I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1663

To amend the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Land Withdrawal Act.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 17, 1995

Mr. SKEEN (for himself, Mr. SCHAEFER, and Mr. CRAPO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce, and in

addition to the Committee on National Security, 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 amend the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Land Withdrawal

Act.

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 AND REFERENCE.

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

5 ‘‘Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Land Withdrawal Amend6 ment Act’’.

7 (b) REFERENCE.—Except as otherwise expressly pro8 vided, whenever in this Act an amendment or repeal is

9 expressed in terms of an amendment to, or repeal of, a
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1 section or other provision, the reference shall be consid2 ered to be made to a section or other provision of the

3 Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Land Withdrawal Act (Public

4 Law 102–579).

5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

6 Paragraphs (18) and (19) of section 2 are repealed.

7 SEC. 3. TEST PHASE AND RETRIEVAL PLANS.

8 Section 5 is repealed.

9 SEC. 4. TEST PHASE ACTIVITIES.

10 Section 6 is amended—

11 (1) by repealing subsections (a) and (b),

12 (2) by repealing paragraph (1) of subsection

13 (c),

14 (3) by repealing subparagraph (A) of paragraph

15 (2) of subsection (c),

16 (4) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub17 section (a), by striking the subsection heading and

18 the matter before paragraph (1) and inserting

19 ‘‘STUDY.—The following study shall be conducted:’’,

20 by striking ‘‘(B) STUDY.—’’, and by redesignating

21 clauses (i), (ii), and (iii) as paragraphs (1), (2), and

22 (3), respectively, and

23 (5) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub24 section (b).
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1 SEC. 5. DISPOSAL OPERATIONS.

2 Section 7(b) is repealed.

3 SEC. 6. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY DISPOSAL

4 REGULATIONS.

5 (a) SECTION 8(d)(1).—Section 8(d)(1) is amended by

6 striking subparagraphs (B), (C), and (D) and by adding

7 after subparagraph (A) the following:

8 ‘‘(B) Within 2 months of receipt of the ap9 plication under subparagraph (A), the Adminis10 trator shall provide the Secretary with any com11 ments on the Secretary’s application. Within

12 one month of the receipt of such comments, the

13 Secretary shall, to the extent practicable, incor14 porate the Administrator’s comments in the

15 Secretary’s application. The comments of the

16 Administrator provided to the Secretary should

17 also be transmitted to the appropriate commit18 tees of jurisdiction in the House of Representa19 tives and the Senate.’’.

20 (b) SECTION 8(d) (2), (3).—Section 8(d) is amended

21 by striking paragraphs (2) and (3), by striking ‘‘(1) COM22 PLIANCE WITH DISPOSAL REGULATIONS.—’’, and by re23 designating subparagraphs (A), (B), (C), and (D) of para24 graph (1) as paragraph (1), (2), (3), and (4), respectively.

25 (c) SECTION 8(f).—Subsection (f) of section 8 is

26 amended—
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1 (1) by amending the subsection heading to read

2 ‘‘PERIODIC REVIEW’’, and

3 (2) by amending paragraph (2) to read as fol4 lows:

5 ‘‘(2) REVIEW BY THE ADMINISTRATOR.—The

6 Administrator shall, not later than 6 months after

7 receiving a submission under paragraph (1), com8 ment on whether or not the WIPP facility continues

9 to be in compliance with the final disposition regula10 tions.’’.

11 (d) SECTION 8(g).—Section 8(g) is amended to read

12 as follows:

13 ‘‘(g) ENGINEERED AND NATURAL BARRIERS, ETC.—

14 The Secretary should determine whether or not engineered

15 barriers or natural barriers, or both, will be required at

16 WIPP consistent with regulations published as part 191

17 of 40 C.F.R.

18 SEC. 7. COMPLIANCE WITH ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS AND

19 REGULATIONS.

20 (a) SECTION 9(a)(1).—Section 9(a)(1) is amended by

21 adding after and below subparagraph (H) the following:

22 ‘‘With respect to transuranic mixed waste designated by

23 the Secretary for disposal at WIPP, such waste is exempt

24 from the land disposal restrictions published at part 268

25 of 40 C.F.R. because compliance with the environmental
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1 radiation protection standards published at part 191 of

2 40 C.F.R. renders compliance with the land disposal re3 strictions unnecessary to achieve desired environmental

4 protection and a no migration variance is not required for

5 disposal of transuranic mixed waste at WIPP.’’.

6 (b) SECTION 9(b).—Subsection (b) of section 9 is re7 pealed.

8 (c) SECTIONS 9(c), (d).—Subsections (c) and (d) of

9 section 9 are repealed.

10 SEC. 8. RETRIEVABILITY.

11 Section 10 is amended to read as follows:

12 ‘‘SEC. 10. TRANSURANIC WASTE.

13 ‘‘It is the intent of Congress that a decision will be

14 made by the Secretary with respect to the disposal of

15 transuranic waste no later than March 31, 1997.’’.

16 SEC. 9. DECOMMISSIONING OF WIPP.

17 Section 13 is amended—

18 (1) by repealing subsection (a), and

19 (2) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘(b) MANAGE20 MENT PLAN FOR THE WITHDRAWAL AFTER DECOM21 MISSIONING.—Within 5 years after the date of the

22 enactment of this Act, the’’ and inserting ‘‘The’’.

23 SEC. 10. ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE AND MISCELLANEOUS

24 PAYMENTS.

25 Section 15(a) is amended—
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1 (1) by striking ‘‘to the Secretary for payments

2 to the State $20,000,000 for each of the 15 fiscal

3 years beginning with the fiscal year in which the

4 transport of transuranic waste to WIPP is initiated’’

5 and inserting ‘‘to the State $20,000,000 for each of

6 the 15 fiscal years beginning with the date of the en7 actment of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Land

8 Withdrawal Amendment Act’’, and

9 (2) by adding at the end the following: ‘‘An ap10 propriation to the State shall be in addition to any

11 appropriation for WIPP.’’.

12 SEC. 11. NON-DEFENSE WASTE.

13 Section 7(a) is amended by redesignating paragraph

14 (3) as paragraph (4) and by inserting after paragraph (2)

15 the following:

16 ‘‘(3) NON-DEFENSE WASTE.—Within the capac17 ity prescribed by paragraph (4), WIPP may receive

18 transuranic waste from the Secretary which did not

19 result from a defense activity.’’.

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