[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5303 Introduced in House (IH)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5303

 To require the suspension of the use, sale, development, production, 
 testing, and export of depleted uranium munitions pending the outcome 
  of certain studies of the health effects of such munitions, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 4, 2006

 Ms. McKinney introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
   Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committees on 
  Energy and Commerce and International Relations, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the suspension of the use, sale, development, production, 
 testing, and export of depleted uranium munitions pending the outcome 
  of certain studies of the health effects of such munitions, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Depleted Uranium 
Munitions Suspension and Study Act of 2006''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents of this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Purposes.
Sec. 4. Suspension of use of depleted uranium munitions.
Sec. 5. Suspension of sale and export of depleted uranium munitions.
Sec. 6. Comptroller general investigation of plutonium contamination.
Sec. 7. Study of health effects of depleted uranium.
Sec. 8. Epa studies of environmental contamination by depleted uranium.
Sec. 9. Environmental mitigation and cleanup requirements.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The highest regard should be given to the health and 
        safety of the Nation's military personnel.
            (2) Among the characteristics of depleted uranium munitions 
        are that (A) they are pyrophoric, resulting in the munition 
        burning upon impact with a target, and (B) the impact of a 
        depleted uranium munition on a target creates aerosol 
        particles, which can be inhaled.
            (3) Depleted uranium munitions were used by the United 
        States in 1991 during the Persian Gulf War in Southwest Asia 
        and during the conflicts in the former Federal Republic of 
        Yugoslavia (Bosnia, Kosovo, Serbia, and Montenegro) during the 
        1990s, with approximately 300 metric tons of depleted uranium 
        being used during the Gulf War, three metric tons being used in 
        Bosnia, and over nine metric tons being used in Kosovo, Serbia, 
        and Montenegro.
            (4) The United States has provided or sold depleted uranium 
        and depleted uranium munitions to allied nations, and the 
        United Kingdom used depleted uranium munitions during the 
        Persian Gulf War.
            (5) Depleted uranium munitions have been used at numerous 
        United States military installations, proving grounds, and 
        testing facilities.
            (6) The Yugoslav and Iraqi Governments have claimed that 
        depleted uranium is affecting the health of their people, 
        although such claims have yet to be independently verified.
            (7) No definitive cause has been established for the 
        various illnesses (commonly referred to as ``Gulf War 
        Syndrome'') that currently affect approximately 130,000 United 
        States servicemembers and veterans who served in Southwest Asia 
        during the Persian Gulf War.
            (8) The British Royal Navy, Canadian Navy, and United 
        States Navy have all announced that they would phase out use of 
        depleted uranium munitions.
            (9) It has been reported that depleted uranium munitions 
        use has proliferated to more than 20 nations.
            (10) Crash investigators of the Federal Aviation 
        Administration are instructed, in FAA Advisory Circular 20-123, 
        dated December 20, 1984, to ``handle with caution'' any 
        depleted uranium that they encounter in crash investigations, 
        and are instructed that ``the main hazard associated with 
        depleted uranium is the harmful effect the material could have 
        if it enters the body,'' and that ``[i]f particles are inhaled 
        or digested, they can be chemically toxic and cause a 
        significant and long-lasting irradiation of internal 
        tissues,''.
            (11) The 1949 Geneva Convention specifically outlines the 
        precautions warring nations must take to avoid harming civilian 
        populations, and it would be a violation of the 1977 Protocol 
        to that Convention to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary 
        suffering to civilians, as depleted uranium has the potential 
        to cause.
            (12) The Department of Defense has acknowledged that stocks 
        of depleted uranium munitions have been contaminated with 
        transuranic elements, including plutonium.
            (13) Plutonium is an extremely toxic, carcinogenic, and 
        radioactive material with a half-life of 4.5 billion years.

SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are the following:
            (1) To eliminate health threats from depleted uranium 
        munitions to--
                    (A) United States military personnel and United 
                States civilian employees;
                    (B) military personnel and employees of member 
                nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; and
                    (C) civilian populations in regions where such 
                munitions were used (whether in conflict, training, or 
                development) or produced.
            (2) To provide for studies of--
                    (A) the level and scope of contamination of 
                depleted uranium munitions by plutonium and other 
                transuranic elements;
                    (B) the health effects resulting from exposure by 
                inhalation, ingestion, or injection to depleted uranium 
                munitions; and
                    (C) environmental contamination caused by depleted 
                uranium at sites where depleted uranium was used in 
                conflict, development, testing, or training and at 
                sites where depleted uranium and depleted uranium 
                munitions were produced.
            (3) To require the Administrator of the Environmental 
        Protection Agency to issue regulations and requirements, based 
        upon Environmental Protection Agency studies, concerning the 
        cleanup and mitigation of depleted uranium contamination at 
        sites of depleted uranium munition use and production in the 
        United States.

SEC. 4. SUSPENSION OF USE OF DEPLETED URANIUM MUNITIONS.

    (a) Suspension of Use.--Effective no later than 90 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall 
direct that all elements of the Department of Defense suspend use of 
depleted uranium munitions.
    (b) Duration.--(1) The suspension of use of depleted uranium 
munitions required by subsection (a) shall remain in effect until the 
Secretary of Health and Human Services, based upon the results of the 
study under section 7(a), certifies to the committees specified in 
paragraph (2) that use of depleted uranium munitions in future 
conflicts--
            (A) will not pose a likely long-term or residual threat to 
        the health of United States or NATO military personnel; and
            (B) will not jeopardize the health of civilian populations 
        in the area of such use.
    (2) The committees specified in this paragraph are the following:
            (A) The Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on 
        Government Reform of the House of Representatives.
            (B) The Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on 
        Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate.
    (c) Future Use Limited to Stocks Free of Transuranic Matter.--Upon 
a certification by the Secretary of Health and Human Services described 
in subsection (b), the Secretary of Defense shall limit any subsequent 
use of depleted uranium munitions to stocks of such munitions that the 
Secretary certifies to be free of plutonium and other transuranic 
matter.

SEC. 5. SUSPENSION OF SALE AND EXPORT OF DEPLETED URANIUM MUNITIONS.

    (a) Suspension of Sale and Export.--Upon the enactment of this Act, 
all elements of the Government with responsibility for approving the 
foreign sale or export of munitions shall suspend the approval of the 
sale and export of munitions containing depleted uranium.
    (b) Duration.--The suspension required by subsection (a) of 
approval of the foreign sale and export of depleted uranium munitions 
shall remain in effect until the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
makes a certification described in section 4(b).
    (c) Future Exports To Be Limited to Stocks Free of Transuranic 
Matter.--Upon a certification by the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services described in section 4(b), any subsequent foreign sale or 
export of depleted uranium munitions or preproduction depleted uranium 
may be made only from stocks of such munitions or preproduction 
depleted uranium that the Secretary of Defense certifies to be free of 
plutonium and other transuranic matter, excluding depleted uranium.

SEC. 6. COMPTROLLER GENERAL INVESTIGATION OF PLUTONIUM CONTAMINATION.

    (a) Investigation.--The Comptroller General of the United States 
shall conduct a full investigation into the contamination of stocks of 
depleted uranium munitions with transuranic elements, including 
plutonium, neptunium, americium, and other forms of uranium. The 
investigation shall include--
            (1) determination of when such contamination occurred;
            (2) identification of the manufacturing or refining 
        facilities at which such contamination occurred;
            (3) identification of the quantity, by volume and 
        percentage, of the material by which such contamination 
        occurred;
            (4) identification of when such contamination was first 
        realized by Department of Defense personnel and when such 
        contamination was brought to the attention of senior Department 
        of Defense management;
            (5) identification of persons responsible for monitoring 
        the quality of such production;
            (6) identification of the time when notification of such 
        contamination was made to member nations of the North Atlantic 
        Treaty Organization; and
            (7) determination of whether any law or treaty was broken 
        by any such contamination or by any failure to provide timely 
        notice of such contamination to any affected party.
    (b) Report.--Upon completion of the investigation under subsection 
(a), the Comptroller General shall submit to the committeed specified 
in section 4(b)(2) a report on the investigation.

SEC. 7. STUDY OF HEALTH EFFECTS OF DEPLETED URANIUM.

    (a) Study.--The Director of the Agency for Toxic Substances and 
Disease Registry and the Director of the Center for Disease Control and 
Prevention shall jointly conduct a comprehensive study of the health 
effects of exposure to depleted uranium munitions on uranium-exposed 
veterans and on their children who were born after their respective 
exposures to uranium.
    (b) Uranium-Exposed Veterans.--For purposes of this section, the 
term ``uranium-exposed veteran'' means a member or former member of the 
Armed Forces who while on active duty handled, came in contact with, or 
had the likelihood of contact with depleted uranium munitions, 
including members and former members who while on active duty--
            (1) were exposed to smoke from fires resulting from the 
        burning of vehicles uploaded with depleted uranium munitions or 
        fires at depots at which depleted uranium was stored;
            (2) worked within environments containing depleted uranium 
        dust or residues from depleted uranium fires;
            (3) were within a structure or vehicle while it was struck 
        by a depleted uranium munition;
            (4) climbed on or entered equipment or structures struck by 
        depleted uranium; or
            (5) were medical personnel who provided near-term treatment 
        to members of the Armed Forces described in paragraph (1), (2), 
        (3), or (4).
    (c) Public Health Assessment.--The Director of the Agency for Toxic 
Substances and Disease Registry shall conduct a public health 
assessment of persons who are thought to have an epidemiological link 
to any United States military installation or facility at which 
depleted uranium munitions have been or currently are used or any 
production facility at which depleted uranium or depleted uranium 
munitions are currently, or have been, produced.
    (d) Report.--The Directors shall submit to Congress a report on the 
results of the study under subsection (a) and the assessment under 
subsection (c). The report shall be submitted not later than two years 
after the date of the enactment of this Act and shall include the 
findings of the Directors on the matters covered by the report. The 
Directors shall include in the report a list of diseases or conditions 
that are found to exist within the populations specified in subsection 
(a) and their rate of occurrence compared to the general population.

SEC. 8. EPA STUDIES OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION BY DEPLETED URANIUM.

    (a) List of Locations in United States.--Not later than 180 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense 
shall provide to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection 
Agency a list of all sites in the United States where depleted uranium 
munitions have been used or produced and a site-specific map of each 
such site.
    (b) EPA Studies.--After receipt of the list and maps under 
subsection (a), the Administrator shall, for each site specified on the 
list, conduct a comprehensive environmental study of the possible 
contamination of the soil, air, water, and vegetation by depleted 
uranium at that site.
    (c) Report.--Not later than two years after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Environmental 
Protection Agency shall submit to the Secretary of Defense and the 
Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Government Reform of 
the House of Representatives and the Committee on Armed Services and 
the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 
Senate a report--
            (1) describing the extent of contamination by depleted 
        uranium at each site studied by the Administrator pursuant to 
        subsection (b);
            (2) providing site-specific recommendations for the 
        mitigation and cleanup of each such site; and
            (3) providing general recommendations regarding the cleanup 
        of sites where depleted uranium has been used on foreign lands.

SEC. 9. ENVIRONMENTAL MITIGATION AND CLEANUP REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) Department of Defense Cleanup Plan.--Not later than one year 
after receiving the report under section 8(c), the Secretary of Defense 
shall develop a plan for mitigation and cleanup at each site and a 
prioritized list for such cleanups. The Secretary shall submit a copy 
of the plan to the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on 
Government Reform of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Armed Services and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs of the Senate.
    (b) Report.--The Secretary shall submit a report to those 
committees and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency 
each year before commencement of the mitigations and cleanups until 
those projects are complete.
    (c) Cleanup.--After filing of such plans, the Secretary shall 
commence, or contract for, the mitigation and cleanup of each site for 
which the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency has 
recommended such mitigation and cleanup and in the manner and scope 
that the Administrator's report specifies.
    (d) Applicability of NEPA.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
law, the cleanup and mitigation required by subsection (c) shall be 
carried out in a manner consistent with the provisions of the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969, without regard to any exemption to 
any of the provisions of that Act for the Department of Defense or any 
element thereof.
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