Great Lakes Water Protection Act - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to prohibit a publicly owned treatment works (POTW) from performing a discharge (defined as an intentional diversion of waste streams to bypass any portion of a treatment facility which results in a discharge of untreated or partially treated sewage into the Great Lakes) unless: (1) the bypass is unavoidable to prevent loss of life, personal injury, or severe property damage, there is no feasible alternative, and the treatment works provides notice; or (2) the bypass does not cause effluent limitations to be exceeded and is for essential maintenance to ensure efficient operation of the treatment facility.
Requires a POTW to provide prior notice for any anticipated discharge, or notice as soon as practicable for any unanticipated discharge (but no later than two hours after a discharge begins for a POTW with an automated detection system or 12 hours after a discharge begins for a POTW without such system), to: (1) the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (or a state if the state has an approved permit program), (2) each local health department (or a state health department if a local department does not exist), (3) the municipality in which a discharge occurred, (4) each municipality with jurisdiction over waters that may be affected, (5) a daily newspaper of general circulation in each county in which such a municipality is located, and (6) the public.
Requires a POTW, within five days after such initial notice, to provide follow-up notice regarding the cause of, reason for, dates and times of, anticipated duration of, volume of, public access areas affected by, and steps taken or planned to reduce, eliminate, and prevent recurrence of, the discharge. Requires the Administrator (or a state with an approved permit program) to annually publish and make available to the public a list of the POTWs from which a follow-up notice was received.
Includes among prohibited bypasses those resulting in discharges from a POTW that consist of effluent routed around treatment units and blended with effluent from treatment units prior to discharge.
Directs the Administrator to establish procedures to ensure that permits issued to POTWs under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System include requirements to comply with this Act.
Establishes a maximum civil penalty of $100,000 per day for violations of this Act occurring on or after January 1, 2033.
Establishes the Great Lakes Cleanup Fund into which penalties for violations of this Act shall be deposited and from which amounts shall be provided for improving wastewater discharges.
[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1185 Introduced in House (IH)]
113th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1185
To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to establish a
deadline for restricting sewage dumping into the Great Lakes and to
fund programs and activities for improving wastewater discharges into
the Great Lakes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 14, 2013
Mr. Hultgren (for himself and Mr. Lipinski) 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 establish a
deadline for restricting sewage dumping into the Great Lakes and to
fund programs and activities for improving wastewater discharges into
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 Water Protection Act''.
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON SEWAGE DUMPING INTO THE GREAT LAKES.
Section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C.
1342) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(s) Prohibition on Sewage Dumping Into the Great Lakes.--
``(1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
``(A) Bypass.--The term `bypass' means an
intentional diversion of waste streams to bypass any
portion of a treatment facility which results in a
discharge into the Great Lakes.
``(B) Discharge.--
``(i) In general.--The term `discharge'
means a direct or indirect discharge of
untreated sewage or partially treated sewage
from a treatment works into the Great Lakes.
``(ii) Inclusions.--The term `discharge'
includes a bypass and a combined sewer
overflow.
``(C) Great lakes.--The term `Great Lakes' has the
meaning given the term in section 118(a)(3).
``(D) Partially treated sewage.--The term
`partially treated sewage' means any sewage, sewage and
storm water, or sewage and wastewater, from domestic or
industrial sources that--
``(i) is not treated to national secondary
treatment standards for wastewater; or
``(ii) is treated to a level less than the
level required by the applicable national
pollutant discharge elimination system permit.
``(E) Treatment facility.--The term `treatment
facility' includes all wastewater treatment units used
by a publicly owned treatment works to meet secondary
treatment standards or higher, as required to attain
water quality standards, under any operating
conditions.
``(F) Treatment works.--The term `treatment works'
has the meaning given the term in section 212.
``(2) Prohibition.--A publicly owned treatment works is
prohibited from performing a bypass unless--
``(A)(i) the bypass is unavoidable to prevent loss
of life, personal injury, or severe property damage;
``(ii) there is not a feasible alternative to the
bypass, such as the use of auxiliary treatment
facilities, retention of untreated wastes, or
maintenance during normal periods of equipment
downtime; and
``(iii) the treatment works provides notice of the
bypass in accordance with this subsection; or
``(B) the bypass does not cause effluent
limitations to be exceeded, and the bypass is for
essential maintenance to ensure efficient operation of
the treatment facility.
``(3) Limitation.--The requirement of paragraph (2)(A)(ii)
is not satisfied if--
``(A) adequate back-up equipment should have been
installed in the exercise of reasonable engineering
judgment to prevent the bypass; and
``(B) the bypass occurred during normal periods of
equipment downtime or preventive maintenance.
``(4) Immediate notice requirements.--
``(A) In general.--A publicly owned treatment works
shall provide to the entities described in subparagraph
(B)--
``(i) for any anticipated discharge, prior
notice of that discharge; and
``(ii) for any unanticipated discharge, as
soon as practicable, but not later than--
``(I) for a treatment works with an
automated detection system, 2 hours
after the discharge begins; and
``(II) for a treatment works
without an automated detection system,
12 hours after the discharge begins.
``(B) Notice.--The entities referred to in
subparagraph (A) are--
``(i) the Administrator or, in the case of
a State that has a permit program approved
under this section, the State;
``(ii) each local health department or, if
a local health department does not exist, the
State health department;
``(iii) the municipality in which the
discharge occurred and each municipality with
jurisdiction over waters that may be affected
by the discharge;
``(iv) a daily newspaper of general
circulation in each county in which a
municipality described in clause (iii) is
located; and
``(v) the general public through a
prominent announcement on a publicly accessible
Internet site of the treatment works.
``(C) Contents.--The notice under subparagraph (A)
shall include a description of--
``(i) the volume and state of treatment of
the discharge;
``(ii) the date and time of the discharge;
``(iii) the expected duration of the
discharge;
``(iv) the steps being taken to contain the
discharge, except for a discharge that is a wet
weather combined sewer overflow discharge;
``(v) the location of the discharge, with
the maximum level of specificity practicable;
and
``(vi) the cause for the discharge.
``(5) Follow-up notice requirements.--Each publicly owned
treatment works that provides notice under paragraph (4)(B)
shall provide to the Administrator (or to the State in the case
of a State that has a permit program approved under this
section), not later than 5 days after the date on which the
publicly owned treatment works provides initial notice, a
follow-up notice containing--
``(A) a more full description of the cause of the
discharge;
``(B) the reason for the discharge;
``(C) the period of discharge, including the exact
dates and times;
``(D) if the discharge has not been corrected, the
anticipated time the discharge is expected to continue;
``(E) the volume of the discharge resulting from
the bypass;
``(F) a description of any public access area that
has or may be impacted by the bypass; and
``(G) steps taken or planned to reduce, eliminate,
and prevent reoccurrence of the discharge.
``(6) Public availability of notices.--
``(A) In general.--Not later than 48 hours after
providing or receiving a follow-up notice under
paragraph (5), as applicable, a publicly owned
treatment works and the Administrator (or the State, in
the case of a State that has a permit program approved
under this section) shall each post the follow-up
notice on a publicly accessible, searchable database on
the Internet.
``(B) Annual publication.--The Administrator (or
the State, in the case of a State that has a permit
program approved under this section) shall annually
publish and make available to the public a list of each
of the treatment works from which the Administrator or
the State, as applicable, received a follow-up notice
under paragraph (5).
``(7) Sewage blending.--Bypasses prohibited by this section
include bypasses resulting in discharges from a publicly owned
treatment works that consist of effluent routed around
treatment units and thereafter blended together with effluent
from treatment units prior to discharge.
``(8) Implementation.--Not later than 180 days after the
date of enactment of this subsection, the Administrator shall
establish procedures to ensure that permits issued under this
section (or under a State permit program approved under this
section) to a publicly owned treatment works include
requirements to implement this subsection.
``(9) Increase in maximum civil penalty for violations
occurring after january 1, 2033.--Notwithstanding section 309,
in the case of a violation of this subsection occurring on or
after January 1, 2033, or any violation of a permit limitation
or condition implementing this subsection occurring after that
date, the maximum civil penalty that shall be assessed for the
violation shall be $100,000 per day for each day the violation
occurs.
``(10) Applicability.--This subsection shall apply to a
bypass occurring after the last day of the 1-year period
beginning on the date of enactment of this subsection.''.
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF GREAT LAKES CLEANUP FUND.
(a) In General.--Title V of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act
(33 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) is amended--
(1) by redesignating section 519 (33 U.S.C. 1251 note) as
section 520; and
(2) by inserting after section 518 (33 U.S.C. 1377) the
following:
``SEC. 519. ESTABLISHMENT OF GREAT LAKES CLEANUP FUND.
``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Fund.--The term `Fund' means the Great Lakes Cleanup
Fund established by subsection (b).
``(2) Great lakes; great lakes states.--The terms `Great
Lakes' and `Great Lakes States' have the meanings given the
terms in section 118(a)(3).
``(b) Establishment of Fund.--There is established in the Treasury
of the United States a trust fund to be known as the `Great Lakes
Cleanup Fund' (referred to in this section as the `Fund').
``(c) Transfers to Fund.--Effective January 1, 2033, there are
authorized to be appropriated to the Fund amounts equivalent to the
penalties collected for violations of section 402(s).
``(d) Administration of Fund.--The Administrator shall administer
the Fund.
``(e) Use of Funds.--The Administrator shall--
``(1) make the amounts in the Fund available to the Great
Lakes States for use in carrying out programs and activities
for improving wastewater discharges into the Great Lakes,
including habitat protection and wetland restoration; and
``(2) allocate those amounts among the Great Lakes States
based on the proportion that--
``(A) the amount attributable to a Great Lakes
State for penalties collected for violations of section
402(s); bears to
``(B) the total amount of those penalties
attributable to all Great Lakes States.
``(f) Priority.--In selecting programs and activities to be funded
using amounts made available under this section, a Great Lakes State
shall give priority consideration to programs and activities that
address violations of section 402(s) resulting in the collection of
penalties.''.
(b) Conforming Amendment to State Revolving Fund Program.--Section
607 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1387) is
amended--
(1) by striking ``There is'' and inserting ``(a) In
General.--There is''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(b) Treatment of Great Lakes Cleanup Fund.--For purposes of this
title, amounts made available from the Great Lakes Cleanup Fund under
section 519 shall be treated as funds authorized to be appropriated to
carry out this title and as funds made available under this title,
except that the funds shall be made available to the Great Lakes States
in accordance with section 519.''.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment.
Llama 3.2 · runs locally in your browser
Ask anything about this bill. The AI reads the full text to answer.
Enter to send · Shift+Enter for new line