I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1958

To phase out the incineration of solid waste, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 28, 2005

Mr. ANDREWS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on 

Transportation and Infrastructure, 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 phase out the incineration of solid waste, 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 SEC. 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Solid Waste In5 cineration Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. STATE IMPLEMENTATION PLANS. 

7 (a) SUBMISSION OF PLANS.—Each State shall, after 

8 reasonable notice and public hearings, adopt and submit 

9 to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection 
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1 Agency (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Administrator’’), 

2 within one year after the enactment of this Act, a 3-year 

3 implementation plan to achieve each of the following: 

4 (1) Increased recycling by at least 75 percent 

5 over the 3-year period. 

6 (2) Water source pollution reduction. 

7 (3) The restriction of landfill dumping to mate8 rials that are not recyclable or compostable. 

9 (4) The phasing out of incineration of solid 

10 waste within 4 years and 6 months after the enact11 ment of this Act. 

12 (5) A waste reduction rate of 10 percent. 

13 (6) An increase in composting of 10 percent. 

14 (b) PROCEDURES.—Each implementation plan sub15 mitted by a State under this Act shall be adopted by the 

16 State after reasonable notice and public hearing. No such 

17 plan may be implemented by the State until approved by 

18 the Administrator under this Act. Each such plan shall—

19 (1) include enforceable limitations and other 

20 control measures, means, or techniques, as well as 

21 schedules and timetables for compliance, as may be 

22 necessary or appropriate to meet the applicable re23 quirements of this Act; 
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1 (2) provide for establishment and operation of 

2 appropriate devices, methods, systems, and proce3 dures necessary to—

4 (A) monitor, compile, and analyze data on 

5 compliance with this Act; and 

6 (B) make such data available to the Ad7 ministrator; 

8 (3) include a program to provide for the en9 forcement of the measures described in paragraph 

10 (1); 

11 (4) provide for revision of such plan whenever 

12 the Administrator finds on the basis of information 

13 available to the Administrator that the plan is inad14 equate to comply with the requirements established 

15 under this Act; and 

16 (5) provide for consultation and participation 

17 by local political subdivisions affected by the plan. 

18 (c) ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ACTION

19 ON PLAN SUBMISSIONS.—

20 (1) COMPLETENESS OF PLAN SUBMISSIONS.—

21 (A) COMPLETENESS CRITERIA.—Within 6 

22 months after the date of the enactment of this 

23 Act, the Administrator shall promulgate min24 imum criteria that any plan submission must 

25 meet before the Administrator is required to act 
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1 on such submission under this subsection. The 

2 criteria shall be limited to the information nec3 essary to enable the Administrator to determine 

4 whether the plan submission complies with the 

5 provisions of this Act. 

6 (B) COMPLETENESS FINDING.—Within 6 

7 months after the Administrator’s receipt of a 

8 plan or plan revision under this Act, the Ad9 ministrator shall determine whether the plan or 

10 revision complies with this Act and approve or 

11 reject the plan or plan revision. If the plan is 

12 approved, the State shall begin implementation 

13 immediately. If the plan is rejected, the Envi14 ronmental Protection Agency will inform the 

15 State why the plan was rejected. That State 

16 then has 3 months to submit a new plan. 

17 (C) EFFECT OF FINDING OF INCOMPLETE18 NESS.—Where the Administrator determines 

19 that any part of a plan submission meets the 

20 requirements of this Act and approves such 

21 part and disapproves the plan in part, the State 

22 shall immediately implement the approved part 

23 or parts and submit a revised plan respecting 

24 the remaining parts within 3 months after the 

25 date of the Administrator’s disapproval. 
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1 (2) DEADLINE FOR ACTION.—Within 12 

2 months of a determination by the Administrator (or 

3 a determination deemed by operation of law) under 

4 paragraph (1) that a State has submitted a plan or 

5 plan revision (or, in the Administrator’s discretion, 

6 part thereof) that meets the minimum criteria estab7 lished pursuant to paragraph (1), if applicable (or, 

8 if those criteria are not applicable, within 12 months 

9 of submission of the plan or revision), the Adminis10 trator shall act on the submission in accordance with 

11 paragraph (3). 

12 (3) FULL AND PARTIAL APPROVAL AND DIS13 APPROVAL.—In the case of any submittal on which 

14 the Administrator is required to act under para15 graph (2), the Administrator shall approve such sub16 mittal as a whole if it meets all of the applicable re17 quirements of this Act. If a portion of the plan revi18 sion meets all the applicable requirements of this 

19 Act, the Administrator may approve the plan revi20 sion in part and disapprove the plan revision in part. 

21 The plan revision shall not be treated as meeting the 

22 requirements of this Act until the Administrator ap23 proves the entire plan revision as complying with the 

24 applicable requirements of this Act. 
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1 (4) CONDITIONAL APPROVAL.—The Adminis2 trator may approve a plan revision based on a com3 mitment of the State to adopt specific enforceable 

4 measures by a date certain, but not later than 1 

5 year after the date of approval of the plan revision. 

6 Any such conditional approval shall be treated as a 

7 disapproval if the State fails to comply with such 

8 commitment. 

9 (5) CALLS FOR PLAN REVISIONS.—Whenever 

10 the Administrator finds that the applicable imple11 mentation plan for any area is substantially inad12 equate to comply with any requirement of this Act, 

13 the Administrator shall require the State to revise 

14 the plan as necessary to correct such inadequacies. 

15 The Administrator shall notify the State of the inad16 equacies, and may establish reasonable deadlines 

17 (not to exceed 6 months after the date of such no18 tice) for the submission of such plan revisions. Such 

19 findings and notice shall be public. 

20 (6) CORRECTIONS.—Whenever the Adminis21 trator determines that the Administrator’s action 

22 approving, disapproving, or promulgating any plan 

23 or plan revision (or part thereof) was in error, the 

24 Administrator may in the same manner as the ap25 proval, disapproval, or promulgation revise such ac-
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1 tion as appropriate without requiring any further 

2 submission from the State. Such determination and 

3 the basis thereof shall be provided to the State and 

4 public. 

5 (d) PLAN REVISIONS.—Each revision to an imple6 mentation plan submitted by a State under this Act shall 

7 be adopted by such State after reasonable notice and pub8 lic hearing. The Administrator shall not approve a revision 

9 of a plan if the revision would not comply with any appli10 cable requirement of this Act. 

11 (e) SANCTIONS.—The Administrator may apply any 

12 of the sanctions listed in section 2 whenever the Adminis13 trator makes a finding, disapproval, or determination 

14 under section 2(a) in relation to any plan. 

15 (f) FEDERAL IMPLEMENTATION PLANS.—The Ad16 ministrator shall promulgate a Federal implementation 

17 plan at any time within 2 years after the Administrator—

18 (1) finds that a State has failed to make a re19 quired submission or finds that the plan or plan re20 vision submitted by the State does not satisfy the 

21 minimum criteria established under this Act; or 

22 (2) disapproves a State implementation plan 

23 submission in whole or in part, 

24 unless the State corrects the deficiency, and the Adminis25 trator approves the plan or plan revision, before the Ad-
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1 ministrator promulgates such Federal implementation 

2 plan. 

3 SEC. 3. SANCTIONS. 

4 (a) STATE FAILURE.—For any implementation plan 

5 or plan revision required under this part or required in 

6 response to a finding of substantial inadequacy as de7 scribed in section 1, if the Administrator—

8 (1) finds that a State has failed to submit a 

9 plan, or to submit 1 or more of the elements (as de10 termined by the Administrator) required by the pro11 visions of this Act; 

12 (2) disapproves in whole or in part a plan sub13 mission under section 1; and 

14 (3) finds that any requirement of an approved 

15 plan (or approved part of a plan) is not being imple16 mented, 

17 unless such deficiency has been corrected within 18 

18 months after the finding, disapproval, or determination re19 ferred to in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3), the sanctions 

20 referred to in subsection (b) shall apply until the Adminis21 trator determines that the State has come into compliance. 

22 (b) SANCTIONS.—(1) The Administrator may impose 

23 a prohibition, applicable to a State, on the approval by 

24 the Secretary of Transportation of any projects or the 

25 awarding by the Secretary of any grants, under title 23, 
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1 United States Code, other than projects or grants for safe2 ty where the Secretary determines, based on accident or 

3 other appropriate data submitted by the State, that the 

4 principal purpose of the project is an improvement in safe5 ty to resolve a demonstrated safety problem and likely will 

6 result in a significant reduction in, or avoidance of, acci7 dents. Such prohibition shall become effective upon the se8 lection by the Administrator of this sanction. 

9 (2) In addition to safety, projects or grants that may 

10 be approved by the Secretary, notwithstanding the prohi11 bition in paragraph (1), are the following—

12 (A) capital programs for public transit; 

13 (B) construction or restriction of certain roads 

14 or lanes solely for the use of passenger buses or high 

15 occupancy vehicles; 

16 (C) highway ramp metering, traffic signaliza17 tion, and related programs that improve traffic flow; 

18 (D) fringe and transportation corridor parking 

19 facilities serving multiple occupancy vehicle pro20 grams or transit operations; 

21 (E) programs to limit or restrict vehicle use in 

22 downtown areas or other areas of emission con23 centration particularly during periods of peak use, 

24 through road use charges, tolls, parking surcharges, 
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1 or other pricing mechanisms, vehicle restricted zones 

2 or periods, or vehicle registration programs; and 

3 (F) programs for breakdown and accident scene 

4 management, nonrecurring congestion, and vehicle 

5 information systems, to reduce congestion. 

6 SEC. 4. INCENTIVES. 

7 (a) GRANT PROGRAM.—The Administrator is author8 ized to make grants to each State that phases out the in9 cineration of solid waste prior to the deadline established 

10 under this Act. Such grants are to be used for the purpose 

11 of finding alternative, environmental friendly means of 

12 solid waste disposal. The Administrator may make grants 

13 under this subsection in the amount of—

14 (1) $60,000,000 to States that phase out the 

15 incineration of solid waste within 1 year after the 

16 enactment of this Act; 

17 (2) $40,000,000 to States that phase out the 

18 incineration of solid waste within 2 years after the 

19 enactment of this Act; and 

20 (3) $25,000,000 to States that phase out the 

21 incineration of solid waste within 3 years after the 

22 enactment of this Act. 

23 (b) INTERSTATE WASTE AUTHORITY.—On the date 

24 that a State phases out the incineration of solid waste, 
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1 such State shall have the authority to limit or restrict the 

2 importation of solid waste in such State.

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