[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 424 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 424

   To establish certain requirements with respect to solid waste and 
         hazardous waste incinerators, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 5, 1993

  Mr. Towns introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

                              May 13, 1993

            Additional sponsors: Mr. Oberstar and Mr. Holden

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To establish certain requirements with respect to solid waste and 
         hazardous waste incinerators, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Pollution Prevention, Community 
Recycling, and Incinerator Control Act''.

SEC. 2. MORATORIUM ON MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE INCINERATORS.

    (a) Amendment to Subtitle D.--Subtitle D of the Solid Waste 
Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6941 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 
the following new section:

``SEC. 4011. MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE INCINERATORS.

    ``(a) Moratorium.--No municipal solid waste incinerator may be 
issued a permit for construction or expansion until the year 2000.
    ``(b) Requirements.--After December 31, 1999, no Federal agency, 
State or local government, or other waste management jurisdiction may 
issue a permit (including a permit under section 129(e) of the Clean 
Air Act) or other prior approval for the construction or expansion of a 
municipal solid waste incinerator, unless the applicant for the permit 
or other approval demonstrates, and the State finds, that the following 
requirements are met:
            ``(1) The applicant shall conduct a waste composition 
        analysis of the solid waste generated in a year within the area 
        to be served by the facility and shall demonstrate that it will 
        continue to conduct such a waste composition analysis annually. 
        Each entity from which the facility plans to accept waste also 
        shall conduct a waste composition analysis of the solid waste 
        generated in a year by the persons from whom the entity 
        collects waste and shall demonstrate that it will continue to 
        conduct such a waste composition analysis annually. Any such 
        waste composition analysis shall be conducted in compliance 
        with the regulations promulgated under subsection (c).
            ``(2) Each entity from which the facility plans to accept 
        waste shall demonstrate that it has diverted during at least 
        one year, and will continue to divert for each subsequent year, 
        to waste management methods other than incineration and 
        landfilling the following percentages of the total amount of 
        each of the following materials generated annually by the 
        persons from whom the entity collects waste:
                    ``(A) Glass, 65 percent.
                    ``(B) Newspapers, 65 percent.
                    ``(C) Other paper, 65 percent.
                    ``(D) Metals, 80 percent.
                    ``(E) Plastics, 50 percent.
                    ``(F) Yard waste, 90 percent.
                    ``(G) Food waste, 10 percent.
            ``(3) The applicant shall demonstrate that--
                    ``(A) the facility will not interfere with 
                maintaining the diversion rates set forth in paragraph 
                (2) for each entity from which the facility plans to 
                accept waste; and
                    ``(B) in any case in which a diversion rate by an 
                entity from which the facility plans to accept waste is 
                higher than the rate set forth in paragraph (2), the 
                facility will not interfere with maintaining the higher 
                diversion rate.
            ``(4) The applicant shall demonstrate that it is not 
        feasible to manage the remaining solid waste through source 
        reduction, reuse, or recycling.
            ``(5) The applicant shall demonstrate that the facility 
        will not adversely affect the environment or human health as a 
        consequence of--
                    ``(A) exposure to air emissions or incinerator ash 
                through inhalation;
                    ``(B) ingestion of food contaminated by air 
                emissions or incinerator ash as a consequence of 
                incorporation of such ash or emissions into the food 
                chain;
                    ``(C) ingestion of potable water or aquatic 
                organisms contaminated by surface water discharges, 
                surface runoff, leaching, or percolation of air 
                emissions or incinerator ash into ground water or 
                surface water;
                    ``(D) ingestion or inhalation of soil particles 
                contaminated with air emissions or incinerator ash; or
                    ``(E) dermal contact with air emissions or 
                incinerator ash.
            ``(6) The applicant shall demonstrate that the facility is 
        not situated in a nonattainment area (as that term is used in 
        part D of title I of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7501 et 
        seq.)).
            ``(7) The applicant shall demonstrate that the facility 
        will not harm the local economy, including a demonstration that 
        it will not negatively affect property values.
            ``(8) The applicant shall demonstrate that the full cost of 
        the facility over its entire life, including capital costs, 
        debt service, liability insurance, remediation, and long-term 
        operation and maintenance expenses, will be less costly than 
        reducing, recycling, or composting waste.
            ``(9) The Federal agency, State or local government, or 
        other waste management jurisdiction shall conduct a full public 
        participation process, including public hearings, to address 
        the proposed facility. As part of the process, the applicant 
        shall provide to local community groups concerned about the 
        project a technical assistance grant of at least $50,000. The 
        applicant shall renew the grant every six months after the 
        initial grant is made until the date on which final action is 
        completed by each Federal agency, State or local government, or 
        other waste management jurisdiction on each permit for 
        construction or expansion of the facility.
            ``(10) The proposed construction or expansion must be 
        approved by the unit of local government in whose boundaries 
        the facility would be sited.
            ``(11) The applicant shall demonstrate the following with 
        respect to the applicant, any firm engaged to operate the 
        facility, the parent firm of the applicant and any firm engaged 
        to operate the facility, and any firms controlled by the parent 
        firm or the operating firm or the applicant:
                    ``(A) Each such entity is in compliance with 
                Federal and State environmental and public health 
                statutes and regulations.
                    ``(B) Each such entity has paid all outstanding 
                fines or penalties for violations of such statutes or 
                regulations.
                    ``(C) Each such entity has made available to the 
                public at the site, and at local public libraries in 
                the jurisdiction where the facility would be sited, a 
                disclosure statement. The disclosure statement shall 
                include the following information with respect to the 
                entity:
                            ``(i) A list of each conviction of fraud or 
                        any criminal offense during the previous 10 
                        years in connection with obtaining or 
                        attempting to obtain a contract.
                            ``(ii) A list of each conviction of a 
                        violation of a State or Federal anti-trust law 
                        during the previous 10 years, including 
                        convictions relating to unlawful price-fixing, 
                        allocation of customers among competitors, and 
                        bid-rigging.
                            ``(iii) A list of each citation for a 
                        permit violation under a Federal, State, or 
                        local environmental statute during the previous 
                        5 years.
                            ``(iv) A list of each citation for failure 
                        to conduct proper cleanup, reclamation, or 
                        closure of a site or forfeiture of a bond for 
                        such a failure during the previous 5 years.
            ``(12) The applicant shall complete, after public notice 
        and comment, an environmental impact statement. Such statement 
        shall be conducted in the same manner and in conformance with 
        the same standards required for environmental impact statements 
        under the National Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 4321 et 
        seq.) and must be approved by the State.
    ``(c) Waste Composition Analysis Regulations.--(1) Not later than 
January 1, 1995, the Administrator shall promulgate regulations 
containing standards for the conduct of waste composition analyses 
under subsection (b)(1). In the regulations, the Administrator shall 
define the term `waste composition analysis' to mean--
            ``(A) an identification of all materials that fall within 
        standard categories and subcategories of materials set forth by 
        the Administrator, including, at a minimum, glass, newspapers, 
        other paper, metals, plastics, yard waste, and food waste; and
            ``(B) a measurement of the quantities of those materials, 
        using a method established by the Administrator.
    ``(2) The regulations also shall include procedures for--
            ``(A) certification of the accuracy of a waste composition 
        analysis by the entity carrying out the analysis; and
            ``(B) verification by the Administrator of the accuracy of 
        a waste composition analysis.
    ``(d) Authority to Impose Higher Diversion Rates.--The 
Administrator shall assess periodically, but not less often than at 
least once every 3 years, whether the achievement of higher diversion 
rates under subsection (b)(2) is feasible. If the Administrator 
concludes that a higher rate is feasible for one or more materials 
listed in subsection (b)(2), the Administrator may by rule require such 
higher rate for the material under such subsection.
    ``(e) Definitions.--For purposes of this section, the following 
definitions apply:
            ``(1) The term `municipal solid waste incinerator' means a 
        distinct operating unit of any facility which combusts any 
        solid waste material from commercial or industrial 
        establishments or the general public (including single and 
        multiple residences, hotels, and motels). Such term does not 
        include (i) incinerators or other units required to have a 
        permit under section 3005; (ii) materials recovery facilities 
        (including primary or secondary smelters) which combust waste 
        for the primary purpose of recovering metals; (iii) qualifying 
        small power production facilities, as defined in section 
        3(17)(C) of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 769(17)(C), which 
        burn homogeneous waste (other than refuse-derived fuel) for the 
        production of electric energy; (iv) air curtain incinerators 
        provided that such incinerators only burn wood wastes, yard 
        wastes, and clean lumber and that such air curtain incinerators 
        comply with opacity limitations to be established by the 
        Administrator by rule; or (v) incinerators or other units that 
        burn only infectious medical waste.
            ``(2) The term `waste management jurisdiction' means a 
        governmental entity which issues permits for construction or 
        expansion of municipal solid waste incinerators within its 
        boundaries.
    ``(f) Regulations.--The Administrator shall promulgate regulations 
to carry out this section.''.
    (b) Technical Amendment.--The table of contents for subtitle D of 
such Act (contained in section 1001 of such Act) is amended by adding 
at the end the following new item:

``Sec. 4011. Municipal solid waste incinerators.''.

SEC. 3. MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE INCINERATOR ASH MANAGEMENT.

    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 from Municipal Solid Waste Incinerators.--(1) 
Notwithstanding section 306 of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 
(Public Law 101-549; 104 Stat. 2584), ash from municipal solid waste 
incinerators shall be considered to be a hazardous waste and shall be 
subject to this subtitle.
    ``(2) Ash from municipal solid waste incinerators shall be managed 
in a monofill that contains only ash from such incinerators and that 
includes, at a minimum, the following design components:
            ``(A) A double liner system designed, operated, and 
        constructed of materials to prevent the migration of any 
        constituent into the liners during the period such facility 
        remains in operation (including any postclosure monitoring 
        period). The double liner system shall consist of one flexible 
        membrane liner and one composite liner, with a leachate 
        collection system above and between such liners. For purposes 
        of this subsection, the term `flexible membrane liner' means a 
        liner that consists of high density polyethylene or equivalent 
        material that is at least 60 mils thick and a layer of 
        recompacted clay or other natural materials at least 3 feet 
        thick with hydraulic conductivity of no more than 1 x 10<SUP>-7 
        centimeter per second.
            ``(B) Upon closure, a final composite cover system 
        designed, operated, and constructed of materials to prevent the 
        infiltration of precipitation into such cover during any 
        closure or post-closure monitoring period. For purposes of this 
        section, the term `composite cover' means a cover which 
        consists of high density polyethylene or equivalent material 
        that is at least 40 mils thick and a layer of recompacted clay 
        or other natural materials at least 2 feet thick with hydraulic 
        conductivity of no more than 1 x 10<SUP>-7 centimeter per 
        second.
    ``(3) Municipal solid waste incinerators in existence on the date 
of the enactment of the Pollution Prevention, Community Recycling, and 
Incinerator Control Act shall meet the requirements of paragraph (2) 
not later than 3 years after such date of enactment.
    ``(4) As of the date of the enactment of the Pollution Prevention, 
Community Recycling, and Incinerator Control Act, the utilization of 
municipal solid waste incinerator ash for any purpose is prohibited.
    ``(5) For purposes of this subsection, the following definitions 
apply:
            ``(A) The term `ash from municipal solid waste 
        incinerators' means the residues resulting from the combustion 
        of municipal solid waste in a municipal solid waste 
        incinerator.
            ``(B) The term `municipal solid waste incinerator' means a 
        distinct operating unit of any facility which combusts any 
        solid waste material from commercial or industrial 
        establishments or the general public (including single and 
        multiple residences, hotels, and motels). Such term does not 
        include (i) incinerators or other units required to have a 
        permit under section 3005; (ii) materials recovery facilities 
        (including primary or secondary smelters) which combust waste 
        for the primary purpose of recovering metals; (iii) qualifying 
        small power production facilities, as defined in section 
        3(17)(C) of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 769(17)(C), which 
        burn homogeneous waste (other than refuse-derived fuel) for the 
        production of electric energy; (iv) air curtain incinerators 
        provided that such incinerators only burn wood wastes, yard 
        wastes and clean lumber and that such air curtain incinerators 
        comply with opacity limitations to be established by the 
        Administrator by rule; or (v) incinerators or other units that 
        burn only infectious medical waste.''.

SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON INCINERATION OF CERTAIN MATERIALS.

    (a) Prohibition.--Section 3001 of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 
U.S.C. 6921) is further amended by adding at the end the following new 
subsection:
    ``(k) Prohibition on Incineration of Certain Materials.--The 
following materials and products may not be incinerated in a municipal 
solid waste incinerator:
            ``(1) Household hazardous waste.
            ``(2) Batteries.
            ``(3) Chlorinated plastics.
            ``(4) Consumer electronics.
            ``(5) Yard waste.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--Subsection (k) of section 3001 of the Solid 
Waste Disposal Act (as added by subsection (a)) shall take effect 18 
months after the date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 5. REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO HAZARDOUS WASTE INCINERATORS.

    (a) Amendment to Subtitle C.--Subtitle C of the Solid Waste 
Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6921 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 
the following new section:

``SEC. 3021. HAZARDOUS WASTE INCINERATORS.

    ``(a) General Requirements.--Effective on the date of the enactment 
of the Pollution Prevention, Community Recycling, and Incinerator 
Control Act, no Federal agency, State or local government, or any other 
waste management jurisdiction may issue a permit or other prior 
approval for the construction or expansion of a hazardous waste 
incinerator unless the following requirements are met:
            ``(1) The applicant for the permit or other prior approval, 
        and all generators of waste expected to be incinerated at the 
        facility, shall conduct waste composition analyses that 
        identify and quantify all the waste expected to be incinerated 
        at the facility, including all toxic or hazardous substances in 
        the waste.
            ``(2) The applicant shall demonstrate that the toxics use 
        reduction requirements of subsection (b) have been met.
            ``(3) The applicant shall demonstrate that the facility 
        will not interfere with, divert resources from, or otherwise 
        serve as a disincentive to, aggressive implementation of the 
        toxics use reduction requirements of subsection (b).
            ``(4) The applicant shall demonstrate that the facility 
        will not adversely affect the environment or human health as a 
        consequence of--
                    ``(A) exposure to air emissions or incinerator ash 
                through inhalation;
                    ``(B) ingestion of food contaminated by air 
                emissions or incinerator ash as a consequence of 
                incorporation of such ash or emissions into the food 
                chain;
                    ``(C) ingestion of potable water or aquatic 
                organisms contaminated by surface water discharges, 
                surface runoff, leaching, or percolation of air 
                emissions or incinerator ash into ground water or 
                surface water;
                    ``(D) ingestion or inhalation of soil particles 
                contaminated with air emissions or incinerator ash; or
                    ``(E) dermal contact with air emissions or 
                incinerator ash.
            ``(5) The applicant shall demonstrate that the facility 
        will not harm the local economy, including a demonstration that 
        it will not negatively affect property values.
            ``(6) The applicant shall demonstrate that there is no 
        safer disposal or treatment technology available for any of the 
        wastes.
            ``(7) The Federal agency, State or local government, or 
        other waste management jurisdiction shall conduct a full public 
        participation process, including public hearings, to address 
        the proposed facility. As part of the process, the applicant 
        shall provide to local community groups concerned about the 
        project a technical assistance grant of at least $50,000. The 
        applicant shall renew the grant every six months after the 
        initial grant is made until the date final action is completed 
        by each Federal agency, State or local government, or other 
        waste management jurisdiction on each permit for construction 
        or expansion of the facility.
            ``(8) The proposed construction or expansion must be 
        approved by the unit of local government in whose boundaries 
        the facility would be sited.
            ``(9) The applicant shall demonstrate the following with 
        respect to the applicant, any firm engaged to operate the 
        facility, the parent firm of the applicant and any firm engaged 
        to operate the facility, and any firms controlled by the parent 
        firm or the operating firm or the applicant:
                    ``(A) Each such entity is in compliance with 
                Federal and State environmental and public health 
                statutes and regulations.
                    ``(B) Each such entity has paid all outstanding 
                fines or penalties for violations of such statutes or 
                regulations.
                    ``(C) Each such entity has made available to the 
                public at the site, and at local public libraries in 
                the jurisdiction where the facility would be sited, a 
                disclosure statement. The disclosure statement shall 
                include the following information with respect to the 
                entity:
                            ``(i) A list of each conviction of fraud or 
                        any criminal offense during the previous 10 
                        years in connection with obtaining or 
                        attempting to obtain a contract.
                            ``(ii) A list of each conviction of a 
                        violation of a State or Federal anti-trust law 
                        during the previous 10 years, including 
                        convictions relating to unlawful price-fixing, 
                        allocation of customers among competitors, and 
                        bid-rigging.
                            ``(iii) A list of each citation for a 
                        permit violation under a Federal, State, or 
                        local environmental statute during the previous 
                        5 years.
                            ``(iv) A list of each citation for failure 
                        to conduct proper cleanup, reclamation, or 
                        closure of a site or forfeiture of a bond for 
                        such a failure during the previous 5 years.
            ``(10) The applicant shall complete, after public notice 
        and comment, an environmental impact statement. Such statement 
        shall be conducted in the same manner and in conformance with 
        the same standards required for environmental impact statements 
        under the National Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 4321 et 
        seq.) and must be approved by the State.
    ``(b) Toxics Use Reduction Requirements.--(1) For purposes of 
subsection (a)(2), an applicant for a permit, and each generator of 
waste expected to be incinerated at the facility, shall demonstrate 
that each such generator has completed and made available to the 
public, and intends to complete and make available each subsequent 
year, a report on the use of toxic or hazardous substances at the 
generator's facility and the reduction of the use of such substances 
during the preceding year at the generator's facility. The report shall 
include, at a minimum, the following:
            ``(A) A materials accounting for each toxic or hazardous 
        substance used in each production unit of the generator's 
        facility and for the facility as a whole.
            ``(B) An evaluation of options for reducing the use of 
        toxic and hazardous substances in each production unit of the 
        generator's facility.
            ``(C) Two- and five-year goals, by toxic and hazardous 
        substance, for reducing the use of each substance in each 
        production unit of the generator's facility and in the facility 
        as a whole.
            ``(D) A schedule for implementing the goals referred to in 
        subparagraph (C).
            ``(E) A statement signed by an independent expert 
        certifying that, to the expert's best knowledge and belief, the 
        report prepared by the generator is true, complete, accurate, 
        and prepared under a proper data accounting and planning 
        system.
    ``(2) For purposes of subsection (a)(2), an applicant for a permit 
shall demonstrate that the State in which the facility is located, and 
each State in which generators of waste expected to be incinerated at 
the facility are located, has established and is implementing a toxics 
use reduction program that includes, at a minimum, the following 
requirements:
            ``(A) The program must be designed to achieve, within 5 
        years after the date the program is established, at least a 50 
        percent reduction, from the base year, in the amount of toxic 
        or hazardous substances entering the hazardous waste stream 
        prior to treatment, recycling, handling, disposal, or release.
            ``(B) The program must require generators of hazardous 
        waste to develop a plan for reducing their toxic or hazardous 
        substance use.
            ``(C) The program must require each generator of hazardous 
        waste to publicly report on materials accounting for each 
        production unit of the generator's facility and the facility as 
        a whole.
    ``(c) Applicability.--This section applies to any facility that 
burns hazardous waste, including cement kilns and other industrial 
furnaces and boilers.
    ``(d) Definitions.--For purposes of this section, the following 
definitions apply:
            ``(1) The term `base year' means any calendar year, not 
        earlier than 1989, for which a State has complete and adequate 
        information on the generation of toxic or hazardous substances 
        entering the hazardous waste stream, prior to treatment, 
        recycling, handling, disposal, or release.
            ``(2) The term `toxic or hazardous substance' means--
                    ``(A) a substance on the list described in section 
                313(c) of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-
                To-Know Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. 11023(c));
                    ``(B) any chemical for which a Federal or State law 
                requires reporting similar to section 313 of such Act 
                but which is not otherwise covered under subparagraph 
                (A);
                    ``(C) any hazardous constituent of hazardous wastes 
                identified under regulations promulgated under this 
                subtitle and listed in sections 261.33(e), 261.33(f), 
                and Appendix VIII of part 261 of title 40 of the Code 
                of Federal Regulations; and
                    ``(D) any priority pollutant listed under 
                regulations relating to steam electric power point 
                source pollutants under the Federal Water Pollution 
                Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1311 et seq.) (as listed in 
                Appendix A of section 423 of title 40 of the Code of 
                Federal Regulations).
            ``(3)(A) The term `toxics use reduction' means any change 
        in a production process or activity, raw material, or product, 
        that reduces or eliminates the use of any toxic or hazardous 
        substance, or the amount of any toxic or hazardous substance 
        entering any waste stream or otherwise released to the 
        environment (including fugitive emissions and hazardous 
        secondary materials), prior to recycling, treatment, disposal, 
        handling, or release, without creating or increasing risks to 
        the public health, workers, consumers, or the environment. The 
        term includes production equipment or technology modifications, 
        reformulation or redesign of products, substitution of raw 
        materials, changes in production processes or procedures, and 
        improvements in housekeeping, maintenance, training, or 
        inventory control.
            ``(B) The term does not include (i) any waste management or 
        pollution control activity, or any other practice which alters 
        the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics, or the 
        volume, of a toxic or hazardous substance through a process or 
        activity which itself is not integral to and necessary for the 
        production of a product or the providing of a service; (ii) 
        recycling without the use of in-process, in-line, or closed-
        loop recycling methods according to standard engineering 
        practices and that is not integral to and necessary for the 
        production of the product within the original production unit; 
        or (iii) the use of a byproduct as hazardous secondary 
        material, as a product, or as a constituent of a product.''.
    (b) Technical Amendment.--The table of contents for subtitle C of 
such Act (contained in section 1001 of such Act) is amended by adding 
at the end the following new item:

``Sec. 3021. Hazardous waste incinerators.''.

                                 <all>

HR 424 SC----2