Hazardous Waste Facilities Public Accountability Act of 1996

Summary: Hazardous Waste Facilities Public Accountability Act of 1996 - Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to:  (1) prohibit the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from authorizing a State hazardous waste program unless the State promulgates standards for the acceptable location of new (or expansion of existing) treatment, storage, and disposal facilities as may be necessary to protect human health and the environment, including standards related to seismic and geological features, ecological resources, proximity to residences and certain public facilities, complex hydrogeology, and groundwater resources; and (2) require the Administrator to promulgate such standards with respect to the State if the State does not do so. 
Directs the Administrator to promulgate regulations setting requirements for the payment of permit fees by owners and operators of hazardous waste facilities sufficient to cover reasonable costs of administering the permit program. Prohibits authorization of a State program unless the State demonstrates that it will collect such amounts.  Requires regular review of programs for compliance with these requirements and allows the Administrator to collect fees directly from owners and operators in the event the State does not adequately do so.  Imposes penalties for fee nonpayment. 
Prohibits a person from obtaining or renewing a permit for a facility or expanding or transferring the facility unless the person makes certain demonstrations regarding environmental and public health law compliance, payment of outstanding fines or penalties, and the availability to the public of a disclosure statement concerning previous violations of law.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Hazardous Waste Facilities Public 
Accountability Act of 1996''.

SEC. 2. FACILITY SITING STANDARDS.

    Section 3004(o)(7) of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 
6924(o)(7)) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(7)(A) The Administrator shall not authorize a State program 
unless, within 12 months after the date of the enactment of the 
Hazardous Waste Facilities Public Accountability Act of 1996, the State 
promulgates standards for the acceptable location of new treatment, 
storage, and disposal facilities, and the expansion of treatment, 
storage, and disposal facilities, as may be necessary to protect human 
health and the environment. The standards shall include requirements 
related to adverse geologic settings such as flood plains and seismic 
impact zones; unstable terrain such as karst terrain; ecological 
resources such as wetlands and wildlife habitat; proximity to 
residences, schools, hospitals, churches and synagogues; complex 
hydrogeology; and vulnerable significant ground water resources. If a 
State does not promulgate such siting standards sufficient to protect 
human health and the environment, the Administrator shall promulgate 
such standards with respect to the State.
    ``(B) For purposes of this paragraph, the term `complex 
hydrogeology' means an area where 1 or more of the following activities 
cannot be performed fully and adequately:
            ``(i) Sufficient ground water characterization to determine 
        ground water and surface water flow and ascertain upgradient 
        and downgradient directions.
            ``(ii) The installation of a ground water monitoring 
        network which will detect releases into ground water from a 
        monitored unit at the earliest opportunity.
            ``(iii) Characterization of the nature and extent of 
        potential releases from a monitored unit.
            ``(iv) Determination of what corrective actions are 
        appropriate in response to a release, and conducting the 
        corrective actions that may be required.''.

SEC. 3. PERMIT FEES.

    Section 3006 of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6926) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(i) State Program Support.--(1) Within 12 months after the date 
of the enactment of this subsection, the Administrator shall promulgate 
regulations requiring that the owner or operator of any facility 
required to obtain an operating or post-closure permit under this 
subtitle pay an annual fee, or the equivalent over some other period, 
sufficient to cover all reasonable (direct and indirect) costs required 
to develop and administer the permit program requirements of this 
title, including the reasonable costs of each of the following:
            ``(A) Reviewing and acting upon any application for such a 
        permit.
            ``(B) Implementing and enforcing the terms and conditions 
        of any such permit, including corrective action terms and 
        conditions (but not including any court costs associated with 
        any enforcement action).
            ``(C) Waste sampling, analyses, demonstrations, and 
        environmental monitoring.
            ``(D) Preparing generally applicable regulations or 
        guidance.
            ``(E) Implementing and enforcing interim status 
        requirements, including corrective action orders (but not 
        including any court costs associated with any enforcement 
        action).
    ``(2) The Administrator shall not authorize a State program under 
this section, or allow a State program to retain authorization under 
this section, unless the State demonstrates that it will collect, in 
the aggregate, a dollar amount that the Administrator determines, after 
notice and opportunity for public comment, adequately reflects the 
reasonable costs of the permit program.
    ``(3) At least every 2 years the Administrator shall review each 
authorized State program to determine whether the program is in 
compliance with this subsection. The Administrator shall publish such 
determination in the Federal Register, after notice and opportunity for 
public comment.
    ``(4) If the Administrator determines, pursuant to paragraph (2), 
that the fee provisions of a State program do not meet the requirements 
of this subsection, or if the Administrator determines that the State 
is not adequately administering or enforcing an approved program, the 
Administrator may, in addition to taking any other action authorized 
under this subtitle, collect reasonable fees from the owner or operator 
of the facilities identified in paragraph (1). The fees shall be 
designed solely to cover the Administrator's costs of administering the 
provisions of the permit program promulgated by the Administrator.
    ``(5) In addition to any penalties that may be imposed under other 
law, any owner or operator that fails to pay fees imposed by the 
Administrator under paragraph (4), within a reasonable time to be 
determined by the Administrator, shall pay a penalty of 50 percent of 
the fee amount to the Administrator, plus interest on the fee amount 
computed in accordance with section 6621(a)(2) of the Internal Revenue 
Code of 1986 (relating to computation of interest on underpayment of 
Federal taxes).
    ``(6) To carry out activities of the Administrator for which fees 
are collected under this subsection, an amount equal to the total 
amount of any fees, penalties, and interest collected by the 
Administrator during any fiscal year under this subsection is 
authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator. Any amounts 
appropriated pursuant to this paragraph are authorized to remain 
available until expended.
    ``(7) In imposing fees on facilities under this subsection, the 
Administrator may take into account the size and complexity of the 
facilities, and other relevant factors.''.

SEC. 4. QUALIFICATIONS OF PERMITTEES.

    Section 3005 of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6925) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(k) Qualifications of Permittees.--A person may not obtain a 
permit for any facility under this title or renew any such permit, 
obtain authorization to expand the facility, or transfer ownership of 
the facility to any other person, unless the person demonstrates the 
following with respect to the person, any firm engaged to operate the 
facility, the parent firm of the person and any firm engaged to operate 
the facility, and any firms controlled by the parent firm or the 
operating firm of the person:
            ``(1) Each such entity is in compliance with Federal and 
        State environmental and public health statutes and regulations.
            ``(2) Each such entity has paid all outstanding fines or 
        penalties imposed on the entity for violations of such statutes 
        and regulations.
            ``(3) Each such entity has made available a disclosure 
        statement to the public at the site, and at local public 
        libraries in the jurisdiction where the facility would be sited 
        if a permit were obtained. The disclosure statement shall 
        include the following items of formation with respect to the 
        entity:
                    ``(A) A list of each conviction for fraud or any 
                criminal offense during the immediately preceding 10 
                years in connection with obtaining or attempting to 
                obtain a contract.
                    ``(B) A list of each conviction for a violation of 
                a State or Federal antitrust law during the immediately 
                preceding 10 years, including convictions relating to 
                unlawful price-fixing, allocation of customers among 
                competitors, and bid-rigging.
                    ``(C) A list of each citation during the 
                immediately preceding 5 years for a permit violation 
                under a Federal, State, or local environmental statute.
                    ``(D) A list of each citation during the 
                immediately preceding 5 years for failure to conduct 
                proper cleanup, reclamation, or closure of a site or 
                forfeiture of a bond for such a failure.''.