[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 121 (Tuesday, September 11, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H5826-H5829]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         HAZARDOUS WASTE ELECTRONIC MANIFEST ESTABLISHMENT ACT

  Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules 
and pass the bill (S. 710) to amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to 
direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to 
establish a hazardous waste electronic manifest system, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the amendment is as follows:

       Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert:

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Hazardous Waste Electronic 
     Manifest Establishment Act''.

     SEC. 2. HAZARDOUS WASTE ELECTRONIC MANIFEST SYSTEM.

       (a) In General.--Subtitle C of the Solid Waste Disposal Act 
     (42 U.S.C. 6921 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 
     following:

     ``SEC. 3024. HAZARDOUS WASTE ELECTRONIC MANIFEST SYSTEM.

       ``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
       ``(1) Board.--The term `Board' means the Hazardous Waste 
     Electronic Manifest System Advisory Board established under 
     subsection (f).
       ``(2) Fund.--The term `Fund' means the Hazardous Waste 
     Electronic Manifest System Fund established by subsection 
     (d).
       ``(3) Person.--The term `person' includes an individual, 
     corporation (including a Government corporation), company, 
     association, firm, partnership, society, joint stock company, 
     trust, municipality, commission, Federal agency, State, 
     political subdivision of a State, or interstate body.
       ``(4) System.--The term `system' means the hazardous waste 
     electronic manifest system established under subsection (b).
       ``(5) User.--The term `user' means a hazardous waste 
     generator, a hazardous waste transporter, an owner or 
     operator of a hazardous waste treatment, storage, recycling, 
     or disposal facility, or any other person that--
       ``(A) is required to use a manifest to comply with any 
     Federal or State requirement to track the shipment, 
     transportation, and receipt of hazardous waste or other 
     material that is shipped from the site of generation to an 
     off-site facility for treatment, storage, disposal, or 
     recycling; and
       ``(B)(i) elects to use the system to complete and transmit 
     an electronic manifest format; or
       ``(ii) submits to the system for data processing purposes a 
     paper copy of the manifest (or data from such a paper copy), 
     in accordance with such regulations as the Administrator may 
     promulgate to require such a submission.
       ``(b) Establishment.--Not later than 3 years after the date 
     of enactment of this section, the Administrator shall 
     establish a hazardous waste electronic manifest system that 
     may be used by any user.
       ``(c) User Fees.--
       ``(1) In general.--In accordance with paragraph (4), the 
     Administrator may impose on users such reasonable service 
     fees as the Administrator determines to be necessary to pay 
     costs incurred in developing, operating, maintaining, and 
     upgrading the system, including any costs incurred in 
     collecting and processing data from any paper manifest 
     submitted to the system after the date on which the system 
     enters operation.
       ``(2) Collection of fees.--The Administrator shall--
       ``(A) collect the fees described in paragraph (1) from the 
     users in advance of, or as reimbursement for, the provision 
     by the Administrator of system-related services; and
       ``(B) deposit the fees in the Fund.
       ``(3) Fee structure.--
       ``(A) In general.--The Administrator, in consultation with 
     information technology vendors, shall determine through the 
     contract award process described in subsection (e) the fee 
     structure that is necessary to recover the full cost to the 
     Administrator of providing system-related services, 
     including--
       ``(i) contractor costs relating to--

       ``(I) materials and supplies;
       ``(II) contracting and consulting;
       ``(III) overhead;
       ``(IV) information technology (including costs of hardware, 
     software, and related services);
       ``(V) information management;
       ``(VI) collection of service fees;
       ``(VII) reporting and accounting; and
       ``(VIII) project management; and

       ``(ii) costs of employment of direct and indirect 
     Government personnel dedicated to establishing, managing, and 
     maintaining the system.
       ``(B) Adjustments in fee amount.--
       ``(i) In general.--The Administrator, in consultation with 
     the Board, shall increase or decrease the amount of a service 
     fee determined under the fee structure described in 
     subparagraph (A) to a level that will--

       ``(I) result in the collection of an aggregate amount for 
     deposit in the Fund that is sufficient and not more than 
     reasonably necessary to cover current and projected system-
     related costs (including any necessary system upgrades); and
       ``(II) minimize, to the maximum extent practicable, the 
     accumulation of unused amounts in the Fund.

       ``(ii) Exception for initial period of operation.--The 
     requirement described in clause (i)(II) shall not apply to 
     any additional fees that accumulate in the Fund, in an amount 
     that does not exceed $2,000,000, during the 3-year period 
     beginning on the date on which the system enters operation.
       ``(iii) Timing of adjustments.--Adjustments to service fees 
     described in clause (i) shall be made--

       ``(I) initially, at the time at which initial development 
     costs of the system have been recovered by the Administrator 
     such that the service fee may be reduced to reflect the 
     elimination of the system development component of the fee; 
     and
       ``(II) periodically thereafter, upon receipt and acceptance 
     of the findings of any annual accounting or auditing report 
     under subsection (d)(3), if the report discloses a 
     significant disparity for a fiscal year between the funds 
     collected from service fees under this subsection for the 
     fiscal year and expenditures made for the fiscal year to 
     provide system-related services.

       ``(4) Crediting and availability of fees.--Fees authorized 
     under this section shall be collected and available for 
     obligation only to the extent and in the amount provided in 
     advance in appropriations Acts.
       ``(d) Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest System Fund.--
       ``(1) Establishment.--There is established in the Treasury 
     of the United States a revolving fund, to be known as the 
     `Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest System Fund', consisting 
     of such amounts as are deposited in the Fund under subsection 
     (c)(2)(B).
       ``(2) Expenditures from fund.--
       ``(A) In general.--Only to the extent provided in advance 
     in appropriations Acts, on request by the Administrator, the 
     Secretary of the Treasury shall transfer from the Fund to the 
     Administrator amounts appropriated to pay costs incurred in 
     developing, operating, maintaining, and upgrading the system 
     under subsection (c).
       ``(B) Use of funds by administrator.--Fees collected by the 
     Administrator and deposited in the Fund under this section 
     shall be available to the Administrator subject to 
     appropriations Acts for use in accordance with this section 
     without fiscal year limitation.
       ``(C) Oversight of funds.--The Administrator shall carry 
     out all necessary measures to ensure that amounts in the Fund 
     are used only to carry out the goals of establishing, 
     operating, maintaining, upgrading, managing, supporting, and 
     overseeing the system.
       ``(3) Accounting and auditing.--
       ``(A) Accounting.--For each 2-fiscal-year period, the 
     Administrator shall prepare and submit to the Committee on 
     Environment and Public Works and the Committee on 
     Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and 
     Commerce and the Committee on Appropriations

[[Page H5827]]

     of the House of Representatives a report that includes--
       ``(i) an accounting of the fees paid to the Administrator 
     under subsection (c) and disbursed from the Fund for the 
     period covered by the report, as reflected by financial 
     statements provided in accordance with--

       ``(I) the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 (Public Law 
     101-576; 104 Stat. 2838) and amendments made by that Act; and
       ``(II) the Government Management Reform Act of 1994 (Public 
     Law 103-356; 108 Stat. 3410) and amendments made by that Act; 
     and

       ``(ii) an accounting describing actual expenditures from 
     the Fund for the period covered by the report for costs 
     described in subsection (c)(1).
       ``(B) Auditing.--
       ``(i) In general.--For the purpose of section 3515(c) of 
     title 31, United States Code, the Fund shall be considered a 
     component of an Executive agency.
       ``(ii) Components of audit.--The annual audit required in 
     accordance with sections 3515(b) and 3521 of title 31, United 
     States Code, of the financial statements of activities 
     carried out using amounts from the Fund shall include an 
     analysis of--

       ``(I) the fees collected and disbursed under this section;
       ``(II) the reasonableness of the fee structure in place as 
     of the date of the audit to meet current and projected costs 
     of the system;
       ``(III) the level of use of the system by users; and
       ``(IV) the success to date of the system in operating on a 
     self-sustaining basis and improving the efficiency of 
     tracking waste shipments and transmitting waste shipment 
     data.

       ``(iii) Federal responsibility.--The Inspector General of 
     the Environmental Protection Agency shall--

       ``(I) conduct the annual audit described in clause (ii); 
     and
       ``(II) submit to the Administrator a report that describes 
     the findings and recommendations of the Inspector General 
     resulting from the audit.

       ``(e) Contracts.--
       ``(1) Authority to enter into contracts funded by service 
     fees.--After consultation with the Secretary of 
     Transportation, the Administrator may enter into 1 or more 
     information technology contracts with entities determined to 
     be appropriate by the Administrator (referred to in this 
     subsection as `contractors') for the provision of system-
     related services.
       ``(2) Term of contract.--A contract awarded under this 
     subsection shall have a term of not more than 10 years.
       ``(3) Achievement of goals.--The Administrator shall 
     ensure, to the maximum extent practicable, that a contract 
     awarded under this subsection--
       ``(A) is performance-based;
       ``(B) identifies objective outcomes; and
       ``(C) contains performance standards that may be used to 
     measure achievement and goals to evaluate the success of a 
     contractor in performing under the contract and the right of 
     the contractor to payment for services under the contract, 
     taking into consideration that a primary measure of 
     successful performance shall be the development of a 
     hazardous waste electronic manifest system that--
       ``(i) meets the needs of the user community (including 
     States that rely on data contained in manifests);
       ``(ii) attracts sufficient user participation and service 
     fee revenues to ensure the viability of the system;
       ``(iii) decreases the administrative burden on the user 
     community; and
       ``(iv) provides the waste receipt data applicable to the 
     biennial reports required by section 3002(a)(6).
       ``(4) Payment structure.--Each contract awarded under this 
     subsection shall include a provision that specifies--
       ``(A) the service fee structure of the contractor that will 
     form the basis for payments to the contractor; and
       ``(B) the fixed-share ratio of monthly service fee revenues 
     from which the Administrator shall reimburse the contractor 
     for system-related development, operation, and maintenance 
     costs.
       ``(5) Cancellation and termination.--
       ``(A) In general.--If the Administrator determines that 
     sufficient funds are not made available for the continuation 
     in a subsequent fiscal year of a contract entered into under 
     this subsection, the Administrator may cancel or terminate 
     the contract.
       ``(B) Negotiation of amounts.--The amount payable in the 
     event of cancellation or termination of a contract entered 
     into under this subsection shall be negotiated with the 
     contractor at the time at which the contract is awarded.
       ``(6) No effect on ownership.--Regardless of whether the 
     Administrator enters into a contract under this subsection, 
     the system shall be owned by the Federal Government.
       ``(f) Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest System Advisory 
     Board.--
       ``(1) Establishment.--Not later than 3 years after the date 
     of enactment of this section, the Administrator shall 
     establish a board to be known as the `Hazardous Waste 
     Electronic Manifest System Advisory Board'.
       ``(2) Composition.--The Board shall be composed of 9 
     members, of which--
       ``(A) 1 member shall be the Administrator (or a designee), 
     who shall serve as Chairperson of the Board; and
       ``(B) 8 members shall be individuals appointed by the 
     Administrator--
       ``(i) at least 2 of whom shall have expertise in 
     information technology;
       ``(ii) at least 3 of whom shall have experience in using or 
     represent users of the manifest system to track the 
     transportation of hazardous waste under this subtitle (or an 
     equivalent State program); and
       ``(iii) at least 3 of whom shall be a State representative 
     responsible for processing those manifests.
       ``(3) Duties.--The Board shall meet annually to discuss, 
     evaluate the effectiveness of, and provide recommendations to 
     the Administrator relating to, the system.
       ``(g) Regulations.--
       ``(1) Promulgation.--
       ``(A) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
     enactment of this section, after consultation with the 
     Secretary of Transportation, the Administrator shall 
     promulgate regulations to carry out this section.
       ``(B) Inclusions.--The regulations promulgated pursuant to 
     subparagraph (A) may include such requirements as the 
     Administrator determines to be necessary to facilitate the 
     transition from the use of paper manifests to the use of 
     electronic manifests, or to accommodate the processing of 
     data from paper manifests in the electronic manifest system, 
     including a requirement that users of paper manifests submit 
     to the system copies of the paper manifests for data 
     processing purposes.
       ``(C) Requirements.--The regulations promulgated pursuant 
     to subparagraph (A) shall ensure that each electronic 
     manifest provides, to the same extent as paper manifests 
     under applicable Federal and State law, for--
       ``(i) the ability to track and maintain legal 
     accountability of--

       ``(I) the person that certifies that the information 
     provided in the manifest is accurately described; and
       ``(II) the person that acknowledges receipt of the 
     manifest;

       ``(ii) if the manifest is electronically submitted, State 
     authority to access paper printout copies of the manifest 
     from the system; and
       ``(iii) access to all publicly available information 
     contained in the manifest.
       ``(2) Effective date of regulations.--Any regulation 
     promulgated by the Administrator under paragraph (1) and in 
     accordance with section 3003 relating to electronic 
     manifesting of hazardous waste shall take effect in each 
     State as of the effective date specified in the regulation.
       ``(3) Administration.--The Administrator shall carry out 
     regulations promulgated under this subsection in each State 
     unless the State program is fully authorized to carry out 
     such regulations in lieu of the Administrator.
       ``(h) Requirement of Compliance With Respect to Certain 
     States.--In any case in which the State in which waste is 
     generated, or the State in which waste will be transported to 
     a designated facility, requires that the waste be tracked 
     through a hazardous waste manifest, the designated facility 
     that receives the waste shall, regardless of the State in 
     which the facility is located--
       ``(1) complete the facility portion of the applicable 
     manifest;
       ``(2) sign and date the facility certification; and
       ``(3) submit to the system a final copy of the manifest for 
     data processing purposes.
       ``(i) Authorization for Start-up Activities.--There are 
     authorized to be appropriated $2,000,000 for each of fiscal 
     years 2013 through 2015 for start-up activities to carry out 
     this section, to be offset by collection of user fees under 
     subsection (c) such that all such appropriated funds are 
     offset by fees as provided in subsection (c).''.
       (b) Conforming Amendment.--The table of contents of the 
     Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6901) is amended by 
     inserting at the end of the items relating to subtitle C the 
     following:

``Sec. 3024. Hazardous waste electronic manifest system.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Murphy) and the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. 
Butterfield) each will control 20 minutes.
  The recognizes the gentleman from Pennsylvania.


                             General Leave

  Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their 
remarks and insert extraneous materials in the Record on S. 710.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as 
I may consume.
  The enactment of S. 710 will enable the EPA to employ current 
technology to sharply reduce paperwork regulatory requirements at the 
same time it makes crucial information more accessible for States, 
first responders, and the public.
  When people create hazardous waste, we require them to carefully 
track the movement and disposition. That way we know that, when a drum 
full of some hazardous waste is removed from a factory, the same amount 
winds up where it belongs--in a proper disposal facility--and that none 
of it is tossed into a sewer or a vacant lot. But for years, 
guaranteeing this actually happened meant keeping up with the reporting 
requirement--filling out multiple copies of paper forms and mailing 
them to the EPA and State officials, as

[[Page H5828]]

well as keeping paper copies at each place of business.
  The inefficiency of this system in today's electronic business-to-
business world certainly stands out to anyone. In fact, we learned of a 
case when first responders arrived at the scene of a chemical plant 
fire and they needed to know what substances were inside the plant 
before they started fighting the fire. In the whole city, the only 
copies of the forms identifying the hazardous waste were inside the 
building and were consumed in the fire. Now, there has got to be a 
better way.
  With an electronic system, instead of filling out long forms and 
mailing them, the critically needed data, with a few computer key 
strokes, can be sent wherever it is needed. State regulators, first 
responders, and others will be able to pull it up on their computers 
and track the materials in real time. The changeover will not only save 
millions of dollars for regulated businesses, but quite frankly, it 
will save lives. So, even though the e-manifest system in S. 710 is 
funded by user fees, I want to note it will not be a burden on small 
businesses. Users pay only when and to the extent they file manifests. 
Otherwise, the new system will work like the old paper system, where 
the process to identify discrepancies in shipments is preserved.
  Mr. Speaker, S. 710 was a good bill when it arrived here from the 
other body, but we made it better. First, we converted it from so-
called ``mandatory'' spending to ``discretionary.'' That will allow our 
colleagues on the Appropriations Committees an annual chance to review 
the program and make sure that money collected from users and money 
spent on the system is only enough to get the job done. Next, in 
working with our friends from the Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure, we added language to help the EPA harmonize its 
changeover to electronic filing with the Department of Transportation. 
The DOT also has its own requirements for handling and reporting 
hazardous materials, and we want the agencies to talk to each other and 
their computers to speak the same language.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I urge the House to send S. 710, as amended, back to 
the other body, where we expect it to be approved without further 
amendment so that the President can sign it into law.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I rise in strong support of the Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest 
Establishment Act, as amended by the Energy and Commerce Committee. 
This legislation will establish a centralized, Federal electronic 
manifest system for tracking hazardous waste for both the Federal 
Government and the States, and will pay for it through the collection 
of user fees.
  Protecting the public from hazardous waste is certainly a critical 
mission of the Department of Transportation and the EPA. Both 
departments, in coordination with industry and State agencies, have 
been vigilant in the treatment and transport of hazardous waste because 
of the safeguards established by the hazardous waste manifest system. 
Paper manifests provide shipping information to help with the tracking 
of potentially dangerous materials and information about the contents 
of each shipment for emergency responders.
  The requirements of the current system were established over 30 years 
ago. Since 2001, the EPA has proposed a nearly paperless manifest 
system, which would reduce the financial burden of paperwork on States 
and the industry. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson described the adoption 
of an electronic system for manifests as ``an investment in modernizing 
the system that will pay off in efficiency later.'' That is why this 
legislation has wide support from hazardous waste generators, shippers, 
and processors, in that it reduces administrative and paperwork 
burdens.
  The Congressional Budget Office estimates that this program will 
yield net annual savings for industry and the States of over $100 
million per year. The CBO also estimates that about 114,000 shippers 
would use this new system in the year 2016, with shipping users almost 
doubling in later years to 227,000.
  Environmental groups also support this legislation because it will 
lead to ``reductions in regulatory burden while simultaneously 
increasing the timeliness and availability of hazardous waste data'' 
and ``better protecting our environment.'' Those are their quotes.
  I think the gentleman from Pennsylvania made reference to this a 
moment ago. In 2006, a fire erupted at a hazardous waste disposal 
facility in my home State of North Carolina. When first responders 
arrived on the scene, they could not access information about the 
hazardous chemicals inside of the facility because the paper manifests 
were inside the building that was burning.
  We should bring this system, Mr. Speaker, into the 21st century. 
Technology has advanced. We all know that. There has been such 
advancement in technology over the last 32 years, and we should no 
longer be relying on carbon copies to track potentially dangerous 
shipments. Today's proposed legislation also maintains flexibility for 
small businesses by making participation in the electronic reporting 
program voluntary. It's not compulsory. It is a voluntary proposal. So, 
if any firm chooses, it can still use paper-based reporting methods.
  As it passed the Senate, S. 710 embodied concepts that are widely 
supported, but it carried significant costs and direct spending, and 
deviated from the common practice of making the collection and 
utilization of user fees subject to appropriation.

                              {time}  1710

  But Chairman Shimkus worked closely with the Democratic members of 
the Environment and Economy Subcommittee to craft a substitute bill 
that addresses concerns while preserving the benefits of the 
legislation. The bill passed out of our subcommittee and the full 
Energy and Commerce Committee on voice votes with strong bipartisan 
support. I believe, Mr. Speaker, it has a high likelihood of being 
accepted by the Senate and the President. We will certainly give them 
that opportunity. I urge my colleagues to support this bill so we can 
finally see this significant improvement signed into law.
  I want to thank Mr. Murphy and all of the other Members who worked to 
expedite this legislation and get it to the floor today. I'm going to 
ask my colleagues to join with us in passing this bill.
  With that said, Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I have no more speakers on 
this bill, and I'm prepared to close if the gentleman from North 
Carolina is prepared to close, as well.
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. I don't have any more speakers, and I too am 
prepared to close.
  Mr. Speaker, as the final speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, let me again thank Mr. Murphy, the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania, and Mr. Shimkus, and the chair and the ranking member of 
all the committees of jurisdiction for their extraordinary work on this 
bill.
  This is a critical piece of legislation. All of the stakeholders who 
are involved in disposing of chemicals and shipping chemicals are all 
in agreement that this is necessary. In fact, the time has passed that 
we pass this type of legislation. We live in a new age of technology 
now, so there's no excuse for us not automating these procedures. This 
bill today enables that to happen.
  I want to thank all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for 
their spirit of bipartisanship in getting this to the floor. I ask my 
colleagues to please vote ``yes'' on this important legislation.
  With that, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I ask that all Members 
support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Murphy) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, S. 710, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

[[Page H5829]]



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