I
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 3624
To amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and
Liability Act of 1980 to establish a program for assigning shares of
liability to liable parties at Superfund sites, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NOVEMBER 22, 1993
Mr. BOUCHER (for himself and Mr. UPTON) introduced the following bill;
which was referred jointly to the Committees on Energy and Commerce
and Public Works and Transportation
A BILL
To amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Com-
pensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to establish a pro-
gram for assigning shares of liability to liable parties
at Superfund sites, 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 ‘‘Superfund Liability
Reform Act’’.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
Section 101 of the Comprehensive Environmental Re-
sponse, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42
ministrator to represent the Environmental Protec-
tion Agency in a binding allocation of responsibility
proceeding.
‘‘(50) The term ‘National Priority List site’
means any site or facility that the Administrator has
listed on, or proposed for listing on, the list estab-
lished pursuant to section 105(a)(8)(B).’’.
SEC. 3. ASSIGNMENT OF SHARES OF LIABILITY FOR COSTS
OF RESPONSE ACTIONS AT NATIONAL PRIOR-
ITY LIST SITES.
Section 107(a) of the Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42
U.S.C. 9607(a)), is amended by inserting before the
phrase ‘‘The amounts recoverable’’ the following: ‘‘With
respect to any National Priority List site, each liable party
who accepts the results of the allocation of responsibility
process under title V or who successfully appeals the re-
sults of such process shall be liable only for its assigned
share of the costs incurred pursuant to subparagraphs
(A), (B), and (D) of this section. The orphan share of
a National Priority List site shall be paid out of the Haz-
ardous Substance Superfund or by a liable party who un-
successfully appeals a final binding allocation of respon-
sibility decision under section 507.’’.
SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT OF RESPONSE ACTIONS THROUGH
JOINT AND SEVERAL LIABILITY.
Section 107 of the Comprehensive Environmental Re-
sponse, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42
U.S.C. 9607) is amended by adding at the end the follow-
ing: 
‘‘(n) JOINT AND SEVERAL LIABILITY OF PARTIES
WHO FAIL TO PERFORM RESPONSE ACTIONS.—In any
case in which no liable party or potentially responsible
party agrees to perform a response action at a National
Priority List site, or a liable party or potentially respon-
sible party agrees to perform a response action but the
party fails to perform such response action, as determined
by the Administrator or the State in which the site is
located, the following provisions apply:
‘‘(1) The party is considered to have not re-
solved its liability to the United States, notwith-
standing the party’s acceptance of the results of the
binding allocation of responsibility process under
title V or the party’s successful appeal of the results
of such process.
‘‘(2) The party is subject to civil action under
section 106, subparagraphs (A), (B), and (D) of
subsection (a) of this section, and section 113 for
the response action and all costs of the response ac-
tion with respect to the National Priority List site.
‘‘(o) PAYMENT OF CERTAIN RESPONSE COSTS BY
FUND.—A potentially responsible party who performs and
pays for a response action at a National Priority List site
shall be reimbursed by the Hazardous Substance
Superfund.
‘‘(p) AUTHORITY TO COLLECT RESPONSE COSTS
FROM OTHERS.—A liable party who performs and pays
for a response action at a National Priority List site is
a creditor party under section 508 with respect to the site
and may recover its response costs in accordance with that
section.’’.
SEC. 5. CLARIFICATION OF LIABILITY WITH RESPECT TO
RECYCLING TRANSACTIONS.
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Com-
pensation, and Liability Act of 1980 is amended by adding
at the end of title I the following new section:
‘‘SEC. 127. RECYCLING TRANSACTIONS.
‘‘(a) LIABILITY CLARIFICATION.—A recycling trans-
action meeting the requirements of subsection (b) shall not
be construed as arrangement for the treatment or disposal
of a hazardous substance under subsection (a) of section
107.
‘‘(b) RECYCLING TRANSACTION.—(1) For purposes
of subsection (a), a recycling transaction is a transaction
in which a material is being used or sold to make a new
product, and the following conditions are met at the time
of the transaction:
‘‘(A) The material being used in the transaction
meets a specification grade (hereinafter referred to
as a ‘specification grade secondary material’).
‘‘(B) Such specification grade secondary mate-
rial is used to manufacture a new product and con-
tains elements necessary to manufacture such prod-
uct.
‘‘(C) Such specification grade secondary mate-
rial competes with virgin material.
‘‘(D) The production of the specification grade
secondary material results in a substantial amount
of the input material being available for use as a
feedstock to make a new product.
‘‘(E) There is evidence of a market for the
specification grade secondary material.
‘‘(F) The specification grade secondary material
does not include unnecessary hazardous substances
introduced during recycling.
‘‘(G) The specification grade secondary material
consists primarily of one or more of the following:
metal, paper, plastic, glass, textiles, or rubber.
‘‘(H) Effective after the promulgation of man-
agement standards under subsection (c), the second-
ary materials are sold to a facility that meets the
management standards promulgated under sub-
section (c).
‘‘(2) A recycling transaction does not include a trans-
action that leads to the burning of material, even for the
recovery of energy, or the use of material in a manner
determined by the Administrator to constitute a disposal.
‘‘(c) MANAGEMENT STANDARDS.—Not later than 24
months after the date of enactment of the Superfund Li-
ability Reform Act, the Administrator shall promulgate
regulations containing management standards applicable
to persons which produce in a facility or transfer through
a facility specification grade secondary materials for use
as a feedstock to make a new product.’’.
SEC. 6. ESTABLISHMENT OF BINDING ALLOCATION OF RE-
SPONSIBILITY PROCESS.
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Com-
pensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601 et
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new
title:
‘‘TITLE 
V—BINDING 
ALLOCA-
TION OF RESPONSIBILITY
‘‘Sec. 501. General rules governing binding allocations of responsibility.
‘‘Sec. 502. Qualifications and powers of administrative law judges and alloca-
tion panels
‘‘Sec. 503. Specific rules and procedures.
‘‘Sec. 504. Duty to answer information requests and requests for production of
documents.
‘‘Sec. 505. Civil and criminal penalties.
‘‘Sec. 506. Document repository; confidentiality; no waiver.
‘‘Sec. 507. Final agency action and judicial review.
‘‘Sec. 508. Collection, enforcement, and implementation.
‘‘Sec. 509. Transition provisions.
‘‘Sec. 510. Voluntary settlements.
‘‘Sec. 511. New binding allocations of responsibility.
‘‘SEC. 501. GENERAL RULES GOVERNING BINDING ALLOCA-
TIONS OF RESPONSIBILITY.
‘‘(a) GENERAL.—The Administrator shall appoint
panels of administrative law judges to perform expedited
administrative proceedings, to be known as ‘binding allo-
cations of responsibility’, for purposes of determining the
liability of potentially responsible parties at National Pri-
ority List sites. Each such panel shall be composed of
three administrative law judges appointed by the Adminis-
trator under section 3105 of title 5, United States Code,
and shall be known as an ‘allocation panel’.
‘‘(b) RULES OF DECISION.—The decisions of alloca-
tion panels under this title shall be rendered based on the
provisions of this Act and the court decisions interpreting
such provisions.
‘‘(c) RELATIONSHIP TO NATURAL RESOURCES DAM-
AGE.—Binding allocations of responsibility shall not ad-
dress or affect the liability of any person with respect to
damage to natural resources under section 107(a)(4)(C).