I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3893

To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to prohibit the international export

and import of certain solid waste.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 24, 1996

Mr. TOWNS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on Commerce

A BILL

To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to prohibit the

international export and import of certain solid waste.

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 ‘‘Waste Export and Im5 port Prohibition Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress makes the following

8 findings:

9 (1) Proposals to export solid waste from the

10 United States to foreign countries are increasing. In
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1 numerous instances exported waste has contami2 nated the environment, adversely affected public

3 health, and contributed to foreign policy liabilities

4 for the United States.

5 (2) Exports of solid waste are being undertaken

6 to avoid the community opposition and higher treat7 ment and disposal expenses that are associated with

8 waste disposal, treatment, and recycling in the

9 United States.

10 (3) Increasingly, hazardous waste exports are

11 justified by the agreeable term ‘‘recycling’’, even

12 though the result of the export is a transfer of pollu13 tion to areas of the world with little capability to

14 manage that pollution.

15 (4) Continued exports of solid waste serve as a

16 disincentive to implementation of existing domestic

17 policy, which recognizes reuse and waste reduction

18 as the best methods of solid waste management.

19 (5) Imports of waste from foreign countries

20 strain diminishing domestic waste disposal capacity,

21 threaten public health, and contaminate the environ22 ment.

23 (6) The international Basel Convention on the

24 Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous

25 Wastes and their Disposal recognizes the right and
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1 indeed encourages waste export and import prohibi2 tions. In the first meeting of the Parties, a decision

3 was made requesting industrialized countries to pro4 hibit transboundary movements of hazardous wastes

5 and other wastes for disposal to developing countries

6 and further requesting developing countries to pro7 hibit the import of hazardous wastes from industri8 alized countries.

9 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to prohibit

10 the export of solid waste from the United States and the

11 import of solid waste from foreign countries.

12 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION OF EXPORT AND IMPORT OF SOLID

13 WASTE.

14 (a) PROHIBITION.—Subtitle A of the Solid Waste

15 Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6901 et seq.) is amended by add16 ing at the end the following new section:

17 ‘‘SEC. 1009. EXPORT AND IMPORT OF SOLID WASTE.

18 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITION ON EXPORTS TO NON-OECD

19 COUNTRIES.—Effective July 1, 1994, no person may ex20 port any solid waste from the United States to a non21 OECD country, except as provided in subsection (c).

22 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITION ON EXPORTS TO AND IMPORTS

23 FROM OECD COUNTRIES.—Effective January 1, 1999, no

24 person may export any solid waste from the United States

25 to an OECD country, or import any solid waste into the
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1 United States from an OECD country, except as provided

2 in subsection (c).

3 ‘‘(c) SPECIFIC EXCEPTIONS.—(1) The prohibitions

4 contained in subsections (a) and (b) shall not apply to

5 baled waste paper, scrap textiles, or waste glass, if all of

6 the following conditions are met with respect to such

7 waste:

8 ‘‘(A) The waste is exported or imported for the

9 purposes of recycling.

10 ‘‘(B) The waste is separated from the waste

11 stream.

12 ‘‘(C) The waste does not contain any sub13 stances whose storage, treatment, or disposal within

14 the United States is regulated under subtitle C.

15 ‘‘(2) The prohibition contained in subsection (b) shall

16 not apply to any scrap metal that—

17 ‘‘(A) meets all of the conditions listed in sub18 paragraphs (A), (B), and (C) of paragraph (1);

19 ‘‘(B) is not, and does not contain, a sludge; and

20 ‘‘(C) meets either of the following conditions:

21 ‘‘(i) The waste is not within, and does not

22 contain a waste within, a category of waste list23 ed in Annex I or Annex II of the Basel Conven24 tion on the Control of Transboundary Move25 ments of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal.
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1 ‘‘(ii) The waste does not have a char2 acteristic listed in Annex III of such convention.

3 ‘‘(d) REQUIREMENT TO RETRIEVE OR CLEAN UP

4 WASTE.—(1) In any case in which waste is exported in

5 violation of this section, the Administrator shall ensure

6 that the waste is retrieved from the recipient foreign coun7 try, if the foreign country agrees to such retrieval, by ei8 ther requiring the violator to retrieve such waste pursuant

9 to a compliance order issued under subsection (g), or by

10 retrieving the waste directly.

11 ‘‘(2) If the Administrator retrieves the waste directly,

12 the Administrator shall ensure that the waste is re13 trieved—

14 ‘‘(A) in the case of a violation with respect to

15 which a compliance order has been issued, not later

16 than 90 days after the expiration of the time period

17 specified in the compliance order for retrieval of the

18 waste by the violator, if the violator has failed to re19 trieve the waste; and

20 ‘‘(B) in the case of a violation with respect to

21 which a compliance order has not been issued, not

22 later than 90 days after discovery of the violation.

23 ‘‘(3) If the foreign country does not agree to retrieval

24 of the waste, the Administrator shall dispose of or clean
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1 up such waste in the foreign country, to the extent the

2 foreign country agrees to such action.

3 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the

4 following definitions apply:

5 ‘‘(1) The term ‘solid waste’ has the meaning

6 given that term by section 1004(27), except that

7 such term also includes the following:

8 ‘‘(A) Low-level radioactive waste, as de9 fined in part 61 of title 10 of the Code of Fed10 eral Regulations.

11 ‘‘(B) Mixed waste. For purposes of this

12 subsection, the term ‘mixed waste’ means haz13 ardous waste or nonhazardous waste mixed with

14 low-level radioactive waste.

15 ‘‘(C) All wastes covered by the Basel Con16 vention on the Control of Transboundary Move17 ments of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal,

18 as set forth in Annexes I, II, and III of that

19 convention.

20 ‘‘(2) The term ‘OECD country’ means any for21 eign country that is a member of the Organization

22 for Economic Cooperation and Development.

23 ‘‘(3) The term ‘non-OECD country’ means any

24 foreign country that is not an OECD country.
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1 ‘‘(f) REGULATIONS.—The Administrator shall pro2 mulgate such regulations as may be necessary to imple3 ment this section. The regulations shall exclude from the

4 prohibitions contained in subsections (a) and (b) small

5 quantities of personal household waste carried by individ6 uals traveling abroad.

7 ‘‘(g) ENFORCEMENT.—

8 ‘‘(1) COMPLIANCE ORDERS.—(A) Whenever on

9 the basis of any information the Administrator de10 termines that any person has violated or is in viola11 tion of any requirement of this section, the Adminis12 trator may—

13 ‘‘(i) issue an order assessing a civil penalty

14 for any past or current violation, requiring com15 pliance immediately or within a specified time

16 period, or both; or

17 ‘‘(ii) commence a civil action in the United

18 States district court in the district in which the

19 violation occurred for appropriate relief, includ20 ing a temporary or permanent injunction.

21 ‘‘(B) A compliance order issued under subpara22 graph (A)(i) shall include, in the case of a person

23 exporting waste in violation of this section, a re24 quirement to retrieve the waste from the recipient

25 foreign country within 90 days after issuance of the
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1 order, or within such shorter period of time as the

2 Administrator considers appropriate, if the foreign

3 country agrees to such retrieval.

4 ‘‘(C) A compliance order issued under subpara5 graph (A)(i) may include—

6 ‘‘(i) in the case of a person exporting waste

7 in violation of this section, a requirement to dis8 pose of or clean up the waste in the foreign

9 country, to the extent agreed to by the foreign

10 country; or

11 ‘‘(ii) in the case of a person importing

12 waste in violation of this section, a requirement

13 to return the waste to the foreign country from

14 which the waste originated, if the foreign coun15 try agrees to accept such waste, or to dispose

16 of or clean up the waste in compliance with

17 applicable law.

18 ‘‘(2) PUBLIC HEARING.—Any order issued

19 under this subsection shall become final unless, not

20 later than 30 days after the order is served, the per21 son or persons named in the order request a public

22 hearing. Upon such request, the Administrator shall

23 promptly conduct a public hearing. In connection

24 with any proceeding under this section the Adminis25 trator may issue subpoenas for the attendance and
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1 testimony of witnesses and the production of rel2 evant papers, books, and documents, and may pro3 mulgate rules for discovery procedure.

4 ‘‘(3) CIVIL PENALTIES.—(A) Any person who

5 violates any requirement of this section shall be lia6 ble to the United States for a civil penalty in an

7 amount not to exceed $25,000 for each such viola8 tion. Each day of such violation shall, for purposes

9 of this subsection, constitute a separate violation.

10 ‘‘(B) If a violator fails to take the action re11 quired by a compliance order issued under para12 graph (1) within the time specified in the order, the

13 Administrator may assess a civil penalty of not more

14 than $25,000 for each day of continued noncompli15 ance with the order.

16 ‘‘(4) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.—Any person who

17 knowingly violates the prohibition contained in this

18 section or any requirement of regulations promul19 gated under subsection (e) shall be subject to im20 prisonment for not to exceed 10 years, fined in ac21 cordance with title 18, United States Code, or both,

22 for each such violation.

23 ‘‘(5) CITIZEN SUITS.—For purposes of this sec24 tion, a government of a foreign country shall be con-
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1 sidered a person under section 7002 (relating to citi2 zen suits).’’.

3 (b) REPEAL OF EXISTING AUTHORITY.—Section

4 3017 of the Solid Waste Disposal Act is repealed. The

5 table of contents for subtitle C of such Act is amended

6 by striking out the item relating to such section.

7 (c) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for

8 subtitle A of the Solid Waste Disposal Act is amended by

9 adding at the end the following new item:

‘‘Sec. 1009. Export and import of solid waste.’’.

Æ