IB 

Union Calendar No. 45 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 518 

[Report No. 110–81] 

To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to authorize States to restrict 

receipt of foreign municipal solid waste and implement the Agreement 

Concerning the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Waste between 

the United States and Canada, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 17, 2007 

Mr. DINGELL (for himself, Mr. ROGERS of Michigan, Mr. EHLERS, Mr. 

MCCOTTER, Mr. UPTON, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. KILDEE, Mrs. 

MILLER of Michigan, Ms. KILPATRICK of Michigan, Mr. CAMP of Michigan, Mr. KNOLLENBERG, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. WALBERG, Mr. STUPAK, 

Mr. WYNN, Ms. BALDWIN, and Mr. GILLMOR) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

MARCH 29, 2007 

Additional sponsors: Mrs. JO ANN DAVIS of Virginia and Mr. GILCHREST

MARCH 29, 2007 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union 

and ordered to be printed 

A BILL 

To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to authorize States 

to restrict receipt of foreign municipal solid waste and 

implement the Agreement Concerning the Transboundary 


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Movement of Hazardous Waste between the United 

States and Canada, 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 ‘‘International Solid 

5 Waste Importation and Management Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORTATION AND DISPOSAL 

7 OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle D of the Solid Waste Dis9 posal Act (42 U.S.C. 6941 et seq.) is amended by adding 

10 after section 4010 the following new section: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 4011. INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORTATION AND DIS12 POSAL OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE. 

13 ‘‘(a) STATE AUTHORITY TO ADDRESS IMPORTATION

14 AND MANAGEMENT OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Until the date on which all 

16 final regulations issued by the Administrator to im17 plement and enforce the Agreement (including notice 

18 and consent provisions of the Agreement) become ef19 fective, a State may enact a law or laws or issue reg20 ulations or orders imposing limitations on the receipt 

21 and disposal of foreign municipal solid waste within 

22 the State. Laws, regulations, and orders enacted or 

23 issued before that date may continue in effect ac24 cording to their terms after that date. 


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1 ‘‘(2) EFFECT ON INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN

2 COMMERCE.—No State action taken as authorized 

3 by this section shall be considered to impose an 

4 undue burden on interstate and foreign commerce or 

5 to otherwise impair, restrain, or discriminate against 

6 interstate and foreign commerce. 

7 ‘‘(3) TRADE AND TREATY OBLIGATIONS.— 

8 Nothing in this section affects, replaces, or amends 

9 prior law relating to the need for consistency with 

10 international trade obligations. 

11 ‘‘(b) AUTHORITY OF ADMINISTRATOR.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning immediately 

13 after the date of enactment of this section, the Ad14 ministrator shall— 

15 ‘‘(A) perform the functions of the Des16 ignated Authority of the United States de17 scribed in the Agreement with respect to the 

18 importation and exportation of municipal solid 

19 waste under the Agreement; and 

20 ‘‘(B) implement and enforce the notice and 

21 consent and other provisions of the Agreement. 

22 ‘‘(2) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 24 months 

23 after the date of enactment of this section, the Ad24 ministrator shall issue final regulations with respect 


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1 to the Administrator’s responsibilities under para2 graph (1). 

3 ‘‘(3) CONSENT TO IMPORTATION.—In consid4 ering whether to consent to the importation under 

5 article 3(c) of the Agreement, the Administrator 

6 shall— 

7 ‘‘(A) give substantial weight to the views of 

8 the State or States into which the municipal 

9 solid waste is to be imported, and consider the 

10 views of the local government with jurisdiction 

11 over the location where the waste is to be dis12 posed; 

13 ‘‘(B) consider the impact of the importa14 tion on— 

15 ‘‘(i) continued public support for and 

16 adherence to State and local recycling pro17 grams; 

18 ‘‘(ii) landfill capacity as provided in 

19 comprehensive waste management plans; 

20 ‘‘(iii) air emissions from increased ve21 hicular traffic; and 

22 ‘‘(iv) road deterioration from in23 creased vehicular traffic; and 


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1 ‘‘(C) consider the impact of the importa2 tion on homeland security, public health, and 

3 the environment. 

4 ‘‘(4) ACTIONS IN VIOLATION OF THE AGREE5 MENT.—No person shall import, transport, or export 

6 municipal solid waste for final disposal or for incin7 eration in violation of the Agreement. 

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

9 basis of any information the Administrator determines 

10 that any person has violated or is in violation of this sec11 tion, the Administrator may issue an order assessing a 

12 civil penalty for any past or current violation, requiring 

13 compliance immediately or within a specified time period, 

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

15 in the United States district court in the district in which 

16 the violation occurred for appropriate relief, including a 

17 temporary or permanent injunction. 

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

19 shall state with reasonable specificity the nature of the vio20 lation. Any penalty assessed in the order shall not exceed 

21 $25,000 per day of noncompliance for each violation. In 

22 assessing such a penalty, the Administrator shall take into 

23 account the seriousness of the violation and any good faith 

24 efforts to comply with applicable requirements. 


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

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

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

4 therein request a public hearing. Upon such request, the 

5 Administrator shall promptly conduct a public hearing. In 

6 connection with any proceeding under this section, the Ad7 ministrator may issue subpoenas for the attendance and 

8 testimony of witnesses and the production of relevant pa9 pers, books, and documents, and may promulgate rules for 

10 discovery procedures. 

11 ‘‘(e) VIOLATION OF COMPLIANCE ORDERS.—If a vio12 lator fails to take corrective action within the time speci13 fied in a compliance order, the Administrator may assess 

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

15 continued noncompliance with the order. 

16 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

17 ‘‘(1) AGREEMENT.—The term ‘Agreement’ 

18 means— 

19 ‘‘(A) the Agreement Concerning the 

20 Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Waste 

21 between the United States and Canada, signed 

22 at Ottawa on October 28, 1986 (TIAS 11099) 

23 and amended on November 25, 1992; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) any regulations promulgated and or2 ders issued to implement and enforce that 

3 Agreement. 

4 ‘‘(2) FOREIGN MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE.—The 

5 term ‘foreign municipal solid waste’ means munic6 ipal solid waste generated outside of the United 

7 States. 

8 ‘‘(3) MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE.— 

9 ‘‘(A) WASTE INCLUDED.—Except as pro10 vided in subparagraph (B), the term ‘municipal 

11 solid waste’ means— 

12 ‘‘(i) all waste materials discarded for 

13 disposal by households, including single 

14 and multifamily residences, and hotels and 

15 motels; and 

16 ‘‘(ii) all waste materials discarded for 

17 disposal that were generated by commer18 cial, institutional, municipal, and industrial 

19 sources, to the extent such materials— 

20 ‘‘(I) are essentially the same as 

21 materials described in clause (i); and 

22 ‘‘(II) were collected and disposed 

23 of with other municipal solid waste 

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

25 of this clause as part of normal muVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:17 Mar 29, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H518.RH H518

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1 nicipal solid waste collection services, 

2 except that this subclause does not 

3 apply to hazardous materials other 

4 than hazardous materials that, pursu5 ant to regulations issued under sec6 tion 3001(d), are not subject to regu7 lation under subtitle C. 

8 Examples of municipal solid waste include 

9 food and yard waste, paper, clothing, appli10 ances, consumer product packaging, dis11 posable diapers, office supplies, cosmetics, 

12 glass and metal food containers, and 

13 household hazardous waste. Such term 

14 shall include debris resulting from con15 struction, remodeling, repair, or demolition 

16 of structures. 

17 ‘‘(B) WASTE NOT INCLUDED.—The term 

18 ‘municipal solid waste’ does not include any of 

19 the following: 

20 ‘‘(i) Any solid waste identified or list21 ed as a hazardous waste under section 

22 3001, except for household hazardous 

23 waste. 

24 ‘‘(ii) Any solid waste, including con25 taminated soil and debris, resulting from— 


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1 ‘‘(I) a response action taken 

2 under section 104 or 106 of the Com3 prehensive Environmental Response, 

4 Compensation, and Liability Act (42 

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

6 ‘‘(II) a response action taken 

7 under a State law with authorities 

8 comparable to the authorities of such 

9 section 104 or 106; or 

10 ‘‘(III) a corrective action taken 

11 under this Act. 

12 ‘‘(iii) Recyclable materials that have 

13 been separated, at the source of the waste, 

14 from waste otherwise destined for disposal 

15 or that have been managed separately from 

16 waste destined for disposal. 

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

18 fuel source. 

19 ‘‘(v) Materials and products returned 

20 from a dispenser or distributor to the man21 ufacturer or an agent of the manufacturer 

22 for credit, evaluation, and possible reuse. 

23 ‘‘(vi) Any solid waste that is— 

24 ‘‘(I) generated by an industrial 

25 facility; and 


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1 ‘‘(II) transported for the purpose 

2 of treatment, storage, or disposal to a 

3 facility or unit thereof that is owned 

4 or operated by the generator of the 

5 waste, located on property owned by 

6 the generator or a company with 

7 which the generator is affiliated, or 

8 the capacity of which is contractually 

9 dedicated exclusively to a specific gen10 erator, so long as the disposal area 

11 complies with local and State land use 

12 and zoning regulations applicable to 

13 the disposal site. 

14 ‘‘(vii) Any medical waste that is seg15 regated from or not mixed with solid 

16 waste. 

17 ‘‘(viii) Sewage sludge and residuals 

18 from any sewage treatment plant. 

19 ‘‘(ix) Combustion ash generated by re20 source recovery facilities or municipal in21 cinerators, or waste from manufacturing or 

22 processing (including pollution control) op23 erations not essentially the same as waste 

24 normally generated by households. 


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1 ‘‘(x) Solid waste generated incident to 

2 the provision of service in interstate, intra3 state, foreign, or overseas air transpor4 tation.’’. 

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

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

7 prec. 6901) is amended by adding after the item relating 

8 to section 4010 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 4011. International transportation and disposal of municipal solid 

waste.’’. 


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Union Calendar No. 45 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 518 

[Report No. 110

–81] 

A BILL 

To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to authorCanada, and for other purposes. ardous Waste between the United States and cerning the Transboundary Movement of Haz- solid waste and implement the Agreement Con- ize States to restrict receipt of foreign municipal 

MARCH 29, 2007 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 

State of the Union and ordered to be printed 


pwalker on PROD1PC71 with BILLS