Superfund Recycling Equity Act of 1999 - Amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to absolve persons (other than owners or operators) who arranged for the recycling of recyclable material from liability for environmental response actions.
Deems transactions involving scrap paper, plastic, glass, textiles, or rubber (other than whole tires) to be arranging for recycling if the person who arranged the transaction demonstrates that the following criteria were met: (1) the recyclable material met a commercial specification grade and a market existed for the material; (2) a substantial portion of the material was made available for use as a feedstock for the manufacture of a new saleable product; (3) the material (or product to be made from the material) could have been a replacement for a virgin raw material; and (4) with respect to transactions occurring 90 days after this Act's enactment, the person exercised reasonable care to determine that the facility where the material would be managed by another was in compliance with Federal, State, or local environmental laws or regulations.
Deems transactions involving scrap metal to be arranging for recycling if the person who arranged the transaction demonstrates that: (1) the criteria for scrap materials were met; (2) he or she complied with applicable standards regarding activities associated with the recycling of scrap metals; and (3) the scrap metal was not melted prior to the transaction.
Deems transactions involving spent lead-acid, nickel-cadmium, or other batteries to be arranging for recycling if the person involved demonstrates that: (1) the criteria for scrap materials were met; and (2) he or she complied with applicable Federal environmental regulations or standards regarding such batteries.
Makes the exemptions from liability under this Act inapplicable if the person: (1) had an objectively reasonable basis to believe at the time of the recycling transaction that the recyclable material would not be recycled or would be burned as fuel or for energy recovery or incineration or that the consuming facility was not in compliance with Federal, State, or local environmental laws or regulations; (2) had reason to believe that hazardous substances had been added to the material for purposes other than processing for recycling; or (3) failed to exercise reasonable care with respect to the management of the material. Makes such exemptions inapplicable if the recyclable material contained polychlorinated biphenyls in excess of 50 parts per million or any new Federal standard.
[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1528 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
106th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1528
To amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and
Liability Act of 1980 to clarify liability under that Act for certain
recycling transactions.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
August 5, 1999
Mr. Lott (for himself, Mr. Daschle, Mr. Chafee, Mrs. Lincoln, Mr.
Warner, and Mr. Baucus) introduced the following bill; which was read
twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and
Liability Act of 1980 to clarify liability under that Act for certain
recycling transactions.
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 ``Superfund Recycling Equity Act of
1999''.
SEC. 2. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are--
(1) to promote the reuse and recycling of scrap material in
furtherance of the goals of waste minimization and natural
resource conservation while protecting human health and the
environment;
(2) to create greater equity in the statutory treatment of
recycled versus virgin materials; and
(3) to remove the disincentives and impediments to
recycling created as an unintended consequence of the 1980
Superfund liability provisions.
SEC. 3. CLARIFICATION OF LIABILITY UNDER CERCLA FOR RECYCLING
TRANSACTIONS.
(a) Clarification.--Title I of the Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601 et
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``SEC. 127. RECYCLING TRANSACTIONS.
``(a) Liability Clarification.--As provided in subsections (b),
(c), (d), and (e), a person who arranged for recycling of recyclable
material shall not be liable under section 107(a)(3) or 107(a)(4) with
respect to the material.
``(b) Recyclable Material Defined.--For purposes of this section,
the term `recyclable material' means scrap paper, scrap plastic, scrap
glass, scrap textiles, scrap rubber (other than whole tires), scrap
metal, or spent lead-acid, spent nickel-cadmium, and other spent
batteries, as well as minor amounts of material incident to or adhering
to the scrap material as a result of its normal and customary use prior
to becoming scrap; except that such term shall not include shipping
containers of a capacity from 30 liters to 3,000 liters, whether intact
or not, having any hazardous substance (but not metal bits and pieces
or hazardous substance that form an integral part of the container)
contained in or adhering thereto.
``(c) Transactions Involving Scrap Paper, Plastic, Glass, Textiles,
or Rubber.--Transactions involving scrap paper, scrap plastic, scrap
glass, scrap textiles, or scrap rubber (other than whole tires) shall
be deemed to be arranging for recycling if the person who arranged for
the transaction (by selling recyclable material or otherwise arranging
for the recycling of recyclable material) can demonstrate by a
preponderance of the evidence that all of the following criteria were
met at the time of the transaction:
``(1) The recyclable material met a commercial
specification grade.
``(2) A market existed for the recyclable material.
``(3) A substantial portion of the recyclable material was
made available for use as feedstock for the manufacture of a
new saleable product.
``(4) The recyclable material could have been a replacement
or substitute for a virgin raw material, or the product to be
made from the recyclable material could have been a replacement
or substitute for a product made, in whole or in part, from a
virgin raw material.
``(5) For transactions occurring 90 days or more after the
date of enactment of this section, the person exercised
reasonable care to determine that the facility where the
recyclable material was handled, processed, reclaimed, or
otherwise managed by another person (hereinafter in this
section referred to as a `consuming facility') was in
compliance with substantive (not procedural or administrative)
provisions of any Federal, State, or local environmental law or
regulation, or compliance order or decree issued pursuant
thereto, applicable to the handling, processing, reclamation,
storage, or other management activities associated with
recyclable material.
``(6) For purposes of this subsection, `reasonable care'
shall be determined using criteria that include (but are not
limited to)--
``(A) the price paid in the recycling transaction;
``(B) the ability of the person to detect the
nature of the consuming facility's operations
concerning its handling, processing, reclamation, or
other management activities associated with recyclable
material; and
``(C) the result of inquiries made to the
appropriate Federal, State, or local environmental
agency (or agencies) regarding the consuming facility's
past and current compliance with substantive (not
procedural or administrative) provisions of any
Federal, State, or local environmental law or
regulation, or compliance order or decree issued
pursuant thereto, applicable to the handling,
processing, reclamation, storage, or other management
activities associated with the recyclable material. For
the purposes of this paragraph, a requirement to obtain
a permit applicable to the handling, processing,
reclamation, or other management activity associated
with the recyclable materials shall be deemed to be a
substantive provision.
``(d) Transactions Involving Scrap Metal.--
``(1) Transactions involving scrap metal shall be deemed to
be arranging for recycling if the person who arranged for the
transaction (by selling recyclable material or otherwise
arranging for the recycling of recyclable material) can
demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence that at the time
of the transaction--
``(A) the person met the criteria set forth in
subsection (c) with respect to the scrap metal;
``(B) the person was in compliance with any
applicable regulations or standards regarding the
storage, transport, management, or other activities
associated with the recycling of scrap metal that the
Administrator promulgates under the Solid Waste
Disposal Act subsequent to the enactment of this
section and with regard to transactions occurring after
the effective date of such regulations or standards;
and
``(C) the person did not melt the scrap metal prior
to the transaction.
``(2) For purposes of paragraph (1)(C), melting of scrap
metal does not include the thermal separation of 2 or more
materials due to differences in their melting points (referred
to as `sweating').
``(3) For purposes of this subsection, the term `scrap
metal' means bits and pieces of metal parts (e.g., bars,
turnings, rods, sheets, wire) or metal pieces that may be
combined together with bolts or soldering (e.g., radiators,
scrap automobiles, railroad box cars), which when worn or
superfluous can be recycled, except for scrap metals that the
Administrator excludes from this definition by regulation.
``(e) Transactions Involving Batteries.--Transactions involving
spent lead-acid batteries, spent nickel-cadmium batteries, or other
spent batteries shall be deemed to be arranging for recycling if the
person who arranged for the transaction (by selling recyclable material
or otherwise arranging for the recycling of recyclable material) can
demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence that at the time of the
transaction--
``(1) the person met the criteria set forth in subsection
(c) with respect to the spent lead-acid batteries, spent
nickel-cadmium batteries, or other spent batteries, but the
person did not recover the valuable components of such
batteries; and
``(2)(A) with respect to transactions involving lead-acid
batteries, the person was in compliance with applicable Federal
environmental regulations or standards, and any amendments
thereto, regarding the storage, transport, management, or other
activities associated with the recycling of spent lead-acid
batteries;
``(B) with respect to transactions involving nickel-cadmium
batteries, Federal environmental regulations or standards are
in effect regarding the storage, transport, management, or
other activities associated with the recycling of spent nickel-
cadmium batteries, and the person was in compliance with
applicable regulations or standards or any amendments thereto;
or
``(C) with respect to transactions involving other spent
batteries, Federal environmental regulations or standards are
in effect regarding the storage, transport, management, or
other activities associated with the recycling of such
batteries, and the person was in compliance with applicable
regulations or standards or any amendments thereto.
``(f) Exclusions.--
``(1) The exemptions set forth in subsections (c), (d), and
(e) shall not apply if--
``(A) the person had an objectively reasonable
basis to believe at the time of the recycling
transaction--
``(i) that the recyclable material would
not be recycled;
``(ii) that the recyclable material would
be burned as fuel, or for energy recovery or
incineration; or
``(iii) for transactions occurring before
90 days after the date of the enactment of this
section, that the consuming facility was not in
compliance with a substantive (not procedural
or administrative) provision of any Federal,
State, or local environmental law or
regulation, or compliance order or decree
issued pursuant thereto, applicable to the
handling, processing, reclamation, or other
management activities associated with the
recyclable material;
``(B) the person had reason to believe that
hazardous substances had been added to the recyclable
material for purposes other than processing for
recycling;
``(C) the person failed to exercise reasonable care
with respect to the management and handling of the
recyclable material (including adhering to customary
industry practices current at the time of the recycling
transaction designed to minimize, through source
control, contamination of the recyclable material by
hazardous substances); or
``(D) with respect to any item of a recyclable
material, the item contained polychlorinated biphenyls
at a concentration in excess of 50 parts per million or
any new standard promulgated pursuant to applicable
Federal laws.
``(2) For purposes of this subsection, an objectively
reasonable basis for belief shall be determined using criteria
that include (but are not limited to) the size of the person's
business, customary industry practices (including customary
industry practices current at the time of the recycling
transaction designed to minimize, through source control,
contamination of the recyclable material by hazardous
substances), the price paid in the recycling transaction, and
the ability of the person to detect the nature of the consuming
facility's operations concerning its handling, processing,
reclamation, or other management activities associated with the
recyclable material.
``(3) For purposes of this subsection, a requirement to
obtain a permit applicable to the handling, processing,
reclamation, or other management activities associated with
recyclable material shall be deemed to be a substantive
provision.
``(g) Effect on Other Liability.--Nothing in this section shall be
deemed to affect the liability of a person under paragraph (1) or (2)
of section 107(a). Nothing in this section shall be deemed to affect
the liability of a person under paragraph (3) or (4) of section 107(a)
with respect to materials that are not recyclable materials as defined
in subsection (b) of this section.
``(h) Regulations.--The Administrator has the authority, under
section 115, to promulgate additional regulations concerning this
section.
``(i) Effect on Pending or Concluded Actions.--The exemptions
provided in this section shall not affect any concluded judicial or
administrative action or any pending judicial action initiated by the
United States prior to enactment of this section.
``(j) Liability for Attorney's Fees for Certain Actions.--Any
person who commences an action in contribution against a person who is
not liable by operation of this section shall be liable to that person
for all reasonable costs of defending that action, including all
reasonable attorney's and expert witness fees.
``(k) Relationship to Liability Under Other Laws.--Nothing in this
section shall affect--
``(1) liability under any other Federal, State, or local
statute or regulation promulgated pursuant to any such statute,
including any requirements promulgated by the Administrator
under the Solid Waste Disposal Act; or
``(2) the ability of the Administrator to promulgate
regulations under any other statute, including the Solid Waste
Disposal Act.''.
(b) Technical Amendment.--The table of contents for title I of such
Act is amended by adding at the end the following item:
``Sec. 127. Recycling transactions.''.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S10431-10432)
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S13086-13086)
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