[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1391 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1391

To prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating fossil 
fuel combustion waste under subtitle C of the Solid Waste Disposal Act.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 6, 2011

 Mr. McKinley (for himself, Mr. Whitfield, Mr. Rahall, Mr. Holden, Mr. 
  Terry, Mrs. Capito, Mr. Olson, Mr. Barton of Texas, Mr. Pompeo, Mr. 
 Gibbs, Mr. Guthrie, Mr. Kinzinger of Illinois, Mrs. McMorris Rodgers, 
 Mr. Critz, Mr. Murphy of Pennsylvania, and Mr. Griffith of Virginia) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                          Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating fossil 
fuel combustion waste under subtitle C of the Solid Waste Disposal Act.

    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 ``Recycling Coal Combustion Residuals 
Accessibility Act of 2011'' or the ``RCCRA Act of 2011''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Pursuant to section 3001(b)(3)(C) of the Solid Waste 
        Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6921(b)(3)(C)), the Environmental 
        Protection Agency, in two separate final regulatory 
        determinations, ``Final Regulatory Determination on Four Large-
        Volume Wastes From the Combustion of Coal by Electric Utility 
        Power Plants'' published at 58 Fed. Reg. 42466 (August 9, 1993) 
        and ``Notice of Regulatory Determination on Wastes from the 
        Combustion of Fossil Fuels'' published at 65 Fed. Reg. 32214 
        (May 22, 2000) (hereinafter the ``2000 regulatory 
        determination''), concluded that neither large-volume coal 
        combustion wastes, nor any of the remaining fossil fuel 
        combustion wastes, warrant regulation under subtitle C of the 
        Solid Waste Disposal Act.
            (2) In its 2000 regulatory determination, the Environmental 
        Protection Agency found that regulation of fossil fuel 
        combustion wastes under subtitle C of the Solid Waste Disposal 
        Act would be environmentally counterproductive because such 
        regulation would unnecessarily stigmatize such wastes and 
        impede their beneficial use.
            (3) The Department of Energy, the Federal Highway 
        Administration, and the Department of Agriculture have studied 
        fossil fuel combustion wastes and determined that such wastes 
        do not require a hazardous waste designation under subtitle C 
        of the Solid Waste Disposal Act.
            (4) Roughly 42 percent of fossil fuel combustion wastes are 
        used beneficially in a variety of applications, including in 
        concrete, wallboard, bricks, agricultural fertilizers, soil 
        amendments, roofing materials, and other consumer products, in 
        producing road base and fill materials, and in snow and ice 
        control products.
            (5) According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 
        13,700,000 tons of fossil fuel combustion wastes were recycled 
        and used in place of Portland cement in 2007, saving the United 
        States nearly 73,000,000,000,000 BTUs of energy, which is 
        equivalent to the annual energy consumption of more than 
        676,000 households. Greenhouse gas emissions were also reduced 
        by 12,400,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, roughly 
        the annual greenhouse gas emissions of 2,300,000 vehicles.
            (6) The regulatory impact analysis for the Environmental 
        Protection Agency's proposed rule entitled ``Hazardous and 
        Solid Waste Management System; Identification and Listing of 
        Special Wastes; Disposal of Coal Combustion Residuals From 
        Electric Utilities'' published at 75 Fed. Reg. 35128 (June 21, 
        2010) stated that such proposed rule did not include either a 
        qualitative or quantitative estimation of the potential effects 
        of the proposed rule on economic productivity, economic growth, 
        employment, job creation, or international economic 
        competitiveness.

SEC. 3. NO REGULATION OF FOSSIL FUEL COMBUSTION WASTE UNDER SUBTITLE C 
              OF THE SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL ACT.

    Section 3001(b)(3) of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 
6921(b)(3)) is amended by adding at the end thereof the following:
    ``(D) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (1) or any other 
provision of this paragraph, each waste listed in clause (i) of 
subparagraph (A) of this paragraph shall not be subject to regulation 
under this subtitle.''.
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