Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist-
ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.) and amounts 
appropriated to the Administrator in response 
to Hurricane Katrina before using amounts 
made generally available to the Administrator. 
(3) APPLICABLE
STANDARDS
AND
REQUIRE-
MENTS.—Any activity or evaluation carried out 
under this subsection shall be subject to the same 
standards and requirements (including requirements 
relating to the use of funds) as are applicable to pro-
grams carried out using funds of the Environmental 
Protection Agency. 
SEC. 105. DEFINITIONS. 
In this title: 
(1) 
ENVIRONMENTAL
CONTAMINANT.—The 
term ‘‘environmental contaminant’’ means 
(A) any hazardous substance regulated 
under the Comprehensive Environmental Re-
sponse, Compensation, and Liability Act of 
1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq.); and 
(B) any solid waste regulated under the 
Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6901 et 
seq.). 
(2) HAZARDOUS MATERIAL.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘hazardous 
material’’ means— 
(i) a hazardous substance (as defined 
in section 101 of the Comprehensive Envi-
ronmental Response, Compensation, and 
Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601)); 
(ii) a petroleum-based substance; and 
(iii) an industrial or commercial chem-
ical. 
(B) INCLUDED IN TERM.—The term ‘‘haz-
ardous material’’ includes— 
(i) a petroleum-based product; 
(ii) a metal; 
(iii) a volatile or semi-volatile organic 
compound; 
(iv) a pesticide; 
(v) an herbicide; 
(vi) a polychlorinated biphenyl; and 
(vii) any biological material in flood-
water, surface water, sediment, or soil that 
may threaten human health or the environ-
ment. 
(3) INFECTIOUS MATERIAL.—The term ‘‘infec-
tious material’’ means each of the following:
(A) Any organism that is capable of pro-
ducing infection or infectious disease, such as a 
bacteria, fungus, parasite, protozoan or virus. 
(B) Any strain of a potentially virulent 
virus or other disease that was the subject of 
study and experimentation at one of several 
level 3 bioresearch labs located in the regions 
affected by recent hurricanes and flooding. 
(C) Any carrier acting as a vector for 
spreading infectious organisms or virulent dis-
eases, or both, such as a decaying corpse, or a 
living non-human agent such as an infected ro-
dent or an escaped laboratory test animal. 
(4) FACILITY OF CONCERN.—The term ‘‘facility 
of concern’’ means— 
(A) a chemical, petroleum, or other facility 
that is subject to the chemical accident preven-
tion program under section 112(r) of the Clean 
Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7412(r)); 
(B) a site on the National Priorities List 
developed by the President in accordance with 
section 105(a)(8)(B) of the Comprehensive En-
vironmental Response, Compensation, and Li-
ability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9605(a)(8)(B))
(including such a site for which corrective ac-
tion is ordered under that Act); 
(C) a site for which the Administrator or 
a State has ordered corrective action in accord-
ance with section 3004(u) or 3008(h) of the 
Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6924(u); 
6428(h)); 
(D) a hazardous waste generation, treat-
ment, storage, or disposal facility subject to 
regulation under subtitle C of the Solid Waste 
Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6921 et seq.); 
(E) a surface impoundment; 
(F) an aboveground storage tank; 
(G) an underground storage tank (as de-
fined in section 9001 of the Solid Waste Dis-
posal Act (42 U.S.C. 6991)); and 
(H) a railcar or tanker truck used to 
transport a hazardous constituent. 
(5) RELEASE.—The term ‘‘release’’ has the 
meaning given the term in section 101 of the Com-
prehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, 
and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601). 
(6) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-
trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ-
mental Protection Agency.
SEC. 106. COMPREHENSIVE PLAN. 
(a) DEVELOPMENT.— 
(1) PLANNING.—Immediately after the enact-
ment of this Act, the Administrator of the Environ-
mental Protection Agency, in coordination with the 
appropriate agencies of the Department of Health 
and Human Services and in consultation with the 
Governors of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and 
Texas as well as appropriate State and local public 
health and safety agencies, shall develop a Com-
prehensive Environmental Sampling and Toxicity 
Assessment Plan (CESTAP) to determine the imme-
diate and long-term hazards posed by exposure to 
environmental contaminants, hazardous materials or 
infectious materials released into the environment as 
a result of the hurricanes and resultant flooding. 
(2) COMPREHENSIVE TESTING.—The CESTAP 
shall include comprehensive testing by sampling and 
analysis involves sampling and monitoring: 
(A) soil; 
(B) water; 
(C) air; and 
(D) human populations 
in order to determine the presence, volume, and po-
tential distribution vectors of any environmental con-
taminant, hazardous material or infectious material.
(3) AGGREGATION
AND
ASSESSMENT.—Using 
data gathered pursuant to the CESTAP, the Admin-
istrator shall— 
(A) aggregate the data to identify: 
(i) environmental ‘‘hot spots,’’; 
(ii) known and potential toxicological 
threats; and 
(iii) public health trends; 
(B) assess the short-term, ongoing, and 
long-term human health risks (including cancer 
and noncancer health effects) from all routes of 
exposure associated with contaminant con-
centrations in floodwater, surface water, sedi-
ment, and soil, including any contamination 
that may remain in that water, sediment, or 
soil (including Lake Pontchartrain and soil in 
areas affected by Hurricane Katrina); and 
(C) include in the assessment under clause 
(i) a targeted analysis of risks to— 
(i) sensitive subpopulations (such as 
children, pregnant women, the elderly, and 
people with impaired immune systems); 
and 
(ii) low-income and minority commu-
nities.
(4) NOTIFICATION.—(A) The results should be 
used to alert State and local officials, including 
health and public safety officials. 
(B) The results should also be made available 
to the public and used in a public information cam-
paign to aggressively distribute information about 
public safety threats to the public. 
(C) Given the high potential for a public health 
disaster under circumstances of multiple releases of 
toxic and hazardous substances into the environment 
and the complex mixing of such materials in flood-
waters, the Administrator is charged with setting up 
the first line of defense against immediate and long- 
term threats to public safety by ensuring that all ex-
isting Federal and State environmental and work 
safety standards are diligently observed. 
(b) CLEAN-UP.—The CESTAP shall include provi-
sions to expedite the clean-up, removal or elimination of 
those environmental contaminants, hazardous materials 
and infectious materials, identified under the plan, which 
pose risks to public health. The Administrator shall 
prioritize cleanup activities to be conducted under this 
subsection based on the risks posed by a particular area 
in which the activities are to be conducted to human 
health or the environment.
(c) COORDINATION.—(1) The CESTAP shall encom-
pass and be coordinated with existing sampling, assess-
ment and cleanup efforts by Federal, State and local agen-
cies. 
(2) Given the scope of the types of testing necessary 
to the task, the multiple regions affected and the pressing 
need for haste, the work of independent, professional re-
searchers with established credentials shall not be ignored. 
Such work of citizen researchers, motivated by the same 
desire as the government to protect their fellow citizens 
from harm, shall be utilized by government officials in 
their work to guide them to the potentially most hazardous 
geographic sites and potential public health emergencies. 
(d) ZONING.— 
(1) RIGHT OF RETURN.—The Department of 
Homeland Security, the Federal Emergency Man-
agement Agency and the Environmental Protection 
Agency shall each allow and assist residents to re-
turn to their homes or to lay claim to their property, 
and in handling the relief and rehabilitation efforts 
in the Gulf region should be guided by this principle. 
(2) RIGHT TO KNOW THE RISKS.—Federal and 
State agencies bear a responsibility to the hurricane 
victims to inform them about the known and pos-
sible health risks they may face upon returning to