Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 1113 - Office of Environmental Quality Appropriations Authorization

(House)
(Studds (D) Massachusetts and three others)

The Administration supports the authorization of appropriations for the Office of Environmental Quality. Further, the President is firmly committed to ensuring that the environmental impacts of Federal extraterritorial activities are properly considered. The Administration supports, for example, Sec. 5(a)(1) of H.R. 1113 to ensure consideration of the "significant effects of its major actions on the environment of the global commons outside the jurisdiction of any Nation." The Administration will be reevaluating Executive Order (E.O.) 12114, which requires an environmental review of certain defined major Federal actions that would have a significant effect on the environment outside the United States' geographic borders. This reevaluation will focus on ensuring that E.O. 12114 is accomplishing its intended purpose of ensuring that pertinent environmental aspects of all major U.S. activities abroad are fully considered and addressed, along with other pertinent considerations of national policy.

The Administration, nonetheless, has the following serious concerns about H.R. 1113.

• Requiring the Council on Environmental Quality to develop a new set of regulations, and "formal assessments" of the significant effects of major agency actions outside U.S. jurisdiction, could result in bureaucratic delay and constitute an unwarranted derogation of the sovereignty of other nations.
  
  
• The bill should be amended to clearly specify that votes of U.S. directors of multilateral development bank boards would not be subject to CEQ regulation.
  
  
• The bill should provide that foreign individuals and grouos would not have standing to sue in U.S. courts.
  
  
• The provision requiring each Federal agency to review a statistical sample of its environmental impact statements to assess the accuracy and effectiveness of mitigation efforts is excessively burdensome. Agencies should be provided the flexibility to accomplish this task in a less prescriptive manner.
  
  
• The provision prohibiting the restart of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, prior to the completion of an environmental assessment is unnecessary. An assessment has already been prepared by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Notwithstanding these concerns the Administration supports strengthening the consideration given to environmental impacts of projects that have major U.S. participation, and is committed to achieving this objective.