[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5623 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5623

To amend the Clean Air Act to ensure that adequate actions are taken to 
 detect, prevent, and minimize the consequences of accidental releases 
 that result from criminal activity that may cause substantial harm to 
   public health, safety, and the environment and to ensure that the 
 public has access to information regarding hazardous chemicals in the 
community and the potential for accidental releases of those chemicals, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 2, 2000

   Mr. Holt introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                         Committee on Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Clean Air Act to ensure that adequate actions are taken to 
 detect, prevent, and minimize the consequences of accidental releases 
 that result from criminal activity that may cause substantial harm to 
   public health, safety, and the environment and to ensure that the 
 public has access to information regarding hazardous chemicals in the 
community and the potential for accidental releases of those chemicals, 
                        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 ``Chemical Security and Right to Know 
Act of 2000''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Agency for 
        Toxic Substances and Disease Registry believe that the 
        possibility of terrorist and criminal attacks on chemical 
        plants poses a serious threat to human health, safety, and the 
        environment;
            (2) limiting public access to chemical accident information 
        does not address the underlying problem of the vulnerability of 
        chemical plants to criminal attack; on the contrary, providing 
        public access to chemical accident information may create 
        substantial incentives to reduce such vulnerability;
            (3) there are significant opportunities to prevent criminal 
        attack on chemical plants by employing inherently safer 
        technologies in the manufacture and use of chemicals; such 
        technologies may offer industry substantial savings by reducing 
        the need for site security, secondary containment, buffer 
        zones, mitigation, and liability insurance;
            (4) chemical plants have a general duty to design and 
        maintain safe facilities to prevent criminal activity that may 
        result in harm to human health, safety and the environment; and
            (5) if the Attorney General determines that chemical plants 
        have not taken adequate actions to protect themselves from 
        criminal attack, the Attorney General must establish a program 
        to ensure that such actions are taken.

SEC. 3. PREVENTION OF CRIMINAL RELEASES.

    (a) Purpose and General Duty.--Section 112(r)(1) of the Clean Air 
Act (42 U.S.C. 7412(r)(1)) is amended by striking the second sentence 
and inserting the following: ``Each owner and each operator of a 
stationary source that produces, processes, handles, or stores such a 
substance has a general duty in the same manner and to the same extent 
as the duty imposed under section 5 of the Occupational Safety and 
Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 654) to identify hazards that may result 
from an accidental release or criminal release using appropriate hazard 
assessment techniques, to ensure design and maintenance of safe 
facilities taking such actions as are necessary to prevent accidental 
releases and criminal releases, and to minimize the consequences of any 
accidental release or criminal release that does occur.''.
    (b) Definitions.--Section 112(r)(2) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 
7412(r)(2)) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subparagraphs (B) and (C) as 
        subparagraphs (E) and (F), respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after subparagraph (A) the following:
                    ``(B) Criminal release.--The term `criminal 
                release' means--
                            ``(i) a release of a regulated substance 
                        from a stationary source into the environment 
                        that is caused, in whole or in part, by a 
                        criminal act; and
                            ``(ii) a release into the environment of a 
                        regulated substance that has been removed from 
                        a stationary source, in whole or in part, by a 
                        criminal act.
                    ``(C) Design and maintenance of safe facilities.--
                The term `design and maintenance of safe facilities' 
                means, with respect to the facilities at a stationary 
                source, the practices of--
                            ``(i) preventing or reducing the 
                        vulnerability of the stationary source to a 
                        release of a regulated substance through use of 
                        inherently safer technology to the maximum 
                        extent practicable;
                            ``(ii) reducing any vulnerability of the 
                        stationary source that remains after taking the 
                        measures described in clause (i) through 
                        secondary containment, control, or mitigation 
                        equipment to the maximum extent practicable;
                            ``(iii) reducing any vulnerability of the 
                        stationary source that remains after taking the 
                        measures described in clauses (i) and (ii) by--
                                    ``(I) making the facilities 
                                impregnable to intruders to the maximum 
                                extent practicable; and
                                    ``(II) improving site security and 
                                employee training to the maximum extent 
                                practicable; and
                            ``(iv) reducing the potential consequences 
                        of any vulnerability of the stationary source 
                        that remains after taking the measures 
                        described in clauses (i) through (iii) through 
                        the use of buffer zones between the stationary 
                        source and surrounding populations (including 
                        buffer zones between the stationary source and 
                        residences, schools, hospitals, senior centers, 
                        shopping centers and malls, sports and 
                        entertainment arenas, public roads and 
                        transportation routes, and other population 
                        centers).
                    ``(D) Use of inherently safer technology.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The term `use of 
                        inherently safer technology' means use of a 
                        technology, product, raw material, or practice 
                        that, as compared to the technology, products, 
                        raw materials, or practices currently in use--
                                    ``(I) reduces or eliminates the 
                                possibility of release of a toxic, 
                                volatile, corrosive, or flammable 
                                substance prior to secondary 
                                containment, control, or mitigation; 
                                and
                                    ``(II) reduces or eliminates the 
                                hazards to public health and the 
                                environment associated with the release 
                                or potential release of a substance 
                                described in subclause (I).
                            ``(ii) Inclusions.--The term `use of 
                        inherently safer technology' includes input 
                        substitution, process redesign, product 
                        reformulation, procedure simplification, and 
                        technology modification so as to--
                                    ``(I) use less hazardous or benign 
                                substances;
                                    ``(II) moderate pressures or 
                                temperatures;
                                    ``(III) reduce the likelihood and 
                                potential consequences of human error;
                                    ``(IV) improve inventory control 
                                and chemical use efficiency; and
                                    ``(V) reduce or eliminate storage, 
                                transportation, and handling of 
                                hazardous chemicals.''.
    (c) Determination and Regulations.--Section 112(r) of the Clean Air 
Act (42 U.S.C. 7412(r)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(12) Prevention of criminal releases.--
                    ``(A) Determination of adequacy.--Not later than 1 
                year after the date of enactment of this paragraph, the 
                Attorney General, in consultation with the 
                Administrator, shall determine whether the owners or 
                operators of stationary sources have taken adequate 
                actions, including the design and maintenance of safe 
                facilities, to detect, prevent, and minimize the 
                consequences of criminal releases that may cause 
                substantial harm to public health, safety, and the 
                environment.
                    ``(B) Chemical security regulations.--If the 
                Attorney General determines, under subparagraph (A), 
                that adequate actions have not been taken, the Attorney 
                General, in consultation with the Administrator, shall 
                promulgate, not later than 2 years after the date of 
                enactment of this paragraph, requirements to ensure 
                that owners or operators of stationary sources take 
                adequate actions, including the design and maintenance 
                of safe facilities, to detect, prevent, and minimize 
                the consequences of criminal releases that may cause 
                substantial harm to public health, safety, and the 
                environment.''.
    (d) Public Right-to-Know.--Effective 3 years after the enactment of 
this Act section 112(r)(7)(H) of the Clean Air Act is amended to read 
as follows:
                    ``(H) Public access to risk management plans.--The 
                Administrator shall make each risk management plan 
                submitted to the Administrator by an owner or operator 
                of a stationary source under subparagraph (B) available 
                to the public in electronic form on the Internet. The 
                Administrator shall also make a paper version of each 
                such plan available to the public at appropriate 
                offices of the Environmental Protection Agency and 
                permit members of the public to make copies of such 
                plan or any portion thereof.''.

SEC. 4. REGULATIONS.

    The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and the 
Attorney General may promulgate such regulations as are necessary to 
carry out this Act and the amendments made by this Act.

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator of the 
Environmental Protection Agency and the Attorney General such sums as 
are necessary to carry out this Act and the amendments made by this 
Act, to remain available until expended.
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