To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to require environmental accountability and reporting and to reauthorize the Chesapeake Bay Program.

July 26, 2005

Mr. SARBANES (for himself, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mr. ALLEN, and Mr. WARNER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to require environmental accountability and reporting and to reauthorize the Chesapeake Bay 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 `Chesapeake Bay Program Reauthorization and Environmental Accountability Act of 2005'.

SEC. 2. CHESAPEAKE BAY ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTABILITY AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.

Section 117 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1267) is amended--

(1) by redesignating subsection (j) as subsection (l);

(2) in subsection (e)(7), by inserting `by the Federal Government or a State government' after `funded' each place it appears; and

(3) by inserting after subsection (i) the following:

`(j) Environmental Accountability-

`(1) IMPLEMENTATION PLAN-

`(A) IN GENERAL- Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this paragraph, the Administrator shall complete a plan for achieving the nutrient and sediment reduction goals described in the agreement entered into by the Chesapeake Executive Council entitled `Chesapeake 2000' and dated June 28, 2000.

`(B) INCLUSIONS- The plan shall include--

`(i) a timeline identifying--

`(I) annual goals for achieving the overall nutrient and sediment reduction goals; and

`(II) the estimated annual costs of reaching the annual goals identified under subclause (I);

`(ii) a description of any measure, including monitoring or modeling, that the Administrator will use to assess progress made toward achieving a goal described in subparagraph (A) in--

`(I) each jurisdictional tributary strategy basin of the Chesapeake Bay; and

`(II) the Chesapeake Bay watershed as a whole; and

`(iii) a description of any Federal or non-Federal activity necessary to achieve the nutrient and sediment reduction goals, including an identification of any party that is responsible for carrying out the activity.

`(2) ANNUAL TRIBUTARY HEALTH REPORT CARD-

`(A) IN GENERAL- Not later than January 31 of each year, the Administrator shall publish and widely circulate a `tributary health report card' to evaluate, based on monitoring and modeling data, progress made during the preceding year (including any practice implemented during the year), and overall progress made, in achieving and maintaining nutrient and sediment reduction goals for each major tributary of the Chesapeake Bay and each separable segment of such a tributary.

`(B) BASELINE- The baseline for the report card (referred to in this paragraph as the `baseline') shall be the tributary cap load allocation agreement numbered EPA 903-R-03-007, dated December 2003, and entitled `Setting and Allocating the Chesapeake Bay Basin Nutrient and Sediment Loads: The Collaborative Process, Technical Tools and Innovative Approaches'.

`(C) INCLUSIONS- The report card shall include, for each jurisdictional tributary strategy basin of the Chesapeake Bay--

`(i) an identification of the total allocation of nutrients and sediments under the baseline;

`(ii) the monitored and modeled quantities of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment reductions achieved during the preceding year, expressed numerically and as a percentage of reduction;

`(iii) a list (organized from least to most progress made) that ranks the comparative progress made, based on the percentage of reduction under clause (ii), by each jurisdictional tributary strategy basin toward meeting the annual allocation goal of that jurisdictional tributary strategy basin for nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment; and

`(iv) to the maximum extent practicable, an identification of the principal sources of pollutants of the tributaries, including airborne sources of pollutants.

`(D) USE OF DATA; CONSIDERATION- In preparing the report, the Administrator shall--

`(i) use monitoring data and data submitted under paragraph (3)(A); and

`(ii) take into consideration drought and wet weather conditions.

`(3) ACTIONS BY STATES-

`(A) SUBMISSION OF INFORMATION- Not later than December 31 of each year, each of the States of Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia and the District of Columbia shall submit to the Administrator information describing, for each jurisdictional tributary strategy basin of the Chesapeake Bay located in the State or District, for the preceding year--

`(i) the nutrient and sediment cap load allocation of the jurisdictional tributary strategy basin;

`(ii) the principal sources of nutrients and sediment in the jurisdictional tributary strategy basin, by category;

`(iii) for each category of pollutant source, the technologies or practices used to achieve reductions, including levels of best management practices implementation and sewage treatment plant upgrades; and

`(iv) any Federal, State, or non-Federal funding used to implement a technology or practice described in clause (iii).

`(B) AUDIT- Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this subparagraph, and triennially thereafter, the Inspector General of the Environmental Protection Agency shall audit the information submitted by States under subparagraph (A) for accuracy.

`(C) FAILURE TO ACT- The Administrator shall not make a grant to a State under this Act if the State fails to submit any information in accordance with subparagraph (A).

`(k) Reporting Requirements-

`(1) OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET-

`(A) INITIAL REPORT- Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this subsection, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall submit to the appropriate committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives a report describing the feasibility and advisability of--

`(i) combining into a single fund certain or all funds (including formula and grant funds) made available to each Federal agency to carry out restoration activities relating to the Chesapeake Bay; and

`(ii) notwithstanding any issue relating to jurisdiction, distributing amounts from that fund in accordance with the priority of water quality improvement activities identified under the Chesapeake Bay Program.

`(B) ANNUAL REPORT- Not later than February 15 of each year, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall submit to the appropriate committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives a report containing--

`(i) an interagency crosscut budget that displays the proposed budget for use by each Federal agency in carrying out restoration activities relating to the Chesapeake Bay for the following fiscal year; and

`(ii) a detailed accounting of all funds received and obligated by Federal and State governments (including formula and grant funds, such as State revolving loan funds and agriculture conservation funds) to achieve the objectives of the Chesapeake Bay Program during the preceding fiscal year.

`(2) ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY- Not later than April 15 of each year, the Administrator, in cooperation with appropriate Federal agencies, as determined by the Administrator, shall submit to the appropriate committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives a report containing--

`(A)(i) an estimate of the reduction in levels of nutrients and sediments in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries; and

`(ii) a comparison of each estimated reduction under clause (i) and the appropriate annual goal described in the implementation plan under subsection (j)(1);

`(B) based on review by the Administrator of the budget and implementation plans of each Federal agency, and any tributary strategy of an appropriate State agency--

`(i) an estimate of the reductions in pollutants likely to occur as a result of each program of an agency under this section during the subsequent 1-year and 5-year periods, including--

`(I) an analysis of the success or failure of each program in achieving nutrient and sediment reduction; and

`(II) an estimated timeline during which a reduction in nutrient and sediment pollution will occur; and

`(ii) accounting for other trend data, an estimate of the actual reduction in the quantities of nutrients and sediments in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries from all sources that has occurred over the preceding 1-year and 5-year periods; and

`(C) the technical basis and reliability of each estimate under this paragraph.'.

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

Section 117 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1267) is amended by striking subsection (l) (as redesignated by section 2) and inserting the following:

`(l) Authorization of Appropriations- There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2006 through 2010, to remain available until expended.'.

END