II

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1876

To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to grant State status to Indian

tribes for purposes of the enforcement of such Act, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

FEBRUARY 25 (legislative day, FEBRUARY 22), 1994

Mr. INOUYE (for himself and Mr. MCCAIN) introduced the following bill; which

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs

A BILL

To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to grant State

status to Indian tribes for purposes of the enforcement

of such Act, 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. AUTHORITY TO GRANT STATE STATUS TO IN4 DIAN TRIBES FOR ENFORCEMENT OF SOLID

5 WASTE DISPOSAL ACT.

6 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 1004 of the Solid Waste

7 Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6903) is amended—

8 (1) in paragraph (13)(A), by striking ‘‘or au9 thorized tribal organization or Alaska Native village

10 or organization,’’;
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1 (2) in paragraph (15), by inserting after

2 ‘‘State,’’ the following: ‘‘Indian tribe,’’; and

3 (3) by adding at the end the following new

4 paragraphs:

5 ‘‘(42) The term ‘Indian country’ means—

6 ‘‘(A) all land within the limits of any Indian

7 reservation under the jurisdiction of the Federal

8 Government (including any right-of-way running

9 through the reservation), notwithstanding the issu10 ance of any patent;

11 ‘‘(B) all dependent Indian communities within

12 the borders of the United States, including depend13 ent Indian communities—

14 ‘‘(i) within the original territory or terri15 tory that is subsequently acquired; and

16 ‘‘(ii) within or without the limits of a

17 State; and

18 ‘‘(C) all Indian allotments with respect to which

19 the Indian titles have not been extinguished, includ20 ing rights-of-way running through the allotments.

21 ‘‘(43) The term ‘Indian tribe’ means any Indian

22 tribe, band, group, or community, including any Alaska

23 Native village, organization, or regional corporation (as

24 defined in, or established pursuant to, the Alaska Native

25 Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.)) that—
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1 ‘‘(A) is recognized by the Secretary of the Inte2 rior; and

3 ‘‘(B) exercises governmental authority within

4 Indian country.’’.

5 (b) TREATMENT OF INDIAN TRIBES AS STATES.—

6 Subtitle A of such Act (42 U.S.C. 6901 et seq.) is amend7 ed by adding at the end the following new section:

8 ‘‘SEC. 1009. INDIAN TRIBES.

9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), the

10 Administrator may—

11 ‘‘(1) treat an Indian tribe as a State for the

12 purposes of this Act;

13 ‘‘(2) delegate to an Indian tribe primary en14 forcement responsibility for programs and projects

15 established under this Act; and

16 ‘‘(3) provide Indian tribes grant and contract

17 assistance to carry out functions of a State pursuant

18 to this Act.

19 ‘‘(b) ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY REGU20 LATIONS.—

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—

22 ‘‘(A) TREATMENT.—Not later than 18

23 months after the date of the enactment of this

24 section, the Administrator shall issue final reg25 ulations that specify the manner in which In-
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1 dian tribes shall be treated as States for the

2 purposes of this Act.

3 ‘‘(B) AUTHORIZATION.—Under the regula4 tions issued by the Administrator, the treat5 ment of an Indian tribe as a State shall be au6 thorized only if—

7 ‘‘(i) the Indian tribe has a governing

8 body carrying out substantial governmental

9 duties and powers;

10 ‘‘(ii) the functions that the Indian

11 tribe will exercise pertain to land and re12 sources that are—

13 ‘‘(I) held by the Indian tribe, the

14 United States in trust for the Indian

15 tribe, or a member of the Indian tribe

16 (if the property interest is subject to

17 a trust restriction on alienation); or

18 ‘‘(II) are otherwise within Indian

19 country; and

20 ‘‘(iii) in the judgment of the Adminis21 trator, the Indian tribe is reasonably ex22 pected to be capable of carrying out the

23 functions to be exercised in a manner con24 sistent with the requirements of this Act

25 (including all applicable regulations).
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1 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—

2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If, with respect to a

3 provision of this Act, the Administrator deter4 mines that the treatment of an Indian tribe in

5 the same manner as a State is inappropriate,

6 administratively infeasible, or otherwise incon7 sistent with the purposes of this Act, the Ad8 ministrator may include in the regulations is9 sued under this section a mechanism by which

10 the Administrator carries out the provision in

11 lieu of the Indian tribe in an appropriate man12 ner.

13 ‘‘(B) STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.—Sub14 ject to subparagraph (C), nothing in this sec15 tion is intended to permit an Indian tribe to as16 sume or maintain primary enforcement respon17 sibility for programs established under this Act

18 in a manner that is less protective of human

19 health and the environment than the manner in

20 which a State may assume or maintain the re21 sponsibility.

22 ‘‘(C) CRIMINAL ENFORCEMENT.—An In23 dian tribe shall not be required to exercise ju24 risdiction over the enforcement of criminal pen25 alties.
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1 ‘‘(c) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS.—In order to en2 sure the consistent implementation of the requirements of

3 this Act, an Indian tribe and each State in which the lands

4 of the Indian tribe are located may, subject to review and

5 approval by the Administrator, enter into a cooperative

6 agreement, to cooperatively plan and carry out the re7 quirements of this Act.

8 ‘‘(d) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the date

9 of enactment of this section, the Administrator, in co10 operation with the Secretary of the Interior, the Director

11 of the Indian Health Service, and Indian tribes, shall sub12 mit to Congress a report that includes—

13 ‘‘(1) recommendations for addressing hazardous

14 and solid wastes and underground storage tanks

15 within Indian country;

16 ‘‘(2) methods to maximize the participation in,

17 and administration of, programs established under

18 this Act by Indian tribes;

19 ‘‘(3) an estimate of the amount of Federal as20 sistance that will be required to carry out this sec21 tion; and

22 ‘‘(4) a discussion of proposals by the Adminis23 trator concerning the provision of assistance to In24 dian tribes for the administration of programs and

25 projects pursuant to this Act.
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1 ‘‘(e) TRIBAL HAZARDOUS WASTE SITE INVEN2 TORY.—

3 ‘‘(1) INVENTORY.—Not later than 2 years after

4 the date of enactment of this section, the Adminis5 trator shall undertake a continuing program to es6 tablish an inventory of sites within Indian country at

7 which hazardous waste has been stored or disposed

8 of.

9 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS OF INVENTORY.—The inven10 tory shall include—

11 ‘‘(A) the information required to be col12 lected by States pursuant to section 3012; and

13 ‘‘(B) sites located at Federal facilities

14 within Indian country.’’.

15 (c) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents

16 for subtitle A of such Act (contained in section 1001 of

17 such Act (42 U.S.C. prec. 6901)) is amended by adding

18 at the end the following new item:

‘‘Sec. 1009. Indian tribes.’’.

19 SEC. 2. LEAKING UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANK TRUST

20 FUND.

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

22 1986 is amended—

23 (1) by striking ‘‘Except as provided’’ and in24 serting the following:
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1 ‘‘(A) PURPOSES.—Except as provided’’;

2 and

3 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub4 paragraph:

5 ‘‘(B) SET ASIDE FOR INDIAN TRIBES.—

6 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for

7 each of fiscal years 1995 through 1999, the

8 Secretary shall reserve an amount equal to not

9 less than 3 percent of the amounts made avail10 able to States pursuant to subparagraph (A).

11 Such amount shall be used only by Indian

12 tribes (as defined in section 1004(43) of the

13 Solid Waste Disposal Act) to carry out the pur14 poses referred to in subparagraph (A).’’.

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