and the development of any updates to, those Plans, with programs and projects in the Middle and Upper Columbia River Basin; (3) make other appropriate updates; (4) provide funding and make grants for implementation consistent with Plan priorities; (5) promote innovative methodologies and technologies that are cost effective and consistent with Plan goals and objectives and EPA's permitting processes; (6) coordinate the major functions of the federal government related to Plan implementation; (7) coordinate authorized research and planning projects; (8) track progress toward meeting Plan goals and objectives; and (9) collect and make available to the public information regarding the environmental quality of the Lower Columbia River and Estuary. Requires the Administrator, through the Team Leader, to carry out projects, programs, and studies to implement the Plans. Authorizes the Administrator to give special emphasis to those projects, programs, and studies identified as priorities by the Estuary Partnership in the Plans. Authorizes the Administrator, through the Team Leader, to make grants to implement the Plans. Sets forth requirements regarding grant allocations and the federal share of costs. Directs the President, as part of his annual budget submission to Congress, to submit information regarding each federal agency involved in protection and restoration of the Columbia River Basin.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2010-04-21 00:00:00

America's Commitment to Clean Water Act - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to replace the term "navigable waters," for waters subject to the Act, with the term "waters of the United States," defined to mean: (1) all waters that are currently used, were used in the past, or may be susceptible to use in interstate or foreign commerce including all waters that are subject to the ebb and flow of the tide; (2) all interstate and international waters, including interstate and international wetlands; (3) all other waters, including intrastate lakes, rivers, streams (including intermittent streams), mudflats, sandflats, wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, or natural ponds, the use, degradation, or destruction of which does or would affect interstate or foreign commerce, U.S. obligations under a treaty, or U.S. territory or property; (4) all impoundments of waters otherwise defined as waters of the United States; (5) tributaries of such waters; (6) the territorial seas; and (7) waters, including wetlands, adjacent to such waters. Excludes from such definition: (1) waters that are all or part of a waste treatment system, including treatment ponds or lagoons designed to meet the requirements of the Act; or (2) prior converted cropland. Declares that the final authority regarding jurisdiction under this Act remains with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) notwithstanding the Secretary of Agriculture's determination that an area is prior converted cropland. Sets forth provisions defining waste treatment systems and prior converted farmland. Prohibits a system or structure that is created in waters of the United States or results from the impoundment of such waters from being documented as a waste treatment system. Authorizes a waste treatment system in existence and documented before this Act's enactment to include a waste treatment system that was either originally created in or resultant from the impoundment of such waters if the system's discharge meets applicable standards and limitations at the point of discharge.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2010-06-29 00:00:00

Onondaga Lake Restoration Act - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish the Onondaga Lake Watershed Council to: (1) develop and periodically revise an Adaptive Management Plan for the restoration, conservation, and management of Onondaga Lake; (2) establish and implement a program for the public's participation in the Plan's development and revision; and (3) establish and direct the Onondaga Lake Scientific Center to advise the Council on development and implementation of the Plan. Requires the Plan to: (1) identify measurable goals for the restoration, conservation, and management of Onondaga Lake and for compliance with all laws affecting the restoration and conservation of the Lake; and (2) incorporate and update the recommendations of the Onondaga Lake Management Plan to recommend strategies for management of the biological makeup of the Lake, the physical development of the Lake and its surroundings, and the use of the Lake for recreational and other purposes. Prohibits the Plan's recommendations from being carried out before it is approved by the Administrator and the governor of New York. Authorizes the Administrator to make funds available to members of the Council and the Center to carry out this Act. Authorizes the Administrator to make grants to specified governmental officials in New York and members of the Center: (1) to implement Plan strategies; (2) for research, surveys, administrative services, and studies; and (3) to gather data in support of litigation undertaken by New York or the Onondaga Nation to compel cleanup or obtain cleanup and damage costs from parties responsible for the pollution of Onondaga Lake. Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1999 to revoke provisions that require the Secretary of the Army to plan and construct projects that are consistent with the Onondaga Lake Management Plan and to provide financial assistance for the development and implementation of projects to restore, conserve, and manage the lake.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2010-07-30 00:00:00

Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to repeal the authority of the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to prohibit the specification of, or to deny or restrict the use of, a defined area as a disposal site for the discharge of dredged or fill material into navigable waters.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Agriculture and food
Date: 2010-09-22 00:00:00

Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture (USDA) to provide payments to owners and operators of qualifying muck land (as determined by the Secretary) in agricultural production to conserve and improve such land's soil, water, and wildlife resources.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Water resources development
Date: 2010-09-29 00:00:00

Western Water Supply Enhancement Act - Amends the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 to direct the Secretary of the Interior, in calculating the non-federal share of the cost of an infrastructure improvement or activity proposed by an eligible applicant for a water management improvement grant or agreement, to consider: (1) non-federal funds secured and committed to the planning, design, or construction of improvements authorized for research activity funding, even if such funds are secured and committed in advance of an application for such a grant or agreement; and (2) amounts that the applicant receives from federal power marketing agencies. Directs the Secretary to provide such a grant or agreement to assist any eligible applicant in planning, designing, or constructing any water management improvements as part of a multiyear regional, integrated, and coordinated water conservation and management plan. Requires an applicant, in order to be eligible for such a grant or agreement, to: (1) be located in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, or the Virgin Islands; and (2) submit to the Secretary an application that includes a long-term (minimum of five years) water conservation and management plan based on a regional, coordinated, and integrated water conservation and management model for either an entire watershed or river basin or a regional effort that includes multiple partnering irrigation or municipal entities and a proposed budget and schedule for improvements or activities to be planned, designed, constructed, or implemented by the applicant consistent with the plan submitted. Limits the amount provided to a grant or agreement applicant to $15 million for each five-year period. Directs the Secretary to consider providing at least one grant to two of the five Reclamation Regions having submitted a valid grant application.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2010-09-29 00:00:00

Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta National Heritage Area Establishment Act - Establishes the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta National Heritage Area in California. Designates the Delta Protection Commission as the management entity for the Heritage Area. Requires the Commission to submit a proposed management plan for the Heritage Area to the Secretary of the Interior for approval. Bars approval of the management plan until the Secretary has received certification from the Commission that the Delta Stewardship Council has reviewed such plan for consistency with the plan adopted by the Council pursuant to state law.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2010-09-29 00:00:00

Onondaga Lake Restoration Act - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish the Onondaga Lake Watershed Council to: (1) develop and periodically revise an Adaptive Management Plan for the restoration, conservation, and management of Onondaga Lake; (2) establish and implement a program for the public's participation in the Plan's development and revision; and (3) establish the Onondaga Lake Scientific Center to advise the Council on development and implementation of the Plan. Requires the Plan to: (1) identify measurable goals for the restoration, conservation, and management of Onondaga Lake and for compliance with all laws affecting the restoration and conservation of the Lake and the Amended Consent Judgment entered January 20, 1998, in the case of Atlantic States Legal Foundation v. The Onondaga County Department of Drainage and Sanitation; and (2) incorporate and update the recommendations of the Onondaga Lake Management Plan to recommend strategies for management of the biological makeup of the Lake, the physical development of the Lake and its surroundings, and the use of the Lake for recreational and other purposes. Prohibits the Plan's recommendations from being carried out before it is approved by the Administrator and the governor of New York. States that this Act shall not affect any other provision of federal or state law or responsibility assigned thereunder, including provisions of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) or the New York State Environmental Conservation Law that require, and assign responsibility for, the performance of cleanup activities or other activities affecting the restoration or conservation of Onondaga Lake. Authorizes the Administrator to make funds available to members of the Council and the Center to carry out this Act. Authorizes the Administrator to make grants to specified governmental officials in New York and members of the Center: (1) to implement Plan strategies; (2) for research, surveys, administrative services, and studies; and (3) to gather data. Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1999 to revoke provisions that require the Secretary of the Army to plan and construct projects that are consistent with the Onondaga Lake Management Plan and to provide financial assistance for the development and implementation of projects to restore, conserve, and manage the lake.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2010-09-29 00:00:00

Save the Chesapeake Bay Homeowner Act of 2010 - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to: (1) develop and implement the Save the Chesapeake Bay Home program, which shall designate as program participants property owners in the Chesapeake Bay watershed who perform a specified number of actions on a list of actions developed by the Administrator to reduce nutrient and sediment runoff into the Bay; and (2) determine an appropriate amount of credit for compliance with total maximum daily load requirements to award to a state based on the number of property owners in the state who have been designated as program participants.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Energy
Date: 2009-03-05 00:00:00

Energy and Water Integration Act of 2009 - Directs the Secretary of Energy (the Secretary) to enter into an arrangement with the National Academy of Sciences to conduct an in-depth analysis of the impact of energy development and production on U.S. water resources. Requires the study to include a lifecycle assessment of the quantity of water withdrawn and consumed in the production of transportation fuels or electricity. Requires the Secretary to conduct a study to identify the best available technologies and related strategies to maximize water and energy efficiency in the production of electricity by each type of generation (coal, oil and natural gas, hydropower, thermal solar, and nuclear). Directs the Secretary of the Interior: (1) acting through the Commissioner of Reclamation, to conduct a study to evaluate the quantities of energy used in water storage and delivery operations in major reclamation projects; and (2) to operate, manage, and maintain the Brackish Groundwater National Desalination Research Facility in Otero County, New Mexico, to carry out research, development, and demonstration activities to develop technologies and methods that promote brackish groundwater desalination as a viable method to increase water supply in a cost-effective manner. Amends the Department of Energy Organization Act to require the Administrator of the Energy Information Administration to conduct an assessment of energy consumption in various sectors of the economy that are associated with the acquisition, treatment, or delivery of water. Requires the Secretary to develop an Energy-Water Research and Development Roadmap.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2009-04-02 00:00:00

Clean Water Restoration Act - Reaffirms federal jurisdiction over all waters of the United States and overturns the decisions of the United States Supreme Court in Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. United States Army Corps of Engineers and Rapanos v. United States. Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to replace the term "navigable waters" that are subject to such 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, including lakes, rivers, streams (including intermittent streams), mudflats, sandflats, wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, and natural ponds, all tributaries of any of such waters, and all impoundments of the foregoing. Excludes from such term: (1) prior converted cropland; and (2) waste treatment systems, including treatment ponds or lagoons designed to meet the requirements of such Act (other than cooling ponds). Applies the waste treatment systems exclusion only to manmade bodies of water which neither were originally created in waters of the United States (such as disposal areas in wetlands) nor resulted from the impoundment of waters of the United States. Declares that nothing in such Act affects the authority of the Secretary of the Army or the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the provisions of the Clean Water Act related to discharges: (1) composed entirely of return flows from irrigated agriculture; (2) of stormwater runoff from certain oil, gas, and mining operations composed entirely of flows from precipitation runoff conveyances, which are not contaminated by or in contact with specified materials; (3) of dredged or fill materials resulting from normal farming, silviculture, and ranching activities, from upland soil and water conservation practices, or from activities with respect to which a state has an approved water quality regulatory program; or (4) of dredged or fill materials for the maintenance of currently serviceable structures, the construction or maintenance of farm or stock ponds, irrigation ditches, or farm, forest, or temporary roads for moving mining equipment in accordance with best management practices, or the construction of temporary sedimentation basins on construction sites for which discharges do not include placement of fill material into the waters of the United States. Requires the Administrator and the Secretary to promulgate regulations to implement this Act within 18 months.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2009-09-24 00:00:00

Water Efficiency and Conservation Investment Act of 2009 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) allow, through 2014, individual taxpayers a tax credit for 50% of the cost, up to $750 per year, of installing qualified water efficiency property in a residence; (2) allow building contractors, through 2014, a $1,500 tax credit for each qualified, new, water efficient home constructed and sold to a homeowner; (3) allow the issuance of tax-exempt water conservation bonds; and (4) exempt prepayments under a qualified electricity supply contract from tax-exempt bond arbitrage rules.
Topic: Environment — Conservation
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2009-11-05 00:00:00

Puget Sound Recovery Act of 2010 - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to delegate to the Regional Administrator for Region 10 of EPA such authority, and provide such additional staff, as are necessary to carry out this Act. Requires the Administrator, acting through the Regional Administrator, to: (1) carry out the duties assigned to the Administrator under the National Estuary program as a member of the management conference; (2) assist in the development and evaluation of the priority list compiled by the Puget Sound Partnership; (3) promote methodologies and technologies that are cost-effective and able to meet the goals and objectives of the Puget Sound comprehensive conservation and management plan approved by EPA (comprehensive plan) and the EPA permitting processes; (4) coordinate the major functions of the federal government relating to the implementation of the comprehensive plan; (5) coordinate the scientific research and planning projects authorized under this Act with activities of federal and state agencies, tribes, institutions of higher learning, and the Puget Sound Partnership's Science Panel; (6) assist the Partnership in tracking progress toward meeting the identified goals and objectives of the comprehensive plan; and (7) coordinate activities, projects, programs, and studies for the protection of Puget Sound, the Strait of Georgia, and the Strait of Juan de Fuca with Canadian authorities. Requires: (1) the identification and determination of the priority of activities, projects, programs, and studies to be made by the Partnership annually, subject to approval by the Administrator; and (2) the Administrator to compile the priority list if the Partnership fails to compile it. Allows the Administrator, acting through the Regional Administrator, to make grants for activities, projects, programs, and studies to implement the comprehensive plan, including a comprehensive grant to the Partnership to track the implementation of the plan, monitor environmental outcomes, update the plan, and develop the annual priority list. Specifies the conditions for grant eligibility. Requires the President, as part of the annual budget, to submit information regarding expenditures and roles of each federal agency involved in Puget Sound protection and restoration. Requires the Administrator and the Executive Director of the Puget Sound Partnership to a report biennially to Congress on the implementation of the comprehensive plan, any modifications to the plan during the period covered by the report, and the roles and progress of each federal agency that has jurisdiction in the Puget Sound watershed toward meeting the plan's goals and objectives. Authorizes appropriations for FY2011-FY2015.