II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3649 

To amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and 

Liability Act of 1980 to provide assistance for natural disaster response 

at Superfund sites, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 29, 2012 

Mr. LAUTENBERG introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL 

To amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to provide assistance for natural disaster response at Superfund sites, 

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 ‘‘Superfund Emergency 

5 Response Act of 2012’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DISASTER RESPONSE AT SITES ON THE NATIONAL 

2 PRIORITIES LIST. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi4 sion of law, the Administrator of the Environmental Pro5 tection Agency (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Admin6 istrator’’) may carry out any assessment, monitoring, re7 mediation, repair, or construction activity that the Admin8 istrator determines to be necessary at a site that— 

9 (1) is proposed to be listed on, is listed on, or 

10 has been deleted from, the National Priorities List 

11 under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, 

12 Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 

13 9601 et seq.); and 

14 (2) is located in an area that the President has 

15 declared a major disaster in accordance with section 

16 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

17 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170). 

18 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

19 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

20 $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2013 through 2018. 

21 SEC. 3. DISASTER ASSESSMENTS. 

22 Title I of the Comprehensive Environmental Re23 sponse, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 

24 U.S.C. 9601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

25 the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 129. SITE ASSESSMENTS AFTER A MAJOR DISASTER. 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Governor or Senator of a 

3 State may request that the Administrator carry out an 

4 assessment and submit a report on the impacts, if any, 

5 of a major disaster (as defined in section 102 of the Rob6 ert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 

7 Act (42 U.S.C. 5122)) on any site that is— 

8 ‘‘(1) proposed to be listed on or listed on the 

9 National Priorities List; and 

10 ‘‘(2) located in an area that the President has 

11 declared a major disaster in accordance with section 

12 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

13 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170). 

14 ‘‘(b) RESPONSE.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 15 days 

16 after the date on which a request described in sub17 section (a) is submitted, the Administrator shall— 

18 ‘‘(A) determine whether to carry out the 

19 assessment; and 

20 ‘‘(B) inform the Governor or Senator, as 

21 applicable, of the determination. 

22 ‘‘(2) PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT.— 

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If the Administrator 

24 determines to carry out an assessment under 

25 this section, the assessment shall include— 


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1 ‘‘(i) an evaluation of whether the 

2 major disaster resulted in the release of 

3 any contaminants into the ambient envi4 ronment that threaten public health and 

5 the environment; 

6 ‘‘(ii) an assessment of any actions 

7 necessary to mitigate a toxic release, repair 

8 any damage, or provide monitoring in re9 sponse to damage associated with the 

10 major disaster, along with an estimate of 

11 the cost to complete those actions; 

12 ‘‘(iii) a list of any actions already 

13 taken by Administrator, including actions 

14 in coordination with State and local gov15 ernments, to prevent, mitigate, or reme16 diate any damage resulting from the major 

17 disaster at the site; and 

18 ‘‘(iv) any information needed to alert 

19 the public to any threat, or potential 

20 threat, to public health and the environ21 ment relating to the release of contami22 nants at the site as a result of a major dis23 aster. 

24 ‘‘(B) PUBLIC NOTICE.—Not later than 30 

25 days after the date on which the Administrator 


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1 determines to carry out an assessment de2 scribed in subsection (a), the Administrator 

3 shall— 

4 ‘‘(i) complete the assessment; and 

5 ‘‘(ii) publish the results of the assess6 ment on a publicly accessible Internet site. 

7 ‘‘(3) AMENDED ASSESSMENT.—The Adminis8 trator may amend or update any assessment carried 

9 out under this section during the 1-year period fol10 lowing the date on which the Administrator deter11 mines to carry out the assessment.’’. 

12 SEC. 4. STUDY OF SITES ON THE NATIONAL PRIORITIES 

13 LIST AND EXTREME WEATHER. 

14 Title III of the Comprehensive Environmental Re15 sponse, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 

16 U.S.C. 9651 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

17 the following: 

18 ‘‘SEC. 313. STUDY ON SITES ON THE NATIONAL PRIORITIES 

19 LIST AND EXTREME WEATHER. 

20 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION OF EXTREME WEATHER EVENT.— 

21 In this section, the term ‘extreme weather event’ means— 

22 ‘‘(1) severe and unseasonable weather; 

23 ‘‘(2) heavy precipitation; 

24 ‘‘(3) a hurricane; 

25 ‘‘(4) a storm surge; 


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1 ‘‘(5) a tornado or other windstorm, including a 

2 derecho; 

3 ‘‘(6) extreme heat and cold; and 

4 ‘‘(7) any other event that qualifies as a ‘major 

5 disaster’ under section 102 of the Robert T. Staf6 ford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 

7 (42 U.S.C. 5122). 

8 ‘‘(b) STUDY.—Not later than 2 years after the date 

9 of enactment of this section, the Administrator shall carry 

10 out a study and submit to Congress a report that in11 cludes— 

12 ‘‘(1) an assessment of the existing vulnerability 

13 of each property that, due to an extreme weather 

14 event, is proposed to be listed, listed, or removed 

15 from the National Priorities List, particularly in re16 lation to the potential for contaminants to leach or 

17 enter into the ambient environment and threaten 

18 public health; 

19 ‘‘(2) an evaluation of the quantity of properties 

20 proposed to be listed or listed on the National Prior21 ities List in areas that are prone to flooding as a re22 sult of an extreme weather event, including an esti23 mate of the cost necessary to remediate each site so 

24 that the site can be removed from the National Pri25 orities List; and 


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1 ‘‘(3) any recommendations of the Administrator 

2 relating to— 

3 ‘‘(A) emergency response protocols in the 

4 event of an extreme weather event to prevent 

5 any release of contaminants into the ambient 

6 environment, including coordination between 

7 the regional office, appropriate State and local 

8 officials, and any relevant community advisory 

9 groups; 

10 ‘‘(B) strategies the Administrator deter11 mines necessary to improve the resiliency of as12 sessments, monitoring, or construction carried 

13 out on proprieties on the National Priorities 

14 List as extreme weather events become more 

15 common; and 

16 ‘‘(C) additional policies necessary to en17 hance the resiliency of properties on the Na18 tional Priorities List as a result of extreme 

19 weather events, including any modifications of 

20 existing Federal law.’’. 

Æ 


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