I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2522

To establish a maximum level of remediation for dry cleaning solvents, and

for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 24, 1995

Mr. BARTON of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure, and Economic and Educational Opportunities, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each

case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of

the committee concerned

A BILL

To establish a maximum level of remediation for dry cleaning

solvents, 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 ‘‘Small Business Reme5 diation Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND INTENT OF CONGRESS.

7 (a) The Congress declares that the public should be

8 protected from the risk of waste or spilled solvents and
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1 other chemicals in the soil, surface water, groundwater,

2 and other environmental media.

3 (b) The Congress finds that the remediation require4 ments for spilled or waste chemical substances are often

5 inconsistent, conflicting, and may impose a burden that

6 bears little relationship to the potential harm to the envi7 ronment and that these requirements pose a special bur8 den on small businesses and landowners.

9 (c) Congress intends that standards shall be set for

10 remediation that, with an adequate margin of safety, will

11 protect public health from significant risk from these

12 chemicals and below which level remediation will be per13 mitted but not required.

14 (d) Congress resolves that to implement these conclu15 sions a maximum level of remediation in soil, surface

16 water, groundwater, and other environmental media shall

17 be set, initially, for solvents for the dry cleaning industry.

18 SEC. 3. STANDARD FOR CLEAN-UP.

19 The maximum level of remediation of dry cleaning

20 solvents in soil, surface water, groundwater, and other en21 vironmental media that a Federal, State, local agency, or

22 court may require of a person engaged in dry cleaning or

23 the owner of land or a facility in which such a person is

24 conducting dry cleaning shall be one-tenth the equivalent

25 exposure of the workplace standard for such solvents es-
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1 tablished by the Secretary of Labor under the Occupa2 tional Safety and Health Act of 1970.

3 SEC. 4. CALCULATION OF EQUIVALENT EXPOSURE.

4 (a) In consultation with the Administrators of the Oc5 cupational Safety and Health Administration and the En6 vironmental Protection Agency, the National Institute of

7 Environmental Health Sciences shall, within 6 months of

8 the date of the enactment of this Act, publish in the Fed9 eral Register its computation, based on realistic scientific

10 assumptions, of equivalent exposure by ingestion, inhala11 tion, and absorption indices for the general public, for soil,

12 surface water, groundwater, and other environmental

13 media in nonoccupational circumstances.

14 (b) The equivalent exposure shall be calculated from

15 the workplace standard for dry cleaning solvents which

16 assures on the basis of the best available evidence that

17 no employee will suffer material impairment of health or

18 functional capacity even if such employee has regular ex19 posure for the employee’s entire working lifetime.

20 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION TO REMEDIATE AT A LOWER

21 LEVEL THAN THE MAXIMUM LEVEL OF REME22 DIATION.

23 Nothing in this Act—

24 (1) shall preempt or otherwise prevent a Fed25 eral, State, or local government or private party
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1 from remediating soil, surface water, groundwater,

2 or other environmental media to a lower level than

3 the maximum level of remeditation at its own cost

4 and expense, or

5 (2) shall alter or affect the Federal drinking

6 water standards under title XIV of the Public

7 Health Service Act.

8 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

9 For purposes of this Act:

10 (1) The term ‘‘other environmental media’’

11 means air and organic and inorganic material.

12 (2) The term ‘‘equivalent exposure’’ means the

13 amount of a chemical substance found in air, surface

14 water, groundwater, and other environmental media

15 which is equivalent, under general and realistic con16 ditions of human exposure, absorption, and toxicity,

17 to that of the workplace standard for that substance.

18 (3) The term ‘‘maximum level of remeditation’’

19 means one-tenth the equivalent exposure and is

20 deemed fully protective of human health.

21 (4) The term ‘‘workplace standard for dry

22 cleaning solvents’ means the standard established by

23 the Secretary of Labor under section 6(b)(5) of the

24 Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 as the

25 time-weighted average and set forth in section
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1 1810.1000 Z–2 of title 29 of the Code of Federal

2 Regulations.

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