Date: 1989-07-19
Speaker: THOMAS A. LUKEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. the legislation before us today. H.R. 1056. is the Federal Pacilities Compliance Act of 1989. a bill which comes from the Committee on Energy and Commerce by a vote of 38 to 5 and is endorsed by a whole host of organizations and individuals including. individually. every State Attorney General in this country. I want to thank the gentleman from Kansas for working on bringing the bill to this point. I also want to recognize the gentleman from Ohio who is the author of the legislation and principal sponsor. I also want to recognize the contribution of the gentleman from Colorado for his efforts on this legislation. Mr. Chairman. H.R. 1050 addresses a longstanding problemthe lack of enforcement of the Nations hazardous waste laws at federally owned facilities. The bill does two things: First. it clarifies the existing waiver of sovereign immunity in Section 6001 of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act [RCRA] to make it absolutely clear that States have the right to enforce the hazardous waste laws against Federal facilities. Second. the bill restores to the Environmental Protection Agency the right to use administrative orders to resolve regulatory violations at Federal facilities. The need for this bill is clear and immediate. Throughout the country. facilities owned by the Departments of Energy. Defense. and others generate millions of tons of hazardous waste each year. much of it mixed with radioactive materials. Many of these facilities have exceptionally poor environmental track records. President Bush acknowledged the serious environmental compliance problems at Federal facilities when he stated in a speech just 1 year ago: Unfortunately. some of the worst offenders are our own Federal facilities. As President. I will insist that in the future Federal agencies meet or exceed environmental standards: The government should live within the laws It Imposes on others. In the same speech. Mr. Bush said the environmental laws should be vigorously and uniformly enforced. Mr. Chairman. H.R. 1056 would accomplish just that. The importance of this bill cannot be overestimated. Federal facilities are. as President Bush stated. among the worst offenders of the hazardous waste laws. The Subcommittee on Transportation and Hazardous Materials. which I chair. has exposed decades of wanton pollution at facilities such as the Fernald plant in Ohio and Hanford in Washington. The seriousness of this problem was graphically illustrated again Just a few weeks ago when 70 FBI agents raided the Department of Energys nuclear weapons plant at Rocky Flats. CO. The crimes being investigated at Rocky Flats include the midnight dumping of hazardous waste and mixed hazardous and nuclear waste. and the secret incineration of hazardous and mixed waste. In addition the FBI indicated in their affidavit that the Department of Energy had deliberately mixed waste for the purpose of removing it from coverage from en. forcement under RCRA. Ironically. despite the extensive pollution at Rocky Flats. the State is unable to enforce the hazardous waste laws at the plant. Their hands are tied because the Department of Energy. aided and abetted by the Justice Department. has managed to prevent enforcement of RCRA by EPA and the States against Federal polluters. The bill we are considering today is designed to rectify this and accomplish one simple purpose: To implement the original intent of Congress when it enacted RCRA. Specifically. when Congress enacted RCRA back in 1076. we mandated that Federal agencies comply with Federal. State. and local requirements. including any provisions for injunctive relief and enforcement sanctions which might be imposed by the courts. The law also specifics that Federal agencies are subject to and must comply with these requirements in the same manner and to the same extent. as any person. However. Federal polluters have successfully argued in some courts that RCRA did not clearly and unambiguously waive the sovereign immunity of the United States for enforcement of the hazardous waste laws. Thus. in the world according to the Department of Energy. private companies and municipalities may face legal and financial consequences for polluting. while Federal facilities pay nothing more than lip service to environmental protection. H.R. 1056 would clarify "RCRA to ensure that it is applied to Federal agencies. just as are all the other major environmental laws. This is not a radical idea. The Clean Air Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act both contain provisions which DOE and DOD oppose adding to RCRA. And the Medical Waste Tracking Act of 1988. reported by our subcommittee and enacted last year. contains the same provision. Federal facilities must comply with those lawswhy should they be exempt from the hazardous waste laws? Mr. Chairman. this bill enjoys very broad support. The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Mr. William K. Reilly. has endorsed the bill. and in a letter to OMB Director Richard Darman. recommended that the administration support the bill also. In addition. the bill has been endorsed by all 50 State attorneys general. by the National League of Cities. the National Conference of State Legislatures. all of the major environmental groups. and by all the major labor unions. On June 20. 1989. the Energy and Commerce Committee approved the bill in a vote of 385. This strong approval. and the EPAs endorsement. came after our subcommittee adopted an amendment in the nature of a substitute offered by our colleague. the gentleman from Colorado. DAN SdilAEFEl. which addressed all three of EPAs concerns. As a result of the Schaefer amendment. the bill now expressly provides that Federal employees cannot be held personally liable for RCRA violations. However. it retains the current law which allows prosecution of Federal employees for criminal violations. At the same time. the bill has been clarified to provide that States cannot bring a criminal action against a Federal agency. Finally. the bill has also been clarified to make it absolutely clear that EPA may still use dispute resolution procedures in dealing with Federal polluters and that Federal agencies have the opportunity to confer with the EPA Administrator before any administrative order becomes iinal. Mr. Chairman. at this time I would like to commend Mr. ECKART for his introdrafting and active support of this legislation. and the ranking minor.ty member. Mr. WHITTAKER. and the gentleman from Colorado . whose amendment in our subcommittee markup greatly strengthened the bill and in my opinion made necessary improvements in it. Mr. Chairman. H.R. 1056 is an important bill and it enjoys very broad support. I urge the House to act favorably on the bill. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.