[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 22 (Thursday, March 3, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[Congressional Record: March 3, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
WASTE EXPORT AND IMPORT CONTROL ACT OF 1994
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Rangel). Under a previous order of the
House, the gentleman from Washington [Mr. Swift] is recognized for 5
minutes.
Mr. SWIFT. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join with my distinguished
colleague from Oklahoma, Mr. Synar, in introducing today the Waste
Export and Import Control Act of 1994. On March 22, 1989, the United
States joined with 103 other concerned nations to sign the Basel
Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes
and Their Disposal. The signatory nations recognized the need for an
international agreement addressing the risks to health and the
environment posed by the improper management of exported wastes. Since
that time, still more nations have added their names to the list of
signatories, and over 60 nations have become full voting parties to the
convention.
In the 102d Congress, the Senate voted favorably to give its advice
and consent to ratification. With a positive policy toward the
environment from this administration, we are now ready to pass
implementing legislation. Implementing legislation will allow us to
become a full voting party. We remain one of the world's leading
exporters of wastes; we should be a leader in ensuring that those
wastes are managed properly.
The Waste Export and Import Control Act of 1994 addresses both of
these concerns. First, it provides the Environmental Protection Agency
with the needed authority to implement the Basel Convention. Second,
and more significantly, it demonstrates to the world that America takes
responsibility for the proper management of the wastes we export.
This legislation bans waste trade between the United States and other
nations absent a bilateral or multilateral agreement governing this
trade. Further, the bill establishes a set of criteria by which the
Environmental Protection Agency will make a finding that the party to
receive an exported waste can handle the waste in an environmentally
sound manner.
Mr. Speaker, this legislation is the product of consultations over
the last 3 years with stakeholders from industry, the environmental
community, and representatives of other interested nations. It is my
firm belief that the objectives of this legislation are shared by the
administration, and I look forward to working with the administration
to resolve differences of approach. Toward that end, I wish to thank my
colleague, Mike Synar, for this tireless efforts on this issue and to
ask him to continue the very productive relationship we have shared in
the past.
Mr. PORTER. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to join Congressman Synar and
Congressman Swift in introducing the Waste Export and Import Control
Act of 1994. The United States joined with over 100 nations in signing
the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of
Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal nearly 4 years ago. U.S.
implementation of this agreement is long overdue and will allow us to
join with over 60 other nations in becoming full voting parties to the
convention.
Mr. Speaker, I joined with Congressmen Synar, Conyers, and Wolpe in
introducing similar legislation over 3 years ago. This bill goes even
further in ensuring that illegal and dangerous shipments of hazardous
and non-hazardous waste across national borders will come to an end.
Specifically, our bill calls for an immediate ban on the export of
waste except where a bilateral or multilateral agreement governing
waste trade between the countries exists. In order to enter into a such
an agreement, the Environmental Protection Agency must find that the
importing country or countries have the capacity and enforcement
mechanisms to handle the waste in the most environmentally sound
manner. Currently, the United States has bilateral agreements for waste
exports for disposal with Canada, and on waste exports for recycling
with Mexico and the OECD nations.
The bill also calls for joint inspections of receiving facilities in
cases where the EPA Administrator suspects that U.S. waste is being
handled in a way that threatens public health or the environment.
Furthermore, under this legislation, the EPA is authorized to halt or
recall shipments from facilities that the EPA believes are unable to
handle U.S. waste properly.
Mr. Speaker, the administration has recently released its set of
principles for implementing the Basel Convention. There are a few minor
differences between our proposals, but I am hopeful that this bill will
serve as a starting point on reaching consensus on this important
issue. Our objectives are the same--to minimize the export of waste and
to ensure that all waste is treated in a way that protects human health
and the environment.
Mr. SYNAR. Mr. Speaker, today I am pleased to join with my good
friend and colleague, Representative Al Swift, to introduce the Waste
Export and Import Control Act of 1994. Passage of this bill will enable
the United States to eliminate exports of hazardous and nonhazardous
waste to nations unable to manage the waste in an environmentally sound
manner and will finally allow the United States to ratify the Basel
Convention on the Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their
Disposal, which we signed in 1989.
I first became involved with this issue in 1988, when the
Subcommittee on Environment, Energy and Natural Resources, which I
chair, held oversight hearings on the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency's efforts to monitor and control hazardous waste exports.
Although current U.S. law requires EPA to obtain the prior informed
consent of the nation receiving the waste, we were appalled to find out
that under the law EPA could not refuse to allow waste shipments in
cases where the Agency knew or suspected that the waste would not be
handled properly. The hearings also revealed an exponential increase
since 1980 in the number of export proposals to EPA from companies
wishing to export hazardous waste to developing nations with lax or
nonexistent environmental regulations or to nations that clearly were
unable to manage the waste in an environmentally sound manner. EPA
attributed this increase to simple economics. As domestic waste
disposal choices in the United States became more limited and costly,
some companies found it cheaper and easier to export their waste to
foreign countries, often countries with shoddy environmental practices.
Finally, we discovered that U.S. law applies only to hazardous waste,
and that other so-called nonhazardous waste was left entirely
unregulated. Failure to regulate these non-hazardous wastes led to
embarrassing international incidents where U.S. barges filled with
municipal garbage and incinerator ash traveled from port to port in
search of a dumping ground. While private companies were the ones to
initiate these shipments, the United States received the black eye and
suffered the international stigma of trying to pass off our waste
problems onto poor underdeveloped nations.
In 1989, the United States and 115 other nations participated in and
signed the U.N.-sponsored Basel Convention on the Transboundary
Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal. The Basel Convention
established an international framework for regulating waste trade. Its
goals are threefold: First, to ensure that party nations work to
prevent pollution before it is generated wherever possible; second, to
encourage party nations to manage and dispose of their own wastes to
the maximum extent possible; and third, to ensure that any waste that
is exported to foreign nations is treated in an environmentally sound
manner.
The Convention entered into effect on May 5, 1992, following
ratification by 20 nations. Currently, 54 nations have ratified the
Convention. Regrettably, the United States has not yet ratified the
Convention because implementing legislation has not been passed.
In May 1989, I introduced, along with Congressmen Howard Wolpe, John
Porter, and John Conyers, the Waste Export Control Act. That
legislation allowed exports only to foreign facilities that would treat
the waste in a manner no less strict than would be required in the
United States. The legislation spelled out basic requirements that EPA
should look for in determining whether a facility treated waste in a
manner no less strict than is required by the United States
I believed than, as I believe now, that there are probably situations
where it is cheaper and where it makes more sense to export waste than
to find a place to dispose of waste domestically. In addition, as a
strong supporter of free trade, I did not believe that an outright ban
on exports was appropriate for facilities in countries that could show
that they could meet or beat U.S. standards. Others didn't exactly
share my views. At one end of the spectrum our legislation was
criticized by Greenpeace as being too conservative--they wanted a total
ban. At the other end of the spectrum, the Bush administration's EPA
and State Department criticized the bill as too liberal.
Over the past 2 years, I have been working closely with
Representative Swift, chairman of the Transportation and Hazardous
Materials Subcommittee, to address this important issue. We have
crafted what I believe is a strong piece of legislation. Our bill would
ban all exports of hazardous waste except to those countries where a
bilateral or multilateral agreement exists to ensure proper handling
and environmentally sound disposal of such wastes. The United States
currently has bilateral agreements on waste exports for disposal with
Canada, and on waste exports for recycling purposes with Mexico and the
OECD nations.
The bill sets up high hurdles that nations must meet under the
bilateral or multilateral agreements. For example, the bill requires
that, prior to entering into a bilateral agreement with a receiving
nation, EPA made a finding that the receiving country has enacted, and
can reasonably be expected to maintain and enforce, a strong
environmental regulatory program.
The bill also provides for joint inspections of receiving facilities
in cases where the Administrator suspects that U.S. waste is not being
managed properly. The bill also authorizes EPA to halt shipments to or
recall shipments from facilities that EPA believes would handle the
U.S. waste improperly.
I believe this implementing legislation will eliminate unsound waste
export proposals and will enhance the protection of human health and
the environment globally. All countries are treated equally under this
legislation--we do not distinguish between developing countries and
industrialized countries. However, as has been the case from the
beginning, we support banning waste exports to nations which ban waste
imports. Most importantly for swift U.S. ratification of the
Convention, we believe this bill can achieve political consensus
relatively quickly.
The Clinton administration has just announced its own set of
principles for Basel legislation, which takes a slightly different
approach in restricting waste exports. President Clinton would like to
see a ban on waste exports except to North America, and would phase out
exports for recyclable wastes to OECD countries over the next 5 years.
The administration's principles also provide for exceptions and re-
openers, which would allow exports despite the ban in instances where
an economically and environmentally superior disposal or treatment
technology is available in a foreign nation.
I want to make one thing perfectly clear: We all share a common goal
of minimizing waste exports, and of ensuring that any U.S. waste that
is exported is managed properly in the receiving country. The bill
Chairman Swift and I introduce today is a good starting point that
will, hopefully, facilitate fruitful discussions on how best to address
this issue. I look forward to working with the administration, other
Members of Congress, environmental groups and industry to achieve
speedy action on Basel implementing legislation.
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