HR 5422 IH

To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to establish an integrated environmental reporting program.

October 6, 2000

Mr. SHAW (for himself, Mr. STUPAK, Mr. BOEHLERT, and Mr. METCALF) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to establish an integrated environmental reporting program.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Streamlined Environmental Reporting and Pollution Prevention Act of 2000'.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

In this Act:

(1) ADMINISTRATOR- The term `Administrator' means the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

(2) INTEGRATED REPORTING PROGRAM- The term `integrated reporting program' means the integrated environmental reporting program established under section 3.

(3) PAPER FORM- The term `paper form' means a paper form or integrated series of paper forms that--

(A) allows a person to report the same information that the person is able to report electronically under section 3(b)(1)(A); and

(B) provides the person essentially the same instructions for reporting that would be provided if the person were to report electronically under section 3(b)(1)(A).

(4) PERSON- The term `person' means an individual, trust, firm, joint stock company, corporation, partnership, or association, or a facility owned or operated by the Federal Government or by a State, tribal government, municipality, commission, or political subdivision of a State.

(5) REPORTING REQUIREMENT-

(A) IN GENERAL- The term `reporting requirement' means--

(i) a routine, periodic, environmental reporting requirement; and

(ii) any other reporting requirement that the Administrator may by regulation include within the meaning of the term.

(B) EXCLUSIONS- The term `reporting requirement' does not include--

(i) the reporting of information relating to an emergency, except for information submitted as part of a routine periodic environmental report;

(ii) the reporting of information to the Administrator relating only to business transactions (and not to environmental or regulatory matters) between the Administrator and a person, including information provided--

(I) in the course of fulfilling a contractual obligation between the Administrator and the reporting person; or

(II) in the filing of financial claims against the Administrator; or

(iii) the reporting of specific items of information protected as--

(I) confidential business information, as described in section 552(b)(4) of title 5, United States Code, or any law administered by the Administrator; or

(II) personal privacy information described in section 552a of title 5, United States Code.

SEC. 3. INTEGRATED REPORTING PROGRAM.

(a) IN GENERAL- Not later than 4 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall integrate and streamline the reporting requirements established under laws administered by the Administrator for each person subject to those reporting requirements--

(1) in accordance with subsection (b);

(2) to the extent not explicitly prohibited by Act of Congress; and

(3) to the extent consistent with the preservation of the integrity, reliability, and security of the data reported.

(b) COMPONENTS OF INTEGRATED REPORTING PROGRAM- In establishing the integrated reporting program, to ensure consistency and facilitate use of the program, the Administrator shall--

(1) allow each person required to submit information to the Administrator under reporting requirements administered by the Administrator to report the information to 1 point of contact--

(A) using a single electronic system or a paper form; and

(B) in the case of any person subject to more than 1 annual reporting requirement, at 1 time during the year;

(2)(A) allow each State, tribal, or local agency that has been authorized or delegated authority to implement a law administered by the Administrator to report information to the Administrator regarding any person subject to the law, as required under the law (including a regulation), agreement, or other instrument, authorizing or delegating the authority, to report to 1 point of contact--

(i) using a single electronic system; and

(ii) in the case of a State, tribal, or local agency required to submit more than 1 type of annual report, at 1 time during each year; and

(B) provide each State, tribal, or local agency that reports to the Administrator through the integrated reporting program full access to the data that the agency has reported to the Administrator through the program;

(3) provide a reporting person, upon request, full access to information reported by the person to the Administrator, or to any State, tribal, or local agency that was subsequently reported to the Administrator, in a variety of formats that includes a format that the person may modify by incorporating information applicable to the current reporting period and then submit to the Administrator, or to a State, tribal, or local agency as appropriate, to comply with a current reporting requirement;

(4)(A) consult with heads of other Federal agencies to identify environmental or occupational safety or health reporting requirements that are not administered by the Administrator; and

(B) as part of the electronic version of the integrated reporting program, post information that assists the reporting person in locating sources of information on requirements identified under subparagraph (A) to which the person may be subject;

(5) in consultation with State, tribal, and local agencies, reporting persons, environmental groups, information technology experts, and other interested parties, establish, update as necessary, and, to the extent relevant, implement in each national information system of the Environmental Protection Agency that contains data reported under the integrated reporting program established under this section, data standards for--

(A) facility identification (including a facility registry identifier, geographic coordinates, mailing address, affiliation, environmental interest, and industrial classification);

(B) units of measure;

(C) chemical identification and biological taxonomy;

(D) permitting, enforcement and compliance, tribal identifiers, and geographic information; and

(E) other items that the Administrator considers to be appropriate;

(6) in consultation with the parties referred to in paragraph (5), implement, and update as necessary, a nomenclature throughout the integrated reporting program that uses terms that the Administrator believes are understandable to reporting persons that do not have environmental expertise;

(7) consolidate reporting of information that, but for consolidation under this paragraph, would be required to be reported to the integrated reporting program at more than 1 point in the same data submission (except, in the case of the paper form, for information used to facilitate the processing of the paper form by the Administrator);

(8) provide for applicable data formats and submission protocols, including procedures for legally enforceable electronic signature in accordance with the Government Paperwork Elimination Act (44 U.S.C. 3504 note; 112 Stat. 2681-749) that, as determined by the Administrator--

(A) conform, to the maximum extent practicable, with public-domain standards for electronic commerce;

(B) are accessible to a substantial majority of reporting persons; and

(C) provide adequate assurance of the integrity and reliability of the data in accordance with public domain standards;

(9) publish a document that describes the data architecture used in the integrated reporting program and that describes the major data types, data standards, significant attributes, and interrelationships that are common to activities carried out by the Administrator and by State, tribal, and local agencies (such as permitting, compliance, enforcement, and collection and analysis of environmental samples and results), which the Administrator shall--

(A) use as the framework for databases in which the data reported to the Administrator through the integrated reporting program are kept; and

(B) allow other Federal agencies and State, tribal, and local agencies to use;

(10) establish an electronic service center, accessible through the point of contact established under paragraph (1), to assist reporting persons, as necessary and feasible, to--

(A) identify reporting requirements administered by the Administrator and to which the person may be subject;

(B) submit required data electronically; and

(C) find and contact compliance assistance providers;

(11) provide each reporting person access, through the point of contact established under paragraph (1), to scientifically sound, publicly available information on pollution prevention technologies and practices;

(12) at the discretion of the Administrator, develop, within the integrated reporting program, different methods by which the reporting person may electronically provide the required information, in order to facilitate use of the program by different sectors, sizes, and categories of reporting persons;

(13) provide protection of confidential business information, as described in section 552(b)(4) of title 5, United States Code, or any law administered by the Administrator, and personal privacy information described in section 552a of title 5, United States Code, so that each item of such information reported to the Administrator through the integrated reporting program receives protection equivalent to the protection that item of information would receive if the item were reported to the Administrator through means other than the integrated reporting program;

(14) publish information to assist in, and otherwise promote, the development of software for use by reporting persons that helps reporting persons in--

(A) assembling, documenting, and submitting information required under laws administered by the Administrator; and

(B) receiving information on pollution prevention technologies and practices as described in paragraph (11); and

(15) provide a mechanism by which a reporting person may, at the option of the reporting person, electronically transfer information from the data system of the reporting person to the integrated reporting program through the use, in the integrated reporting program, of--

(A) open data formats (such as the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) format);

(B) a standard that enables the definition, transmission, validation, and interpretation of data by software applications and by organizations through use of the Internet (such as the Extensible Markup Language (XML) standard); and

(C) as appropriate, the use of electronic signatures in conjunction with the transfer of information.

(c) SCOPE OF DATA STANDARDS AND NOMENCLATURE- The data standards and nomenclature implemented and updated under paragraphs (5) and (6) of subsection (b) shall not affect any regulatory standard or definition in effect on the date of enactment of this Act, except to the extent that the Administrator amends, by regulation, the standard or definition.

(d) USE OF INTEGRATED REPORTING PROGRAM-

(1) IN GENERAL- Nothing in this Act requires that any person use the integrated reporting program instead of a reporting method in existence on the date of enactment of this Act.

(2) USE OF MULTIPLE METHODS- The Administrator may design the integrated reporting program to allow a reporting person to use the integrated reporting program for the purposes of some reports and not other reports.

(e) SUBMISSION OF CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION- Nothing in this Act--

(1) requires the Administrator to allow the submission of confidential business information, as described in section 552(b)(4) of title 5, United States Code, or any law administered by the Administrator, or personal privacy information described in section 552a of title 5, United States Code, to the electronic system described in subsection (b)(1)(A); or

(2) prevents the Administrator from allowing the submission of confidential business information or personal privacy information to the electronic system described in subsection (b)(1)(A) if the Administrator determines that there are adequate safeguards for electronic submission of such information.

(f) FACILITY IDENTIFICATION DATA STANDARDS FOR REPORTING OF INFORMATION RELATING TO EMERGENCY PLANNING- After establishing the data standards under subsection (b)(5)(A), the Administrator shall implement such data standards for information that is reported to the Administrator relating to planning for emergencies.

SEC. 4. INTERAGENCY COORDINATION.

(a) IN GENERAL- At the request of any Federal, State, tribal, or local agency, the Administrator shall coordinate the integration of reporting required under section 3 with similar efforts by the agency that, as determined by the Administrator, are consistent with this Act.

(b) INTEGRATED REPORTING ACROSS JURISDICTIONS- Under subsection (a), the Administrator may develop a procedure under which a person that is required to report information under 1 or more laws administered by the Administrator and 1 or more laws administered by a State, tribal, or local agency may report all required information--

(1) through 1 point of contact using a single electronic system or a paper form; and

(2) in the case of any person subject to more than 1 annual reporting requirement, at 1 time during the year.

(c) COMMON DATA FORMAT ACROSS JURISDICTIONS- To facilitate reporting by persons with facilities in more than 1 State, tribal, or local jurisdiction, the Administrator shall encourage the use of a common data format by any State, tribal, or local agency coordinating with the Administrator under subsection (a).

(d) PROVISION OF INFORMATION- At the request of the Administrator, the head of a Federal agency shall provide to the Administrator information on reporting requirements established under a law administered by the agency.

SEC. 5. REGULATIONS.

(a) IN GENERAL- The Administrator may promulgate such regulations as are necessary to carry out this Act.

(b) MATTERS ADDRESSED- The regulations may address electronic record retention, security in data submissions, the practical aspects of reporting, evidentiary burdens, and other matters that are necessary to provide for the integrity, reliability, and security of information submitted to the Administrator or records maintained under the laws administered by the Administrator.

SEC. 6. REPORTS.

Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, if the Administrator determines that 1 or more provisions of law explicitly prohibit or hinder the integration of reporting and other actions required under this Act, the Administrator shall submit to Congress a report identifying those provisions.

SEC. 7. SAVINGS CLAUSE.

(a) IN GENERAL- Nothing in this Act limits, modifies, affects, amends, or otherwise changes, directly or indirectly, any provision of Federal, State, tribal, or local law or the obligation of any person to comply with any provision of law.

(b) EFFECT- Neither this Act nor the integrated reporting program alters or affects the obligation of a reporting person to provide the information required under any reporting requirement, or to inform itself about applicable laws and regulations.

(c) REPORTING- Nothing in this Act authorizes the Administrator to--

(1) require the reporting or disclosure of information that is in addition to information that is required to be reported as of the day before the date of enactment of this Act, other than information that is necessary to verify and validate information submitted through the electronic system and the identity of persons submitting such information; or

(2) eliminate the reporting of information that is required to be reported, or restrict the disclosure of information that may under law be disclosed, as of the day before the date of enactment of this Act, except as provided under section 3(b)(7) and as consistent with section 3(b)(13).

(d) POINT OF REPORTING- Nothing in this Act requires that data being reported as of the date of enactment of this Act by a reporting person through a State, tribal, or local agency to the Administrator be reported instead by the reporting person directly to the Administrator.

(e) STORAGE OF DATA- Nothing in this Act affects the manner in which the data assembled through the integrated reporting program are stored.

SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act--

(1) $7,000,000 for fiscal year 2001;

(2) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2002;

(3) $13,000,000 for fiscal year 2003; and

(4) $14,000,000 for fiscal year 2004.

END