I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 3155
To require the suspension of the use, sale, development, production, testing,
and export of depleted uranium munitions pending the outcome of certain
studies of the health effects of such munitions, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 17, 2001
Ms. MCKINNEY
(for herself, Mr. ACEVEDO-VILA´, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr.
MCDERMOTT, Mr. KUCINICH, and Ms. LEE) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition
to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, and International Rela-
tions, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each
case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of
the committee concerned
A BILL
To require the suspension of the use, sale, development,
production, testing, and export of depleted uranium mu-
nitions pending the outcome of certain studies of the
health effects of such munitions, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
‘‘Depleted Uranium Munitions Suspension and Study Act
of 2001’’.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of
this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Purposes.
Sec. 4. Suspension of use of depleted uranium munitions.
Sec. 5. Suspension of sale and export of depleted uranium munitions.
Sec. 6. Comptroller general investigation of plutonium contamination.
Sec. 7. Study of health effects of depleted uranium.
Sec. 8. Epa studies of environmental contamination by depleted uranium.
Sec. 9. Environmental mitigation and cleanup requirements.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The highest regard should be given to the
health and safety of the Nation’s military personnel.
(2) Among the characteristics of depleted ura-
nium munitions are that (A) they are pyrophoric, re-
sulting in the munition burning upon impact with a
target, and (B) the impact of a depleted uranium
munition on a target creates aerosol particles, which
can be inhaled.
(3) Depleted uranium munitions were used by
the United States in 1991 during the Persian Gulf
War in Southwest Asia and during the conflicts in
the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Bosnia,
Kosovo, Serbia, and Montenegro) during the 1990s,
with approximately 300 metric tons of depleted ura-
nium being used during the Gulf War, three metric
tons being used in Bosnia, and over nine metric tons
being used in Kosovo, Serbia, and Montenegro.
(4) The United States has provided or sold de-
pleted uranium and depleted uranium munitions to
allied nations, and the United Kingdom used de-
pleted uranium munitions during the Persian Gulf
War.
(5) Depleted uranium munitions have been used
at numerous United States military installations,
proving grounds, and testing facilities.
(6) The Yugoslav and Iraqi Governments have
claimed that depleted uranium is affecting the health
of their people, although such claims have yet to be
independently verified.
(7) No definitive cause has been established for
the various illnesses (commonly referred to as ‘‘Gulf
War Syndrome’’) that currently affect approximately
130,000 United States servicemembers and veterans
who served in Southwest Asia during the Persian
Gulf War.
(8) The British Royal Navy, Canadian Navy,
and United States Navy have all announced that
they would phase out use of depleted uranium muni-
tions.
(9) It has been reported that depleted uranium
munitions use has proliferated to more than 20 na-
tions.
(10) Crash investigators of the Federal Aviation
Administration are instructed, in FAA Advisory Cir-
cular 20–123, dated December 20, 1984, to ‘‘handle
with caution’’ any depleted uranium that they en-
counter in crash investigations, and are instructed
that ‘‘the main hazard associated with depleted ura-
nium is the harmful effect the material could have
if it enters the body,’’ and that ‘‘[i]f particles are in-
haled or digested, they can be chemically toxic and
cause a significant and long-lasting irradiation of in-
ternal tissues,’’.
(11) The 1949 Geneva Convention specifically
outlines the precautions warring nations must take
to avoid harming civilian populations, and it would
be a violation of the 1977 Protocol to that Conven-
tion to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suf-
fering to civilians, as depleted uranium has the po-
tential to cause.
(12) The Department of Defense has acknowl-
edged that stocks of depleted uranium munitions
have been contaminated with transuranic elements,
including plutonium.
(13) Plutonium is an extremely toxic, carcino-
genic, and radioactive material with a half-life of 4.5
billion years.
SEC. 3. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are the following:
(1) To eliminate health threats from depleted
uranium munitions to—
(A) United States military personnel and
United States civilian employees;
(B) military personnel and employees of
NATO member nations; and
(C) civilian populations in regions where
such munitions were used (whether in conflict,
training, or development) or produced.
(2) To provide for studies of—
(A) the level and scope of contamination of
depleted uranium munitions by plutonium and
other transuranic elements;
(B) the health effects resulting from expo-
sure by inhalation, ingestion, or injection to de-
pleted uranium munitions; and
(C) environmental contamination caused
by depleted uranium at sites where depleted
uranium was used in conflict, development, test-
ing, or training and at sites where depleted ura-
nium and depleted uranium munitions were
produced.
(3) To require the Administrator of the Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency to issue regulations
and requirements, based upon Environmental Pro-
tection Agency studies, concerning the cleanup and
mitigation of depleted uranium contamination at
sites of depleted uranium munition use and produc-
tion in the United States.
SEC. 4. SUSPENSION OF USE OF DEPLETED URANIUM MU-
NITIONS.
(a) SUSPENSION OF USE.—Effective no later than 90
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary of Defense shall direct that all elements of the De-
partment of Defense suspend use of depleted uranium mu-
nitions.
(b) DURATION.—(1) The suspension of use of de-
pleted uranium munitions required by subsection (a) shall
remain in effect until the Secretary of Health and Human
Services, based upon the results of the study under section
7(a), certifies to the committees specified in paragraph (2)
that use of depleted uranium munitions in future
conflicts—
(A) will not pose a likely long-term or residual
threat to the health of United States or NATO mili-
tary personnel; and
(B) will not jeopardize the health of civilian
populations in the area of such use.
(2) The committees referred to in paragraph (1) are
the following:
(A) The Committee on Armed Services and the
Committee on Government Reform of the House of
Representatives.
(B) The Committee on Armed Services and the
Committee on Governmental Affairs of the Senate.
(c) FUTURE USE LIMITED TO STOCKS FREE OF
TRANSURANIC MATTER.—Upon a certification by the Sec-
retary of Health and Human Services described in sub-
section (b), the Secretary of Defense shall limit any subse-
quent use of depleted uranium munitions to stocks of such
munitions that the Secretary certifies to be free of pluto-
nium and other transuranic matter.
SEC. 5. SUSPENSION OF SALE AND EXPORT OF DEPLETED
URANIUM MUNITIONS.
(a) SUSPENSION OF SALE AND EXPORT.—Upon the
enactment of this Act, all elements of the Government
with responsibility for approving the foreign sale or export
of munitions shall suspend the approval of the sale and
export of munitions containing depleted uranium.
(b) DURATION.—The suspension required by sub-
section (a) of approval of the foreign sale and export of
depleted uranium munitions shall remain in effect until
the Secretary of Health and Human Services makes a cer-
tification described in section 4(b).
(c) FUTURE EXPORTS TO BE LIMITED TO STOCKS
FREE OF TRANSURANIC MATTER.—Upon a certification
by the Secretary of Health and Human Services described
in section 4(b), any subsequent foreign sale or export of
depleted uranium munitions or preproduction depleted
uranium may be made only from stocks of such munitions
or preproduction depleted uranium that the Secretary of
Defense certifies to be free of plutonium and other trans-
uranic matter, excluding depleted uranium.
SEC. 6. COMPTROLLER GENERAL INVESTIGATION OF PLU-
TONIUM CONTAMINATION.
(a) INVESTIGATION.—The Comptroller General of the
United States shall conduct a full investigation into the
contamination of stocks of depleted uranium munitions
with transuranic elements, including plutonium, neptu-
nium, americium, and other forms of uranium. The inves-
tigation shall include—
(1) determination of when such contamination
occurred;
(2) identification of the manufacturing or refin-
ing facilities at which such contamination occurred;
(3) identification of the quantity, by volume and
percentage, of the material by which such contami-
nation occurred;
(4) identification of when such contamination
was first realized by Department of Defense per-
sonnel and when such contamination was brought to
the attention of senior Department of Defense man-
agement;
(5) identification of persons responsible for
monitoring the quality of such production;
(6) identification of the time when notification
of such contamination was made to NATO-member
nations; and
(7) determination of whether any law or treaty
was broken by any such contamination or by any
failure to provide timely notice of such contamina-
tion to any affected party.
(b) REPORT.—Upon completion of the investigation
under subsection (a), the Comptroller General shall sub-
mit to the committeed specified in section 4(b)(2) a report
on the investigation.
SEC. 7. STUDY OF HEALTH EFFECTS OF DEPLETED URA-
NIUM.
(a) STUDY.—The Director of the Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease Registry and the Director of the
Center for Disease Control and Prevention shall jointly
conduct a comprehensive study of the health effects of ex-
posure to depleted uranium munitions on uranium-exposed
veterans and on their children who were born after their
respective exposures to uranium.
(b) URANIUM-EXPOSED VETERANS.—For purposes
of this section, the term ‘‘uranium-exposed veteran’’
means a member or former member of the Armed Forces
who while on active duty handled, came in contact with,
or had the likelihood of contact with depleted uranium mu-
nitions, including members and former members who while
on active duty—
(1) were exposed to smoke from fires resulting
from the burning of vehicles uploaded with depleted
uranium munitions or fires at depots at which de-
pleted uranium was stored;
(2) worked within environments containing de-
pleted uranium dust or residues from depleted ura-
nium fires;
(3) were within a structure or vehicle while it
was struck by a depleted uranium munition;
(4) climbed on or entered equipment or struc-
tures struck by depleted uranium; or
(5) were medical personnel who provided near-
term treatment to members of the Armed Forces de-
scribed in paragraph (1), (2), (3), or (4).
(c) PUBLIC HEALTH ASSESSMENT.—The Director of
the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
shall conduct a public health assessment of persons who
are thought to have an epidemiological link to any United
States military installation or facility at which depleted
uranium munitions have been or currently are used or any
production facility at which depleted uranium or depleted
uranium munitions are currently, or have been, produced.
(d) REPORT.—The Directors shall submit to Con-
gress a report on the results of the study under subsection
(a) and the assessment under subsection (c). The report
shall be submitted not later than two years after the date
of the enactment of this Act and shall include the findings
of the Directors on the matters covered by the report. The
Directors shall include in the report a list of diseases or
conditions that are found to exist within the populations
specified in subsection (a) and their rate of occurrence
compared to the general population.
SEC. 8. EPA STUDIES OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINA-
TION BY DEPLETED URANIUM.
(a) LIST OF LOCATIONS IN UNITED STATES.—Not
later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of
this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall provide to the Ad-
ministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency a list
of all sites in the United States where depleted uranium
munitions have been used or produced and a site-specific
map of each such site.
(b) EPA STUDIES.—After receipt of the list and
maps under subsection (a), the Administrator shall, for
each site specified on the list, conduct a comprehensive
environmental study of the possible contamination of the
soil, air, water, and vegetation by depleted uranium at
that site.
(c) REPORT.—Not later than two years after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the En-
vironmental Protection Agency shall submit to the Sec-
retary of Defense and the Committee on Armed Services
and the Committee on Government Reform of the House
of Representatives and the Committee on Armed Services
and the Committee on Governmental Affairs of the Senate
a report—
(1) describing the extent of contamination by
depleted uranium at each site studied by the Admin-
istrator pursuant to subsection (b);
(2) providing site-specific recommendations for
the mitigation and cleanup of each such site; and
(3) providing general recommendations regard-
ing the cleanup of sites where depleted uranium has
been used on foreign lands.
SEC. 9. ENVIRONMENTAL MITIGATION AND CLEANUP RE-
QUIREMENTS.
(a) DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE CLEANUP PLAN.—
Not later than one year after receiving the report under
section 8(c), the Secretary of Defense shall develop a plan
for mitigation and cleanup at each site and a prioritized
list for such cleanups. The Secretary shall submit a copy
of the plan to the Committee on Armed Services and the
Committee on Government Reform of the House of Rep-
resentatives and the Committee on Armed Services and
the Committee on Governmental Affairs of the Senate.
(b) REPORT.—The Secretary shall submit a report to
those committees and the Administrator of the Environ-
mental Protection Agency each year before commencement
of the mitigations and cleanups until those projects are
complete.
(c) CLEANUP.—After filing of such plans, the Sec-
retary shall commence, or contract for, the mitigation and
cleanup of each site for which the Administrator of the
Environmental Protection Agency has recommended such
mitigation and cleanup and in the manner and scope that
the Administrator’s report specifies.
(d) APPLICABILITY
OF
NEPA.—Notwithstanding
any other provision of law, the cleanup and mitigation re-
quired by subsection (c) shall be carried out in a manner
consistent with the provisions of the National Environ-
mental Policy Act of 1969, without regard to any exemp-
tion to any of the provisions of that Act for the Depart-
ment of Defense or any element thereof.
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