lcalvobartolome/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Topic: Environment — Waste Disposal
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2011-02-03 00:00:00

EPA Fair Play Act - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to remove the authority of the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to prohibit the specification of any defined area as a disposal site for discharges of materials into waters of the United States, or to restrict the use of any defined area for specification as a disposal site, once the Secretary of the Army has issued a permit for dredged or fill material. Makes this Act effective as of October 18, 1972.
Topic: Environment — Waste Disposal
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2011-03-31 00:00:00

Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest Establishment Act - Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish a hazardous waste electronic manifest system within three years that may be used by a hazardous waste generator or transporter, an owner or operator of a hazardous waste treatment, storage, recycling, or disposal facility, or any other person that: (1) is required to use a manifest to comply with any federal or state requirement to track the shipment, transportation, and receipt of hazardous waste or other material shipped from the generation site to an off-site facility for treatment, storage, disposal, or recycling; and (2) elects to use the system to complete and transmit an electronic manifest format; or (3) submits to the system for data processing purposes a paper copy of the manifest (or data from such a paper copy). Authorizes the Administrator to: (1) impose service fees on users to pay for developing, operating, maintaining, and upgrading the system, including any costs incurred in collecting and processing data from any paper manifest submitted to the system after the date on which the system enters operation; and (2) deposit the fees into the Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest System Fund (a revolving fund established by this Act). Requires the Administrator to adjust such fees to a level that will result in the collection of an amount that is sufficient and no more than reasonably necessary to cover system-related costs and minimize the accumulation of unused amounts in the Fund. Authorizes the Administrator, after consulting with the Secretary of Transportation (DOT), to enter into information technology contracts with appropriate entities for the provision of system-related services. Limits such contracts to a term of no more than 10 years. Requires the Administrator to: (1) establish the Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest System Advisory Board, and (2) carry out this Act in each state unless the state program is fully authorized to do so. Requires a designated facility that receives waste, in cases in which the state in which waste is generated or transported to such facility requires that the waste be tracked through a hazardous waste manifest, to: (1) complete the facility portion of the applicable manifest, (2) sign and date the facility certification, and (3) submit to the system a final copy of the manifest. Establishes reporting requirements. Authorizes appropriations for FY2013-FY2015 for start-up activities to carry out this Act that will be offset by the collection of such user fees.
Topic: Environment — Waste Disposal
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2011-04-14 00:00:00

Stop Canadian Trash Act - Amends the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 to require the Secretary of the Treasury to charge and collect a $500 fee for the provision of customs services for the arrival of a truck that is transporting foreign municipal solid waste. Defines "municipal solid waste" to mean waste materials discarded for disposal by households or that were generated by commercial, institutional, municipal, or industrial sources, excluding certain hazardous waste, separated recyclable materials, waste being used solely as feedstock for alternative energy production, segregated medical waste, and solid waste generated incident to the provision of service in interstate, intrastate, foreign, or overseas air transportation. Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) to require each importer of foreign municipal solid waste to provide, with respect to each truck carrying such waste into U.S. customs territory, the cubic feet, specific type, and content of such waste. Establishes a civil penalty for each failure to provide or falsification of information required by this Act.
Topic: Environment — Waste Disposal
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2013-01-04 00:00:00

Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to prohibit a citizen suit from being commenced against a publicly owned treatment works (POTW): (1) to enforce an effluent standard or limitation unless the POTW is in significant non-compliance as defined in the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) guidance document entitled "A General Design for SNC Redefinition Enhancement in PCS," or (2) that is in significant non-compliance based on a manual designation as defined by such guidance document.

Prohibits liability for an unlawful discharge of a pollutant from a POTW for a person who can establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the immediate cause of such discharge and any damages was: (1) an act of God; (2) an act of war; or (3) an act or omission of a third party other than an employee or agent of such person or one whose act or omission occurs in connection with a contractual relationship with such person, if such person exercised due care and took precautions against foreseeable acts or omissions of such third party and the consequences that could foreseeably result from such acts or omissions.

Requires the Administrator of EPA or a state to provide a 60-day waiting period between the notice of a violation of such Act by a POTW and the issuance of a civil penalty. Prohibits the Administrator from assessing a penalty for a violation if the POTW submits a viable plan for correcting the non-compliance within such period and thereafter implements such plan.

Requires any permit issued to the owner or operator of a POTW to discharge a pollutant under such Act to have a 15-year (currently, 5-year) term. Limits attorney fees with respect to actions involving POTWs to the prevailing fees in the community. Requires any new or increased treatment requirement associated with a permit issued to the owner or operator of a POTW to discharge a pollutant under such Act to be subject to a cost-benefit analysis.
Topic: Environment — Waste Disposal
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2013-07-31 00:00:00

Medical Waste Management Act of 2013 - Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to: (1) revise the definition of "medical waste"; (2) require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to promulgate regulations listing types of medical waste; and (3) require the Administrator to conduct a medical waste management program to protect human health and the environment from medical waste and promulgate regulations on tracking, labeling, packaging, storing, handling, monitoring, and disposing of medical waste.

Requires generators of medical waste (including tattoo and body art establishments) to: (1) provide waste transporters with written assurance that the generator has complied with labeling, packaging, and storage requirements and a manifest form for transporting such waste; (2) register with the Administrator; and (3) provide the Administrator with the names of all waste transporters. Requires transporters to: (1) not accept medical waste from a generator without receiving such assurance, (2) register with the Administrator, and (3) disclose to the Administrator the number and type of vehicles used to transport medical waste and the equipment and methods used to ensure segregation and handling of such waste. Requires owners or operators of storage and disposal facilities to: (1) provide notice of the disposal of medical waste to the generator, and (2) register with the Administrator.

Sets forth provisions concerning inspections, public records, and enforcement under this Act.

Requires the Administrator to: (1) establish a program to educate the public about, and increase access to, acceptable methods for disposal of used syringes; (2) study and report on medical waste generated and its management and disposal; and (3) consult with the International Joint Commission on tracking medical waste entering the United States from Canada.
Topic: Environment — Waste Disposal
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2014-01-14 00:00:00

Clean Water Affordability Act of 2014 - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish a comprehensive and integrated planning approach to the obligations concerning permits for pollutant discharges of a publicly owned permittee. Defines such a permittee as a treatment works that is publicly owned or a municipal separate storm sewer system.

 Requires the approach to such obligations to: (1) include requirements for a schedule under which they may be implemented, and (2) account for changed circumstances in the obligations of the publicly owned permittee.

Allows approval of a permit under a state-administered program with a term of more than 5 but no more than 25 years if the permittee has an integrated plan approved under this Act. Requires the Administrator to update the guidance entitled "Combined Sewer Overflows--Guidance for Financial Capability Assessment and Schedule Development," dated February 1997, to ensure that the evaluations by the Administrator of financial capability assessment and schedule development meet specified criteria, including criteria used in: (1) assessing financial capability of a community to make investments necessary to make water quality-related improvements, and (2) implementing water quality-related improvements.

 Revises requirements for capitalization grant agreements with states for establishing water pollution control revolving funds. Requires states to set aside 15% of funds for assistance to municipalities of fewer than 10,000 individuals that meet specified affordability criteria. Authorizes the fund to be used to make loans at terms not to exceed 30 years or the design life of the project to be financed with the proceeds of the loan (currently 20 years). Authorizes a state to provide additional subsidization, including forgiveness of principal, negative interest loans, and grants to benefit a municipality that: (1) meets affordability criteria, or (2) does not meet such criteria if the recipient seeks the additional subsidization to benefit ratepayers that will experience a significant hardship from the increase in rates necessary to finance the project or activity for which assistance is sought. Establishes affordability criteria to assist in identifying municipalities that would experience a significant hardship raising the revenue necessary to finance a project or activity eligible for assistance.
Topic: Environment — Waste Disposal
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2014-07-30 00:00:00

Land-Based Marine Debris Reduction Act - Declares national goals of: (1) no increase in the generation of solid waste sent to landfills, (2) recycling of at least 50% of the municipal solid waste stream by the end of 2020 and 65% by the end of 2030, and (3) no increase in the flow of marine debris into the ocean.

Requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to report on: (1) municipal solid waste generation, waste management methods, and progress in meeting the goals; (2) leakage paths of marine debris into the ocean; and (3) landfill closures.

Directs the EPA to develop a list of categories of commonly used products and packaging that are discarded into the municipal solid waste stream and determine with respect to the products or packaging in each category: (1) the percentage of recovered materials used in their manufacture; (2) the source reduction and recovery efficiency; (3) the percentage that is recycled upon discard and the percentage that is littered; and (4) the life cycle environmental effects associated with them, compared to alternatives.

Requires the EPA to identify categories to be targeted for regulatory action. Authorizes regulations requiring manufacturers to use recovered materials in the product or packaging.

Directs the EPA and the Department of Commerce to develop a voluntary system of packaging standards with respect to materials contained within the packaging and the recyclability of the packaging upon discard. Requires the standard to provide that packaging that meets the standards be eligible to use a label indicating compliance for promotional and educational purposes.
Topic: Environment — Waste Disposal
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2015-04-22 00:00:00

Land-Based Marine Debris Reduction Act 

This bill declares national goals of no increase in the generation of solid waste sent to landfills, no increase in the flow of human-created marine debris into the ocean, and recycling of at least 50% of the municipal solid waste stream by the end of 2020 and 65% by the end of 2030.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must report on: (1) municipal solid waste generation, waste management methods, and progress in meeting the goals; (2) leakage paths of marine debris into the ocean; and (3) the costs and difficulties in closing landfills.

The EPA must develop a list of categories of commonly used products and packaging that are discarded into the municipal solid waste stream and determine with respect to the products or packaging in each category: (1) the percentage of recovered materials used in their manufacture; (2) the source reduction and recovery efficiency; (3) the percentage that is recycled upon discard and the percentage that is littered; and (4) the life cycle environmental effects associated with them, compared to alternatives.

The EPA must identify categories to be targeted for regulatory action. Regulations may require manufacturers to use recovered materials in the product or packaging.

The EPA and the Department of Commerce must develop a voluntary system of packaging standards with respect to materials contained within the packaging and the recyclability of the packaging upon discard. The standard has to provide that packaging that meets the standards be eligible to use a label indicating compliance for promotional and educational purposes.
Topic: Environment — Waste Disposal
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2015-07-28 00:00:00

Zero Waste Development and Expansion Act 

This bill requires the Environmental Protection Agency to award grants to local governments for developing solid waste prevention and recycling tactics and operations, which may include:

 development or deployment of technologies or practices to increase rates of waste prevention, recycling, composting, or product reuse; capital investment in infrastructure to start or expand waste prevention, recycling, composting, or product reuse programs; partnerships with local businesses interested in incorporating new technologies or processes to reduce or prevent waste in production or packaging; or community outreach and public education programming. Grants must be awarded to applicants who collectively represent a range of existing waste prevention, recycling, composting, and product reuse rates.

To be considered for an award, applicants must: (1) set specific waste prevention, recycling, composting, product reuse, or public education goals that will bring communities closer to zero waste; and (2) have a plan to use grant funds for developing solid waste prevention and recycling tactics and operations.
Topic: Environment — Waste Disposal
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2015-11-05 00:00:00

Trash Reduction Act of 2015

 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to require retailers to pay a $0.10 excise tax on each carryout bag provided to a consumer. A "carryout bag" means a bag of any material, commonly plastic or kraft paper, which is provided to a consumer at the point of sale to carry or cover purchases, merchandise, or other items. Reusable bags and certain other bags used for specified purposes are exempt from such tax.

The bill allows retailers who establish a qualified plastic carryout bag recycling program a rebate for each recyclable bag used by the retailer.

The bill establishes the Carryout Bag Trust Fund to hold tax revenues generated by this Act and directs the Department of the Treasury to make payments from such Trust Fund for the qualified plastic carryout bag recycling program and to the Land and Water Conservation Fund established by the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965.

The Government Accountability Office must study and report to Congress on the effectiveness of this Act in reducing the use of carryout bags and encouraging recycling of such bags.
Topic: Environment — Waste Disposal
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2016-02-11 00:00:00

Low Income Sewer and Water Assistance Program Act of 2016

This bill amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) by requiring the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a pilot program that awards grants to at least 10 eligible entities for assisting low-income households maintain access to sanitation (water and sewer) services. In order to be eligible for grants, entities must be municipalities, or public entities that own or operate public water systems, that are affected by consent decrees related to compliance with standards under that Act.
Topic: Environment — Waste Disposal
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2016-03-22 00:00:00

Coal Ash Landfill Safety Act

This bill directs the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)to review regulations related to the disposal of coal combustion residuals (coal ash) in municipal solid wastelandfills to determine if such regulations provide public health and environmental protection that is at least equivalent to the protection provided by the coal combustion residuals rule for certain other landfills and surface impoundments.The review must be completed within six months.

To the extent the EPA determines that the regulations fails to provide at least equivalent protection, it must revise the regulations to provide equivalent or greater protection.
Topic: Environment — Waste Disposal
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2016-07-07 00:00:00

Trash Reduction and Sensible Handling Act of 2016 or the TRASH Act

This bill amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to authorize state solid waste management plans to restrict the importation of out-of-state waste at the state and local level by requiring out-of-state waste to be from states with waste handling and reduction standards that are equivalent or higher than the standards of the state receiving the waste.

Those plans may impose a community benefit fee on out-of-state waste, which may be higher than the fees for in-state waste. States may provide those fees to affected communities and may differentiate community benefit fees based on whether the imported waste was disposed of at a landfill, an incinerator, a resource recovery facility, a waste-to-energy facility, or other waste handling facility.
Topic: Environment — Waste Disposal
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2016-07-08 00:00:00

Farm Regulatory Certainty Act

This bill amends the Resources Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 to specify that animal waste, manure, and fertilizer are excluded from the Act's requirements.

Citizen suits may not be brought under the Act if federal or state legal and enforcement actions are already underway.
Topic: Environment — Waste Disposal
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2016-07-14 00:00:00

Improving Coal Combustion Residuals Regulation Act of 2016

This bill amends subtitle D (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976) of the Solid Waste Disposal Act to establish a permit program for coal combustion residuals (coal ash) that states may elect to administer. The program outlines the criteria that a state must use if it chooses to adopt and enforce a permit program regulating the management and disposal of coal ash generated by electric utilities and independent power producers. The program applies to the disposal of coal ash into landfills or surface impoundments, sand or gravel pits, quarries, or lateral expansions of the structures. The structural criteria concern: (1) design, location, and integrity; (2) financial assurance; (3) groundwater and surface water protections; (4) closure procedures; and (5) air quality with respect to fugitive dust.

A state that chooses to adopt a coal ash program is given sole enforcement authority. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must implement a program for a state if: (1) a state's program fails to meet those criteria, or (2) a state does not implement a program.

The bill revises implementation of the EPA rule governing the disposal of coal ash, entitled "Hazardous and Solid Waste Management System; Disposal of Coal Combustion Residuals from Electric Utilities." The rule may be implemented only through the permit program established by the bill.

The agency implementing the permit program must ensure that certain information concerning the program is publicly available.
Topic: Environment — Waste Disposal
Subject: Agriculture and food
Date: 2016-12-08 00:00:00

Swine Waste Infrastructure and Natural Environment Act or the SWINE Act 

This bill establishes a program to certify environmentally sustainable swine waste disposal technologies and authorizes related tax credits and grants.

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) must certify technologies that:

 eliminate animal discharge into surface waters and groundwater through direct discharge, seepage, or runoff; substantially eliminate atmospheric emissions of ammonia from swine waste; substantially eliminate the emission of odor from swine waste that is detectable beyond the boundaries of the parcel or tract of land on which the swine farm is located; substantially eliminate the release of disease-transmitting vectors and airborne pathogens from swine waste; substantially eliminate nutrient and heavy metal contamination of soil and groundwater from swine waste; and are cost-effective. States may not issue permits, pursuant to any federal law, to a swine farm that is a concentrated animal feeding operation unless the farm disposes of swine waste using a certified technology.

The bill amends several agricultural laws to:

 require USDA to make competitive grants for activities to identify, evaluate, and demonstrate environmentally superior swine waste management technologies; permit the Pork Promotion Board to use its funding for activities related to the grants; and make the installation and maintenance of a certified technology on a swine farm eligible for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. The bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow tax credits for: (1) the installation of a certified swine waste disposal technology, and (2) the disposal of swine waste using certified technology.
Topic: Environment — Waste Disposal
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2015-05-07 00:00:00

Protecting America's Paper for Recycling Act

Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the tax credit for producing electricity from renewable resources, to exclude from the definition of "municipal solid waste" solid waste that is collected as part of a system that includes materials recovery and that commingles commonly recycled paper with other solid waste that is not commonly recycled at any point from the time of collection through materials recovery.