Depleted Uranium Munitions Suspension and Study Act of 2006 - Requires the Secretary of Defense to direct that all elements of the Department of Defense (DOD) suspend use of depleted uranium munitions until the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) certifies to certain congressional committees that use of such munitions in future conflicts: (1) will not pose a likely long-term or residual threat to the health of U.S. or NATO military personnel; and (2) will not jeopardize the health of civilian populations in the area of such use.
Suspends federal approval of the foreign sale or export of munitions containing depleted uranium until the Secretary of HHS has made such certification.
Limits future exports to stocks certified free of transuranic matter by the Secretary of Defense.
Requires the Comptroller General to investigate and report to Congress on the contamination of stocks of depleted uranium munitions with transuranic elements.
Requires the Director of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention jointly to conduct a comprehensive study of the health effects of exposure to depleted uranium munitions on veterans and on their children born after their respective exposures to uranium.
Directs the Secretary of Defense to provide to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (Administrator) a list and maps of all sites in the United States where depleted uranium munitions have been used or produced.
Requires the Administrator to study and report to Congress and the Secretary of Defense on the possible depleted uranium contamination of the soil, air, water, and vegetation of each listed site.
Directs the Secretary of Defense to develop a plan for mitigation and cleanup at each site.
[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5303 Introduced in House (IH)]
109th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 5303
To require the suspension of the use, sale, development, production,
testing, and export of depleted uranium munitions pending the outcome
of certain studies of the health effects of such munitions, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 4, 2006
Ms. McKinney introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committees on
Energy and Commerce and International Relations, for a period to be
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the suspension of the use, sale, development, production,
testing, and export of depleted uranium munitions pending the outcome
of certain studies of the health effects of such munitions, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Depleted Uranium
Munitions Suspension and Study Act of 2006''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents of this Act is as
follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Purposes.
Sec. 4. Suspension of use of depleted uranium munitions.
Sec. 5. Suspension of sale and export of depleted uranium munitions.
Sec. 6. Comptroller general investigation of plutonium contamination.
Sec. 7. Study of health effects of depleted uranium.
Sec. 8. Epa studies of environmental contamination by depleted uranium.
Sec. 9. Environmental mitigation and cleanup requirements.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The highest regard should be given to the health and
safety of the Nation's military personnel.
(2) Among the characteristics of depleted uranium munitions
are that (A) they are pyrophoric, resulting in the munition
burning upon impact with a target, and (B) the impact of a
depleted uranium munition on a target creates aerosol
particles, which can be inhaled.
(3) Depleted uranium munitions were used by the United
States in 1991 during the Persian Gulf War in Southwest Asia
and during the conflicts in the former Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia (Bosnia, Kosovo, Serbia, and Montenegro) during the
1990s, with approximately 300 metric tons of depleted uranium
being used during the Gulf War, three metric tons being used in
Bosnia, and over nine metric tons being used in Kosovo, Serbia,
and Montenegro.
(4) The United States has provided or sold depleted uranium
and depleted uranium munitions to allied nations, and the
United Kingdom used depleted uranium munitions during the
Persian Gulf War.
(5) Depleted uranium munitions have been used at numerous
United States military installations, proving grounds, and
testing facilities.
(6) The Yugoslav and Iraqi Governments have claimed that
depleted uranium is affecting the health of their people,
although such claims have yet to be independently verified.
(7) No definitive cause has been established for the
various illnesses (commonly referred to as ``Gulf War
Syndrome'') that currently affect approximately 130,000 United
States servicemembers and veterans who served in Southwest Asia
during the Persian Gulf War.
(8) The British Royal Navy, Canadian Navy, and United
States Navy have all announced that they would phase out use of
depleted uranium munitions.
(9) It has been reported that depleted uranium munitions
use has proliferated to more than 20 nations.
(10) Crash investigators of the Federal Aviation
Administration are instructed, in FAA Advisory Circular 20-123,
dated December 20, 1984, to ``handle with caution'' any
depleted uranium that they encounter in crash investigations,
and are instructed that ``the main hazard associated with
depleted uranium is the harmful effect the material could have
if it enters the body,'' and that ``[i]f particles are inhaled
or digested, they can be chemically toxic and cause a
significant and long-lasting irradiation of internal
tissues,''.
(11) The 1949 Geneva Convention specifically outlines the
precautions warring nations must take to avoid harming civilian
populations, and it would be a violation of the 1977 Protocol
to that Convention to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary
suffering to civilians, as depleted uranium has the potential
to cause.
(12) The Department of Defense has acknowledged that stocks
of depleted uranium munitions have been contaminated with
transuranic elements, including plutonium.
(13) Plutonium is an extremely toxic, carcinogenic, and
radioactive material with a half-life of 4.5 billion years.
SEC. 3. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are the following:
(1) To eliminate health threats from depleted uranium
munitions to--
(A) United States military personnel and United
States civilian employees;
(B) military personnel and employees of member
nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; and
(C) civilian populations in regions where such
munitions were used (whether in conflict, training, or
development) or produced.
(2) To provide for studies of--
(A) the level and scope of contamination of
depleted uranium munitions by plutonium and other
transuranic elements;
(B) the health effects resulting from exposure by
inhalation, ingestion, or injection to depleted uranium
munitions; and
(C) environmental contamination caused by depleted
uranium at sites where depleted uranium was used in
conflict, development, testing, or training and at
sites where depleted uranium and depleted uranium
munitions were produced.
(3) To require the Administrator of the Environmental
Protection Agency to issue regulations and requirements, based
upon Environmental Protection Agency studies, concerning the
cleanup and mitigation of depleted uranium contamination at
sites of depleted uranium munition use and production in the
United States.
SEC. 4. SUSPENSION OF USE OF DEPLETED URANIUM MUNITIONS.
(a) Suspension of Use.--Effective no later than 90 days after the
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall
direct that all elements of the Department of Defense suspend use of
depleted uranium munitions.
(b) Duration.--(1) The suspension of use of depleted uranium
munitions required by subsection (a) shall remain in effect until the
Secretary of Health and Human Services, based upon the results of the
study under section 7(a), certifies to the committees specified in
paragraph (2) that use of depleted uranium munitions in future
conflicts--
(A) will not pose a likely long-term or residual threat to
the health of United States or NATO military personnel; and
(B) will not jeopardize the health of civilian populations
in the area of such use.
(2) The committees specified in this paragraph are the following:
(A) The Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on
Government Reform of the House of Representatives.
(B) The Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate.
(c) Future Use Limited to Stocks Free of Transuranic Matter.--Upon
a certification by the Secretary of Health and Human Services described
in subsection (b), the Secretary of Defense shall limit any subsequent
use of depleted uranium munitions to stocks of such munitions that the
Secretary certifies to be free of plutonium and other transuranic
matter.
SEC. 5. SUSPENSION OF SALE AND EXPORT OF DEPLETED URANIUM MUNITIONS.
(a) Suspension of Sale and Export.--Upon the enactment of this Act,
all elements of the Government with responsibility for approving the
foreign sale or export of munitions shall suspend the approval of the
sale and export of munitions containing depleted uranium.
(b) Duration.--The suspension required by subsection (a) of
approval of the foreign sale and export of depleted uranium munitions
shall remain in effect until the Secretary of Health and Human Services
makes a certification described in section 4(b).
(c) Future Exports To Be Limited to Stocks Free of Transuranic
Matter.--Upon a certification by the Secretary of Health and Human
Services described in section 4(b), any subsequent foreign sale or
export of depleted uranium munitions or preproduction depleted uranium
may be made only from stocks of such munitions or preproduction
depleted uranium that the Secretary of Defense certifies to be free of
plutonium and other transuranic matter, excluding depleted uranium.
SEC. 6. COMPTROLLER GENERAL INVESTIGATION OF PLUTONIUM CONTAMINATION.
(a) Investigation.--The Comptroller General of the United States
shall conduct a full investigation into the contamination of stocks of
depleted uranium munitions with transuranic elements, including
plutonium, neptunium, americium, and other forms of uranium. The
investigation shall include--
(1) determination of when such contamination occurred;
(2) identification of the manufacturing or refining
facilities at which such contamination occurred;
(3) identification of the quantity, by volume and
percentage, of the material by which such contamination
occurred;
(4) identification of when such contamination was first
realized by Department of Defense personnel and when such
contamination was brought to the attention of senior Department
of Defense management;
(5) identification of persons responsible for monitoring
the quality of such production;
(6) identification of the time when notification of such
contamination was made to member nations of the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization; and
(7) determination of whether any law or treaty was broken
by any such contamination or by any failure to provide timely
notice of such contamination to any affected party.
(b) Report.--Upon completion of the investigation under subsection
(a), the Comptroller General shall submit to the committeed specified
in section 4(b)(2) a report on the investigation.
SEC. 7. STUDY OF HEALTH EFFECTS OF DEPLETED URANIUM.
(a) Study.--The Director of the Agency for Toxic Substances and
Disease Registry and the Director of the Center for Disease Control and
Prevention shall jointly conduct a comprehensive study of the health
effects of exposure to depleted uranium munitions on uranium-exposed
veterans and on their children who were born after their respective
exposures to uranium.
(b) Uranium-Exposed Veterans.--For purposes of this section, the
term ``uranium-exposed veteran'' means a member or former member of the
Armed Forces who while on active duty handled, came in contact with, or
had the likelihood of contact with depleted uranium munitions,
including members and former members who while on active duty--
(1) were exposed to smoke from fires resulting from the
burning of vehicles uploaded with depleted uranium munitions or
fires at depots at which depleted uranium was stored;
(2) worked within environments containing depleted uranium
dust or residues from depleted uranium fires;
(3) were within a structure or vehicle while it was struck
by a depleted uranium munition;
(4) climbed on or entered equipment or structures struck by
depleted uranium; or
(5) were medical personnel who provided near-term treatment
to members of the Armed Forces described in paragraph (1), (2),
(3), or (4).
(c) Public Health Assessment.--The Director of the Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease Registry shall conduct a public health
assessment of persons who are thought to have an epidemiological link
to any United States military installation or facility at which
depleted uranium munitions have been or currently are used or any
production facility at which depleted uranium or depleted uranium
munitions are currently, or have been, produced.
(d) Report.--The Directors shall submit to Congress a report on the
results of the study under subsection (a) and the assessment under
subsection (c). The report shall be submitted not later than two years
after the date of the enactment of this Act and shall include the
findings of the Directors on the matters covered by the report. The
Directors shall include in the report a list of diseases or conditions
that are found to exist within the populations specified in subsection
(a) and their rate of occurrence compared to the general population.
SEC. 8. EPA STUDIES OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION BY DEPLETED URANIUM.
(a) List of Locations in United States.--Not later than 180 days
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense
shall provide to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection
Agency a list of all sites in the United States where depleted uranium
munitions have been used or produced and a site-specific map of each
such site.
(b) EPA Studies.--After receipt of the list and maps under
subsection (a), the Administrator shall, for each site specified on the
list, conduct a comprehensive environmental study of the possible
contamination of the soil, air, water, and vegetation by depleted
uranium at that site.
(c) Report.--Not later than two years after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Environmental
Protection Agency shall submit to the Secretary of Defense and the
Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Government Reform of
the House of Representatives and the Committee on Armed Services and
the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the
Senate a report--
(1) describing the extent of contamination by depleted
uranium at each site studied by the Administrator pursuant to
subsection (b);
(2) providing site-specific recommendations for the
mitigation and cleanup of each such site; and
(3) providing general recommendations regarding the cleanup
of sites where depleted uranium has been used on foreign lands.
SEC. 9. ENVIRONMENTAL MITIGATION AND CLEANUP REQUIREMENTS.
(a) Department of Defense Cleanup Plan.--Not later than one year
after receiving the report under section 8(c), the Secretary of Defense
shall develop a plan for mitigation and cleanup at each site and a
prioritized list for such cleanups. The Secretary shall submit a copy
of the plan to the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on
Government Reform of the House of Representatives and the Committee on
Armed Services and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs of the Senate.
(b) Report.--The Secretary shall submit a report to those
committees and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
each year before commencement of the mitigations and cleanups until
those projects are complete.
(c) Cleanup.--After filing of such plans, the Secretary shall
commence, or contract for, the mitigation and cleanup of each site for
which the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency has
recommended such mitigation and cleanup and in the manner and scope
that the Administrator's report specifies.
(d) Applicability of NEPA.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
law, the cleanup and mitigation required by subsection (c) shall be
carried out in a manner consistent with the provisions of the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969, without regard to any exemption to
any of the provisions of that Act for the Department of Defense or any
element thereof.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, and International Relations, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, and International Relations, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, and International Relations, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, and International Relations, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Chairman .
Referred to the Subcommittee on Military Personnel.
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