Water Quality Bills in the Remainder of the 111th Congress Page: 8 of 10
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Water Quality Bills in the Remainder of the 111th Congress
In 2004 President Bush issued Executive Order 13340 that created the Great Lakes Interagency
Task Force of federal agencies to coordinate restoration of the lakes. In separate action, a
Regional Collaboration of state and local governments, the public, and the private sector
subsequently released a strategy and implementation framework for restoration. In the FY2010
budget proposal, President Obama requested increased funding (totaling $475 million) for an
EPA-led Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to target federal funding to major threats to the
ecosystem of the lakes that have been identified by the Interagency Task Force and the Regional
Collaboration. The initiative is essentially a means of coordinating appropriations for Great Lakes
restoration. Congress approved the requested FY2O1O appropriations.
In the 111th Congress, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has approved two
bills concerning Great Lakes issues. First, S. 3073, the Great Lakes Ecosystem Protection Act of
2010, addresses governance issues. It would amend CWA Section 118 to establish a Great Lakes
Leadership Council to provide input on restoration priorities to the federal Interagency Task
Force. It also would establish in law the existing Interagency Task Force, to continue coordination
of restoration efforts, and the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, to target the most significant
environmental problems of the ecosystem. The bill would authorize $475 million annually
through FY20 16 for the initiative. It also would reauthorize the Great Lakes Legacy Act program
for projects to remediate contaminated sediments at $150 million annually through FY20 15.6
A second Environment Committee-approved bill, the Contaminated Sediment Remediation
Reauthorization Act (5. 933), addresses only the existing program for remediation of
contaminated sediments in the Great Lakes in CWA Section 118. It would reauthorize that
program at $150 million annually through FY2014.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved 5. 3073 on June 30 and 5. 933
on June 19. Similar measures have been introduced in the House. H.R. 4755, like 5. 3073, would
provide statutory authority for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and the Great Lakes
Interagency Task Force and would reauthorize the Great Lakes contaminated sediment
remediation program. There has been no action on this bill. Separate legislation, in Title V of
H.R. 1262, also would reauthorize the contaminated sediment remediation program with $150
million per year in funding through FY20 14. The House passed H.R. 1262, including Title V, in
March 2009.
5. Gulf of Mexico
The health of the Gulf of Mexico's economically important and biologically rich ecosystem had
been a concern long before the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf. In 1988 EPA
administratively created a Gulf of Mexico Program to provide federal leadership and identify
priority areas and projects for states and Gulf coastal communities to undertake on a voluntary
basis to protect, maintain, and restore the productivity of the Gulf. 5. 1311, the Gulf of Mexico
Restoration and Protection Act, would add a new section to the CWA to establish the program in
statute, codify authorities of the EPA Administrator to use interagency agreements to carry out
functions of the program office, and authorize grants for monitoring of water quality and living
resources, conducting research, developing and implementing restoration projects, and similar
6In the 110" Congress, the House passed H.R. 6460, providing $150 million per year through FY2014 in funding for
cleanup of contaminated sediments. As enacted (P.L. 110-365), the bill retained the previous funding level of $50
million per year.Congressional Research Service5
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Copeland, Claudia. Water Quality Bills in the Remainder of the 111th Congress, report, December 3, 2010; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc817417/m1/8/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.