I
104TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2211
To establish certain requirements with respect to solid waste and hazardous
waste incinerators, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AUGUST 4, 1995
Mr. RICHARDSON (for himself, Mr. TOWNS, and Mr. HINCHEY) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce
A BILL
To establish certain requirements with respect to solid waste
and hazardous waste incinerators, and for other purposes.
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 ‘‘Dioxin Reduction and
Incinerator Alternatives Act of 1995’’.
SEC. 2. MORATORIUM ON MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE INCIN-
ERATORS.
(a) AMENDMENT TO SUBTITLE D.—Subtitle D of the
Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6941 et seq.) is
amended by adding at the end the following new section:
‘‘(D) ingestion or inhalation of soil par-
ticles contaminated with air emissions or incin-
erator ash; or
‘‘(E) dermal contact with air emissions or
incinerator ash.
‘‘(6) The applicant shall demonstrate that the
facility is not situated in a nonattainment area (as
that term is used in part D of title I of the Clean
Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7501 et seq.)).
‘‘(7) The applicant shall demonstrate that the
facility will not harm the local economy, including a
demonstration that it will not negatively affect prop-
erty values.
‘‘(8) The applicant shall demonstrate that the
full cost of the facility over its entire life, including
capital costs, debt service, liability insurance, reme-
diation, and long-term operation and maintenance
expenses, will be less costly than reducing, recycling,
or composting waste.
‘‘(9) The Federal agency, State or local govern-
ment, or other waste management jurisdiction shall
conduct a full public participation process, including
public hearings, to address the proposed facility. As
part of the process, the applicant shall provide to
local community groups concerned about the project
a technical assistance grant of at least $50,000. The
applicant shall renew the grant every six months
after the initial grant is made until the date on
which final action is completed by each Federal
agency, State or local government, or other waste
management jurisdiction on each permit for con-
struction or expansion of the facility.
‘‘(10) The proposed construction or expansion
must be approved by the unit of local government in
whose boundaries the facility would be sited.
‘‘(11) The applicant shall demonstrate the fol-
lowing with respect to the applicant, any firm en-
gaged to operate the facility, the parent firm of the
applicant and any firm engaged to operate the facil-
ity, and any firms controlled by the parent firm or
the operating firm or the applicant:
‘‘(A) Each such entity is in compliance
with Federal and State environmental and pub-
lic health statutes and regulations.
‘‘(B) Each such entity has paid all out-
standing fines or penalties for violations of such
statutes or regulations.
‘‘(C) Each such entity has made available
to the public at the site, and at local public li-
braries in the jurisdiction where the facility
would be sited, a disclosure statement. The dis-
closure statement shall include the following in-
formation with respect to the entity:
‘‘(i) A list of each conviction of fraud
or any criminal offense during the previous
10 years in connection with obtaining or
attempting to obtain a contract.
‘‘(ii) A list of each conviction of a vio-
lation of a State or Federal antitrust law
during the previous 10 years, including
convictions relating to unlawful price-fix-
ing, allocation of customers among com-
petitors, and bid-rigging.
‘‘(iii) A list of each citation for a per-
mit violation under a Federal, State, or
local environmental statute during the pre-
vious 5 years.
‘‘(iv) A list of each citation for failure
to conduct proper cleanup, reclamation, or
closure of a site or forfeiture of a bond for
such a failure during the previous 5 years.
‘‘(12) The applicant shall complete, after public
notice and comment, an environmental impact state-
ment. Such statement shall be conducted in the
same manner and in conformance with the same
standards required for environmental impact state-
ments under the National Environmental Policy Act
(42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and must be approved by
the State.
‘‘(13) The applicant shall demonstrate that the
facility is not located within 11⁄2 miles of any school,
hospital, church, synagogue, mosque, prison, body of
surface water used as a drinking water source, or
site designated by any Federal or State agency as a
recharge zone for an aquifer that serves as a drink-
ing water source.
‘‘(14) The State in which the incinerator is lo-
cated shall complete, prior to 1998, an incinerator
capacity study which makes a determination of each
of the following:
‘‘(A) The baseline capacity within the
State and after all recyclables, compostables
and noncombustibles are diverted from the
waste stream.
‘‘(B) The baseline capacity within the En-
vironmental Protection Agency Region and
after diversion of list in I,2),a).
‘‘(C) The baseline capacity for landfills
after diversion of list in I,2),a).
‘‘(D) Potential health impacts of additional
incinerators.
‘‘(E) Any disproportionate impact on mi-
nority and low-income communities of addi-
tional incinerators.
States shall have the authority to levy a fee from ex-
isting incinerator and landfills to fund studies.
‘‘(15) The Administrator has conducted, during
1998 and 1999, a national capacity study based on
the information contained in State studies conducted
under paragraph (14).
‘‘(16) The applicant shall demonstrate that the
location of the facility will not have a disproportion-
ate impact on minority or low-income communities.
‘‘(c) WASTE
COMPOSITION
ANALYSIS
REGULA-
TIONS.—(1) Not later than January 1, 1998, the Adminis-
trator shall promulgate regulations containing standards
for the conduct of waste composition analyses under sub-
section (b)(1). In the regulations, the Administrator shall
define the term ‘waste composition analysis’ to mean—
‘‘(A) an identification of all materials that fall
within standard categories and subcategories of ma-
terials set forth by the Administrator, including, at
a minimum, glass, newspapers, other paper, metals,
plastics, yard waste, and food waste; and
‘‘(B) a measurement of the quantities of those
materials, using a method established by the Admin-
istrator.
‘‘(2) The regulations also shall include procedures
for—
‘‘(A) certification of the accuracy of a waste
composition analysis by the entity carrying out the
analysis; and
‘‘(B) verification by the Administrator of the
accuracy of a waste composition analysis.
‘‘(d) AUTHORITY TO IMPOSE HIGHER DIVERSION
RATES.—The Administrator shall assess periodically, but
not less often than at least once every 3 years, whether
the achievement of higher diversion rates under subsection
(b)(2) is feasible. If the Administrator concludes that a
higher rate is feasible for one or more materials listed in
subsection (b)(2), the Administrator may by rule require
such higher rate for the material under such subsection.
‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the
following definitions apply:
‘‘(1) The term ‘municipal solid waste inciner-
ator’ means a distinct operating unit of any facility
which combusts any solid waste material from com-
mercial or industrial establishments or the general
public (including single and multiple residences, ho-
tels, and motels). Such term does not include (i) in-
cinerators or other units required to have a permit
under section 3005; (ii) materials recovery facilities
(including primary or secondary smelters) which
combust waste for the primary purpose of recovering
metals; (iii) qualifying small power production facili-
ties, as defined in section 3(17)(C) of the Federal
Power Act (16 U.S.C. 769(17)(C)), which burn ho-
mogeneous waste (other than refuse-derived fuel) for
the production of electric energy; (iv) air curtain in-
cinerators provided that such incinerators only burn
wood wastes, yard wastes, and clean lumber and
that such air curtain incinerators comply with opac-
ity limitations to be established by the Administrator
by rule; or (v) incinerators or other units that burn
only infectious medical waste.
‘‘(2) The term ‘waste management jurisdiction’
means a governmental entity which issues permits
for construction or expansion of municipal solid
waste incinerators within its boundaries.
‘‘(f) REGULATIONS.—The Administrator shall pro-
mulgate regulations to carry out this section.’’.
(b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents
for subtitle D of such Act (contained in section 1001 of
such Act) is amended by adding at the end the following
new item:
‘‘Sec. 4011. Municipal solid waste incinerators.’’.
SEC. 3. MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE INCINERATOR ASH MAN-
AGEMENT.
Section 4003(a) of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42
U.S.C. 6921) is amended by adding at the end the follow-
ing:
‘‘(6) ASH FROM MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE INCINER-
ATORS.—(A) The plan shall insure that ash from munici-
pal solid waste incinerators is managed in a monofill that
contains only ash from such incinerators and that in-
cludes, at a minimum, the following design components:
‘‘(i) A double liner system designed, operated,
and constructed of materials to prevent the migra-
tion of any constituent into the liners during the pe-
riod such facility remains in operation (including
any postclosure monitoring period). The double liner
system shall consist of one flexible membrane liner
and one composite liner, with a leachate collection
system above and between such liners. For purposes
of this subsection, the term ‘flexible membrane liner’
means a liner that consists of high density poly-
ethylene or equivalent material that is at least 60
mils thick and a layer of recompacted clay or other
natural materials at least 3 feet thick with hydraulic
conductivity of no more than 1 x 10–7 centimeter per
second.
‘‘(ii) Upon closure, a final composite cover sys-
tem designed, operated, and constructed of materials
to prevent the infiltration of precipitation into such
cover during any closure or post-closure monitoring
period. For purposes of this section, the term ‘com-
posite cover’ means a cover which consists of high
density polyethylene or equivalent material that is at
least 40 mils thick and a layer of recompacted clay
or other natural materials at least 2 feet thick with
hydraulic conductivity of no more than 1 x 10–7 cen-
timeter per second.
‘‘(B) Municipal solid waste incinerators in existence
on the date of the enactment of the Pollution Prevention
and Incineration Alternatives Act of 1995 shall meet the
requirements of clause (i) not later than 3 years after such
date of enactment.
‘‘(C) As of the date of the enactment of the Pollution
Prevention and Incineration Alternatives Act of 1995, the
utilization of municipal solid waste incinerator ash for any
purpose is prohibited.
‘‘(D) For purposes of this paragraph, the following
definitions apply:
‘‘(i) The term ‘ash from municipal solid waste
incinerators’ means the residues resulting from the
combustion of municipal solid waste in a municipal
solid waste incinerator.
‘‘(ii) The term ‘municipal solid waste inciner-
ator’ means a distinct operating unit of any facility
which combusts any solid waste material from com-
mercial or industrial establishments or the general
public (including single and multiple residences, ho-
tels, and motels). Such term does not include (I) in-
cinerators or other units required to have a permit
under section 3005; (II) materials recovery facilities
(including primary or secondary smelters) which
combust waste for the primary purpose of recovering
metals; (III) qualifying small power production fa-
cilities, as defined in section 3(17)(C) of the Federal
Power Act (16 U.S.C. 769(17)(C)), which burn ho-
mogeneous waste (other than refuse-derived fuel) for
the production of electric energy; (IV) air curtain in-
cinerators provided that such incinerators only burn
wood wastes, yard wastes and clean lumber and that
such air curtain incinerators comply with opacity
limitations to be established by the Administrator by
rule; or (V) incinerators or other units that burn
only infectious medical waste.’’.
SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON INCINERATION OF CERTAIN
MATERIALS.
(a) PROHIBITION.—Section 3001 of the Solid Waste
Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6921) is further amended by add-
ing at the end the following new subsection:
‘‘(k) PROHIBITION ON INCINERATION OF CERTAIN
MATERIALS.—The following materials and products may
not be incinerated in a municipal solid waste incinerator:
‘‘(1) Household hazardous waste.
‘‘(2) Batteries.
‘‘(3) Chlorinated plastics.
‘‘(4) Consumer electronics.
‘‘(5) Yard waste.’’.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Subsection (k) of section
3001 of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (as added by sub-
section (a)) shall take effect 18 months after the date of
the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 5. REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO HAZARDOUS WASTE
INCINERATORS.
(a) AMENDMENT TO SUBTITLE C.—Subtitle C of the
Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6921 et seq.) is
amended by adding at the end the following new section:
‘‘SEC. 3021. HAZARDOUS WASTE INCINERATORS.
‘‘(a) GENERAL REQUIREMENTS.—Effective on the
date of the enactment of the Pollution Prevention and In-
cineration Alternatives Act of 1995, no Federal agency,
State or local government, or any other waste manage-
ment jurisdiction may issue a permit or other prior ap-
proval for the construction or expansion of a hazardous
waste incinerator unless the following requirements are
met:
‘‘(1) The applicant for the permit or other prior
approval, and all generators of waste expected to be
incinerated at the facility, shall conduct waste com-
position analyses that identify and quantify all the
waste expected to be incinerated at the facility, in-
cluding all toxic or hazardous substances in the
waste.
‘‘(2) The applicant shall demonstrate that the
toxics use reduction requirements of subsection (b)
have been met.
‘‘(3) The applicant shall demonstrate that the
facility will not interfere with, divert resources from,
or otherwise serve as a disincentive to, aggressive
implementation of the toxics use reduction require-
ments of subsection (b).
‘‘(4) The applicant shall demonstrate that the
facility will not adversely affect the environment or
human health as a consequence of—
‘‘(A) exposure to air emissions or inciner-
ator ash through inhalation;
‘‘(B) ingestion of food contaminated by air
emissions or incinerator ash as a consequence
of incorporation of such ash or emissions into
the food chain;
‘‘(C) ingestion of potable water or aquatic
organisms contaminated by surface water dis-
charges, surface runoff, leaching, or percolation
of air emissions or incinerator ash into ground
water or surface water;
‘‘(D) ingestion or inhalation of soil par-
ticles contaminated with air emissions or incin-
erator ash; or
‘‘(E) dermal contact with air emissions or
incinerator ash.
‘‘(5) The applicant shall demonstrate that the
facility will not harm the local economy, including a
demonstration that it will not negatively affect prop-
erty values.
‘‘(6) The applicant shall demonstrate that there
is no safer disposal or treatment technology available
for any of the wastes.
‘‘(7) The Federal agency, State or local govern-
ment, or other waste management jurisdiction shall
conduct a full public participation process, including
public hearings, to address the proposed facility. As
‘‘(C) Each such entity has made available
to the public at the site, and at local public li-
braries in the jurisdiction where the facility
would be sited, a disclosure statement. The dis-
closure statement shall include the following in-
formation with respect to the entity:
‘‘(i) A list of each conviction of fraud
or any criminal offense during the previous
10 years in connection with obtaining or
attempting to obtain a contract.
‘‘(ii) A list of each conviction of a vio-
lation of a State or Federal anti-trust law
during the previous 10 years, including
convictions relating to unlawful price-fix-
ing, allocation of customers among com-
petitors, and bid-rigging.
‘‘(iii) A list of each citation for a per-
mit violation under a Federal, State, or
local environmental statute during the pre-
vious 5 years.
‘‘(iv) A list of each citation for failure
to conduct proper cleanup, reclamation, or
closure of a site or forfeiture of a bond for
such a failure during the previous 5 years.
‘‘(10) The applicant shall complete, after public
notice and comment, an environmental impact state-
ment. Such statement shall be conducted in the
same manner and in conformance with the same
standards required for environmental impact state-
ments under the National Environmental Policy Act
(42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and must be approved by
the State.
‘‘(11) The applicant shall demonstrate that the
facility is not located within 11⁄2 miles of any school,
hospital, church, synagogue, mosque, prison, body of
surface water used as a drinking water source, or
site designated by any Federal or State agency as a
recharge zone for an aquifer that serves as a drink-
ing water source.
‘‘(12) The applicant shall demonstrate that the
location of the facility will not have a disproportion-
ate impact on minority or low-income communities.
‘‘(b) TOXICS USE REDUCTION REQUIREMENTS.—(1)
For purposes of subsection (a)(2), an applicant for a per-
mit, and each generator of waste expected to be inciner-
ated at the facility, shall demonstrate that each such gen-
erator has completed and made available to the public, and
intends to complete and make available each subsequent
year, a report on the use of toxic or hazardous substances
at the generator’s facility and the reduction of the use of
such substances during the preceding year at the genera-
tor’s facility. The report shall include, at a minimum, the
following:
‘‘(A) A materials accounting for each toxic or
hazardous substance used in each production unit of
the generator’s facility and for the facility as a
whole.
‘‘(B) An evaluation of options for reducing the
use of toxic and hazardous substances in each pro-
duction unit of the generator’s facility.
‘‘(C) Two- and five-year goals, by toxic and
hazardous substance, for reducing the use of each
substance in each production unit of the generator’s
facility and in the facility as a whole.
‘‘(D) A schedule for implementing the goals re-
ferred to in subparagraph (C).
‘‘(E) A statement signed by an independent ex-
pert certifying that, to the expert’s best knowledge
and belief, the report prepared by the generator is
true, complete, accurate, and prepared under a prop-
er data accounting and planning system.
‘‘(2) For purposes of subsection (a)(2), an applicant
for a permit shall demonstrate that the State in which
the facility is located, and each State in which generators
of waste expected to be incinerated at the facility are lo-
cated, has established and is implementing a toxics use
reduction program that includes, at a minimum, the fol-
lowing requirements:
‘‘(A) The program must be designed to achieve,
within 5 years after the date the program is estab-
lished, at least a 50 percent reduction, from the base
year, in the amount of toxic or hazardous substances
entering the hazardous waste stream prior to treat-
ment, recycling, handling, disposal, or release.
‘‘(B) The program must require generators of
hazardous waste to develop a plan for reducing their
toxic or hazardous substance use.
‘‘(C) The program must require each generator
of hazardous waste to publicly report on materials
accounting for each production unit of the genera-
tor’s facility and the facility as a whole.
‘‘(c) APPLICABILITY.—This section applies to any fa-
cility that burns hazardous waste, including cement kilns
and other industrial furnaces and boilers.
‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the
following definitions apply:
‘‘(1) The term ‘base year’ means any calendar
year, not earlier than 1991, for which a State has
complete and adequate information on the genera-
tion of toxic or hazardous substances entering the
hazardous waste stream, prior to treatment, recy-
cling, handling, disposal, or release.
‘‘(2) The term ‘toxic or hazardous substance’
means—
‘‘(A) a substance on the list described in
section 313(c) of the Emergency Planning and
Community Right-To-Know Act of 1986 (42
U.S.C. 11023(c));
‘‘(B) any chemical for which a Federal or
State law requires reporting similar to section
313 of such Act but which is not otherwise cov-
ered under subparagraph (A);
‘‘(C) any hazardous constituent of hazard-
ous wastes identified under regulations promul-
gated under this subtitle and listed in sections
261.33(e), 261.33(f), and Appendix VIII of
part 261 of title 40 of the Code of Federal Reg-
ulations; and
‘‘(D) any priority pollutant listed under
regulations relating to steam electric power
point source pollutants under the Federal
Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1311 et
seq.) (as listed in Appendix A of section 423 of
title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations).
‘‘(3)(A) The term ‘toxics use reduction’ means
any change in a production process or activity, raw
material, or product, that reduces or eliminates the
use of any toxic or hazardous substance, or the
amount of any toxic or hazardous substance entering
any waste stream or otherwise released to the envi-
ronment (including fugitive emissions and hazardous
secondary materials), prior to recycling, treatment,
disposal, handling, or release, without creating or in-
creasing risks to the public health, workers, consum-
ers, or the environment. The term includes produc-
tion equipment or technology modifications, reformu-
lation or redesign of products, substitution of raw
materials, changes in production processes or proce-
dures, and improvements in housekeeping, mainte-
nance, training, or inventory control.
‘‘(B) The term does not include (i) any waste
management or pollution control activity, or any
other practice which alters the physical, chemical, or
biological characteristics, or the volume, of a toxic or
hazardous substance through a process or activity
which itself is not integral to and necessary for the
production of a product or the providing of a service;
(ii) recycling without the use of in-process, in-line, or
closed-loop recycling methods according to standard
engineering practices and that is not integral to and
necessary for the production of the product within
the original production unit; or (iii) the use of a by-
product as hazardous secondary material, as a prod-
uct, or as a constituent of a product.’’.
(b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents
for subtitle C of such Act (contained in section 1001 of
such Act) is amended by adding at the end the following
new item:
‘‘Sec. 3021. Hazardous waste incinerators.’’.
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