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[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1782 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1782

To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to 
 apply the hazard ranking system under the Comprehensive Environmental 
   Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to areas in the 
Chesapeake Bay Program in the same manner as such system is applied to 
                 areas in the National Estuary Program.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 21, 1993

 Mr. Gilchrest (for himself, Mrs. Bentley, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Bartlett of 
Maryland, Mr. Mfume, Mr. Hoyer, Mrs. Morella, and Mr. Wynn) introduced 
  the following bill; which was referred jointly to the Committees on 
        Public Works and Transportation and Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to 
 apply the hazard ranking system under the Comprehensive Environmental 
   Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to areas in the 
Chesapeake Bay Program in the same manner as such system is applied to 
                 areas in the National Estuary Program.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Chesapeake Bay Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has adopted 
        revisions to the Hazard Ranking System, the principal mechanism 
        for placing sites on the National Priorities List (NPL) under 
        the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and 
        Liability Act of 1980. These revisions took effect March 14, 
        1991.
            (2) The revised ranking system made changes in the way EPA 
        evaluates potential threats to human health and the environment 
        from hazardous waste sites.
            (3) Within the revised ranking system, EPA expanded the 
        list of sensitive environments. The most sensitive 
        environments, like critical habitats for federally designated 
        endangered or threatened species, and sensitive areas 
        identified under the National Estuary Program, are granted 
        additional points.
            (4) The Chesapeake Bay Program, established to coordinate a 
        Federal program to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, designates a 
        sensitive estuarine environment with respect to which Federal 
        resources have been invested. These areas deserve the same 
        protection as the protection provided for estuaries under the 
        National Estuary Program.

SEC. 3. REQUIREMENT TO RANK CHESAPEAKE BAY PROGRAM AREAS IN SAME MANNER 
              AS NATIONAL ESTUARY PROGRAM AREAS UNDER SUPERFUND HAZARD 
              RANKING SYSTEM.

    (a) Requirement.--Not later than 60 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Environmental 
Protection Agency shall by rule promulgate an amendment to the hazard 
ranking system under section 105(c) of the Comprehensive Environmental 
Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9605(c)) 
to require that such system be applied to areas under the Chesapeake 
Bay Program in the same manner as the system is applied to areas under 
the National Estuary Program by, at a minimum, considering areas in the 
Chesapeake Bay Program to be environmentally sensitive and by assigning 
such areas the same rating value as areas under the estuary program.
    (b) Reevaluations.--After the amendment is promulgated under 
subsection (a), the Administrator of the Environmental Protection 
Agency shall reevaluate the hazard ranking of any area in the 
Chesapeake Bay Program which was evaluated in accordance with the 
criteria under the hazard ranking system before the effective date of 
the amendment required by subsection (a).
    (c) Chesapeake Bay Program Defined.--For purposes of this Act, the 
term ``Chesapeake Bay Program'' means the program referred to in 
section 117 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 
1267).

                                 <all>
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