I

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4229

To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to enable Indian tribes to enforce

provisions of the Act relating to leaking underground storage tanks

on Indian lands, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 14, 1994

Mr. RICHARDSON (for himself and Mr. THOMAS of Wyoming) introduced the

following bill; which was referred jointly to the Committees on Energy

and Commerce and Ways and Means

A BILL

To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to enable Indian

tribes to enforce provisions of the Act relating to leaking

underground storage tanks on Indian lands, 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. UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS IN INDIAN

4 COUNTRY.

5 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 9001 of the Solid Waste

6 Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6991) is amended by adding at

7 the end the following new paragraphs:

8 ‘‘(9) The term ‘Indian country’ means—
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1 ‘‘(A) all land within the limits of any In2 dian reservation under the jurisdiction of the

3 United States Government, notwithstanding the

4 issuance of any patent, and including rights-of5 way running through the reservation;

6 ‘‘(B) all dependent Indian communities

7 within the borders of the United States, wheth8 er within the original or subsequently acquired

9 territory thereof and whether within or without

10 the limits of a State; and

11 ‘‘(C) all Indian allotments, the Indian ti12 tles to which have not been extinguished, in13 cluding rights-of-way running through such al14 lotments.

15 ‘‘(10) The term ‘Indian tribe’ means any Indian

16 tribe, band, nation, pueblo, group, or community, in17 cluding any Alaska Native village, organization, or

18 regional corporation as defined in or established pur19 suant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act,

20 which is recognized by the Secretary of the Interior

21 and exercising governmental authority within Indian

22 country.’’.

23 (b) PRIMARY ENFORCEMENT RESPONSIBILITIES OF

24 INDIAN TRIBES.—Subtitle I of the Solid Waste Disposal

25 Act is amended by redesignating section 9010 as section
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1 9011 and by inserting after section 9009 the following new

2 section:

3 ‘‘SEC. 9010. INDIAN TRIBES.

4 ‘‘(a) GENERAL AUTHORITY.—Subject to the provi5 sions of subsection (b), the Administrator—

6 ‘‘(1) may delegate to Indian tribes described in

7 subsection (b) primary enforcement responsibility for

8 programs and projects under this subtitle in Indian

9 country;

10 ‘‘(2) may provide Indian tribes grant and con11 tract assistance to carry out functions under this

12 subtitle in Indian country; and

13 ‘‘(3) may enter into cooperative agreements

14 with Indian tribes in carrying out this section.

15 ‘‘(b) CONDITIONS.—The Administrator may make a

16 delegation under subsection (a)(1) to an Indian tribe only

17 if—

18 ‘‘(1) the Indian tribe has a governing body car19 rying out substantial governmental duties and

20 powers;

21 ‘‘(2) the functions to be exercised by the Indian

22 tribe pertain to land and resources which are held

23 by the Indian tribe, held by United States in trust

24 for the Indian tribe, held by a member of the Indian

25 tribe if such property interest is subject to a trust
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1 restriction on alienation, or are otherwise within In2 dian country; and

3 ‘‘(3) the Indian tribe is reasonably expected to

4 be capable, in the Administrator’s judgment, of car5 rying out the functions to be exercised in a manner

6 consistent with the terms and purposes of this sub7 title and of all applicable regulations.

8 ‘‘(c) EPA REGULATIONS.—(1) The Administrator

9 shall, not later than 12 months after the date of the enact10 ment of this section, promulgate final regulations that

11 specify how Indian tribes may exercise primary enforce12 ment responsibility under this subtitle.

13 ‘‘(2) For any provision of this subtitle where the exer14 cise of primary enforcement responsibility by Indian tribes

15 is inappropriate, administratively infeasible, or otherwise

16 inconsistent with the purposes of this subtitle, the Admin17 istrator may include in the regulations promulgated under

18 this section means for the direct implementation of such

19 provision by the Environmental Protection Agency in a

20 manner that will achieve the purpose of the provision.

21 Nothing in this section shall be construed to allow Indian

22 tribes to assume or maintain primary enforcement respon23 sibility for programs under this subtitle in a manner less

24 protective of human health and the environment than such

25 responsibility may be assumed or maintained by a State.
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1 An Indian tribe shall not be required to exercise criminal

2 jurisdiction for purposes of complying with the preceding

3 sentence.

4 ‘‘(d) COST SHARE.—An Indian tribe shall not be re5 quired to pay any portion of the cost of corrective actions

6 undertaken by either the Administrator or by the Indian

7 tribe under a cooperative agreement if, in the judgment

8 of the Administrator, such requirement would impose an

9 undue burden on the Indian tribe or be inappropriate, ad10 ministratively infeasible, or otherwise inconsistent with the

11 purposes of this subtitle or the Federal trust responsibility

12 to Indian tribes.

13 ‘‘(e) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS.—In order to en14 sure the consistent implementation of the requirements of

15 this subtitle, an Indian tribe and the State or States in

16 which the lands of such Indian tribe are located may enter

17 into a cooperative agreement, subject to the review and

18 approval of the Administrator, to jointly plan and admin19 ister the requirements of this subtitle in Indian country.

20 ‘‘(f) STUDY OF UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS

21 WITHIN INDIAN COUNTRY.—(1) Not later than 12

22 months after the date of enactment of this section, the

23 Administrator shall complete a study and inventory of all

24 underground storage tanks located within Indian country.

25 The study shall include—
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1 ‘‘(A) an assessment of the ages, types (includ2 ing methods of manufacture, coatings, protection

3 systems, the compatibility of the construction mate4 rials and the installation methods) and locations (in5 cluding the climate of the locations) of such tanks;

6 ‘‘(B) soil conditions, water tables, and the

7 hydrogeology of the tank locations;

8 ‘‘(C) the relationship between the factors speci9 fied in subparagraphs (A) and (B) and the likelihood

10 of releases from underground storage tanks;

11 ‘‘(D) the effectiveness and costs of inventory

12 systems, tank testing, and leak detection systems;

13 and

14 ‘‘(E) such other factors as the Administrator

15 deems appropriate.

16 ‘‘(2) Upon completion of the study required by para17 graph (1), the Administrator, in cooperation with the Sec18 retary of the Interior and the Director of the Indian

19 Health Service, shall submit to Congress a report contain20 ing the findings of the study and recommendations for ad21 dressing underground storage tanks within Indian coun22 try.

23 ‘‘(g) TRIBAL LEAKING UNDERGROUND STORAGE

24 TANK TRUST FUND.—(1) The Administrator shall estab25 lish a Tribal Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust
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1 Fund (hereafter in this subsection referred to as the ‘trust

2 fund’) and shall use such funds for payment of costs in3 curred for corrective action within Indian country under

4 this subtitle.

5 ‘‘(2) The trust fund shall consist of amounts depos6 ited pursuant to section 9508(c)(1)(B) of the Internal

7 Revenue Code of 1986.

8 ‘‘(3) The Administrator may provide funds from the

9 trust fund for the reasonable costs of an Indian tribe’s

10 actions under a cooperative agreement between the Ad11 ministrator and such Indian tribe setting out the correc12 tive actions and enforcement activities to be taken by the

13 Indian tribe.

14 ‘‘(4) The Administrator shall allow an Indian tribe

15 to recover from the trust fund its reasonable costs in16 curred before the enactment of this section for corrective

17 and enforcement actions related to releases into the envi18 ronment from underground storage tanks located within

19 Indian country under its jurisdiction if—

20 ‘‘(A) the Indian tribe notified the Environ21 mental Protection Agency and Bureau of Indian Af22 fairs of the release from an underground storage

23 tank; and

24 ‘‘(B) the Environmental Protection Agency and

25 the Bureau of Indian Affairs failed—
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1 ‘‘(i) to require the owner or operator of the

2 underground storage tank to undertake correc3 tive action with respect to the release; or

4 ‘‘(ii) to undertake corrective action with re5 spect to such release when such action was nec6 essary, in the judgment of the Administrator,

7 the Secretary of the Interior, or the Indian

8 tribe, to protect human health and the environ9 ment.’’.

10 (c) APPROPRIATIONS.—(1) Section 2007(f)(1) of the

11 Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6916(f)(1)) is

12 amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘Not less

than 11 13 ⁄2 percent of the amount appropriated under this

14 paragraph shall be used by the Administrator to carry out

15 section 9010 of this Act (relating to the regulation of un16 derground storage tanks within Indian country).’’.

17 (2) Section 2007(f)(2) of the Solid Waste Disposal

18 Act (42 U.S.C. 6916(f)(2)) is amended by adding at the

end the following: ‘‘Not less than 11 19 ⁄2 percent of the

20 amount appropriated under this paragraph shall be used

21 by the Administrator to make grants to Indian tribes for

22 purposes of assisting Indian tribes in the development and

23 implementation of approved tribal underground storage

24 tank release detection, prevention, and correction pro25 grams under subtitle I.’’.
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1 (d) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of

2 the Solid Waste Disposal Act, contained in section 1001

3 of such Act, is amended by redesignating the item relating

4 to section 9010 as 9011 and by inserting after the item

5 relating to section 9009 the following new item:

‘‘Sec. 9010. Indian tribes.’’.

6 SEC. 2. SET ASIDE FOR TRIBAL LEAKING UNDERGROUND

7 STORAGE TANK TRUST FUND.

8 Section 9508(c)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of

9 1986 is amended—

10 (1) by striking ‘‘Except as provided’’ and in11 serting the following:

12 ‘‘(A) PURPOSES.—Except as provided’’;

13 and

14 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub15 paragraph:

16 ‘‘(B) SET ASIDE FOR INDIAN TRIBES.—

17 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for

18 each of the fiscal years 1995 through 1999, the

19 Secretary shall deposit an amount equal to not

20 less than 3 percent of the amounts made avail21 able to States pursuant to subparagraph (A) in

22 the Tribal Leaking Underground Storage Tank

23 Trust Fund to be administered by the Adminis24 trator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
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1 Such amounts shall be used only by Indian

2 tribes (as defined in section 9001(10) of the

3 Solid Waste Disposal Act) to carry out the pur4 poses referred to in subsection 9010(g) of the

5 Solid Waste Disposal Act.’’.

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