I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1548

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

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 24, 2001

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 SECTION 1. STATE IMPLEMENTATION PLANS.

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

5 reasonable notice and public hearings, adopt and submit

6 to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection

7 Agency (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Administrator’’),

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

9 plan implementation plan to achieve each of the following:
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1 (1) Increased recycling by at least 75 percent

2 over the 3-year period.

3 (2) Water source pollution reduction.

4 (3) The restriction of landfill dumping to mate5 rials that are not recyclable or compostable.

6 (4) The phasing out of incineration of solid

7 waste within 4 years and 6 months after the enact8 ment of this Act.

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

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

11 (b) PROCEDURES.—Each implementation plan sub12 mitted by a State under this Act shall be adopted by the

13 State after reasonable notice and public hearing. No such

14 plan may be implemented by the State until approved by

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

16 (1) include enforceable limitations and other

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

18 schedules and timetables for compliance, as may be

19 necessary or appropriate to meet the applicable re20 quirements of this Act;

21 (2) provide for establishment and operation of

22 appropriate devices, methods, systems, and proce23 dures necessary to—

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

25 compliance with this Act; and
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1 (B) make such data available to the Ad2 ministrator;

3 (3) include a program to provide for the en4 forcement of the measures described in paragraph

5 (1);

6 (4) provide for revision of such plan whenever

7 the Administrator finds on the basis of information

8 available to the Administrator that the plan is inad9 equate to comply with the requirements established

10 under this Act; and

11 (5) provide for consultation and participation

12 by local political subdivisions affected by the plan.

13 (c) ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ACTION

14 ON PLAN SUBMISSIONS.—

15 (1) COMPLETENESS OF PLAN SUBMISSIONS.—

16 (A) COMPLETENESS CRITERIA.—Within 6

17 months after the date of the enactment of this

18 Act, the Administrator shall promulgate min19 imum criteria that any plan submission must

20 meet before the Administrator is required to act

21 on such submission under this subsection. The

22 criteria shall be limited to the information nec23 essary to enable the Administrator to determine

24 whether the plan submission complies with the

25 provisions of this Act.
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1 (B) COMPLETENESS FINDING.—Within 6

2 months after the Administrator’s receipt of a

3 plan or plan revision under this Act, the Ad4 ministrator shall determine whether the plan or

5 revision complies with this Act and approve or

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

7 approved, the State shall begin implementation

8 immediately. If the plan is rejected, the Envi9 ronmental Protection Agency will inform the

10 State why the plan was rejected. That State

11 then has 3 months to submit a new plan.

12 (C) EFFECT OF FINDING OF INCOMPLETE13 NESS.—Where the Administrator determines

14 that any part of a plan submission meets the

15 requirements of this Act and approves such

16 part and disapproves the plan in part, the State

17 shall immediately implement the approved part

18 or parts and submit a revised plan respecting

19 the remaining parts within 3 months after the

20 date of the Administrator’s disapproval.

21 (2) DEADLINE FOR ACTION.—Within 12

22 months of a determination by the Administrator (or

23 a determination deemed by operation of law) under

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

25 plan revision (or, in the Administrator’s discretion,
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1 part thereof) that meets the minimum criteria estab2 lished pursuant to paragraph (1), if applicable (or,

3 if those criteria are not applicable, within 12 months

4 of submission of the plan or revision), the Adminis5 trator shall act on the submission in accordance with

6 paragraph (3).

7 (3) FULL AND PARTIAL APPROVAL AND DIS8 APPROVAL.—In the case of any submittal on which

9 the Administrator is required to act under para10 graph (2), the Administrator shall approve such sub11 mittal as a whole if it meets all of the applicable re12 quirements of this Act. If a portion of the plan revi13 sion meets all the applicable requirements of this

14 Act, the Administrator may approve the plan revi15 sion in part and disapprove the plan revision in part.

16 The plan revision shall not be treated as meeting the

17 requirements of this Act until the Administrator ap18 proves the entire plan revision as complying with the

19 applicable requirements of this Act.

20 (4) CONDITIONAL APPROVAL.—The Adminis21 trator may approve a plan revision based on a com22 mitment of the State to adopt specific enforceable

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

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

25 Any such conditional approval shall be treated as a
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1 disapproval if the State fails to comply with such

2 commitment.

3 (5) CALLS FOR PLAN REVISIONS.—Whenever

4 the Administrator finds that the applicable imple5 mentation plan for any area is substantially inad6 equate to comply with any requirement of this Act,

7 the Administrator shall require the State to revise

8 the plan as necessary to correct such inadequacies.

9 The Administrator shall notify the State of the inad10 equacies, and may establish reasonable deadlines

11 (not to exceed 6 months after the date of such no12 tice) for the submission of such plan revisions. Such

13 findings and notice shall be public.

14 (6) CORRECTIONS.—Whenever the Adminis15 trator determines that the Administrator’s action

16 approving, disapproving, or promulgating any plan

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

18 Administrator may in the same manner as the ap19 proval, disapproval, or promulgation revise such ac20 tion as appropriate without requiring any further

21 submission from the State. Such determination and

22 the basis thereof shall be provided to the State and

23 public.

24 (d) PLAN REVISIONS.—Each revision to an imple25 mentation plan submitted by a State under this Act shall
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1 be adopted by such State after reasonable notice and pub2 lic hearing. The Administrator shall not approve a revision

3 of a plan if the revision would not comply with any appli4 cable requirement of this Act.

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

6 of the sanctions listed in section 2 whenever the Adminis7 trator makes a finding, disapproval, or determination

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

9 (f) FEDERAL IMPLEMENTATION PLANS.—The Ad10 ministrator shall promulgate a Federal implementation

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

12 (1) finds that a State has failed to make a re13 quired submission or finds that the plan or plan re14 vision submitted by the State does not satisfy the

15 minimum criteria established under this Act; or

16 (2) disapproves a State implementation plan

17 submission in whole or in part,

18 unless the State corrects the deficiency, and the Adminis19 trator approves the plan or plan revision, before the Ad20 ministrator promulgates such Federal implementation

21 plan.

22 SEC. 2. SANCTIONS.

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

24 or plan revision required under this part or required in
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1 response to a finding of substantial inadequacy as de2 scribed in section 1, if the Administrator—

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

4 plan, or to submit 1 or more of the elements (as de5 termined by the Administrator) required by the pro6 visions of this Act;

7 (2) disapproves in whole or in part a plan sub8 mission under section 1; and

9 (3) finds that any requirement of an approved

10 plan (or approved part of a plan) is not being imple11 mented,

12 unless such deficiency has been corrected within 18

13 months after the finding, disapproval, or determination re14 ferred to in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3), the sanctions

15 referred to in subsection (b) shall apply until the Adminis16 trator determines that the State has come into compliance.

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

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

19 the Secretary of Transportation of any projects or the

20 awarding by the Secretary of any grants, under title 23,

21 United States Code, other than projects or grants for safe22 ty where the Secretary determines, based on accident or

23 other appropriate data submitted by the State, that the

24 principal purpose of the project is an improvement in safe25 ty to resolve a demonstrated safety problem and likely will
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1 result in a significant reduction in, or avoidance of, acci2 dents. Such prohibition shall become effective upon the se3 lection by the Administrator of this sanction.

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

5 be approved by the Secretary, notwithstanding the prohi6 bition in paragraph (1), are the following—

7 (A) capital programs for public transit;

8 (B) construction or restriction of certain roads

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

10 occupancy vehicles;

11 (C) highway ramp metering, traffic signaliza12 tion, and related programs that improve traffic flow;

13 (D) fringe and transportation corridor parking

14 facilities serving multiple occupancy vehicle pro15 grams or transit operations;

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

17 downtown areas or other areas of emission con18 centration particularly during periods of peak use,

19 through road use charges, tolls, parking surcharges,

20 or other pricing mechanisms, vehicle restricted zones

21 or periods, or vehicle registration programs; and

22 (F) programs for breakdown and accident scene

23 management, nonrecurring congestion, and vehicle

24 information systems, to reduce congestion.
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1 SEC. 3. INCENTIVES.

2 (a) GRANT PROGRAM.—The Administrator is author3 ized to make grants to each State that phases out the in4 cineration of solid waste prior to the deadline established

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

6 of finding alternative, environmental friendly means of

7 sold waste disposal. The Administrator may make grants

8 under this subsection in the amount of—

9 (1) $60,000,000 to States that phase out the

10 incineration of solid waste within 1 year after the

11 enactment of this Act;

12 (2) $40,000,000 to States that phase out the

13 incineration of solid waste within 2 years after the

14 enactment of this Act; and

15 (3) $25,000,000 to States that phase out the

16 incineration of solid waste within 3 years after the

17 enactment of this Act.

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

19 that a State phases out the incineration of solid waste,

20 such State shall have the authority to limit or restrict the

21 importation of solid waste in such State.

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