lake champlain management conference

lake champlain management conference Sec. 303. Title I of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new section— “Lake Champlain Management Conference “Sec. 120. (a) Establishment.—There is established a Lake Champlain Management Conference to develop a comprehensive pollution prevention, control, and restoration plan for Lake Champlain. The Administrator shall convene the management conference within ninety days of the date of enactment of this section. “(b) Membership.—The Members of the Management Conference shall be comprised of— “(1) the Governors of the States of Vermont and New York; “(2) each interested Federal agency, not to exceed a total of five members; “(3) the Vermont and New York Chairpersons of the Vermont, New York, Quebec Citizens Advisory Committee for the Environmental Management of Lake Champlain; “(4) four representatives of the State legislature of Vermont; “(5) four representatives of the State legislature of New York; “(6) six persons representing local governments having jurisdiction over any land or water within the Lake Champlain basin, as determined appropriate by the Governors; and 104 STAT. 3007 “(7) eight persons representing affected industries, non-governmental organizations, public and private educational institutions, and the general public, as determined appropriate by the trigovernmental Citizens Advisory Committee for the Environmental Management of Lake Champlain, but not to be current members of the Citizens Advisory Committee. “(c) Technical Advisory Committee.— (1) The Management Conference shall, not later than one hundred and twenty days after the date of enactment of this section, appoint a Technical Advisory Committee. “(2) Such Technical Advisory Committee shall consist of officials of: appropriate departments and agencies of the Federal Government; the State governments of New York and Vermont; and governments of political subdivisions of such States; and public and private research institutions. “(d) Research Program.— (1) The Management Conference shall establish a multi-disciplinary environmental research program for Lake Champlain. Such research program shall be planned and conducted jointly with the Lake Champlain Research Consortium. “(e) Pollution Prevention, Control, and Restoration Plan.— (1) Not later than three years after the date of the enactment of this section, the Management Conference shall publish a pollution prevention, control, and restoration plan (hereafter in this section referred to as the ‘Plan’) for Lake Champlain. “(2) The Plan developed pursuant to this section shall— “(A) identify corrective actions and compliance schedules addressing point and nonpoint sources of pollution necessary to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of water quality, a balanced, indigenous population of shellfish, fish and wildlife, recreational, and economic activities in and on the lake; “(B) incorporate environmental management concepts and programs established in State and Federal plans and programs in effect at the time of the development of such plan; “(C) clarify the duties of Federal and State agencies in pollution prevention and control activities, and to the extent allow-able by law, suggest a timetable for adoption by the appropriate Federal and State agencies to accomplish such duties within a reasonable period of time; “(D) describe the methods and schedules for funding of programs, activities, and projects identified in the Plan, including the use of Federal funds and other sources of funds; and “(E) include a strategy for pollution prevention and control that includes the promotion of pollution prevention and management practices to reduce the amount of pollution generated in the Lake Champlain basin. “(3) The Administrator, in cooperation with the Management Conference, shall provide for public review and comment on the draft Plan. At a minimum, the Management Conference shall conduct one public meeting to hear comments on the draft plan in the State of New York and one such meeting in the State of Vermont. “(4) Not less than one hundred and twenty days after the publication of the Plan required pursuant to this section, the Administrator shall approve such plan if the plan meets the requirements of this section and the Governors of the States of New York and Vermont concur. 104 STAT. 3008 “(5) Upon approval of the plan, such plan shall be deemed to be an approved management program for the purposes of section 319(h) of this Act and such plan shall be deemed to be an approved comprehensive conservation and management plan pursuant to section 320 of this Act. “(f) Grant Assistance.— (1) The Administrator may, in consultation with the Management Conference, make grants to State, inter-state, and regional water pollution control agencies, and public or nonprofit agencies, institutions, and organizations. “(2) Grants under this subsection shall be made for assisting research, surveys, studies, and modeling and technical and supporting work necessary for the development of the Plan and for retaining expert consultants in support of litigation undertaken by the State of New York and the State of Vermont to compel cleanup or obtain cleanup damage costs from persons responsible for pollution of Lake Champlain. “(3) The amount of grants to any person under this subsection for a fiscal year shall not exceed 75 per centum of the costs of such research, survey, study and work and shall be made available on the condition that non-Federal share of such costs are provided from non-Federal sources. “(4) The Administrator may establish such requirements for the administration of grants as he determines to be appropriate. “(g) Definition.—For the purposes of this section, the term ‘Lake Champlain drainage basin’ means all or part of Clinton, Franklin, Warren, Essex, and Washington counties in the State of New York and all or part of Franklin, Grand Isle, Chittenden, Addison, Rut-land, Lamoille, Orange, Washington, Orleans, and Caledonia counties in Vermont, that contain all of the streams, rivers, lakes, and other bodies of water, including wetlands, that drain into Lake Champlain. “(h) Statutory Interpretation.— Nothing in this section shall be construed so as to affect the jurisdiction or powers of— “(1) any department or agency of the Federal Government or any State government; or “(2) any international organization or entity related to Lake Champlain created by treaty or memorandum to which the United States is a signatory. “(i) Authorization.—There are authorized to be appropriated to the Environmental Protection Agency to carry out this section $2,000,000 for each of fiscal years 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, and 1995.”.