Great Lakes Controlled Data Collection and Monitoring Act

        [Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 718 Introduced in House (IH)]

109th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 718

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to direct the Great
Lakes National Program Office of the Environmental Protection Agency to
develop, implement, monitor, and report on a series of indicators of
water quality and related environmental factors in the Great Lakes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

February 9, 2005

Mrs. Miller of Michigan introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to direct the Great
Lakes National Program Office of the Environmental Protection Agency to
develop, implement, monitor, and report on a series of indicators of
water quality and related environmental factors in the Great Lakes.

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 ``Great Lakes Controlled Data
Collection and Monitoring Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds that--
(1) there are no comprehensive, regularly-collected data
that reveal whether the water quality or related environmental
factors of the Great Lakes have improved as a result of efforts
to remediate and protect the Great Lakes;
(2) that lack of data was confirmed in September 2004 in a
report by the General Accounting Office that concluded that
existing data were inadequate to assess the overall progress of
restoration efforts in the Great Lakes; and
(3) without those data, it is impossible to determine
whether--
(A) progress is being made toward achieving the
goals contained in the Great Lakes Water Quality
Agreement between the United States and Canada; or
(B) Federal and State water quality standards and
remediation programs are effective.

SEC. 3. GREAT LAKES WATER QUALITY INDICATORS AND MONITORING.

(a) In General.--Section 118(c) of the Federal Water Pollution
Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1268(c)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1)(B) by inserting ``, subject to
paragraph (14),'' after ``establish''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(14) Surveillance network to monitor water quality.--
``(A) Indicators.--Not later than 2 years after the
date of enactment of this clause, the Administrator, in
cooperation with Canada and appropriate Federal
agencies (including the United States Geological
Survey, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, and the United States Fish and Wildlife
Service), shall develop and implement a set of science-
based indicators of water quality and related
environmental factors in the Great Lakes, including, at
a minimum, measures of toxic pollutants that have
accumulated in the Great Lakes for a substantial period
of time, as determined by the Program Office.
``(B) Network.--Not later than 4 years after the
date of enactment of this paragraph, the Administrator
shall establish a Federal network for the regular
monitoring of, and collection of data throughout, the
Great Lakes basin with respect to the indicators
described in subparagraph (A) and collect an initial
set of benchmark data from the network.
``(C) Report.--Not later than 2 years after the
date of collection of the data described in
subparagraph (B), and biennially thereafter, the
Administrator shall submit to Congress, and make
available to the public, a report (in addition to the
report required under paragraph (10)), that--
``(i) describes the water quality and
related environmental factors of the Great
Lakes (including any changes in those factors),
as determined through the regular monitoring of
indicators under subparagraph (B) for the
period covered by the report; and
``(ii) identifies any emerging problems in
the water quality or related environmental
factors of the Great Lakes.''.
(b) Authorization of Appropriations.--Section 118 of the Federal
Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1268) is amended--
(1) in each of subsections (c)(12)(H)(i) and (c)(13)(B) by
striking ``2008'' and inserting ``2009''; and
(2) by striking subsection (h) and inserting the following:
``(h) Authorization of Appropriations.--
``(1) In general.--There is authorized to be appropriated
to carry out this section (other than subsection (c)(1)(B)(12),
(c)(13), and (c)(14)) $32,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2006
through 2009.
``(2) Great lakes water quality indicators and
monitoring.--There are authorized to be appropriated to carry
out subsections (c)(1)(B) and (c)(14)--
``(A) $5,000,000 for fiscal year 2006;
``(B) $7,000,000 for fiscal year 2007;
``(C) $9,000,000 for fiscal year 2008; and
``(D) $11,000,000 for fiscal year 2009.''.
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