Supporting Transparent Regulatory and Environmental Actions in Mining Act of 2015 or the STREAM Act of 2015
This bill amends the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 to direct the Department of the Interior to make publicly available the scientific products used in developing a rule under the Act or any related environmental impact statement, environmental assessment, or economic assessment when the rule or assessment is published. If those scientific products received federal funds, Interior must also make publicly available the data used and the background information of its authors.
If Interior does not comply, the notice and comment period for the rules and assessments will be extended by specified periods. A rule or an assessment must be withdrawn if Interior fails to comply for more than 180 days.
In carrying out the Act, Interior: (1) may not make any determination regarding certain agency action subject to specified mining and environmental Acts, and (2) shall defer to the determinations of an agency or state authority implementing those Acts with respect to any agency action under the jurisdiction of that agency or state.