II

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1224

To amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and

Liability Act of 1980 to ensure full Federal compliance with that Act.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

SEPTEMBER 26, 1997

Mr. ALLARD (for himself and Mr. WYDEN) 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 ensure full Federal compliance with that Act.

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 ‘‘Federal Facility

5 Superfund Compliance Act of 1997’’.

6 SEC. 2. FEDERAL ENTITIES AND FACILITIES.

7 Section 120 of the Comprehensive Environmental Re8 sponse, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42

9 U.S.C. 9620) is amended—
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1 (1) by striking the section heading and insert2 ing the following:

3 ‘‘SEC. 120. FEDERAL ENTITIES AND FACILITIES.’’;

4 (2) in subsection (a)—

5 (A) by striking paragraph (1) and insert6 ing the following:

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—

8 ‘‘(A) DEFINITION OF SERVICE CHARGES.—

9 In this paragraph, the term ‘service charge’ in10 cludes—

11 ‘‘(i) a fee or charge assessed in con12 nection with—

13 ‘‘(I) the processing or issuance of

14 a permit, renewal of a permit, or

15 amendment of a permit;

16 ‘‘(II) review of a plan, study, or

17 other document; or

18 ‘‘(III) inspection or monitoring of

19 a facility; and

20 ‘‘(ii) any other charge that is assessed

21 in connection with a State, interstate, or

22 local response program.

23 ‘‘(B) APPLICATION OF FEDERAL, STATE,

24 INTERSTATE, AND LOCAL LAW.—
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1 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Each department,

2 agency, and instrumentality of the execu3 tive, legislative, or judicial branch of the

4 United States shall be subject to, and shall

5 comply with this Act and all other Federal,

6 State, interstate, and local substantive and

7 procedural requirements and other provi8 sions of law relating to a response action

9 or restoration action or the management of

10 a hazardous waste, pollutant, or contami11 nant in the same manner, and to the same

12 extent, as any nongovernmental entity is

13 subject to those provisions of law.

14 ‘‘(ii) PROVISIONS INCLUDED.—The

15 provisions of law referred to in clause (i)

16 include—

17 ‘‘(I) a permit requirement;

18 ‘‘(II) a reporting requirement;

19 ‘‘(III) a provision authorizing in20 junctive relief (including such sanc21 tions as a court may impose to en22 force injunctive relief);

23 ‘‘(IV) sections 106 and 107 and

24 similar provisions of Federal, State,

25 or local law relating to enforcement
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1 and liability for cleanup, reimburse2 ment of response costs, contribution,

3 and payment of damages;

4 ‘‘(V) a requirement to pay rea5 sonable service charges; and

6 ‘‘(VI) all administrative orders

7 and all civil and administrative pen8 alties and fines, regardless of whether

9 the penalties or fines are punitive or

10 coercive in nature or are imposed for

11 an isolated, intermittent, or continu12 ing violation.

13 ‘‘(C) WAIVER OF IMMUNITY.—

14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The United States

15 waives any immunity applicable to the

16 United States with respect to any provision

17 of law described in subparagraph (B).

18 ‘‘(ii) LIMITATION.—The waiver of sov19 ereign immunity under clause (i) does not

20 apply to the extent that a State law would

21 apply any standard or requirement to the

22 Federal department, agency, or instrumen23 tality in a manner that is more stringent

24 than the manner in which the standard or
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1 requirement would apply to any other per2 son.

3 ‘‘(D) CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LIABILITY.—

4 ‘‘(i) INJUNCTIVE RELIEF.—Neither

5 the United States nor any agent, employee,

6 or officer of the United States shall be im7 mune or exempt from any process or sanc8 tion of any Federal or State court with

9 respect to the enforcement of injunctive

10 relief referred to in subparagraph

11 (B)(ii)(III).

12 ‘‘(ii) NO PERSONAL LIABILITY FOR

13 CIVIL PENALTY.—No agent, employee, or

14 officer of the United States shall be per15 sonally liable for any civil penalty under

16 any Federal or State law relating to a re17 sponse action or to management of a haz18 ardous substance, pollutant, or contami19 nant with respect to any act or omission

20 within the scope of the official duties of

21 the agent, employee, or officer.

22 ‘‘(iii) CRIMINAL LIABILITY.—An

23 agent, employee, or officer of the United

24 States shall be subject to any criminal

25 sanction (including a fine or imprison-
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1 ment) under any Federal or State law re2 lating to a response action or to manage3 ment of a hazardous substance, pollutant,

4 or contaminant, but no department, agen5 cy, or instrumentality of the executive, leg6 islative, or judicial branch of the United

7 States shall be subject to any such sanc8 tion.

9 ‘‘(E) ENFORCEMENT.—

10 ‘‘(i) ABATEMENT ACTIONS.—The Ad11 ministrator may issue an order under sec12 tion 106 to any department, agency, or in13 strumentality of the executive, legislative,

14 or judicial branch of the United States.

15 The Administrator shall initiate an admin16 istrative enforcement action against such a

17 department, agency, or instrumentality in

18 the same manner and under the same cir19 cumstances as an action would be initiated

20 against any other person.

21 ‘‘(ii) CONSULTATION.—No adminis22 trative order issued to a department, agen23 cy, or instrumentality of the United States

24 shall become final until the department,
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1 agency, or instrumentality has had the op2 portunity to confer with the Administrator.

3 ‘‘(iii) USE OF PENALTIES AND

4 FINES.—Unless a State law in effect on

5 the date of enactment of this clause re6 quires the funds to be used in a different

7 manner, all funds collected by a State from

8 the Federal Government as penalties or

9 fines imposed for violation of a provision of

10 law referred to in subparagraph (B) shall

11 be used by the State only for projects de12 signed to improve or protect the environ13 ment or to defray the costs of environ14 mental protection or enforcement.

15 ‘‘(F) CONTRIBUTION.—A department,

16 agency, or instrumentality of the United States

17 shall have the right to contribution under sec18 tion 113 if the department, agency, or instru19 mentality resolves its liability under this Act.’’;

20 (B) in the second sentence of paragraph

21 (3), by inserting ‘‘(other than the indemnifica22 tion requirements of section 119)’’ after ‘‘re23 sponsibility’’; and

24 (C) by striking paragraph (4); and
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1 (3) in subsection (e), by adding at the end the

2 following:

3 ‘‘(7) STATE REQUIREMENTS.—Notwithstanding

4 any other provision of this Act, an interagency

5 agreement under this section shall not impair or di6 minish the authority of a State, political subdivision

7 of a State, or any other person or the jurisdiction

8 of any court to enforce compliance with require9 ments of State or Federal law, unless those require10 ments have been specifically addressed in the agree11 ment or waived without objection after notice to the

12 State before or on the date on which the response

13 action is selected.’’.

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