[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2017 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2017

  To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to require the testing of ash 
  generated from the incineration of municipal solid waste before its 
                               disposal.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 6, 1993

Mr. Hochbrueckner (for himself, Mr. Ackerman, Ms. Danner, Mr. Lipinski, 
   Ms. Molinari, Mr. Serrano, Mr. Hughes, Ms. Furse, Mr. Evans, Mr. 
    Blackwell, Mr. Klink, Mr. Hinchey, and Mr. Rush) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                                Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to require the testing of ash 
  generated from the incineration of municipal solid waste before its 
                               disposal.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Solid Waste Incinerator Ash Testing 
Act of 1993''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
            (1) The United States faces a severe and worsening crisis 
        in solid waste management.
            (2) Landfilling, historically the primary method of waste 
        disposal in the United States, poses a serious threat of 
        contamination to surface and ground water. This, in turn, 
        introduces contaminants into the food chain.
            (3) Coastal regions, ground water recharge areas, and 
        regions dependent on a sole source of drinking water are 
        particularly susceptible to the threats posed by landfill 
        contamination of drinking water supplies.
            (4) Ash resulting from solid waste incineration can contain 
        heavy metals and toxic materials which, when discarded with 
        solid waste in landfills, poses a serious threat to ground 
        water. This, in turn, jeopardizes human health, wildlife, and 
        the environment.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are the following:
            (1) To respect a national policy wherein the United States 
        treats solid waste according to the following hierarchy:
                    (A) Volume and toxicity reduction.
                    (B) Reuse.
                    (C) Recycling.
                    (D) Composting.
                    (E) Disposal.
            (2) To encourage removal and recycling of waste materials 
        containing toxins, heavy metals, and other contaminants prior 
        to disposal.
            (3) To mandate the testing of ash generated by solid waste 
        incineration in accordance with testing procedures to be 
        established by the Administrator pursuant to this Act, prior to 
        landfilling or other disposal of such ash.
            (4) To require that incinerator ash that tests positive for 
        contaminants hazardous to human health, wildlife, or the 
        environment be disposed of in a subtitle C (hazardous waste) 
        landfill, or otherwise treated to prevent its contamination of 
        drinking water supplies and the environment.

SEC. 3. REQUIREMENT TO TEST ASH GENERATED FROM THE INCINERATION OF 
              [CERTAIN] SOLID WASTE.

    Section 3001 of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6921) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(j) Ash Testing Requirement.--(1) Under regulations promulgated 
by the Administrator, ash generated from municipal solid waste 
incinerators shall be tested, prior to disposal, for hazardous waste 
constituents. The regulations shall require that any such ash that is 
shown to contain hazardous waste constituents may be disposed of only 
by land disposal meeting the requirements of section 3004. The 
Administrator may not exempt such ash from regulation under this 
subtitle unless such ash is shown to contain no hazardous waste 
constituents.
    ``(2) For purposes of paragraph (1), the term `municipal solid 
waste incinerator' means a facility that meets the requirements of 
paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (i) and that receives not less 
than 1 ton of waste daily.''.

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