Closing Loopholes and Ending Arbitrary and Needless Evasion of Regulations Act of 2015

Bill: 114-hr-4215
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Cartwright, Matt [D-PA-17]
Introduced: 2015-12-10
Policy area: Environmental Protection
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures

Alternative and renewable resources

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Environmental regulatory procedures

Hazardous wastes and toxic substances

Oil and gas

Solid waste and recycling

Water quality
Latest action: action_date: 2015-12-11
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy.

Summaries:
action_date: 2015-12-10
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><b>CLEANER Act of 2015 or the Closing Loopholes and Ending Arbitrary and Needless Evasion of Regulations Act of 2015</b></p> <p>This bill amends the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act to eliminate the exemption for waste derived from the exploration, development, or production of crude oil, natural gas, or geothermal energy from regulations governing the disposal of hazardous waste.</p> <p>Within a year of this bill's enactment, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must:</p> <ul> <li>determine whether waste associated with oil, gas, or geothermal energy activities meet the criteria promulgated for the identification or listing of hazardous waste; </li> <li>identify or list as hazardous waste any of those wastes if they meet the identification or listing criteria; and</li> <li>promulgate regulations regarding standards applicable to generators, transporters, and owners and operators of facilities for the treatment, storage, or disposal of those wastes.</li> </ul> <p>The EPA may modify the regulation of those standards to consider the special characteristics of those wastes so long as the modified regulations protect human health and the environment.</p> <p>Within a year of this bill's enactment, the EPA must promulgate revisions of certain criteria concerning landfills and waste management practices of open dumping for facilities that may receive wastes that are: (1) associated with those activities, and (2) not identified or listed as hazardous waste. Those revisions must:</p> <ul> <li> protect human health and the environment, while allowing consideration of the practicable capability of such facilities; and</li> <li>require groundwater monitoring as necessary to detect contamination; </li> <li>establish criteria for the acceptable location of new or existing facilities; and </li> <li>provide for corrective action and financial assurance as appropriate.</li> </ul>

tv_txt: I 114th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 4215 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES December 10, 2015 Mr. Cartwright (for himself, Ms. Bass , Mr. Blumenauer , Mr. Brady of Pennsylvania , Mrs. Capps , Ms. Castor of Florida , Ms. Clark of Massachusetts , Mr. Cleaver , Mr. Connolly , Mr. Cummings , Mr. DeFazio , Ms. DelBene , Mr. Deutch , Mr. Ellison , Mr. Farr , Mr. Grayson , Mr. Hastings , Mr. Higgins , Mr. Huffman , Mr. Johnson of Georgia , Mr. Keating , Mr. Beyer , Ms. Bonamici , Ms. Brown of Florida , Mr. Capuano , Ms. Judy Chu of California , Ms. Clarke of New York , Mr. Cohen , Mr. Conyers , Mrs. Davis of California , Ms. DeGette , Mr. DeSaulnier , Ms. Edwards , Ms. Eshoo , Mr. Fattah , Mr. Grijalva , Mr. Heck of Washington , Mr. Honda , Ms. Jackson Lee , Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas , Mr. Kennedy , Ms. Kuster , Mr. Larsen of Washington , Mrs. Lawrence , Mr. Lewis , Mr. Loebsack , Mr. Lowenthal , Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York , Ms. Matsui , Mr. McDermott , Mr. Meeks , Mr. Moulton , Mrs. Napolitano , Mr. Nolan , Mr. Payne , Mr. Pocan , Mr. Price of North Carolina , Mr. Rangel , Ms. Roybal-Allard , Ms. Schakowsky , Mr. Scott of Virginia , Mr. Kilmer , Mr. Langevin , Mr. Larson of Connecticut , Ms. Lee , Mr. Ted Lieu of California , Ms. Lofgren , Mr. Lynch , Mr. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York , Ms. McCollum , Mr. McGovern , Ms. Meng , Mr. Nadler , Mr. Neal , Ms. Norton , Ms. Pingree , Mr. Polis , Mr. Quigley , Miss Rice of New York , Mr. Sarbanes , Mr. Schiff , Mr. Serrano , Mr. Sires , Mr. Smith of Washington , Mr. Swalwell of California , Mr. Takano , Mr. Tonko , Mr. Van Hollen , Ms. Velázquez , Mrs. Watson Coleman , Ms. Wilson of Florida , Mr. Sherman , Ms. Slaughter , Ms. Speier , Mr. Takai , Mr. Thompson of California , Ms. Tsongas , Mr. Vargas , Ms. Maxine Waters of California , Mr. Welch , and Mr. Yarmuth ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To require regulation of wastes associated with the exploration, development, or production of crude oil, natural gas, or geothermal energy under the Solid Waste Disposal Act, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the CLEANER Act of 2015 or the Closing Loopholes and Ending Arbitrary and Needless Evasion of Regulations Act of 2015 . 2. Regulation of wastes associated with the exploration, development, or production of crude oil, natural gas, or geothermal energy under the Solid Waste Disposal Act (a) Identification or listing, and regulation under subtitle C Paragraph (2) of section 3001(b) of the Solid Waste Disposal Act ( 42 U.S.C. 6921(b) ) is amended to read as follows: (2) Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the CLEANER Act of 2015 , the Administrator shall— (A) determine whether drilling fluids, produced waters, and other wastes associated with the exploration, development, or production of crude oil, natural gas, or geothermal energy meet the criteria promulgated under this section for the identification or listing of hazardous waste; (B) identify or list as hazardous waste any drilling fluids, produced waters, or other wastes associated with the exploration, development, or production of crude oil, natural gas, or geothermal energy that the Administrator determines, pursuant to subparagraph (A), meet the criteria promulgated under this section for the identification or listing of hazardous waste; and (C) promulgate regulations under sections 3002, 3003, and 3004 for wastes identified or listed as hazardous waste pursuant to subparagraph (B), except that the Administrator is authorized to modify the requirements of such sections to take into account the special characteristics of such wastes so long as such modified requirements protect human health and the environment. . (b) Regulation under subtitle D Section 4010(c) of the Solid Waste Disposal Act ( 42 U.S.C. 6949a(c) ) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph: (7) Drilling fluids, produced waters, and other wastes associated with the exploration, development, or production of crude oil, natural gas, or geothermal energy Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the CLEANER Act of 2015 , the Administrator shall promulgate revisions of the criteria promulgated under section 4004(a) and under section 1008(a)(3) for facilities that may receive drilling fluids, produced waters, or other wastes associated with the exploration, development, or production of crude oil, natural gas, or geothermal energy, that are not identified or listed as hazardous waste pursuant to section 3001(b)(2). The criteria shall be those necessary to protect human health and the environment and may take into account the practicable capability of such facilities. At a minimum such revisions for facilities potentially receiving such wastes should require ground water monitoring as necessary to detect contamination, establish criteria for the acceptable location of new or existing facilities, and provide for corrective action and financial assurance as appropriate. .