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bearing account which shall be available only for purposes
of the water treatment project carried out under sub-
section (a).
‘‘(d) LEVEL OF TREATMENT.—The water treatment
provided pursuant to contracts and cooperative agree-
ments under this section shall be adequate to insure that
the treated water will comply with the most stringent
standards applicable to drinking water under title XIV of
the Public Health Service Act (the Safe Drinking Water
Act) or under any provision of State law governing drink-
ing water quality.
‘‘(e) RECOVERY OF FEDERAL SHARE OF COST.—
There are authorized to be appropriated to the Adminis-
trator such sums as may be necessary to cover 20 percent
of the total costs of carrying out the water treatment
project carried out under subsection (a). For purposes of
section 107, the Federal share of costs made available pur-
suant to this subsection shall be included as costs of reme-
dial action within the meaning of section 107(a)(4)(A)
which are recoverable by the United States Government
in an action under section 107 against potentially respon-
sible parties who are not participating parties. For pur-
poses of section 107 all actions taken by the Administrator
and the Authority in conformity with this section shall be
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deemed to have been taken in conformity with the Na-
tional Contingency Plan.
‘‘(f) EXEMPTION FROM OTHER LIABILITY.—No par-
ticipating party making contributions pursuant to an
agreement under this section and complying with sub-
section (b)(2) shall be liable, under any other provision
of this Act or the Solid Waste Disposal Act or under any
State statutory laws or rules of common law, for the costs
of any removal or remediation with respect to hazardous
substances released into the San Gabriel Basin, or for
costs or damages to natural resources associated with such
Basin, to the extent such release occurred before the en-
actment of this section and is identified in a site assess-
ment, and no participating party shall be required to abate
any such prior release of any hazardous substances into
the Basin (except to the extent required by subsection
(b)(2)(B)). The exemption provided by the preceding sen-
tence for any participating party shall cease to apply to
such participating party upon a determination by the Ad-
ministrator that such participating party—
‘‘(1) has failed or refused to make any portion
of the contribution required of such party pursuant
to an agreement under this section,
‘‘(2) has failed or refused to carry out the ac-
tivities required under subsection (b)(2), or
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‘‘(3) has filed a suit against another person for
contribution of costs as described in subsection (f).
‘‘(g) CONTRIBUTION.—No participating party may
bring an action against any other person to require such
other person to contribute any part of the costs required
to be paid to the Administrator by such participating
party under this section.
‘‘(h) RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER LAWS.—Except as
provided in subsection (f), nothing in this section shall be
construed to affect the liability of any person under any
other provision of this Act or under any other provision
of law with respect to hazardous substances, pollutants,
or contaminants in the San Gabriel Basin. Nothing in this
section shall be construed to affect the authority of the
Administrator to carry out removal or remedial action or
any other response action with respect to such hazardous
substances, pollutants, or contaminants in addition to the
demonstration project authorized by this section.
‘‘(i) LIABILITY EXEMPTION
FOR PUBLIC WATER
SYSTEMS.—Neither the owner or operator of a qualified
public water system shall be liable under any provision of
Federal statutory or common law affording rights of con-
tribution for costs or damages in any suit for recovery of
costs for a removal or remedial action with respect to haz-
ardous substances in the San Gabriel Basin if such a suit
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is brought by a potentially responsible party that is not
a participating party under this section.
‘‘(j) COMPREHENSIVE
ENVIRONMENTAL
COMPLI-
ANCE PROGRAM.—
‘‘(1) GENERAL REQUIREMENTS.—To qualify as
a participating party under this section, a potentially
responsible party must establish a Comprehensive
Environmental Compliance Program and agree to
conduct an Environmental Site Assessment.
‘‘(2) REGISTERED
ENVIRONMENTAL
ASSES-
SORS.—The Comprehensive Environmental Compli-
ance Program and Environmental Site Assessment
shall be prepared, signed, and dated by a registered
civil engineer or registered geologist in accordance
with State law, and the Program shall be certified
by a person who is capable of committing the finan-
cial resources necessary to implement the Program,
such as the owner, operator, or responsible corporate
officer, or in the case of a government agency, a
principal executive official or a ranking elected
official.
‘‘(3) CONTENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL SITE AS-
SESSMENT.—The Environmental Site Assessment
required under this section shall contain—
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‘‘(A) an evaluation of practices and proce-
dures established by the current owner or oper-
ator of the facility for which the assessment is
conducted to—
‘‘(i) ensure continuing compliance
with applicable environmental require-
ments; and
‘‘(ii) identify and implement hazard-
ous waste reduction opportunities for the
facility.
‘‘(B) the results of Level I Preliminary As-
sessment (noninvasive investigation and regu-
latory search), and if site conditions warrant,
the Level II Assessment (invasive sampling for
suspected hazardous materials and preparation
of remedial design specifications) and the Level
III Assessment (on-site remediation); and
‘‘(C) demonstration of compliance with all
applicable State and Federal laws, such as, but
not limited to the ‘Community Right-to-Know
Act’ and ‘California Hazardous Waste Reduc-
tion Act and Management Review’ (SB 14);
‘‘(4) COPIES.—Copies of each environmental
site assessment shall be provided to the Adminis-
trator and the appropriate State official.
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‘‘(k) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section—
‘‘(1) QUALIFIED PUBLIC WATER SYSTEM.—The
term ‘qualified public water system’ means a ‘public
water system’, as defined in title XIV of the Public
Health Service Act (the Safe Drinking Water Act),
which is entitled, as of May 15, 1991, to withdraw
water from or store water in the San Gabriel Valley
Groundwater Basin, as determined under State law.
‘‘(2) BASIN.—The terms ‘San Gabriel Basin’
and ‘the Basin’ mean the San Gabriel Valley
Groundwater Basin underlying the San Gabriel Val-
ley in Los Angeles County, California.
‘‘(3) POTENTIALLY RESPONSIBLE PARTY.—The
term ‘potentially responsible party’ means a person
who is identified by the Administrator as a person
who may be liable under section 107, or under any
provision of State law, for any amount with respect
to cleanup of hazardous substances in the San
Gabriel Basin.
‘‘(4) PARTICIPATING PARTY.—The term ‘par-
ticipating party’ means a person who has requested
to participate as provided in subsection (b)(4) and
who has entered into a contract with the Adminis-
trator under subsection (b).
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‘‘(5) STRUCTURED
SETTLEMENT
ARRANGE-
MENT.—The term ‘‘structured settlement arrange-
ment’’ means an arrangement where the Authority
owns—
‘‘(A) a settlement annuity or similar in-
strument issued by a company licensed to do
business as an insurance company under the
laws of any State which has a financial stability
rating from a nationally recognized insurance
company rating organization which rating is
satisfactory to the Administrator, or
‘‘(B) any obligation of the United States,
that has a defined schedule of periodic pay-
ments which coincides with the schedule of peri-
odic payments determined to be appropriate for
the Basin cleanup.’’, or
‘‘(C) or the authority is the beneficiary of
a ‘qualified designated settlement fund’ as de-
fined by subsection 468(B) of the Internal Rev-
enue Code.’’.
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