I
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 870
To amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and
Liability Act of 1980 to provide relief to local taxpayers, municipalities,
and small businesses regarding the cleanup of hazardous substances,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 4, 1993
Mr. TORRICELLI (for himself, Mr. DREIER, Mr. MOORHEAD, Mrs. ROUKEMA,
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. GEJDEN-
SON, Mr. COX, Mr. HORN, Mr. WELDON, Mr. KOPETSKI, Mr. PETERSON
of Minnesota, Mr. GALLO, Mr. KLECZKA, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. SISISKY, Mr.
SKAGGS, Mr. OBEY, Mr. PETE GEREN of Texas, Mrs. SCHROEDER, Mr.
KILDEE, Mr. MARTINEZ, Mr. DELLUMS, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. ANDREWS of
Maine, Mr. TORRES, Mr. BERMAN, Mrs. JOHNSON of Connecticut, Mr.
CRANE, Mr. BACCHUS of Florida, Mr. ANDREWS of New Jersey, Mr.
EVANS, Mr. PAYNE of New Jersey, Mr. MCKEON, Mr. DORNAN, Mr.
SCHUMER, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. HUNTER, Mr. FAZIO, and Mr. TRAFI-
CANT) introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to the
Committees on Energy and Commerce and Public Works and Transpor-
tation
A BILL
To amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Com-
pensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to provide relief
to local taxpayers, municipalities, and small businesses
regarding the cleanup of hazardous substances, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
ing, gardening, and automotive supplies). The term
does not include combustion ash generated by re-
source recovery facilities or municipal incinerators,
or waste from manufacturing or processing (includ-
ing pollution control) operations not essentially the
same as waste normally generated by households.
‘‘(40) The term ‘sewage sludge’ refers to any
solid, semisolid, or liquid residue removed during the
treatment of municipal waste water, domestic sew-
age, or other waste waters at or by a publicly owned
treatment works.
‘‘(41) The term ‘municipality’ means any politi-
cal subdivision of a State and may include cities,
counties, villages, towns, townships, boroughs, par-
ishes, schools, school districts, sanitation districts,
water districts, and other local governmental enti-
ties. The term also includes any natural person act-
ing in his or her official capacity as an official, em-
ployee, or agent of a municipality.’’.
(b) Section 113 of the Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 is
amended by adding the following new subsections at the
end thereof:
‘‘(m) CONTRIBUTION
ACTIONS
FOR
MUNICIPAL
SOLID WASTE AND SEWAGE SLUDGE.—No municipality
or other person shall be liable to any person other than
the President for claims of contribution under this section
or for other response costs, penalties, or damages under
this Act for the generation, transportation, or arrange-
ment for the transportation, treatment, or disposal of mu-
nicipal solid waste or sewage sludge.
‘‘(n) PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY.—In no event shall a
municipality incur liability under this Act for the acts of
owning or maintaining a public right-of-way over which
hazardous substances are transported, or of granting a
business license to a private party for the transportation,
treatment, or disposal of municipal solid waste or sewage
sludge. For the purposes of this subsection, ‘public right-
of-way’ includes, but is not limited to, roads, streets, flood
control channels, or other public transportation routes,
and pipelines used as a conduit for sewage or other liquid
or semiliquid discharges.’’.
(c) Section 122 of the Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 is
amended by adding the following new subsection at the
end thereof:
‘‘(n) SETTLEMENTS FOR GENERATORS AND TRANS-
PORTERS
OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE
OR SEWAGE
SLUDGE.—
‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE
PERSONS.—The term ‘eligible
person’ under this subsection means any person
against whom an administrative or judicial action is
brought, or to whom notice is given of potential li-
ability under this Act, for the generation, transpor-
tation, or arrangement for the transportation, treat-
ment, or disposal of municipal solid waste or sewage
sludge. An eligible person who may be liable under
section 107(a)(1) or 107(a)(2) of this Act or for
substances other than municipal solid waste or sew-
age sludge is covered by the Toxic Cleanup Equity
and Acceleration Act of 1993 and the amendments
to this Act made by the Toxic Cleanup Equity and
Acceleration Act of 1993 to the extent that the per-
son is liable for the generation, transportation, or
arrangement for the transportation, treatment, or
disposal of municipal solid waste or sewage sludge.
‘‘(2) NEGOTIATION OF SETTLEMENTS; MORATO-
RIUM.—Eligible persons under this subsection may
offer to settle their potential liability with the Presi-
dent by stating in writing their ability and willing-
ness to settle their potential liability in accordance
with this subsection. Upon receipt of such offer to
settle, neither the President nor any other person
shall take further administrative or judicial action
against the eligible person, unless the President de-
termines that the eligible person’s offer or position
during negotiations is not in good faith or otherwise
not in accordance with this subsection or that the
matters addressed include liability not related to the
generation, transportation, or arrangement for the
transportation, treatment, or disposal of municipal
solid waste or sewage sludge. Nothing in this sub-
section shall limit or modify the President’s author-
ity under section 104(e).
‘‘(3) TIMING.—Eligible persons may tender of-
fers under this subsection within 180 days after re-
ceiving a notice of potential liability or becoming
subject to administrative or judicial action, or within
180 days after a record of decision is issued for the
portion of the response action that is the subject of
the person’s settlement offer, whichever is later. If
the President notifies an eligible person that he or
she may be a potentially responsible party, no fur-
ther administrative or judicial action may be taken
by any party for 120 days against such person.
‘‘(4) EXPEDITED
FINAL
SETTLEMENT.—The
President shall make a good faith effort to reach
final settlements as promptly as possible under this
subsection and such settlements shall—
‘‘(A) allocate to all generation, transpor-
tation, or arrangement for the transportation,
treatment, or disposal of municipal solid waste
or sewage sludge a combined total of no more
than 4 percent of the total response costs for
the facility; provided, however, that the Presi-
dent shall reduce this percentage when the
presence of municipal solid waste and sewage
sludge is not significant at the facility;
‘‘(B) require an eligible person under this
subsection to pay only for his or her equitable
share of the maximum 4 percent portion of re-
sponse costs described in subparagraph (A);
‘‘(C) limit an eligible person’s payments
based on such person’s inability to pay,
litigative risks, public interest considerations,
precedential value, and equitable factors;
‘‘(D) permit an eligible person to provide
in-kind services with regard to the response ac-
tion in lieu of cash contributions and to be
credited at market rates for such services;
‘‘(E) limit a publicly owned treatment
works’ payments if it has promoted the bene-
ficial reuse of sewage sludge through land appli-
cation when the basis of liability arises from
sewage sludge generated 36 months after the
date of enactment of this subsection or there-
after; and
‘‘(F) be reached even in the event that an
eligible person may be liable under sections
107(a)(1) or 107(a)(2) of this Act or for sub-
stances other than municipal solid waste or
sewage sludge.
‘‘(5) COVENANT NOT TO SUE.—The President
may provide a covenant not to sue with respect to
the facility concerned to any person who has entered
into a settlement under this subsection unless such
a covenant would be inconsistent with the public in-
terest as determined under subsection (f) of this sec-
tion.
‘‘(6) EFFECT OF AGREEMENT.—A person that
has resolved his or her liability to the United States
under this subsection shall not be liable for claims
of contribution or for other response costs, penalties,
or damages under this Act regarding matters ad-
dressed in the settlement. Such settlement does not
discharge any of the other potentially responsible
parties unless its terms so provide, but it reduces
the potential liability of the others by the amount of
the settlement.
‘‘(7) DE MINIMIS SETTLEMENTS.—Nothing in
this subsection shall alter or diminish a person’s
ability to reach a settlement with the President
under subsection (g) of this section.
‘‘(o) FUTURE
DISPOSAL
PRACTICES.—This sub-
section applies only to the generation, transportation, or
arrangement for the transportation, treatment, or disposal
of municipal solid waste or sewage sludge occurring 36
months after the date of enactment of this subsection. Be-
ginning at such time and with regard to such future mu-
nicipal solid waste or sewage sludge, eligible persons who
are municipalities or operators of publicly owned treat-
ment works may assert the provisions of subsection (n)
only under the following circumstances:
‘‘(1) if liability arises from municipal solid
waste collected and disposed of 36 months or later
after the date of enactment of this subsection and
the eligible person is a municipality, a qualified
household hazardous waste collection program must
have been operating while the municipal solid waste
was collected and disposed of; or
‘‘(2) if liability arises from sewage sludge gen-
erated 36 months or later after the date of enact-
ment of this subsection and the eligible person is an
owner or operator of a publicly owned treatment
works, a qualified publicly owned treatment works
must have been operating while the sewage sludge
was generated at such treatment works.
‘‘(3) The term ‘qualified household hazardous
waste collection program’ means a program that in-
cludes—
‘‘(A) at least semiannual, well-publicized
collections at conveniently located collections
points with an intended goal of participation by
ten percent of community households;
‘‘(B) a public education program that iden-
tifies both hazardous household products and
safer substitutes (source reduction);
‘‘(C) efforts to collect hazardous waste
from conditionally exempt small quantity gen-
erators under section 3001(d) of the Solid
Waste Disposal Act, with an intended goal of
collecting wastes from 20 percent of such gen-
erators doing business within the jurisdiction of
the municipality; and
‘‘(D) a comprehensive plan, which may include
regional compacts or joint ventures, that outlines
how the program will be accomplished.
‘‘(4) A person that operates a ‘qualified house-
hold hazardous waste collection program’ and col-
lects hazardous waste from conditionally exempt
small quantity generators under section 3001(d) of
the Solid Waste Disposal Act must transport or ar-
range to transport such waste in accordance with
the Solid Waste Disposal Act and must dispose of
such waste at a hazardous waste treatment, storage
or disposal facility with a permit under section 3005
of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6925),
but such person is otherwise deemed to be handling
only household waste under the Solid Waste Dis-
posal Act when it operates a qualified household
hazardous waste collection program.
‘‘(5) Nothing in this Act is intended to prohibit
a municipality from assessing fees to persons whose
waste is accepted during household hazardous waste
collections, or shall prohibit a municipality from re-
fusing to accept waste that the municipality believes
is being disposed of in violation of the Solid Waste
Disposal Act.
‘‘(6) The term ‘qualified publicly owned treat-
ment works’ means a publicly owned treatment
works that complies with section 405 of the Federal
Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1345).
‘‘(7) The President may determine that a
household hazardous waste collection program or a
publicly owned treatment works is not qualified
under this subsection. Minor instances of noncompli-
ance do not render a household hazardous waste col-
lection program or publicly owned treatment works
unqualified under this subsection.
‘‘(8) If the President determines that a house-
hold hazardous waste collection program is not
qualified, the provisions of subsection (n) shall not
apply, but only with regard to the municipal solid
waste disposed of during the period of disqualifica-
tion.
‘‘(9) If a municipality or operator of a publicly
owned treatment works is notified by the President
or by a State with a program approved under sec-
tion 402(b) of the Federal Water Pollution Control
Act (33 U.S.C. 1342(b)) that its publicly owned
treatment works is not in compliance with the re-
quirements of paragraph (6) of this subsection, and
if such noncompliance is not remedied within twelve
months, the provisions of subsection (n) shall not
apply, but only with regard to the sewage sludge
generated or disposed of during the period of non-
compliance.’’.
(d) Section 122(g)(1)(A)(i) of the Comprehensive En-
vironmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of
1980 is amended by inserting the following sentence at
the end thereof: ‘‘The amount of hazardous substances in
municipal solid waste and sewage sludge shall refer to the
quantity of hazardous substances which are constituents
within municipal solid waste and sewage sludge, not the
overall quantity of municipal solid waste and sewage
sludge.’’.
(e) Nothing in this section shall modify the meaning
or interpretation of the Solid Waste Disposal Act.
(f) Nothing in this section shall modify a State’s abil-
ity under the Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to carry out ac-
tions authorized in such Act and to enter into a contract
or cooperative agreement with the President to carry out
such actions.
(g) The settlement procedures and bar on judicial
and administrative proceedings addressed in this section
shall apply even if any constituent component of municipal
solid waste or sewage sludge may be considered a hazard-
ous substance under the Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 when
the constituent component exists apart from municipal
solid waste or sewage sludge.
(h) This Act and the amendments made by this sec-
tion shall apply to each municipality and other person
against whom administrative or judicial action has been
commenced before the effective date of this Act, unless
a final court judgment has been rendered against such
municipality or other person or final court approval of a
settlement agreement including such municipality or other
person as a party has been granted. If a final court judg-
ment has been rendered or court-approved settlement
agreement has been reached that does not resolve all con-
tested issues, such amendments shall apply to all con-
tested issues not expressly resolved by such court judg-
ment or settlement agreement.
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