I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2036

To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to make certain adjustments in

the land disposal program to provide needed flexibility, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 13, 1995

Mr. OXLEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on Commerce

A BILL

To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to make certain

adjustments in the land disposal program to provide

needed flexibility, 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 ‘‘Land Disposal Pro5 gram Flexibility Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. LAND DISPOSAL BAN.

7 Section 3004(g) of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42

8 U.S.C. 6924(g)) is amended by adding the following after

9 paragraph (6):
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1 ‘‘(7) Solid waste identified as hazardous based on

2 characteristic alone—

3 ‘‘(A) as part of a treatment or disposal system

4 prior to its discharge through a point source regu5 lated under the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1151

6 and following),

7 ‘‘(B) prior to and including injection into any

8 Class I deep well regulated under section 1422 of

9 title XIV of the Public Health Service Act (42

10 U.S.C. 300h–1), or

11 ‘‘(C) as part of management in a zero discharge

12 system that the Administrator determines to be en13 gaging in Clean Water Act-equivalent treatment

14 shall not be subject to the land disposal restrictions of this

15 subsection or any requirement of subsections (d), (e), (f),

16 or (m) if such solid waste no longer exhibits such char17 acteristic prior to land disposal.’’.

18 SEC. 3. GROUND WATER MONITORING.

19 (a) AMENDMENT OF SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL ACT.—

20 Section 4010(c) of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42

21 U.S.C. 6949a(c)) is amended as follows:

22 (1) By striking ‘‘CRITERIA.—Not later’’ and in23 serting the following: ‘‘CRITERIA.—

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later’’.
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1 (2) By adding at the end the following new

2 paragraph:

3 ‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL REVISIONS.—Subject to para4 graph (3), the requirements of the criteria described

5 in paragraph (1) relating to ground water monitor6 ing shall not apply to an owner or operator of a new

7 municipal solid waste landfill unit, an existing mu8 nicipal solid waste landfill unit, or a lateral expan9 sion of a municipal solid waste landfill unit, that dis10 poses of less than 20 tons of municipal solid waste

11 daily, based on an annual average, if—

12 ‘‘(A) there is no evidence of ground water

13 contamination from the municipal solid waste

14 landfill unit or expansion; and

15 ‘‘(B) the municipal solid waste landfill unit

16 or expansion serves—

17 ‘‘(i) a community that experiences an

18 annual interruption of at least 3 consecu19 tive months of surface transportation that

20 prevents access to a regional waste man21 agement facility; or

22 ‘‘(ii) a community that has no prac23 ticable waste management alternative and

24 the landfill unit is located in an area that
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1 annually receives less than or equal to 25

2 inches of precipitation.

3 ‘‘(3) PROTECTION OF GROUND WATER RE4 SOURCES.—

5 ‘‘(A) MONITORING REQUIREMENT.—A

6 State may require ground water monitoring of

7 a solid waste landfill unit that would otherwise

8 be exempt under paragraph (2) if necessary to

9 protect ground water resources and ensure com10 pliance with a State ground water protection

11 plan, where applicable.

12 ‘‘(B) METHODS.—If a State requires

13 ground water monitoring of a solid waste land14 fill unit under subparagraph (A), the State may

15 allow the use of a method other than the use

16 of ground water monitoring wells to detect a re17 lease of contamination from the unit.

18 ‘‘(C) CORRECTIVE ACTION.—If a State

19 finds a release from a solid waste landfill unit,

20 the State shall require corrective action as ap21 propriate.

22 ‘‘(4) NO-MIGRATION EXEMPTION.—

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Ground water mon24 itoring requirements may be suspended by the

25 Director of an approved State for a landfill op-
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1 erator if the operator demonstrates that there is

2 no potential for migration of hazardous con3 stituents from the unit to the uppermost aqui4 fer during the active life of the unit and the

5 post-closure care period.

6 ‘‘(B) CERTIFICATION.—A demonstration

7 under subparagraph (A) shall—

8 ‘‘(i) be certified by a qualified ground9 water scientist and approved by the Direc10 tor of an approved State.

11 ‘‘(C) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 6 months

12 after the date of enactment of this paragraph,

13 the Administrator shall issue a guidance docu14 ment to facilitate small community use of the

15 no migration exemption under this paragraph.

16 (b) REINSTATEMENT OF REGULATORY EXEMP17 TION.—It is the intent of section 4010(c)(2) of the Solid

18 Waste Disposal Act, as added by subsection (a), to imme19 diately reinstate subpart E of part 258 of title 40, Code

20 of Federal Regulations, as added by the final rule pub21 lished at 56 Federal Register 50798 on October 9, 1991.

22 SEC. 4. FEDERAL FACILITIES.

23 Section 9007 of the Solid Waste Disposal Act is

24 amended to read as follows:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 9007. FEDERAL FACILITIES.

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Each department, agency, and

3 instrumentality of the executive, legislative, and judicial

4 branches of the Federal Government having jurisdiction

5 over any underground storage tank shall be subject to, and

6 comply with, all Federal, State, interstate, and local re7 quirements, both substantive and procedural (including

8 any requirement for permits or reporting or any provisions

9 for injunctive relief and such sanctions as may be imposed

10 by a court to enforce such relief), respecting underground

11 storage tanks in the same manner, and to the same extent,

12 as any person is subject to such requirements, including

13 the payment of reasonable service charges. The Federal,

14 State, interstate, and local substantive and procedural re15 quirements referred to in this subsection include, but are

16 not limited to, all administrative orders and all civil and

17 administrative penalties and fines, regardless of whether

18 such penalties or fines are punitive or coercive in nature

19 or are imposed for isolated, intermittent, or continuing

20 violations. The United States hereby expressly waives any

21 immunity otherwise applicable to the United States with

22 respect to any such substantive or procedural requirement

23 (including, but not limited to, any injunctive relief, admin24 istrative order or civil or administrative penalty or fine

25 referred to in the preceding sentence, or reasonable service

26 charge). The reasonable service charges referred to in this
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1 subsection include, but are not limited to, fees or charges

2 assessed in connection with the processing and issuance

3 of permits, renewal of permits, amendments to permits,

4 review of plans, studies, and other documents, and inspec5 tion and monitoring of facilities, as well as any other non6 discriminatory charges that are assessed in connection

7 with a Federal, State, interstate, or local regulatory pro8 gram. Neither the United States, nor any agent, employee,

9 or officer thereof, shall be immune or exempt from any

10 process or sanction of any State or Federal court with re11 spect to the enforcement of any such injunctive relief. No

12 agent, employee, or officer of the United States shall be

13 personally liable for any civil penalty under any Federal,

14 State, interstate, or local law relating to underground

15 storage tanks with respect to any act or omission within

16 the scope of the official duties of the agent, employee, or

17 officer. An agent, employee, or officer of the United States

18 shall be subject to any criminal sanction (including, but

19 not limited to, any fine or imprisonment) under any Fed20 eral or State law relating to underground storage tanks,

21 but no department, agency, or instrumentality of the exec22 utive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Federal Govern23 ment shall be subject to any such sanction. The President

24 may exempt any underground storage tank of any depart25 ment, agency, or instrumentality in the executive branch
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1 from compliance with such a requirement if he determines

2 it to be in the paramount interest of the United States

3 to do so. No such exemption shall be granted due to lack

4 of appropriation unless the President shall have specifi5 cally requested such appropriation as a part of the budg6 etary process and the Congress shall have failed to make

7 available such requested appropriation. Any exemption

8 shall be for a period not in excess of one year, but addi9 tional exemptions may be granted for periods not to exceed

10 one year upon the President’s making a new determina11 tion. The President shall report each January to the Con12 gress all exemptions from the requirements of this section

13 granted during the preceding calendar year, together with

14 his reason for granting each such exemption.

15 ‘‘(b) ADMINISTRATIVE ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS.—

16 (1) The Administrator may commence an administrative

17 enforcement action against any department, agency, or in18 strumentality of the executive, legislative, or judicial

19 branch of the Federal Government pursuant to the en20 forcement authorities contained in this subtitle. The Ad21 ministrator shall initiate an administrative enforcement

22 action against such a department, agency, or instrumen23 tality in the same manner and under the same cir24 cumstances as an action would be initiated against an-
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1 other person. Any voluntary resolution or settlement of

2 such an action shall be set forth in a consent order.

3 ‘‘(c) LIMITATION ON STATE USE OF FUNDS COL4 LECTED FROM FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.—Unless a State

5 law in effect on the date of the enactment of the [Correc6 tions?] Act of 1995 or a State constitution requires the

7 funds to be used in a different manner, all funds collected

8 by a State from the Federal Government from penalties

9 and fines imposed for violation of any substantive or pro10 cedural requirement referred to in subsection (a) shall be

11 used by the State only for projects designed to improve

12 or protect the environment or to defray the costs of envi13 ronmental protection or enforcement.’’.

14 SEC. 5. TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS TO SOLID WASTE DIS15 POSAL ACT.

16 The Solid Waste Disposal Act is amended as follows:

17 (1) In section 3001(e)(5) by striking ‘‘under

18 section 3001’’ and insert ‘‘under this section’’.

19 (2) By inserting a semicolon at the end of sec20 tion 3004(q)(1)(C).

21 (3) In Section 3004(g)(5), by striking ‘‘sub22 paragraph (A) through (C)’’ in paragraph (5) and

23 inserting ‘‘subparagraphs (A) through (C)’’.
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1 (4) In section 3004(r)(2)(C), by striking

2 ‘‘pertroleum-derived’’ and insert ‘‘petroleum-de3 rived’’.

4 (5) In section 3004(r)(3) by inserting after

5 ‘‘Standard’’ the word ‘‘Industrial’’.

6 (6) In section 3005(a), by striking strike

7 ‘‘polycholorinated’’ and insert ‘‘polychlorinated’’.

8 (7) In section 3005(e)(1), by inserting a comma

9 at the end of subparagraph (C).

10 (8) In section 4007(a), by striking ‘‘4003’’ in

11 both places it appears and inserting ‘‘4003(a)’’.

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