I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2491 

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 19, 2005 

Mr. GILLMOR (for himself, Mr. ROGERS of Michigan, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. STUPAK, and Mr. UPTON) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 Waste Importation and Management Act of 2005’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORTATION AND DISPOSAL 

2 OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle D of the Solid Waste Dis4 posal Act (42 U.S.C. 6941 et seq.) is amended by adding 

5 after section 4010 the following new section: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 4011. INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORTATION AND DIS7 POSAL OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE. 

8 ‘‘(a) STATE AUTHORITY TO ADDRESS IMPORTATION

9 AND MANAGEMENT OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.— 

11 ‘‘(A) Until the date on which the regula12 tions, issued by the Administrator, to imple13 ment and enforce the Agreement (including no14 tice and consent provisions of the Agreement) 

15 become effective, a State may enact a law or 

16 laws or issue regulations or orders imposing 

17 limitations on the receipt and disposal of for18 eign municipal solid waste within the State. 

19 ‘‘(B) A State shall undergo all required 

20 public notification, hearing, comment, and con21 sent processes when exercising the grant of au22 thority provided in paragraph (A) as required 

23 by State law. 

24 ‘‘(2) EFFECT ON INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN

25 COMMERCE.—No State action taken as authorized 

26 by this section shall be considered to impose an 
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1 undue burden on interstate and foreign commerce or 

2 to otherwise impair, restrain, or discriminate against 

3 interstate and foreign commerce. 

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

5 authorities granted under this section shall be imple6 mented consistent with international trade obliga7 tions pursuant to 19 U.S.C. 3312. 

8 ‘‘(b) AUTHORITY OF ADMINISTRATION.— 

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

10 after the date of enactment of this section, the Ad11 ministration shall— 

12 ‘‘(A) perform the functions of the Des13 ignated Authority of the United States de14 scribed in the Agreement with respect to the 

15 importation and exportation of municipal solid 

16 waste under the Agreement; and 

17 ‘‘(B) not later than 24 months after the 

18 date of enactment, implement and enforce the 

19 notice and consent provisions of the Agreement, 

20 as well as the provisions thereof. 

21 ‘‘(2) CONSENT TO IMPORTATION.—In consid22 ering whether to consent to the importation under 

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

24 shall— 
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1 ‘‘(A) give substantial weight to the views of 

2 the State or States into which the municipal 

3 solid waste is to be imported, and consider the 

4 views of the local government with jurisdiction 

5 over the location where the waste is to be dis6 posed; 

7 ‘‘(B) consider the impact of the importa8 tion on— 

9 ‘‘(i) continued public support for and 

10 adherence to State and local recycling pro11 grams; 

12 ‘‘(ii) landfill capacity as provided in 

13 comprehensive waste management plans; 

14 ‘‘(iii) air emissions from increased ve15 hicular traffic; and 

16 ‘‘(iv) road deterioration from in17 creased vehicular traffic; and 

18 ‘‘(C) consider the impact of the importa19 tion on homeland security, public health, and 

20 the environment. 

21 ‘‘(3) ACTIONS IN VIOLATION OF THE AGREE22 MENT.—No person shall import, transport, or export 

23 municipal solid waste for final disposal or for incin24 eration in violation of the Agreement Between the 

25 Government of the United States of America and 
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1 the Government of Canada Concerning the 

2 Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Waste, or 

3 any laws, orders, or regulations issued to implement 

4 and enforce such agreement. 

5 ‘‘(c) COMPLIANCE ORDERS.— 

6 ‘‘(1) Whenever on the basis of any information 

7 the Administrator determines that any person has 

8 violated or is in violation of this section, the Admin9 istrator may issue an order assessing a civil penalty 

10 for any past or current violation, requiring compli11 ance immediately or within a specified time period, 

12 or both, or the Administrator may commence a civil 

13 action in the United States district court in the dis14 trict in which the violation occurred for appropriate 

15 relief, including a temporary or permanent injunc16 tion. 

17 ‘‘(2) Any order issued pursuant to this sub18 section shall state with reasonable specificity the na19 ture of the violation. Any penalty assessed in the 

20 order shall not exceed $25,000 per day of non21 compliance for each violation. In assessing such a 

22 penalty, the Administrator shall take into account 

23 the seriousness of the violation and any good faith 

24 efforts to comply with applicable requirements. 
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1 ‘‘(d) PUBLIC HEARING.—Any order issued under this 

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

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

4 therein request a public hearing. Upon such request the 

5 Administrator shall promptly conduct a public hearing. In 

6 connection with any proceeding under this section the Ad7 ministrator may issue subpoenas for the attendance and 

8 testimony of witnesses and the production of relevant pa9 pers, books, and documents, and may promulgate rules for 

10 discovery procedures. 

11 ‘‘(e) VIOLATION OF COMPLIANCE ORDERS.—If a vio12 lator fails to take corrective action within the time speci13 fied in a compliance order, the Administrator may assess 

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

15 continued noncompliance with the order.’’. 

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

17 ‘‘(1) FOREIGN MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE.—The 

18 term ‘foreign municipal solid waste’ means munic19 ipal solid waste generated outside of the United 

20 States. 

21 ‘‘(2) MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE.— 

22 ‘‘(A) WASTE INCLUDED.—Except as pro23 vided in subparagraph (B), the term ‘municipal 

24 solid waste’ means— 
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1 ‘‘(i) all waste materials discarded for 

2 disposal by households, including single 

3 and multifamily residences, and hotels and 

4 motels; and 

5 ‘‘(ii) all waste materials discarded for 

6 disposal that were generated by commer7 cial, institutional, municipal, and industrial 

8 sources, to the extent such materials— 

9 ‘‘(I) are essentially the same as 

10 materials described in clause (i); and 

11 ‘‘(II) were collected and disposed 

12 of with other municipal solid waste 

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

14 of this clause as part of normal mu15 nicipal solid waste collection services, 

16 except that this subclause does not 

17 apply to hazardous materials other 

18 than hazardous materials that, pursu19 ant to regulations issued under sec20 tion 3001(d), are not subject to regu21 lation under subtitle C. 

22 Examples of municipal solid waste include food 

23 and yard waste, paper, clothing, appliances, 

24 consumer product packaging, disposable dia25 pers, office supplies, cosmetics, glass and metal 
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1 food containers, and household hazardous 

2 waste. Such term shall include debris resulting 

3 from construction, remodeling, repair, or demo4 lition of structures. 

5 ‘‘(B) WASTE NOT INCLUDED.—The term 

6 ‘municipal solid waste’ does not include any of 

7 the following: 

8 ‘‘(i) Any solid waste identified or list9 ed as a hazardous waste under section 

10 3001, except for household hazardous 

11 waste. 

12 ‘‘(ii) Any solid waste, including con13 taminated soil and debris, resulting from— 

14 ‘‘(I) a response action taken 

15 under section 104 or 106 of the Com16 prehensive Environmental Response, 

17 Compensation, and Liability Act (42 

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

19 ‘‘(II) a reponse action taken 

20 under a State law with authorities 

21 comparable to the authorities of such 

22 section 104 or 106; or 

23 ‘‘(III) a corrective action taken 

24 under this Act. 
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1 ‘‘(iii) Recyclable materials that have 

2 been separated, at the source of the waste, 

3 from waste otherwise destined for disposal 

4 or that have been managed separately from 

5 waste destined for disposal. 

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

7 fuel source. 

8 ‘‘(v) Materials and products returned 

9 from a dispenser or distributor to the man10 ufacturer or an agent of the manufacturer 

11 for credit, evaluation, and possible reuse. 

12 ‘‘(vi) Any solid waste that is— 

13 ‘‘(I) generated by an industrial 

14 facility; and 

15 ‘‘(II) transported for the purpose 

16 of treatment, storage, or disposal to a 

17 facility or unit thereof that is owned 

18 or operated by the generator of the 

19 waste, located on property owned by 

20 the generator or a company with 

21 which the generator is affiliated, or 

22 the capacity of which is contractually 

23 dedicated exclusively to a specific gen24 erator, so long as the disposal area 

25 complies with local and State land use 
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1 and zoning regulations applicable to 

2 the disposal site. 

3 ‘‘(vii) Any medical waste that is seg4 regated from or not mixed with solid 

5 waste. 

6 ‘‘(viii) Sewage sludge and residuals 

7 from any sewage treatment plant. 

8 ‘‘(ix) Combustion ash generated by re9 source recovery facilities or municipal in10 cinerators, or waste from manufacturing or 

11 processing (including pollution control) op12 erations not essentially the same as waste 

13 normally generated by households.’’. 

14 ‘‘(3) AGREEMENT.—The term ‘Agreement’ 

15 means— 

16 ‘‘(A) the Agreement Concerning the 

17 Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Waste 

18 between the United States and Canada, signed 

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

20 and amended on November 25, 1992; and 

21 ‘‘(B) any regulations promulgated to im22 plement and enforce that Agreement. 

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

24 of contents of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 
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1 prec. 6901) is amended by adding after the item relating 

2 to section 4010 the following new item: 

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

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