I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2109 

To direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to carry 

out certain authorities under an agreement with Canada respecting the 

importation of municipal solid waste, to amend the Solid Waste Disposal 

Act to authorize States to restrict receipt of foreign municipal solid 

waste, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 4, 2005 

Mr. STUPAK (for himself, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. 

BROWN of Ohio, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, and Ms. BALDWIN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection 

Agency to carry out certain authorities under an agreement with Canada respecting the importation of municipal solid waste, to amend the Solid Waste Disposal 

Act to authorize States to restrict receipt of foreign 

municipal 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, 
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1 SECTION 1. CANADIAN TRANSBOUNDARY MOVEMENT OF 

2 MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE. 

3 (a) AMENDMENT.—Subtitle D of the Solid Waste 

4 Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6941 et seq.) is amended by add5 ing at the end the following new section: 

6 ‘‘CANADIAN TRANSBOUNDARY MOVEMENT OF MUNICIPAL

7 SOLID WASTE

8 ‘‘SEC. 4011. (a) PROHIBITION.—No person shall im9 port, transport, or export municipal solid waste for final 

10 disposal or for incineration in violation of the Agreement 

11 Between the Government of the United States of America 

12 and the Government of Canada Concerning the 

13 Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Waste, or any 

14 regulations issued to implement and enforce such agree15 ment. 

16 ‘‘(b) ADMINISTRATOR’S AUTHORITY.—The Adminis17 trator shall perform the functions of the Designated Au18 thority of the United States with respect to the importa19 tion and exportation of municipal solid waste under the 

20 agreement described in subsection (a). Beginning imme21 diately upon the enactment of this section, the Adminis22 trator shall implement and enforce the notice and consent 

23 provisions of such agreement, as well as the other provi24 sions thereof. In considering whether to consent to the im25 portation of municipal solid waste under article 3(c) of 

26 such agreement, the Administrator shall— 
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1 ‘‘(1) give substantial weight to the views of the 

2 State or States into which the municipal solid waste 

3 is to be imported, and consider the views of the local 

4 government with jurisdiction over the location where 

5 the waste is to be disposed; and 

6 ‘‘(2) consider the impact of the importation 

7 on— 

8 ‘‘(A) continued public support for and ad9 herence to State and local recycling programs; 

10 ‘‘(B) landfill capacity as provided in com11 prehensive waste management plans; 

12 ‘‘(C) air emissions from increased vehicular 

13 traffic; 

14 ‘‘(D) road deterioration from increased ve15 hicular traffic; and 

16 ‘‘(E) public health and the environment. 

17 ‘‘(c) COMPLIANCE ORDERS.—(1) Whenever on the 

18 basis of any information the Administrator determines 

19 that any person has violated or is in violation of this sec20 tion, the Administrator may issue an order assessing a 

21 civil penalty for any past or current violation, requiring 

22 compliance immediately or within a specified time period, 

23 or both, or the Administrator may commence a civil action 

24 in the United States district court in the district in which 
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1 the violation occurred for appropriate relief, including a 

2 temporary or permanent injunction. 

3 ‘‘(2) Any order issued pursuant to this subsection 

4 shall state with reasonable specificity the nature of the vio5 lation. Any penalty assessed in the order shall not exceed 

6 $25,000 per day of noncompliance for each violation. In 

7 assessing such a penalty, the Administrator shall take into 

8 account the seriousness of the violation and any good faith 

9 efforts to comply with applicable requirements. 

10 ‘‘(d) PUBLIC HEARING.—Any order issued under this 

11 section shall become final unless, not later than 30 days 

12 after the order is served, the person or persons named 

13 therein request a public hearing. Upon such request the 

14 Administrator shall promptly conduct a public hearing. In 

15 connection with any proceeding under this section the Ad16 ministrator may issue subpoenas for the attendance and 

17 testimony of witnesses and the production of relevant pa18 pers, books, and documents, and may promulgate rules for 

19 discovery procedures. 

20 ‘‘(e) VIOLATION OF COMPLIANCE ORDERS.—If a vio21 lator fails to take corrective action within the time speci22 fied in a compliance order, the Administrator may assess 

23 a civil penalty of not more than $25,000 for each day of 

24 continued noncompliance with the order.’’. 
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1 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS AMENDMENT.—The table 

2 of contents of such subtitle D is amended by adding at 

3 the end the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 4011. Canadian transboundary movement of municipal solid waste.’’. 

4 SEC. 2. INTERSTATE AND INTERNATIONAL TRANSPOR5 TATION AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL SOLID 

6 WASTE. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle D of the Solid Waste Dis8 posal Act (42 U.S.C. 6941 et seq.) is further amended 

9 by adding at the end the following new section: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 4012. INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORTATION AND DIS11 POSAL OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE. 

12 ‘‘(a) AUTHORITY.—A State may enact a law or laws 

13 imposing limitations (including a prohibition) on the re14 ceipt and disposal of foreign municipal solid waste. 

15 ‘‘(b) EFFECT ON INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN COM16 MERCE.—No State action taken as authorized by this sec17 tion shall be considered to impose an undue burden on 

18 interstate and foreign commerce or to otherwise impair, 

19 restrain, or discriminate against interstate and foreign 

20 commerce. 

21 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

22 ‘‘(1) FOREIGN MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE.—The 

23 term ‘foreign municipal solid waste’ means munic24 ipal solid waste generated outside of the United 

25 States. 
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1 ‘‘(2) MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE.— 

2 ‘‘(A) WASTE INCLUDED.—Except as pro3 vided in subparagraph (B), the term ‘municipal 

4 solid waste’ means— 

5 ‘‘(i) all waste materials discarded for 

6 disposal by households, including single 

7 and multifamily residences, and hotels and 

8 motels; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) all waste materials discarded for 

10 disposal that were generated by commer11 cial, institutional, municipal, and industrial 

12 sources, to the extent such materials— 

13 ‘‘(I) are essentially the same as 

14 materials described in clause (i); and 

15 ‘‘(II) were collected and disposed 

16 of with other municipal solid waste 

17 described in clause (i) or subclause (I) 

18 of this clause as part of normal mu19 nicipal solid waste collection services, 

20 except that this subclause does not 

21 apply to hazardous materials other 

22 than hazardous materials that, pursu23 ant to regulations issued under sec24 tion 3001(d), are not subject to regu25 lation under subtitle C. 
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1 Examples of municipal solid waste include food 

2 and yard waste, paper, clothing, appliances, 

3 consumer product packaging, disposable dia4 pers, office supplies, cosmetics, glass and metal 

5 food containers, and household hazardous 

6 waste. Such term shall include debris resulting 

7 from construction, remodeling, repair, or demo8 lition of structures. 

9 ‘‘(B) WASTE NOT INCLUDED.—The term 

10 ‘municipal solid waste’ does not include any of 

11 the following: 

12 ‘‘(i) Any solid waste identified or list13 ed as a hazardous waste under section 

14 3001, except for household hazardous 

15 waste. 

16 ‘‘(ii) Any solid waste, including con17 taminated soil and debris, resulting from— 

18 ‘‘(I) a response action taken 

19 under section 104 or 106 of the Com20 prehensive Environmental Response, 

21 Compensation, and Liability Act (42 

22 U.S.C. 9604 or 9606); 

23 ‘‘(II) a response action taken 

24 under a State law with authorities 
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1 comparable to the authorities of such 

2 section 104 or 106; or 

3 ‘‘(III) a corrective action taken 

4 under this Act. 

5 ‘‘(iii) Recyclable materials that have 

6 been separated, at the source of the waste, 

7 from waste otherwise destined for disposal 

8 or that have been managed separately from 

9 waste destined for disposal. 

10 ‘‘(iv) Scrap rubber to be used as a 

11 fuel source. 

12 ‘‘(v) Materials and products returned 

13 from a dispenser or distributor to the man14 ufacturer or an agent of the manufacturer 

15 for credit, evaluation, and possible reuse. 

16 ‘‘(vi) Any solid waste that is— 

17 ‘‘(I) generated by an industrial 

18 facility; and 

19 ‘‘(II) transported for the purpose 

20 of treatment, storage, or disposal to a 

21 facility or unit thereof that is owned 

22 or operated by the generator of the 

23 waste, located on property owned by 

24 the generator or a company with 

25 which the generator is affiliated, or 
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1 the capacity of which is contractually 

2 dedicated exclusively to a specific gen3 erator, so long as the disposal area 

4 complies with local and State land use 

5 and zoning regulations applicable to 

6 the disposal site. 

7 ‘‘(vii) Any medical waste that is seg8 regated from or not mixed with solid 

9 waste. 

10 ‘‘(viii) Sewage sludge and residuals 

11 from any sewage treatment plant. 

12 ‘‘(ix) Combustion ash generated by re13 source recovery facilities or municipal in14 cinerators, or waste from manufacturing or 

15 processing (including pollution control) op16 erations not essentially the same as waste 

17 normally generated by households.’’. 

18 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS AMENDMENT.—The table 

19 of contents of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 

20 prec. 6901) is further amended by adding at the end the 

21 following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 4012. International transportation and disposal of municipal solid 

waste.’’. 

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