mining wastes, sludge, discarded tires, the
economics of resource recovery facility
development, and the hazards of bird con-
gregations near landfills. The Administrator
will also serve as Chairman of a Resource
Conservation Committee (comprised of var-
ious agency heads) which will study re-
source conservation with respect to eco-
nomic incentives and disincentives and
product changes. To carry out the Commit-
tee’s effort $2 million is authorized and $8
million is authorized in fiscal years 1978 and
1979 to finance the studies. See section
8002.

EPA will also collect, develop, and
evaluate information on costs of waste col-
lection, waste management practices, re-
covery of energy from waste, waste reduc-
tion, new technologies for resource re-
covery, hazardous waste control, sanitary
landfills, markets for recovered materials,
and research and development projects in-
volving solid waste. The Administrator will,
in addition, establish a Central Reference
Library for information dealing with these
concerns and for collection of model ac-
counting systems. The Agency will develop a
recommended model cost and revenue ac-
counting. system applicable to the solid
waste management programs of State and
local governments and will also publish
model codes for use by State and local
agencies. This subtitle further provides that
no representative of EPA may, in an official
capacity, lobby for resource recovery or re-
source conservation as a policy alternative
for enactment by State and local govern-
ments. See section 8003.

EPA is given authority to enter into
contracts with public agencies or with pri-
vate persons for construction and operation
of full-scale demonstration facilities or pro-
vide financial assistance in the form of


waste programs) may revoke permits of
nonconforming users. Interim authoriza-
tion is granted to anyone who has applied
for a permit. See section 3005.

Eighteen months after enactment
the Administrator must also publish
guidelines to enable the States to develop
approved hazardous waste programs.
States with existing programs may receive
interim authorization upon a showing that
their programs are substantially equivalent
to the Federal program (this temporary au-
thorization lasts for two years). The EPA
may withdraw authorization within 90 days
of notice of non-conformities. See section
3006.

In order for EPA and State officials to
enforce these requirements, the Act au-
thorizes them to inspect facilities, copy rec-
ords, and obtain samples (information ob-
tained will then be made public), See Sec-
tion 3007.

Compliance provisions of the law will
be enforced through civil and criminal
penalties. Civil actions will be commenced in
Federal courts for violations extending be-
yond 30 days for notification, and violators
will carry liability for a penalty of $25,000
for each day of continued non-compliance.
Criminal penalties may be imposed on per-
sons transporting hazardous wastes with-
out a permit or making falsifications in
labeling and reporting: Penalties of $25,000
per day or imprisonment for not more than
one year authorized. States may not provide
for penalties less than those provided under
the bill. See section 3008 and 3009,


Branch from compliance with substantive
and procedural requirements if he deter-
mines it to be in the paramount interest of
the United States to do so. Such an exemp-
tion may last no longer than one year but
may be extended for an additional year
upon a new determination by the President.
See section 6001.

Two years after enactment each Fed-
eral procurement ageng will be required to
procure only those items composed of the
highest percentage of recovered materials.
This provision will apply to all procurement
items exceeding $10,000 in purchase prices.
Exemptions from this requirement will be
provided for procurement items which are
not available within a reasonable amount
of time or which fail to meet reasonable
performance standards. Agencies now
generating energy from fossil fuels, or sup-
plementary fuels, will be required to exer-
cise this capacity to the greatest extent pos-
sible. See section 6002.

All Federal agencies that have the
responsibility for drafting or reviewing spe-
cifications for procurement items procured
by Federal agencies will be required to de-
termine whether such specifications con-
form with the recovered materials require-
ment no later than eighteen months after
enactment. See section 6002.

This Subtitle also directs the EPA to
prepare, and update as appropriate,
guidelines to aid procuring agencies in
complying with the recovered materials re-
quirement. Such guidelines will contain in-
formation as to the availability and sources
of supply of such materials. This procure-
ment policy will be coordinated by the Of-
fice of Procurement Policy in the Executive
Office of the President, in cooperation with
the EPA. See section 6002.

All Federal agencies having functions


will be required by the States to implement
the program. See section 4003.

Within one year after enactment, the
EPA will promulgate regulations setting
forth criteria for determining which
facilities will be classified as sanitary landfills
and which as open dumps. Open dumps are
prohibited except in situations where a
compliance schedule is arrived at pursuant
to an approved State plan. See section 4004.
The Agency, in cooperation with the Bureau
of Census, will then publish an inventory of
all open dumps within the U.S. See section
4005.

The Governor of each State, within
six months after publication of the
guidelines, will identify areas within each
State which will constitute regional solid
waste management units. Six months later,
each Governor will identify an agency to
implement the State plan. See section
4006(a) and (b). Since it is possible that des-
ignated regions may be interstate in nature,
Governors of neighboring States may agree
upon regional boundaries. Six months after
such regions are identified, agencies will be
established to develop their plans. See sec-
tion 4006(c).

The EPA has six months to approve or
disapprove of a submitted State plan, but
the Administrator will retain the option of
revising or correcting approved plans from
time to time. Plans which are not revised to
conform to minimum requirements will,
after notice and opportunity for public
hearing, lose their approval. See section
4007(a).

EPA can issue grants for the im-
plementation of solid waste management
programs for plan development and im-
plementation. in fiscal year 1978 $30 million
is authorized and $40 million in fiscal 1979


 SS[_“STSNE.

SUBTITLE D: STATE OR REGIONAL SOLID
WASTE PLANS

SS SNSN eS

The EPA, within six months of enact-
ment, is required to publish guidelines iden-
tifying areas with common solid waste
management problems and appropriate
units for planning regional solid waste
management services. Such guidelines will
consider the size and location of areas as
well as the volume of solid waste which they
produce. See section 4002(a).

The Agengy will, in addition, prom-
ulgate within eighteen months after
enactment, guidelines to aid States in the
development of solid waste management
plans. These guidelines will be reviewed
frequently and modified where necessary.
They will encompass consideration of the
varying characteristics of individual States,
including quality of groundwaters and am-
bient air, methods of waste collection,
methods for closing and upgrading open
dump, markets for recovered material, and
types of resource recovery systems. See sec-
tion 4002(b) and (c).

In order for a State plan to be ap-
proved, it must identify responsibilities of
State, local, regional authorities in carrying
out the plan, show the distribution of Fed-
eral funds, and specify the strategy for
coordinating regional planning. Each plan
must also prohibit the establishment of new
Open dumps and require that all non-
hazardous wastes be either used for re-
source recovery or disposed of in sanitary
landfills. Existing open dumps will be im-
proved or phased-out. Plans will also pro-
vide a basis for such regulatory authority as


SVEN

SUBTITLE E: DUTIES OF THE SECRETARY
OF COMMERCE
IN RESOURCE RECOVERY
AND CONSERVATION

SS SERBS

This portion of the Act directs the
Secretary of Commerce to stimulate
broader commercialization of proven re-
source recovery technologies by providing
accurate specifications for recovered mate-
rials, and encouraging the development of
markets for recovered materials. Working
through the National Bureau of Standards,
the Secretary of Commerce will within two
years after enactment publish guidelines for
the development of specifications for the
classification of recovered materials and will
identify the geographical location of exist-
ing or potential markets for recovered ma-
terials. The Secretary will also be empo-
wered to evaluate the commercial feasibil-
ity for resource recovery facilities. See sec-
tions 5001-5004.

SSS

SUBTITLE F: FEDERAL RESPONSIBILITIES

SS SN SSSR

Each Federal agency instrumentality
will be subject to all procedural, as well as
substantive requirements, including those
imposed by State and local jurisdiction. Fed-
eral employees and officers will not be im-
mune from injunctive enforcement of these
requirements. The President, however, may
exempt any solid waste management facil-
ity under the auspices of the Executive


G CSOU CE

Conservalton
anid

Y AP ig Y J
Rec OO o

A COf
1976
ted UN Y of
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9 4 = SSO



notice of the violation to the Administrator,
to the State in which the alleged violation
occurred, and to any alledged violator. If not
included as a party, the Administrator may
intervene in the suit as a matter of right. See
section 7002.

The Administrator may bring suit to
enjoin any handling, storage, treatment,
transportation, or disposal of any solid or
hazardous waste which is presenting an
imminent hazard to public health or the
environment. See section 7003. Any person
may also petition the Administrator for the
promulgation, amendment, or repeal of
any regulation under the Act. The Adminis-
trator is charged with developing minimum
guidelines for public participation in the re-
vision, implementation, and enforcement
of any regulation under the Act. See section
7004, Should any portion of the Act be in-
validated, the unaffected portion of the law
will remain valid. See section 7005. The Act
also provides for judicial review of final reg-
ulations in the United States Court of Ap-
peals for the District of Columbia. See sec-
tion 7006.

EPA is authorized to make grants to
and contracts with eligible organizations
(agencies or groups which are deemed ca-
pable of carrying out a project) for training
supervisory personnel for solid waste dis-
posal and resource recovery facilities; and
the Administrator is directed to investigate
and study the need for additional trained
State and local personnel necessary to im-
plement the Act. See section 7007. No such
grant may be made to any private profit-
making organization. See section 7008.
Also, no grant will be made unless the appli-
cant organization adheres to prevailing
labor standards in wages and rates (as de-
termined by the Secretary of Labor). See
section 7009.


relating to solid or hazardous waste will be
required to cooperate with EPA in imple-
menting this Act and may be required to
provide appropriate resources to EPA upon
its request on a reimbursable basis. See sec-
tion 6003.

Additionally, all Executive agencies
which have jurisdiction over solid waste dis-
posal facilities or land on which such
facilities are located must comply with all
guidelines and requirements of the Act. See
section 6004.

SSNS

SUBTITLE G: MISCELLANEOUS
PROVISIONS

SSS SESE

Any employee who: has failed or
caused to be filed any proceeding under this
Act may not be discriminated against or
fired from his work on the basis of such
institution of proceedings. Any person who
feels that he/she has been affected in viola-
tion of this restriction may apply within
thirty days to the Secretary of Labor for a
review of the incident. A “clean hands” ex-
ception is included here, however, providing
that no employee who, acting without di-
rection from his employer, deliberately vio-
lates any requirement of the Act may come
under the protection of this section. See
section 7001.

Any person may also commence a
citizen suit against any person (including
the U.S. government) who is alleged to be
in violation of any permit, standard, or regu-
lation under the Act or against the Adminis-
trator for alleged failure to perform any
duty under the Act which is not discretion-
ary. Plaintiff is required to give sixty days


for States in the development and im-
plementation process. For fiscal 1978 and
1979 $15 million is authorized for “im-
plementation” grants available to States,
counties, municipalities and intermunicipal
agencies, and State and local public solid
waste management authorities.

This can be done to provide assist-
ance in the form of facility feasibility studies,
expert consultation, market studies, legal
expenses and other fiscal or economic inves-
tigations or studies. The monies cannot be
used for construction, or acquisition of land.
See section 4007(b) and (c). Sums will be
allotted to the States in ratio to population.

“Special Communities", with low
populations and high levels of solid waste
disposal, will be identified by the EPA and
the States and will be eligible for grants to
be used for conversion, improvement, con-
solidation or construction of solid waste
disposal facilities. For each of the fiscal years
1978 and 1979, $2,500,000 is authorized for
this purpose. See section 4008.

For each of the fiscal years 1978 and
1979, $25 million is authorized to provide
grants for “rural communities” assistance.
These communities are defined as
municipalities with populations of five
thousand or less, or counties with a popula-
tion of ten thousand or less, or less than
twenty persons per square mile and not
within a metropolitan area. Grants will be
used to upgrade solid waste management
facilities and will be apportioned by the EPA
to the States on a population ratio basis. See
section 4009.

For each of fiscal years 1978 and 1979,
$25 million is authorized to the States to
implement these hazardous waste provi-
sions. See section 3011.


is authorized, with $38 million for next fiscal
year, and $42 million for the 1979 fiscal year.
See section 2006.

SSN

SUBTITLE C: HAZARDOUS WASTE
MANAGEMENT

WSN SSE

One of the primary aspects of the Act
is its new controls over hazardous wastes.
The law directs the EPA, with eighteen
months of enactment, to identify which
wastes, are hazardous and in what quan-
tities, qualities, concentrations, and forms
of disposal they become a threat to health
or the environment. The Governor of any
State may also petition to have any. sub-
stance so listed and the Administrator is
then given 90 days in which to act on this
petition. See section 3001. Additionally EPA
will be required to issue standards for
generators and transporters of hazardous
wastes, respecting record-keeping, prac-
tices, labeling, appropriate containers, use
of a manifest system, and reporting of
quantities and disposition. Substances listed
by both the Administrator and the Secretary
of Transportation must be consistent with
the requirements of the Hazardous Mate-
rials Transportation Act. See sections 3002
and 3003.

Most importantly, persons owning or
operating facilities for the treatment and
storage of hazardous wastes are required to
obtain permits within 90 days after identifi-
cation and listing. Permit applications must
indicate composition, quantities, the rate at
which such wastes are to be disposed of,
and the location of the disposal site. EPA or
States (in jurisdictions having hazardous


grants for new or improved technologies.
EPA may make no obligation with respect to
this provision after ten years from enact-
ment nor may it make any expenditure of
funds for this section more than 14 years
after enactment. An attempt will be. made
under this provision for cost sharing with all
State and local persons and ‘instrumen-
talities involved. See section 8004.

The Agengy will also conduct-special
studies on markets for energy recovered
from solid waste, methods of disposal which
will conserve energy, the use of Fedéral pro-
curement to develop market dejiiand, rec-
ommended economic incentives, agricul-
tural. waste management andr hg, and
the effect of Barriers to.acquisitiGn of dis-
-posal sites: It may. then-implementdemon-
stration projects to test study findings. See
section 8005. ~ a

101456
SW.564

U.S. Environmental

Lrotection AGNY


SVS VAN

SUBTITLE B: OFFICE OF SOLID WASTE;
AUTHORITIES OF THE
ADMINISTRATOR

SSN SNES

The new law establishes an Office of
Solid Waste within the EPA (headed by a
Deputy Assistant Administrator) to oversee
the implementation of the hazardous waste
and open dumping provisions, in addition
to other resource conservation and recovery
programs called for under the Act. This Of-
fice will be the conduit through which tech-
nical and financial assistance will be pro-
vided to the States and regional agencies.
The Administrator is authorized to pre-
scribe, in consultation with Federal, State,
and regional authorities, such regulations as
are necessary to carry out his functions
under this Act. Each regulation promul-
gated under this Act shall be reviewed and,
where necessary, revised not less frequently
than every three years. See section 2002.
Upon request the Administrator will dis-
patch Panels comprised of Federal, State,
and local employees or contractors to pro-
vide States and local governments with
technical assistance. See section 2003. The
Administrator will also make available
grants equal to 5 percent of the purchase
price of tire shredders to private purchasers
and public bodies (owing to the peculiar
problems of tire disposal by burial or in
landfill). See section 2004. The Adminis-
trator is to transmit by January 1, each year,
a comprehensive and detailed report on all
activities of the Office during the preceding
fiscal year. See section 2005. For the Office's
activities for the 1977 fiscal year, $35 million


This new law amends the Solid Waste
Disposal Act to provide for a hazardous
waste regulatory program; a program to
eliminate open dumping; financial and
technical assistance for planning enhanced
solid waste management programs; grants
to rural communities to improve solid waste
management systems; and authority for re-
search, demonstrations, and studies.

SSS SNS

SUBTITLE A: GENERAL PROVISIONS

aN SSNS

The Act expands the current provi-
sions of the Solid Waste Disposal Act requir
ing formulation of guidelines for solid
waste recovery to include the publication of
guidelines on alternative solid waste man-
agement practices. The Administrator is di-
rected to issue these guidelines within one
year of enactment. They will aid the States
and regional authorities in the develop-
ment of solid waste management plans, es-
pecially in regard to compliance with
hazardous waste and open dumping con-
trol regulations. Descriptions of levels of
technical performance, leachate control,
ambient air quality, diseases, safety, and aes-
thetics will be included in similar guidelines
published not later than two years after the
enactment of this section. See section 1008.


L—SSV7]SaVn_EVR

SUBTITLE H: RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT,
DEMONSTRATION AND
INFORMATION

“VV Ne

After consultation with EPA and
ERDA, EPA will conduct and encourage
studies and research on financing solid
waste programs, health effects of solid
waste disposal, marketing of recovered re-
sources, production of fuel from solid
waste, collection of solid waste, resource
recovery source separation systems, land
disposal practices, sludge, hazardous waste
and the effect of burning solid waste on air
quality. See section 8001.

EPA will also assist and demonstrate
research projects and pilot systems devel-
oped without Federal assistance. Energy-
related projects will be carried out in ac-
cordance with the May 7, 1976 Interagency
Agreement between EPA and ERDA (they
will be conducted jointly, following which
project responsibility will be assigned to one
agency). ERDA will retain responsibility for
energy-related portions of projects for re-
covery of synthetic fuels and EPA will as-
sume responsibility for the environmental,
economic, and institutional aspects of solid
waste projects. The EPA will be allowed to
detail agency personnel to the instrumen-
talities eligible for assistance under this sec-
tion. See section 8001.

The Agency will study and publish
reports on glass and plastic waste, and will
anticipate future changes in composition of
the waste stream. EPA will likewise study
small-scale and low technology systems,
front-end source separation technologies