I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 3706

To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to prohibit the international export

and import of certain solid waste.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

NOVEMBER 22, 1993

Mr. TOWNS (for himself, Mr. BROWN of California, Miss COLLINS of Michigan, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. DELLUMS, Mr. EVANS, Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota, Mr. RICHARDSON, Mr. SANDERS, Mrs. SCHROEDER, Mr. WHEAT,

and Mr. WYNN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Energy and Commerce

A BILL

To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to prohibit the

international export and import of certain solid waste.

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 ‘‘Waste Export and Im5 port Prohibition Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress makes the following

8 findings:
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1 (1) Proposals to export solid waste from the

2 United States to foreign countries are increasing. In

3 numerous instances exported waste has contami4 nated the environment, adversely affected public

5 health, and contributed to foreign policy liabilities

6 for the United States.

7 (2) Exports of solid waste are being undertaken

8 to avoid the community opposition and higher treat9 ment and disposal expenses that are associated with

10 waste disposal, treatment, and recycling in the

11 United States.

12 (3) Increasingly, hazardous waste exports are

13 justified by the agreeable term ‘‘recycling’’, even

14 though the result of the export is a transfer of pollu15 tion to areas of the world with little capability to

16 manage that pollution.

17 (4) Continued exports of solid waste serve as a

18 disincentive to implementation of existing domestic

19 policy, which recognizes reuse and waste reduction

20 as the best methods of solid waste management.

21 (5) Imports of waste from foreign countries

22 strain diminishing domestic waste disposal capacity,

23 threaten public health, and contaminate the environ24 ment.
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1 (6) The international Basel Convention on the

2 Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous

3 Wastes and their Disposal recognizes the right and

4 indeed encourages waste export and import prohibi5 tions. In the first meeting of the Parties, a decision

6 was made requesting industrialized countries to pro7 hibit transboundary movements of hazardous wastes

8 and other wastes for disposal to developing countries

9 and further requesting developing countries to pro10 hibit the import of hazardous wastes from industri11 alized countries.

12 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to prohibit

13 the export of solid waste from the United States and the

14 import of solid waste from foreign countries.

15 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION OF EXPORT AND IMPORT OF SOLID

16 WASTE.

17 (a) PROHIBITION.—Subtitle A of the Solid Waste

18 Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6901 et seq.) is amended by add19 ing at the end the following new section:

20 ‘‘SEC. 1009. EXPORT AND IMPORT OF SOLID WASTE.

21 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITION ON EXPORTS TO NON-OECD

22 COUNTRIES.—Effective July 1, 1994, no person may ex23 port any solid waste from the United States to a non24 OECD country, except as provided in subsection (c).
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1 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITION ON EXPORTS TO AND IMPORTS

2 FROM OECD COUNTRIES.—Effective January 1, 1999, no

3 person may export any solid waste from the United States

4 to an OECD country, or import any solid waste into the

5 United States from an OECD country, except as provided

6 in subsection (c).

7 ‘‘(c) SPECIFIC EXCEPTIONS.—(1) The prohibitions

8 contained in subsections (a) and (b) shall not apply to

9 baled waste paper, scrap textiles, or waste glass, if all of

10 the following conditions are met with respect to such

11 waste:

12 ‘‘(A) The waste is exported or imported for the

13 purposes of recycling.

14 ‘‘(B) The waste is separated from the waste

15 stream.

16 ‘‘(C) The waste does not contain any sub17 stances whose storage, treatment, or disposal within

18 the United States is regulated under subtitle C.

19 ‘‘(2) The prohibition contained in subsection (b) shall

20 not apply to any scrap metal that—

21 ‘‘(A) meets all of the conditions listed in sub22 paragraphs (A), (B), and (C) of paragraph (1);

23 ‘‘(B) is not, and does not contain, a sludge; and

24 ‘‘(C) meets either of the following conditions:
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1 ‘‘(i) The waste is not within, and does not

2 contain a waste within, a category of waste list3 ed in Annex I or Annex II of the Basel Conven4 tion on the Control of Transboundary Move5 ments of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal.

6 ‘‘(ii) The waste does not have a char7 acteristic listed in Annex III of such convention.

8 ‘‘(d) REQUIREMENT TO RETRIEVE OR CLEAN UP

9 WASTE.—(1) In any case in which waste is exported in

10 violation of this section, the Administrator shall ensure

11 that the waste is retrieved from the recipient foreign coun12 try, if the foreign country agrees to such retrieval, by ei13 ther requiring the violator to retrieve such waste pursuant

14 to a compliance order issued under subsection (g), or by

15 retrieving the waste directly.

16 ‘‘(2) If the Administrator retrieves the waste directly,

17 the Administrator shall ensure that the waste is re18 trieved—

19 ‘‘(A) in the case of a violation with respect to

20 which a compliance order has been issued, not later

21 than 90 days after the expiration of the time period

22 specified in the compliance order for retrieval of the

23 waste by the violator, if the violator has failed to re24 trieve the waste; and
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1 ‘‘(B) in the case of a violation with respect to

2 which a compliance order has not been issued, not

3 later than 90 days after discovery of the violation.

4 ‘‘(3) If the foreign country does not agree to retrieval

5 of the waste, the Administrator shall dispose of or clean

6 up such waste in the foreign country, to the extent the

7 foreign country agrees to such action.

8 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the

9 following definitions apply:

10 ‘‘(1) The term ‘solid waste’ has the meaning

11 given that term by section 1004(27), except that

12 such term also includes the following:

13 ‘‘(A) Low-level radioactive waste, as de14 fined in part 61 of title 10 of the Code of Fed15 eral Regulations.

16 ‘‘(B) Mixed waste. For purposes of this

17 subsection, the term ‘mixed waste’ means haz18 ardous waste or nonhazardous waste mixed with

19 low-level radioactive waste.

20 ‘‘(C) All wastes covered by the Basel Con21 vention on the Control of Transboundary Move22 ments of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal,

23 as set forth in Annexes I, II, and III of that

24 convention.
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1 ‘‘(2) The term ‘OECD country’ means any for2 eign country that is a member of the Organization

3 for Economic Cooperation and Development.

4 ‘‘(3) The term ‘non-OECD country’ means any

5 foreign country that is not an OECD country.

6 ‘‘(f) REGULATIONS.—The Administrator shall pro7 mulgate such regulations as may be necessary to imple8 ment this section. The regulations shall exclude from the

9 prohibitions contained in subsections (a) and (b) small

10 quantities of personal household waste carried by individ11 uals traveling abroad.

12 ‘‘(g) ENFORCEMENT.—

13 ‘‘(1) COMPLIANCE ORDERS.—(A) Whenever on

14 the basis of any information the Administrator de15 termines that any person has violated or is in viola16 tion of any requirement of this section, the Adminis17 trator may—

18 ‘‘(i) issue an order assessing a civil penalty

19 for any past or current violation, requiring com20 pliance immediately or within a specified time

21 period, or both; or

22 ‘‘(ii) commence a civil action in the United

23 States district court in the district in which the

24 violation occurred for appropriate relief, includ25 ing a temporary or permanent injunction.
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1 ‘‘(B) A compliance order issued under subpara2 graph (A)(i) shall include, in the case of a person

3 exporting waste in violation of this section, a re4 quirement to retrieve the waste from the recipient

5 foreign country within 90 days after issuance of the

6 order, or within such shorter period of time as the

7 Administrator considers appropriate, if the foreign

8 country agrees to such retrieval.

9 ‘‘(C) A compliance order issued under subpara10 graph (A)(i) may include—

11 ‘‘(i) in the case of a person exporting waste

12 in violation of this section, a requirement to dis13 pose of or clean up the waste in the foreign

14 country, to the extent agreed to by the foreign

15 country; or

16 ‘‘(ii) in the case of a person importing

17 waste in violation of this section, a requirement

18 to return the waste to the foreign country from

19 which the waste originated, if the foreign coun20 try agrees to accept such waste, or to dispose

21 of or clean up the waste in compliance with

22 applicable law.

23 ‘‘(2) PUBLIC HEARING.—Any order issued

24 under this subsection shall become final unless, not

25 later than 30 days after the order is served, the per-
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1 son or persons named in the order request a public

2 hearing. Upon such request, the Administrator shall

3 promptly conduct a public hearing. In connection

4 with any proceeding under this section the Adminis5 trator may issue subpoenas for the attendance and

6 testimony of witnesses and the production of rel7 evant papers, books, and documents, and may pro8 mulgate rules for discovery procedure.

9 ‘‘(3) CIVIL PENALTIES.—(A) Any person who

10 violates any requirement of this section shall be lia11 ble to the United States for a civil penalty in an

12 amount not to exceed $25,000 for each such viola13 tion. Each day of such violation shall, for purposes

14 of this subsection, constitute a separate violation.

15 ‘‘(B) If a violator fails to take the action re16 quired by a compliance order issued under para17 graph (1) within the time specified in the order, the

18 Administrator may assess a civil penalty of not more

19 than $25,000 for each day of continued noncompli20 ance with the order.

21 ‘‘(4) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.—Any person who

22 knowingly violates the prohibition contained in this

23 section or any requirement of regulations promul24 gated under subsection (e) shall be subject to im25 prisonment for not to exceed 10 years, fined in ac-
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1 cordance with title 18, United States Code, or both,

2 for each such violation.

3 ‘‘(5) CITIZEN SUITS.—For purposes of this sec4 tion, a government of a foreign country shall be con5 sidered a person under section 7002 (relating to citi6 zen suits).’’.

7 (b) REPEAL OF EXISTING AUTHORITY.—Section

8 3017 of the Solid Waste Disposal Act is repealed. The

9 table of contents for subtitle C of such Act is amended

10 by striking out the item relating to such section.

11 (c) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for

12 subtitle A of the Solid Waste Disposal Act is amended by

13 adding at the end the following new item:

‘‘Sec. 1009. Export and import of solid waste.’’.

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