[CPEO-MEF] A personal view on regulatory oversight

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

[The following is a personal message submitted by Bill Frank 
<frank.william@epa.gov>.- LS]

For purposes of posting to the listserv, let me offer my personal views,
and not necessarily the official position of EPA, in an attempt to
respond to your comments on the DoD reaction to the FUDs policy. You
have said to me:

"In federal facilities cleanup, the lead agency not only holds the
shovel. It generates the documents - which appear to be the major
product of any cleanup effort. The regulators review the documents, and
they have the ability to question the selection of a remedy."

My response:

Let's look at the forest and not the trees, for a moment.

The bottom line, I believe,  is this:  so long as DoD acting under its
statutory authority to conduct various cleanup programs SEEKS funds from
Congress that are adequate to fulfill their legal obligations, EPA will
not use enforcement as a mechanism to interfere with their discretion
over the expenditure of funds actually appropriated.

HOWEVER:  when in the judgment of EPA DoD has failed to seek adequate
funding to cover its legal obligations, then enforcement is EPA's
legitimate tool to correct the fault.

I submit that the debate regarding FUDs as well as Post-ROD cleanup
authority is actually over which agency, DoD or EPA, has the legal right
to determine the extent of those legal obligations related to the
cleanup of any given hazardous waste site or indeed the regulation of
any current or potential threat to the public health and the environment.

Despite all USACE protestations to the contrary,  it is fundamental
environmental law in the United States that

"Each department, agency, and instrumentality of the executive,
legislative, and judicial branches of the Federal Government . . . shall
be subject to, and comply with, all Federal, State, interstate, and
local requirements, both substantive and procedural . . .  in the same
manner and to the same extent as any person is subject to such
requirements . . ."  (see below for specific statutory provisions).

Far from needing "relief" from environmental liability due to
"encroachment," DoD needs to step up to the plate and take
responsibility. The statutory provisions cited below already provide DoD
any relief necessary due to national security or national defense --
indeed, DoD can be exempt from any and all the environmental laws if
that is deemed "in the paramount interest" of the United States by the President.

Yet, DoD keeps trying to shift the debate over "authorities" in a most
ingenious and disingenuous fashion.  The various cleanup program laws:
such as BRAC, DERA, and FUDs, do not in and of themselves grant legal
authority to DoD to do anything other than establish accounts and spend
appropriated funds for the stated purpose in the Acts. These acts hand
DoD the shovels. These acts do not hand DoD the authority given to
regulators at the State and Federal levels to make legal judgments about
the adequacy of DoD's efforts to dig the right size holes. The grant of
funds and the mandate to use them is quite independent and separate from
the legal authority to regulate or implement the various environmental
statutes. The environmental statutes are one level up, giving rise to
the legal obligation the BRAC, DERA and FUDs programs are meant to fund
in the first place.  Thus, DoD would have us mistake the shovel itself
for the obligation to dig.

Congress is quite clear as to which agency has the lead in determining
the extent of those legal obligations. To argue, as DoD does, that the
appropriations process is the end all and be all is to allow the tail to
wag the dog -- and we've all seen that movie I think.

The best illustration of this is the insistence by the USACE in defining
exactly what at many FUDs sites the US government is responsible for in
so restrictive and limited a manner as to raise questions about the
fundamental integrity of the Federal government's ability to find facts
and take accountability.

The Corps has repeatedly determined that a minute proportion of a former
military facility constituted the Corps' legal liability while ignoring
vast areas of land formerly part of the same facility on which EPA has
found UXO, chemical weapons, and/or other contamination.  If not placed
there by US government activity, then where did the UXO and related
contamination come from?

We all know this is not an isolated or overbroad example, but rather
reflects a willful and knowing national pattern of turning a blind eye
to what is right and what needs to be done. The military is attempting
to define its legal obligations much too narrowly, leaving work that the
government should pay for and perform undone. Regardless of the cleanup
program involved, the legal issue is one of protectiveness, which
defines the extent of environmental liability under any of the various
applicable laws.

In this context, I don't see how citing a FUDs or a Brac site makes much
difference. The fight between EPA and DoD is not just about the FUDS
policy, of course. DOD is making or has made the same appropriations and
authorities argument with respect to ALL its cleanup obligations under
DERA, BRAC, FUDs, the UXO "management" principles, the Range Rule, etc.

Getting back down into the trees, generating documents in a cleanup is
part and parcel of what I would call holding the shovel. The documents
are the record of what is planned and what is actually done -- not the
end product of any cleanup effort. Regulators review the documents, not
as an end in themselves (one would hope), but rather as a means toward
judging (and being held accountable to the public for) whether the
actions taken described in the documents are adequate to fulfill legal
obligations along the way to putting a remedy in place that passes the
laugh test.  The laugh test at a cleanup is whether any given part of a
remedial action or the remedy as a whole will be protective.  That's
EPA's call under the law. Not BRAC, not FUDs, not DERA says anything
contrary to that as a matter of law.

The regulators have a lot to do before getting to the question of
selecting a remedy -- we don't choose to do that very often and for good
reason.  Instead, we choose most often to work within the confines of
the given federal facility's or parent agency's budget to achieve a
result at each stage of "digging the hole" such that the regulator can
assert the cleanup is proceeding toward a protective remedy. This
proceeds from the general assumption, which obtained before the current
era of controversy, that DoD was actually asking for the money it needed
to do the job. That assumption cannot be sustained at too many sites
covered by various DoD cleanup programs to ignore the forest-level
problem much longer. Too many FUDs sites have been listed for "no
further action" without more than a cursory or "windshield" look see.
Too many RODs remain unsigned by EPA at DoD NPL sites due to DoD
intransigence over the "authorities" issue. DoD has not asked for, or
been allowed to ask for, what it needs to get the job done.

Again, looking at the forest, the military is attempting to usurp the
authority to define the scope of its environmental liability under the
environmental statutes -- as contrasted with the DoD environmental
cleanup programs meant to meet the obligations created by those
environmental statutes.

So, to recap: It isn't up to the military to define the scope of its
liability -- that is defined in the environmental statutes to which the
military is subject to the same extent  as anyone else.

It is EPA (or the State) as regulator, and not DoD as responsible party
and regulatee, that determines the extent of the Federal government's
legal liability for environmental cleanup or contamination under the
environmental laws of this country.  EPA is charged with making sure
that where DoD is mandated by law to dig, what DoD does actually covers
all that must be dug. The appropriations process has nothing to do with
this judgment, which is a matter of law, not politics.

 I think that it is easy to misapprehend the meaning or, at any rate,
the significance of the words "lead agency."

Regardless of what kind of site, under what kind of cleanup program, the
"lead agency" is the guy with the shovel. The job of making the judgment
about protectiveness, about how well the shovel has been used, is the
regulator's job, not the regulatee's job.

The fight ultimately is over whether the Congress is providing the means
which DoD needs to do the job Congress has mandated under the
environmental statutes.

This should not be a fight over whether EPA should treat its "sisters"
better than it treats other people. I think we had that debate and
passed the Federal Facilities Compliance Act in 1992 as a way of putting
that question to rest.

I am saying that whether a site is addressed under CERCLA, RCRA, SDWA,
or any number of other options, it is not DoD who determines, at the end
of the day, whether the hole DoD dug under its FUDs program or BRAC
program or whatever program it used was a big enough hole to be
protective of human health and the environment within the meaning of
those terms under the applicable environmental laws.

I wish to emphasize that my comments reflect  my  personal views and are
not offered as the official position of the US Environmental Protection Agency.

For convenience, below are quoted the fundamental laws and the relevant
provisions to which I refer. [I'm not sure the all web links will work.
Some appear to be search results. - LS]






Clean Water Act


33 USC Sec. 1323. Federal facilities pollution control

(a) Each department, agency, or instrumentality of the executive,
legislative, and judicial branches of the Federal Government (1) having
jurisdiction over any property or facility, or (2) engaged in any
activity resulting, or which may result, in the discharge or runoff of
pollutants, and each officer, agent, or employee thereof in the
performance of his official duties, shall be subject to, and comply
with, all Federal, State, interstate, and local requirements,
administrative authority, and process and sanctions respecting the
control and abatement of water pollution in the same manner, and to the
same extent as any nongovernmental entity including the payment of
reasonable service charges. The preceding sentence shall apply (A) to
any requirement whether substantive or procedural (including any
recordkeeping or reporting requirement, any requirement respecting
permits and any other requirement, whatsoever), (B) to the exercise of
any Federal, State, or local administrative authority, and (C) to any
process and sanction, whether enforced in Federal, State, or local
courts or in any other manner. This subsection shall apply
notwithstanding any immunity of such agencies, officers, agents, or
employees under any law or rule of law. Nothing in this section shall be
construed to prevent any department, agency, or instrumentality of the
Federal Government, or any officer, agent, or employee thereof in the
performance of his official duties, from removing to the appropriate
Federal district court any proceeding to which the department, agency,
or instrumentality or officer, agent, or employee thereof is subject
pursuant to this section, and any such proceeding may be removed in
accordance with section 1441 et seq. of title 28. No officer, agent, or
employee of the United States shall be personally liable for any civil
penalty arising from the performance of his official duties, for which
he is not otherwise liable, and the United States shall be liable only
for those civil penalties arising under Federal law or imposed by a
State or local court to enforce an order or the process of such court.
The President may exempt any effluent source of any department, agency,
or instrumentality in the executive branch from compliance with any such
a requirement if he determines it to be in the paramount interest of the
United States to do so; except that no exemption may be granted from the
requirements of section 1316 or 1317 of this title. No such exemptions
shall be granted due to lack of appropriation unless the President shall
have specifically requested such appropriation as a part of the
budgetary process and the Congress shall have failed to make available
such requested appropriation. Any exemption shall be for a period not in
excess of one year, but additional exemptions may be granted for periods
of not to exceed one year upon the President's making a new
determination. The President shall report each January to the Congress
all exemptions from the requirements of this section granted during the
preceding calendar year, together with his reason for granting such
exemption. In addition to any such exemption of a particular effluent
source, the President may, if he determines it to be in the paramount
interest of the United States to do so, issue regulations exempting from
compliance with the requirements of this section any weaponry,
equipment, aircraft, vessels, vehicles, or other classes or categories
of property, and access to such property, which are owned or operated by
the Armed Forces of the United States (including the Coast Guard) or by
the National Guard of any State and which are uniquely military in
nature. The President shall reconsider the need for such regulations at
three-year intervals.

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/33/1323.html

Clean Air Act


42 USC Sec. 7418.

Control of pollution from Federal facilities

(a) General compliance
Each department, agency, and instrumentality of the executive,
legislative, and judicial branches of the Federal Government (1) having
jurisdiction over any property or facility, or (2) engaged in any
activity resulting, or which may result, in the discharge of air
pollutants, and each officer, agent, or employee thereof, shall be
subject to, and comply with, all Federal, State, interstate, and local
requirements, administrative authority, and process and sanctions
respecting the control and abatement of air pollution in the same
manner, and to the same extent as any nongovernmental entity. The
preceding sentence shall apply (A) to any requirement whether
substantive or procedural (including any recordkeeping or reporting
requirement, any requirement respecting permits and any other
requirement whatsoever), (B) to any requirement to pay a fee or charge
imposed by any State or local agency to defray the costs of its air
pollution regulatory program, (C) to the exercise of any Federal, State,
or local administrative authority, and (D) to any process and sanction,
whether enforced in Federal, State, or local courts, or in any other
manner. This subsection shall apply notwithstanding any immunity of such
agencies, officers, agents, or employees under any law or rule of law.
No officer, agent, or employee of the United States shall be personally
liable for any civil penalty for which he is not otherwise liable.

(b) Exemption
The President may exempt any emission source of any department, agency,
or instrumentality in the executive branch from compliance with such a
requirement if he determines it to be in the paramount interest of the
United States to do so, except that no exemption may be granted from
section 7411 of this title, and an exemption from section 7412 of this
title may be granted only in accordance with section 7412(i)(4) of this
title. No such exemption shall be granted due to lack of appropriation
unless the President shall have specifically requested such
appropriation as a part of the budgetary process and the Congress shall
have failed to make available such requested appropriation. Any
exemption shall be for a period not in excess of one year, but
additional exemptions may be granted for periods of not to exceed one
year upon the President's making a new determination. In addition to any
such exemption of a particular emission source, the President may, if he
determines it to be in the paramount interest of the United States to do
so, issue regulations exempting from compliance with the requirements of
this section any weaponry, equipment, aircraft, vehicles, or other
classes or categories of property which are owned or operated by the
Armed Forces of the United States (including the Coast Guard) or by the
National Guard of any State and which are uniquely military in nature.
The President shall reconsider the need for such regulations at
three-year intervals. The President shall report each January to the
Congress all exemptions from the requirements of this section granted
during the preceding calendar year, together with his reason for
granting each such exemption.

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/htm_hl?DB=uscode&STEMMER=en&WORDS=president+exempt+&COLOUR=Red&STYLE=s&URL=/uscode/42/7418.html#muscat_highlighter_first_match

RCRA Subchapter IV -- Federal Responsibilities


42 USC Sec. 6961.

Application of Federal, State, and local law to Federal facilities

(a) In general Each department, agency, and instrumentality of the
executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Federal Government
(1) having jurisdiction over any solid waste management facility or
disposal site, or (2) engaged in any activity resulting, or which may
result, in the disposal or management of solid waste or hazardous waste
shall be subject to, and comply with, all Federal, State, interstate,
and local requirements, both substantive and procedural (including any
requirement for permits or reporting or any provisions for injunctive
relief and such sanctions as may be imposed by a court to enforce such
relief), respecting control and abatement of solid waste or hazardous
waste disposal and management in the same manner, and to the same
extent, as any person is subject to such requirements, including the
payment of reasonable service charges. The Federal, State, interstate,
and local substantive and procedural requirements referred to in this
subsection include, but are not limited to, all administrative orders
and all civil and administrative penalties and fines, regardless of
whether such penalties or fines are punitive or coercive in nature or
are imposed for isolated, intermittent, or continuing violations. The
United States hereby expressly waives any immunity otherwise applicable
to the United States with respect to any such substantive or procedural
requirement (including, but not limited to, any injunctive relief,
administrative order or civil or administrative penalty or fine referred
to in the preceding sentence, or reasonable service charge). The
reasonable service charges referred to in this subsection include, but
are not limited to, fees or charges assessed in connection with the
processing and issuance of permits, renewal of permits, amendments to
permits, review of plans, studies, and other documents, and inspection
and monitoring of facilities, as well as any other nondiscriminatory
charges that are assessed in connection with a Federal, State,
interstate, or local solid waste or hazardous waste regulatory program.
Neither the United States, nor any agent, employee, or officer thereof,
shall be immune or exempt from any process or sanction of any State or
Federal Court with respect to the enforcement of any such injunctive
relief. No agent, employee, or officer of the United States shall be
personally liable for any civil penalty under any Federal, State,
interstate, or local solid or hazardous waste law with respect to any
act or omission within the scope of the official duties of the agent,
employee, or officer. An agent, employee, or officer of the United
States shall be subject to any criminal sanction (including, but not
limited to, any fine or imprisonment) under any Federal or State solid
or hazardous waste law, but no department, agency, or instrumentality of
the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Federal Government
shall be subject to any such sanction. The President may exempt any
solid waste management facility of any department, agency, or
instrumentality in the executive branch from compliance with such a
requirement if he determines it to be in the paramount interest of the
United States to do so. No such exemption shall be granted due to lack
of appropriation unless the President shall have specifically requested
such appropriation as a part of the budgetary process and the Congress
shall have failed to make available such requested appropriation. Any
exemption shall be for a period not in excess of one year, but
additional exemptions may be granted for periods not to exceed one year
upon the President's making a new determination. The President shall
report each January to the Congress all exemptions from the requirements
of this section granted during the preceding calendar year, together
with his reason for granting each such exemption.

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/htm_hl?DB=uscode&STEMMER=en&WORDS=president+exempt+&COLOUR=Red&STYLE=s&URL=/uscode/42/6961.html#muscat_highlighter_first_match

RCRA, Subchapter IX -- Regulation of Underground Storage Tanks


42 USC Sec. 6991f.

Federal facilities

(a) Application of subchapter
Each department, agency, and instrumentality of the executive,
legislative, and judicial branches of the Federal Government having
jurisdiction over any underground storage tank shall be subject to and
comply with all Federal, State, interstate, and local requirements,
applicable to such tank, both substantive and procedural, in the same
manner, and to the same extent, as any other person is subject to such
requirements, including payment of reasonable service charges. Neither
the United States, nor any agent, employee, or officer thereof, shall be
immune or exempt from any process or sanction of any State or Federal
court with respect to the enforcement of any such injunctive relief.

(b) Presidential exemption
The President may exempt any underground storage tanks of any
department, agency, or instrumentality in the executive branch from
compliance with such a requirement if he determines it to be in the
paramount interest of the United States to do so. No such exemption
shall be granted due to lack of appropriation unless the President shall
have specifically requested such appropriation as a part of the
budgetary process and the Congress shall have failed to make available
such requested appropriations. Any exemption shall be for a period not
in excess of one year, but additional exemptions may be granted for
periods not to exceed one year upon the President's making a new
determination. The President shall report each January to the Congress
all exemptions from the requirements of this section granted during the
preceding calendar year, together with his reason for granting each such exemption.

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/htm_hl?DB=uscode&STEMMER=en&WORDS=president+exempt+&COLOUR=Red&STYLE=s&URL=/uscode/42/6991f.html#muscat_highlighter_first_match


RCRA Subchapter X -- Demonstration Medical Waste Tracking Program


42 USC Sec. 6992e.

Federal facilities

(a) In general
Each department, agency, and instrumentality of the executive,
legislative, and judicial branches of the Federal Government in a
demonstration State (1) having jurisdiction over any solid waste
management facility or disposal site at which medical waste is disposed
of or otherwise handled, or (2) engaged in any activity resulting, or
which may result, in the disposal, management, or handling of medical
waste shall be subject to, and comply with, all Federal, State,
interstate, and local requirements, both substantive and procedural
(including any requirement for permits or reporting or any provisions
for injunctive relief and such sanctions as may be imposed by a court to
enforce such relief), respecting control and abatement of medical waste
disposal and management in the same manner, and to the same extent, as
any person is subject to such requirements, including the payment of
reasonable service charges. The Federal, State, interstate, and local
substantive and procedural requirements referred to in this subsection
include, but are not limited to, all administrative orders, civil,
criminal, and administrative penalties, and other sanctions, including
injunctive relief, fines, and imprisonment. Neither the United States,
nor any agent, employee, or officer thereof, shall be immune or exempt
from any process or sanction of any State or Federal court with respect
to the enforcement of any such order, penalty, or other sanction. For
purposes of enforcing any such substantive or procedural requirement
(including, but not limited to, any injunctive relief, administrative
order, or civil, criminal, administrative penalty, or other sanction),
against any such department, agency, or instrumentality, the United
States hereby expressly waives any immunity otherwise applicable to the
United States. The President may exempt any department, agency, or
instrumentality in the executive branch from compliance with such a
requirement if he determines it to be in the paramount interest of the
United States to do so. No such exemption shall be granted due to lack
of appropriation unless the President shall have specifically requested
such appropriation as a part of the budgetary process and the Congress
shall have failed to make available such requested appropriation. Any
exemption shall be for a period not in excess of one year, but
additional exemptions may be granted for periods not to exceed one year
upon the President's making a new determination. The President shall
report each January to the Congress all exemptions from the requirements
of this section granted during the preceding calendar year, together
with his reason for granting each such exemption.

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/htm_hl?DB=uscode&STEMMER=en&WORDS=president+exempt+&COLOUR=Red&STYLE=s&URL=/uscode/42/6992e.html#muscat_highlighter_first_match

CERCLA


42 USC Sec. 9620.

Federal facilities

(a) Application of chapter to Federal Government
(1) In general
Each department, agency, and instrumentality of the United States
(including the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of
government) shall be subject to, and comply with, this chapter in the
same manner and to the same extent, both procedurally and substantively,
as any nongovernmental entity, including liability under section 9607 of
this title. Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the
liability of any person or entity under sections 9606 and 9607 of this
title. (2) Application of requirements to Federal facilities All
guidelines, rules, regulations, and criteria which are applicable to
preliminary assessments carried out under this chapter for facilities at
which hazardous substances are located, applicable to evaluations of
such facilities under the National Contingency Plan, applicable to
inclusion on the National Priorities List, or applicable to remedial
actions at such facilities shall also be applicable to facilities which
are owned or operated by a department, agency, or instrumentality of the
United States in the same manner and to the extent as such guidelines,
rules, regulations, and criteria are applicable to other facilities. No
department, agency, or instrumentality of the United States may adopt or
utilize any such guidelines, rules, regulations, or criteria which are
inconsistent with the guidelines, rules, regulations, and criteria
established by the Administrator under this chapter.
...

(j) National security
(1) Site specific Presidential orders
The President may issue such orders regarding response actions  at any
specified site or facility of the Department of Energy or the Department
of Defense as may be necessary to protect the national security
interests of the United States at that site or facility. Such orders may
include, where necessary to protect such interests, an exemption from
any requirement contained in this subchapter or under title III of the
Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. 11001 et
seq.) with respect to the site or facility concerned. The President
shall notify the Congress within 30 days of the issuance of an order
under this paragraph providing for any such exemption. Such notification
shall include a statement of the reasons for the granting of the
exemption. An exemption under this paragraph shall be for a specified
period which may not exceed one year. Additional exemptions may be
granted, each upon the President's issuance of a new order under this
paragraph for the site or facility concerned. Each such additional
exemption shall be for a specified period which may not exceed one year.
It is the intention of the Congress that whenever an exemption is issued
under this paragraph the response action shall proceed as expeditiously
as practicable. The Congress shall be notified periodically of the
progress of any response action with respect to which an exemption has
been issued under this paragraph. No exemption shall be granted under
this paragraph due to lack of appropriation unless the President shall
have specifically requested such appropriation as a part of the
budgetary process and the Congress shall have failed to make available
such requested appropriation.

(2) Classified information
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, all requirements of the
Atomic Energy Act (42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.) and all Executive orders
concerning the handling of restricted data and national security
information, including ''need to know'' requirements, shall be
applicable to any grant of access to classified information under the
provisions of this chapter or under title III of the Superfund
Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. 11001 et seq.).

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/42/9620.html

Toxic Substances Control Act


15 USC Sec. 2621. National defense waiver


The Administrator shall waive compliance with any provision of this
chapter upon a request and determination by the President that the
requested waiver is necessary in the interest of national defense. The
Administrator shall maintain a written record of the basis upon which
such waiver was granted and make such record available for in camera
examination when relevant in a judicial proceeding under this chapter.
Upon the issuance of such a waiver, the Administrator shall publish in
the Federal Register a notice that the waiver was granted for national
defense purposes, unless, upon the request of the President, the
Administrator determines to omit such publication because the
publication itself would be contrary to the interests of national
defense, in which event the Administrator shall submit notice thereof to
the Armed Services Committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/15/2621.html

Noise Control Act


Sec. 4903. Federal programs

(a) Furtherance of Congressional policy The Congress authorizes and
directs that Federal agencies shall, to the fullest extent consistent
with their authority under Federal laws administered by them, carry out
the programs within their control in such a manner as to further the
policy declared in section 4901(b) of this title.

(b) Presidential authority to exempt activities or facilities from
compliance requirements
Each department, agency, or instrumentality of the executive,
legislative, and judicial branches of the Federal Government -

(1) having jurisdiction over any property or facility, or

(2) engaged in any activity resulting, or which may result, in the
emission of noise, shall comply with Federal, State, interstate, and
local requirements respecting control and abatement of environmental
noise to the same extent that any person is subject to such
requirements. The President may exempt any single activity or facility,
including noise emission sources or classes thereof, of any department,
agency, or instrumentality in the executive branch from compliance with
any such requirement if he determines it to be in the paramount interest
of the United States to do so; except that no exemption, other than for
those products referred to in section 4902(3)(B) of this title, may be
granted from the requirements of sections 4905, 4916, and 4917 of this
title. No such exemption shall be granted due to lack of appropriation
unless the President shall have specifically requested such
appropriation as a part of the budgetary process and the Congress shall
have failed to make available such requested appropriation. Any
exemption shall be for a period not in excess of one year, but
additional exemptions may be granted for periods of not to exceed one
year upon the President's making a new determination. The President
shall report each January to the Congress all exemptions from the
requirements of this section granted during the preceding calendar year,
together with his reason for granting such exemption.

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/htm_hl?DB=uscode&STEMMER=en&WORDS=president+exempt+&COLOUR=Red&STYLE=s&URL=/uscode/42/4903.html#muscat_highlighter_first_match


-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 222B View St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
lsiegel@cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~