IIB 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 2491 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 7 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 6), 2006 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and 

Public Works 

AN ACT 

To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to authorize States 

to restrict receipt of foreign municipal solid waste and 

implement the Agreement Concerning the Transboundary 

Movement of Hazardous Waste between the United 

States and Canada, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘International Solid 

3 Waste Importation and Management Act of 2006’’. 

4 SEC. 2. INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORTATION AND DISPOSAL 

5 OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle D of the Solid Waste Dis7 posal Act (42 U.S.C. 6941 et seq.) is amended by adding 

8 after section 4010 the following new section: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 4011. INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORTATION AND DIS10 POSAL OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE. 

11 ‘‘(a) STATE AUTHORITY TO ADDRESS IMPORTATION

12 AND MANAGEMENT OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Until the date on which all 

14 final regulations issued by the Administrator to im15 plement and enforce the Agreement (including notice 

16 and consent provisions of the Agreement) become ef17 fective, a State may enact a law or laws or issue reg18 ulations or orders imposing limitations on the receipt 

19 and disposal of foreign municipal solid waste within 

20 the State. Laws, regulations, and orders enacted or 

21 issued before that date may continue in effect ac22 cording to their terms after that date. 

23 ‘‘(2) EFFECT ON INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN

24 COMMERCE.—No State action taken as authorized 

25 by this section shall be considered to impose an 

26 undue burden on interstate and foreign commerce or 


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1 to otherwise impair, restrain, or discriminate against 

2 interstate and foreign commerce. 

3 ‘‘(3) TRADE AND TREATY OBLIGATIONS.— 

4 Nothing in this section affects, replaces, or amends 

5 prior law relating to the need for consistency with 

6 international trade obligations. 

7 ‘‘(b) AUTHORITY OF ADMINISTRATOR.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning immediately 

9 after the date of enactment of this section, the Ad10 ministrator shall— 

11 ‘‘(A) perform the functions of the Des12 ignated Authority of the United States de13 scribed in the Agreement with respect to the 

14 importation and exportation of municipal solid 

15 waste under the Agreement; and 

16 ‘‘(B) implement and enforce the notice and 

17 consent and other provisions of the Agreement. 

18 ‘‘(2) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 24 months 

19 after the date of enactment of this section, the Ad20 ministrator shall issue final regulations with respect 

21 to the Administrator’s responsibilities under para22 graph (1). 

23 ‘‘(3) CONSENT TO IMPORTATION.—In consid24 ering whether to consent to the importation under 


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1 article 3(c) of the Agreement, the Administrator 

2 shall— 

3 ‘‘(A) give substantial weight to the views of 

4 the State or States into which the municipal 

5 solid waste is to be imported, and consider the 

6 views of the local government with jurisdiction 

7 over the location where the waste is to be dis8 posed; 

9 ‘‘(B) consider the impact of the importa10 tion on— 

11 ‘‘(i) continued public support for and 

12 adherence to State and local recycling pro13 grams; 

14 ‘‘(ii) landfill capacity as provided in 

15 comprehensive waste management plans; 

16 ‘‘(iii) air emissions from increased ve17 hicular traffic; and 

18 ‘‘(iv) road deterioration from in19 creased vehicular traffic; and 

20 ‘‘(C) consider the impact of the importa21 tion on homeland security, public health, and 

22 the environment. 

23 ‘‘(4) ACTIONS IN VIOLATION OF THE AGREE24 MENT.—No person shall import, transport, or export 


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1 municipal solid waste for final disposal or for incin2 eration in violation of the Agreement. 

3 ‘‘(c) COMPLIANCE ORDERS.—(1) Whenever on the 

4 basis of any information the Administrator determines 

5 that any person has violated or is in violation of this sec6 tion, the Administrator may issue an order assessing a 

7 civil penalty for any past or current violation, requiring 

8 compliance immediately or within a specified time period, 

9 or both, or the Administrator may commence a civil action 

10 in the United States district court in the district in which 

11 the violation occurred for appropriate relief, including a 

12 temporary or permanent injunction. 

13 ‘‘(2) Any order issued pursuant to this sub14 section shall state with reasonable specificity the na15 ture of the violation. Any penalty assessed in the 

16 order shall not exceed $25,000 per day of non17 compliance for each violation. In assessing such a 

18 penalty, the Administrator shall take into account 

19 the seriousness of the violation and any good faith 

20 efforts to comply with applicable requirements. 

21 ‘‘(d) PUBLIC HEARING.—Any order issued under this 

22 section shall become final unless, not later than 30 days 

23 after the order is served, the person or persons named 

24 therein request a public hearing. Upon such request the 

25 Administrator shall promptly conduct a public hearing. In 


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1 connection with any proceeding under this section the Ad2 ministrator may issue subpoenas for the attendance and 

3 testimony of witnesses and the production of relevant pa4 pers, books, and documents, and may promulgate rules for 

5 discovery procedures. 

6 ‘‘(e) VIOLATION OF COMPLIANCE ORDERS.—If a vio7 lator fails to take corrective action within the time speci8 fied in a compliance order, the Administrator may assess 

9 a civil penalty of not more than $25,000 for each day of 

10 continued noncompliance with the order. 

11 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

12 ‘‘(1) AGREEMENT.—The term ‘Agreement’ 

13 means— 

14 ‘‘(A) the Agreement Concerning the 

15 Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Waste 

16 between the United States and Canada, signed 

17 at Ottawa on October 28, 1986 (TIAS 11099) 

18 and amended on November 25, 1992; and 

19 ‘‘(B) any regulations promulgated and or20 ders issued to implement and enforce that 

21 Agreement. 

22 ‘‘(2) FOREIGN MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE.—The 

23 term ‘foreign municipal solid waste’ means munic24 ipal solid waste generated outside of the United 

25 States. 


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1 ‘‘(3) MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE.— 

2 ‘‘(A) WASTE INCLUDED.—Except as pro3 vided in subparagraph (B), the term ‘municipal 

4 solid waste’ means— 

5 ‘‘(i) all waste materials discarded for 

6 disposal by households, including single 

7 and multifamily residences, and hotels and 

8 motels; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) all waste materials discarded for 

10 disposal that were generated by commer11 cial, institutional, municipal, and industrial 

12 sources, to the extent such materials— 

13 ‘‘(I) are essentially the same as 

14 materials described in clause (i); and 

15 ‘‘(II) were collected and disposed 

16 of with other municipal solid waste 

17 described in clause (i) or subclause (I) 

18 of this clause as part of normal mu19 nicipal solid waste collection services, 

20 except that this subclause does not 

21 apply to hazardous materials other 

22 than hazardous materials that, pursu23 ant to regulations issued under sec24 tion 3001(d), are not subject to regu25 lation under subtitle C. 


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1 Examples of municipal solid waste include 

2 food and yard waste, paper, clothing, appli3 ances, consumer product packaging, dis4 posable diapers, office supplies, cosmetics, 

5 glass and metal food containers, and 

6 household hazardous waste. Such term 

7 shall include debris resulting from con8 struction, remodeling, repair, or demolition 

9 of structures. 

10 ‘‘(B) WASTE NOT INCLUDED.—The term 

11 ‘municipal solid waste’ does not include any of 

12 the following: 

13 ‘‘(i) Any solid waste identified or list14 ed as a hazardous waste under section 

15 3001, except for household hazardous 

16 waste. 

17 ‘‘(ii) Any solid waste, including con18 taminated soil and debris, resulting from— 

19 ‘‘(I) a response action taken 

20 under section 104 or 106 of the Com21 prehensive Environmental Response, 

22 Compensation, and Liability Act (42 

23 U.S.C. 9604 or 9606); 

24 ‘‘(II) a response action taken 

25 under a State law with authorities 


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1 comparable to the authorities of such 

2 section 104 or 106; or 

3 ‘‘(III) a corrective action taken 

4 under this Act. 

5 ‘‘(iii) Recyclable materials that have 

6 been separated, at the source of the waste, 

7 from waste otherwise destined for disposal 

8 or that have been managed separately from 

9 waste destined for disposal. 

10 ‘‘(iv) Scrap rubber to be used as a 

11 fuel source. 

12 ‘‘(v) Materials and products returned 

13 from a dispenser or distributor to the man14 ufacturer or an agent of the manufacturer 

15 for credit, evaluation, and possible reuse. 

16 ‘‘(vi) Any solid waste that is— 

17 ‘‘(I) generated by an industrial 

18 facility; and 

19 ‘‘(II) transported for the purpose 

20 of treatment, storage, or disposal to a 

21 facility or unit thereof that is owned 

22 or operated by the generator of the 

23 waste, located on property owned by 

24 the generator or a company with 

25 which the generator is affiliated, or 


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1 the capacity of which is contractually 

2 dedicated exclusively to a specific gen3 erator, so long as the disposal area 

4 complies with local and State land use 

5 and zoning regulations applicable to 

6 the disposal site. 

7 ‘‘(vii) Any medical waste that is seg8 regated from or not mixed with solid 

9 waste. 

10 ‘‘(viii) Sewage sludge and residuals 

11 from any sewage treatment plant. 

12 ‘‘(ix) Combustion ash generated by re13 source recovery facilities or municipal in14 cinerators, or waste from manufacturing or 

15 processing (including pollution control) op16 erations not essentially the same as waste 

17 normally generated by households. 

18 ‘‘(x) Solid waste generated incident to 

19 the provision of service in interstate, intra20 state, foreign, or overseas air transpor21 tation.’’. 

22 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS AMENDMENT.—The table 

23 of contents of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 

24 prec. 6901) is amended by adding after the item relating 

25 to section 4010 the following new item: 


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‘‘Sec. 4011. International transportation and disposal of municipal solid 

waste.’’. 

Passed the House of Representatives September 6, 

2006. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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