I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 3000
To amend the Comprehensive Environmental, Response, Compensation, and
Liability Act of 1980.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NOVEMBER 9, 1997
Mr. OXLEY (for himself, Mr. CONDIT, Mr. JOHN, Mr. BLILEY, Mr. FORD, Mr.
UPTON, Mr. GREENWOOD, Mr. KLUG, Mr. MARTINEZ, Mr. GOODLING,
Mr. TRAFICANT, Mr. TAUZIN, Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota, Mr. DAN
SCHAEFER of Colorado, Mr. STENHOLM, Mr. GILLMOR, Mr. BISHOP, Mr.
PAXON, Mr. SISISKY, Mr. LARGENT, Mr. BAESLER, Mr. BUYER, Mr.
GOODE, Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN, Mr. BOYD, Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. CRAMER,
Mr. BARRETT of Nebraska, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. BURR of North Carolina,
Mr. PICKETT, Mr. HEFLEY, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. SANDLIN,
Mr. PETERSON of Pennsylvania, and Mr. RUSH) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce, and in addition
to the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure, and Ways and
Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned
A BILL
To amend the Comprehensive Environmental, Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980.
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
‘‘Superfund Reform Act’’.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. References.
TITLE I—REMEDY SELECTION
Sec. 101. Remedy selection.
Sec. 102. Objective risk assessment standards.
Sec. 103. Remedy updates and remedy review board.
Sec. 104. Public health authorities.
Sec. 105. Indian health provisions.
Sec. 106. Hazard ranking system.
Sec. 107. Removal actions.
Sec. 108. Hazardous substance property use.
Sec. 109. Effective date and transition rules.
TITLE II—LIABILITY
Sec. 201. Parties not responsible for pollution.
Sec. 202. Clarifications of certain liability.
Sec. 203. Amendments to section 106.
Sec. 204. Civil proceedings.
Sec. 205. Limitations on contribution actions.
Sec. 206. Liability of response action contractors.
Sec. 207. Expedited final settlements.
Sec. 208. Allocations at multi-party facilities.
Sec. 209. Transition rules relating to certain nonliable parties.
Sec. 210. Recycling transactions.
TITLE III—BROWNFIELDS
Sec. 301. Short title.
Sec. 302. Findings.
Sec. 303. Cleanups pursuant to State voluntary response program.
Sec. 304. Innocent landowners.
Sec. 305. Bona fide prospective purchaser liability.
Sec. 306. Contiguous properties.
TITLE IV—NATURAL RESOURCE DAMAGES
Sec. 401. Natural resources defined.
Sec. 402. Consultation with natural resources trustees.
Sec. 403. Liability.
Sec. 404. Designation of trustees.
Sec. 405. Determination of causation.
Sec. 406. Measure of damages.
Sec. 407. Damage assessments.
Sec. 408. Selection of restoration alternatives.
Sec. 409. Use of sums recovered by trustees.
Sec. 410. Relation to other laws; damages occurring before December 11, 1980.
Sec. 411. Restoration.
Sec. 412. Use of mediation.
Sec. 413. Applicability.
TITLE V—STATE ROLE
Sec. 501. State delegation at NPL facilities.
Sec. 502. State authorization at NPL facilities.
Sec. 503. Federal funding of State actions under State delegation or
State authorization.
Sec. 504. State cost share.
Sec. 505. Concurrence of governors required for additions to National Priorities
List.
Sec. 506. State and local reimbursement for response actions.
TITLE VI—FEDERAL FACILITIES
Sec. 601. State role at Federal facilities.
Sec. 602. Innovative technologies for remedial action at Federal facilities.
Sec. 605. Federal entities and facilities.
Sec. 607. Notification regarding uncontaminated property at Federal facilities.
Sec. 608. Annual studies of priorities at Federal facilities.
Sec. 609. Judicial removals.
TITLE VII—COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION
Sec. 701. Community involvement.
Sec. 702. Community assistance groups.
Sec. 703. Technical assistance grants.
TITLE VIII—MISCELLANEOUS
Sec. 801. Definitions.
Sec. 802. Response claims procedures.
Sec. 803. Small business ombudsman.
Sec. 804. Consideration of local government cleanup priorities.
Sec. 805. Savings clause.
Sec. 806. Report and oversight requirements.
Sec. 807. Response authorities.
Sec. 808. Prioritization.
Sec. 809. Response management and worker protection standards.
Sec. 810. Actions relating to source, byproduct, and special nuclear material.
TITLE IX—FUNDING
Subtitle A—Expenditures From the Hazardous Substance Superfund
Sec. 901. Expenditures from the Hazardous Substance Superfund.
Sec. 902. Authorization of appropriations from general revenues.
Subtitle B—5-Year Extension of Hazardous Substance Superfund
Sec. 911. 5-year extension of Hazardous Substance Superfund.
SEC. 2. REFERENCES.
Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in
this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms
of an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or other provi-
sion, the reference shall be considered to be made to a
section or other provision of the Comprehensive Environ-
mental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of
1980 (commonly known as ‘‘Superfund’’) (42 U.S.C. 9601
and following).
TITLE I—REMEDY SELECTION
SEC. 101. REMEDY SELECTION.
Section 121 (42 U.S.C. 9621) is amended as follows:
(1) In subsection (a), by striking ‘‘and, to the
extent practicable, the national contingency plan’’.
(2) By amending subsection (b) to read as fol-
lows:
‘‘(b) REMEDY SELECTION.—
‘‘(1) HEALTH
AND
ENVIRONMENTAL
STAND-
ARDS.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Final remedies se-
lected under this Act shall protect human
health and the environment and provide long-
term reliability at reasonable cost. Such rem-
edies should not seek to address unrealistic or
insignificant risks.
‘‘(B) CERTAIN
CARCINOGENS.—For non-
threshold carcinogens, to the extent the Presi-
dent is using risk measures based on the
numeric risk of carcinogenic effects, final rem-
edies selected under this Act shall limit cumu-
lative, lifetime additional cancer risk from expo-
sure to hazardous substances from releases at
the facility to within the range of one in 10,000
to one in 1,000,000 for the affected population
or subpopulation, as determined by the Presi-
dent.
‘‘(C) EXPOSURE INFORMATION.—Exposure
assessments shall be consistent with the current
and reasonably anticipated uses of land, water,
and other resources as identified under para-
graph (2). The President shall consider and
use, in selecting final remedies under this Act,
information made available to the President on
actual ingestion of, inhalation of, or dermal
contact with hazardous substances or pollutants
or contaminants, or blood lead levels at or near
the site, along with other relevant information.
Where the President uses predictive estimates,
protective exposure levels shall be based on a
reasonable high-end estimate of the scientif-
ically objective exposure distribution.
‘‘(D) PLANTS
AND
ANIMALS.—In deter-
mining what is protective of plants and animals
for purposes of this section, the Administrator
shall base such determinations on the signifi-
cance of impacts from a release or releases of
hazardous substances from a facility to local
populations or communities of plants and ani-
mals or ecosystems. If a species is listed as
threatened or endangered under the Endan-
gered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C 1531 et
seq.) impacts to individual plants or animals
may be considered to be impacts to populations
of plants or animals.
‘‘(2) ANTICIPATED USE OF LAND, WATER, AND
OTHER RESOURCES.—(A) For purposes of selecting
the method or methods of remediation appropriate
for a given facility, the President shall identify the
current and reasonably anticipated uses of land,
water, and other resources at and around the facility
and the timing of such uses.
‘‘(B) Except as provided in subparagraphs (D),
in identifying such reasonably anticipated future
uses, the President shall consider relevant factors,
which generally shall include the following:
‘‘(i) Any consensus recommendation of the
Community Assistance Group. With respect to
a Federal facility scheduled for closure or re-
alignment, the President shall consider any
joint consensus recommendation of the Commu-
nity Assistance Group and a redevelopment au-
thority which has been established for such fa-
cility.
‘‘(ii) The current uses of the facility and
surrounding properties, recent development pat-
terns in the area where the facility is located,
and population projections for that area.
‘‘(iii) Federal or State land use designa-
tions, including Federal facilities and national
parks, State ground water or surface water re-
charge areas established under a State’s com-
prehensive protection plan for ground water or
surface water, and recreational areas.
‘‘(iv) The current land use zoning and fu-
ture land use plans of the local government
with land use regulatory authority.
‘‘(v) Current plans for the facility by the
property owner or owners.
‘‘(vi) The availability of alternative sources
of drinking water.
‘‘(vii) Current or anticipated plans for live-
stock watering or irrigation.
‘‘(viii) Current and anticipated plans of
local water suppliers.
‘‘(C) In developing its recommendation, the
Community Assistance Group shall consider factors
listed in subparagraph (B).
‘‘(D) In identifying current and reasonably an-
ticipated future ground water uses for purposes of
this section, the President shall defer to State deter-
minations regarding such uses where the State has
made such a determination on a facility-specific
basis.
‘‘(E) Unless the State has made a specific de-
termination otherwise under subparagraph (D), a
current or reasonably anticipated future use of
ground water shall not be identified as drinking
water for ground water (i) containing more than
10,000 milligrams per liter total dissolved solids, (ii)
that is so contaminated by naturally occurring con-
ditions or by the effects of broad-scale human activ-
ity unrelated to a specific activity that restoration of
drinking water quality is impracticable, or (iii) if the
potential source of drinking water is physically in-
capable of yielding a quantity of 150 gallons per day
of water to a well or spring without adverse environ-
mental consequences.
‘‘(F) All information considered by the Presi-
dent in evaluating current and reasonably antici-
pated future land uses under this subsection shall be
included in the administrative record under section
113(k).
‘‘(3) SITE-SPECIFIC
RISK
ASSESSMENT.—The
President shall use site-specific risk assessment that
meets the requirements of the principles set forth in
section 127(a) to—
‘‘(A) determine the nature and extent of
risk to human health and the environment;
‘‘(B) identify groups which are currently or
would be highly exposed or highly susceptible (i)
to contamination from the site based on current
and reasonably anticipated uses of land, water,
and other resources at or around the site, or
(ii) to risks arising from implementation of a
remedial option;
‘‘(C) assist in establishing remedial objec-
tives for the facility respecting releases or
threatened releases, and in identifying geo-
graphic areas or exposure pathways of concern;
and
‘‘(D) evaluate alternative remedial actions
for the facility to determine their risk reduction
benefits and assist in selecting the remedial ac-
tion for the facility that meets the criteria of
paragraph (1).
‘‘(4) APPROPRIATE REMEDIAL ACTION.—
‘‘(A) ALTERNATIVES
CONSIDERED
AND
FACTORS BALANCED.—For purposes of select-
ing final remedies under this Act, the President
shall identify an appropriate mix of technically
practicable remedial options (including those
provided by interested parties) which are de-
signed to meet the standards set forth in this
section considering reasonable points of compli-
ance. Appropriate remedies shall be based on
consideration of the current and reasonably an-
ticipated future uses of land, water, and other
resources, as identified under paragraph (2),
and the timing of such uses. The President
shall select from among such options a protec-
tive, cost-effective, cost-reasonable, and other-
wise appropriate remedy by an overall balancing
of the relative advantages and disadvantages of