I
104TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4009
To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to improve public accountability
and public safety in the management of hazardous waste facilities.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AUGUST 2, 1996
Mr. SPRATT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Commerce
A BILL
To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to improve public
accountability and public safety in the management of
hazardous waste facilities.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Hazardous Waste Fa-
cilities Public Accountability Act of 1996’’.
SEC. 2. FACILITY SITING STANDARDS.
Section 3004(o)(7) of the Solid Waste Disposal Act
(42 U.S.C. 6924(o)(7)) is amended to read as follows:
‘‘(7)(A) The Administrator shall not authorize a
State program unless, within 12 months after the date of
Federal Register, after notice and opportunity for public
comment.
‘‘(4) If the Administrator determines, pursuant to
paragraph (2), that the fee provisions of a State program
do not meet the requirements of this subsection, or if the
Administrator determines that the State is not adequately
administering or enforcing an approved program, the Ad-
ministrator may, in addition to taking any other action
authorized under this subtitle, collect reasonable fees from
the owner or operator of the facilities identified in para-
graph (1). The fees shall be designed solely to cover the
Administrator’s costs of administering the provisions of
the permit program promulgated by the Administrator.
‘‘(5) In addition to any penalties that may be imposed
under other law, any owner or operator that fails to pay
fees imposed by the Administrator under paragraph (4),
within a reasonable time to be determined by the Adminis-
trator, shall pay a penalty of 50 percent of the fee amount
to the Administrator, plus interest on the fee amount com-
puted in accordance with section 6621(a)(2) of the Inter-
nal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to computation of in-
terest on underpayment of Federal taxes).
‘‘(6) To carry out activities of the Administrator for
which fees are collected under this subsection, an amount
equal to the total amount of any fees, penalties, and inter-
est collected by the Administrator during any fiscal year
under this subsection is authorized to be appropriated to
the Administrator. Any amounts appropriated pursuant to
this paragraph are authorized to remain available until ex-
pended.
‘‘(7) In imposing fees on facilities under this sub-
section, the Administrator may take into account the size
and complexity of the facilities, and other relevant fac-
tors.’’.
SEC. 4. QUALIFICATIONS OF PERMITTEES.
Section 3005 of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42
U.S.C. 6925) is amended by adding at the end the follow-
ing:
‘‘(k) QUALIFICATIONS OF PERMITTEES.—A person
may not obtain a permit for any facility under this title
or renew any such permit, obtain authorization to expand
the facility, or transfer ownership of the facility to any
other person, unless the person demonstrates the following
with respect to the person, any firm engaged to operate
the facility, the parent firm of the person and any firm
engaged to operate the facility, and any firms controlled
by the parent firm or the operating firm of the person:
‘‘(1) Each such entity is in compliance with
Federal and State environmental and public health
statutes and regulations.
‘‘(2) Each such entity has paid all outstanding
fines or penalties imposed on the entity for violations
of such statutes and regulations.
‘‘(3) Each such entity has made available a dis-
closure statement to the public at the site, and at
local public libraries in the jurisdiction where the fa-
cility would be sited if a permit were obtained. The
disclosure statement shall include the following items
of formation with respect to the entity:
‘‘(A) A list of each conviction for fraud or
any criminal offense during the immediately
preceding 10 years in connection with obtaining
or attempting to obtain a contract.
‘‘(B) A list of each conviction for a viola-
tion of a State or Federal antitrust law during
the immediately preceding 10 years, including
convictions relating to unlawful price-fixing, al-
location of customers among competitors, and
bid-rigging.
‘‘(C) A list of each citation during the im-
mediately preceding 5 years for a permit viola-
tion under a Federal, State, or local environ-
mental statute.
‘‘(D) A list of each citation during the im-
mediately preceding 5 years for failure to con-
duct proper cleanup, reclamation, or closure of
a site or forfeiture of a bond for such a fail-
ure.’’.
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