[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 149 (Thursday, December 1, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: December 1, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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              REGULATION OF ANIMAL FATS AND VEGETABLE OILS

 Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, I want to apprise Senators of the 
status of the regulation of animal fats and vegetable oils under the 
Oil Pollution Act of 1990. This law, known as OPA 90, was enacted in 
response to catastrophic petroleum oil spills such as the Exxon Valdez 
incident, to improve the response to, and minimize the impact of those 
spills. However, due to the broad statutory definition of ``oil,'' OPA 
90 has been applied not only to toxic oils, for example, petroleum oil, 
but also to nontoxic agricultural products such as animal fats and 
vegetable oils. As a result, these nontoxic substances used to make 
foodstuffs and other consumer products are unfortunately swept up in 
the same broad definition as petroleum and other toxic oils.
  Lacking clear congressional direction on differentiation, 
implementing agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency and 
the Coast Guard, are issuing rules that regulate animal fats and 
vegetable oils in much the same way as toxic oils, while ignoring the 
unique nontoxic nature of these agricultural products. Although these 
agencies have classified them in a nonpetroleum oil category under the 
various interim and final rules for spill response, there are a long 
list of toxic oils in this same nonpetroleum category.
  Senator Harkin and I, along with others, introduced and supported 
legislation to insure that both of these objectives are accomplished. 
The underlying principles of OPA 90 would remain unchanged with the 
language to require differentiating animal fats and vegetable oils from 
other oils. The House passed a nearly identical measure twice as part 
of H.R. 4422 and H.R. 4852. The Senate passed the bill as S. 2559.

  Although final legislation could not be completed in the time 
remaining in this Congress, I want to assure all Senators that I will 
be working to clarify this unintended consequence of the Oil Pollution 
Act when we reconvene in the 104th Congress. This issue should be a 
priority as we examine more closely the unnecessary and costly 
regulatory burdens placed on U.S. business that do not add any 
additional measure of protection to the environment or the health and 
safety of our citizens.
  The scientific data collected to date indicate that the animal fats 
and vegetable oils industry has an excellent spill history for these 
products justifying differentiation of these materials from toxic oils. 
Specifically, these products account for less than one-half of 1 
percent of all oilspills in the United States, which are mostly less 
than 1,000 gallons each. In making these remarks, I want to be clear 
that the animal fats and vegetable oils industry is not seeking to be 
exempt from oilspill response requirements, but is merely seeking two 
simple objectives.
  First, the industry seeks a separate category for vegetable oils. 
This is as much for scientific differences in the oils as it is for 
economic reasons. There is no reason why nontoxic vegetable oils must 
be in the same category as toxic oils.
  Second, the industry seeks response requirements that recognize the 
different characteristics of animal fats and vegetable oils within this 
separate category. A separate category without separate response 
requirements is nothing more than a hollow gesture. There is more 
flexibility available under the National Contingency Plan to respond in 
the case of a spill of nontoxic animal fats and vegetable oils than 
there is for toxic oils like petroleum. These agencies should more 
fully and clearly spell out the additional appropriate options 
available under the NCP in the regulations themselves so that no doubt 
exists as to the availability of these options.
  Now, all spills involving oils of any kind are unfortunate and may 
have some similar environmental impacts. However, the response to all 
spills does not have to be the same. Nontoxic animal fats and vegetable 
oils by their very nature do not have the same total environmental 
impact as a toxic oil, and it makes sense that the response plan need 
not be identical. Vegetable oils, after all, are the same products used 
in most households every day, the same products each of us consumes in 
the normal course of living.
  So I hope that agencies will exercise common sense and promulgate 
rules that reflect these differences. To insure that this is the case, 
I will pursue legislation to require differentiation for animal fats 
and vegetable oils under OPA 90 in the 104th Congress, and hope my 
colleagues will join me in that effort.

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