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51 records in US in 1981
United States · United States Congress · 16 December 1981
Interstate Compact - Grants the consent of Congress to the cooperative agreement between the States of New Hampshire and Vermont for the construction and operation of facilities for the processing or disposal of solid waste.
United States · United States Congress · 16 December 1981
Clean Air Amendments of 1981 - Amends the Clean Air Act ("the Act") to revise provisions applicable to stationary and mobile sources of air pollution. Declares that such revision is for the purposes of: (1) preserving the basic framework and purposes of the Act; (2) continuing unchanged the Act's statutory requirements for setting and revising national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) (both "primary" NAAQS, relating to human health; and "secondary" NAAQS, relating to other "welfare" factors); (3) lessening the complexity in the process of achieving those standards and other requirements of the Act; (4) expediting the review and approval process for State implementation plans (SIPs); (5) providing reasonably appropriate extensions of time for States to attain NAAQS and providing administrative flexibility for States and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to achieve the purposes of the Act in a timely and reasonably effective way; (6) ensuring adequate consideration of economic, energy, safety, environmental, employment, and other relevant factors in achieving NAAQS and other requirements; (7) supporting training programs for State and local governments; and (8) providing sufficient budget authority and personnel for the Administrator to enable the EPA and the States to carry out the Act in a timely and efficient manner without undue reliance on contractors. Title I: Amendments Relating Primarily to Regulation of Stationary Sources - Revises title I (Air Pollution Prevention and Control) of the Act. Use of Best Available Data - Requires that the best available data obtained by monitoring or modeling be used in revisions of a list of air quality control regions that do not meet specified standards. Provides that, where available, "reliable monitoring data" shall be considered "the best available data." Directs the Administrator to decide upon "the best available data" and "reliable monitoring data." State Plans and State Implementation Plans Revision Process - Revises deadlines for development of State implementation plans (SIPs) to extend the current nine-month period to "a reasonable time as determined by the Administrator (but not to exceed two years)." Directs the Administrator to participate in public hearings conducted by a State, where appropriate to expedite the approval of any SIP revision. Authorizes the Administrator, with the consent of the State, to jointly conduct such hearings. Sets forth new provisions for a State Implementation Plan Revision Process. Directs the Administrator to publish prompt notice of any State submission of any SIP revision. Provides for a written comment period of 30 to 70 days. Permits the Administrator to approve or disapprove the SIP revision, without additional proceedings, where the revision was submitted after State administrative proceedings certified by the State to be at least comparable to specified Federal rulemaking proceedings (including reasonable notice and public hearing) and after the written comment period. Authorizes the Administrator to conduct additional proceedings within a specified period. Directs the Administrator to approve or disapprove the SIP revision 70 to 120 days after submission. Allows the Administrator to: (1) extend for up to 60 days the periods for submission of written comments and for final approval or disapproval; and/or (2) conduct additional proceedings. Requires published notice of and reasons for such extension. Requires published notice of approval or disapproval before the expiration of the 120-day period or the extended period. Deems any SIP revision that has not been approved or disapproved before the expiration of the required (or extended) period to have been approved. Directs the Administrator to publish notice and a copy of the revision, at the expiration of such period (or extension). Provides that specified "noncontroversial revisions" of SIPs shall be deemed approved upon adoption by a State. Requires a State, upon adoption of a noncontroversial SIP revision and expiration of a 30-day written comment period, to transmit notice, to the Administrator and the Federal Register, to be published as if it were a revision promulgated by the Administrator. Defines a "noncontroversial revision" as one: (1) for which no person has filed a written objection based on any provision of the Act or any regulation in effect under the Act; and (2) which is adopted by the State pursuant to Administrator-approved procedures (including reasonable notice and opportunity for participation by the public and the Administrator). Prohibits treating as a noncontroversial revision any change in a stationary source emission limitation, compliance schedule or timetable, or permit provision, until the Administrator has promulgated certain regulations requiring that such changes be limited to a stationary source already in operation and do not permit emissions increases in excess of an amount deemed by rule to be significant. Directs the Administrator to take specified factors into account in promulgating such regulations. Applies the term "noncontroversial revision" also to any revision relating only to specified information requirements. Permits State variances that are SIP revisions issued on a six-month emergency basis to be treated as approved revisions under a process similiar to that for noncontroversial revisions. Directs the Administrator to conduct periodic audits of SIPs and other State activities under the Act. Directs the Inspector General to periodically review, and report to Congress on, the Administrator's audit activities. Directs the Administrator to notify a State of information derived from such audits. Authorizes the Administrator, in addition to requiring appropriate State revision or invoking Federal revisions, to suspend the application of the new SIP revision process where a State fails to correct any deficiency or problem within an appropriate period. Requires that audit reports be available to the State and the public. Allows the Administrator to grant an extension of up to four years (currently a two-year extension) for SIP compliance with NAAQS. Specifies that the Administrator may delegate approvals or disapprovals of SIPs or SIP revisions. New Source Performance Standards - Revises provisions for New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) to limit the application of percentage reduction requirements (under which coal-burning facilities must remove a certain percentage of sulfur emissions) to those categories of stationary sources to which such requirements apply under regulations in effect on December 31, 1981. Enforcement - Provides a one-year period for compliance after issuance of specified Federal enforcement orders (not including Federal orders relating to violations of national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants or State enforcement orders). Repeals a requirement that the Administrator seek an injunction or assess a civil penalty in the case of any major stationary source not in compliance within 30 days of such a Federal enforcement order. Provides discretionary authority for the Administrator to seek injunctions or assess penalties in such cases or in any other cases of noncompliance beyond 30 days of such orders (and continues such discretionary authority in cases not involving major stationary sources). Directs the Administrator to carry out specified enforcement authorities through the use of full-time Federal officers or employees. States that contractors should be used only as necessary to provide technical support for such enforcement. Prohibits the Administrator from contracting with anyone other than a full-time Federal officer or employee to provide legal assistance for such enforcement. Requires (currently allows) each State to develop and submit to the Administrator a plan for carrying out noncompliance penalty provisions in such State. Repeals the authority of the Administrator to carry out noncompliance penalty provisions in a State under certain conditions. Authorizes (currently requires) the State, or the Administrator if the State has not received a delegation, to carry out penalty provisions to assess and collect a noncompliance penalty in specified circumstances. Authorizes the State to grant exemptions from penalties in cases of minor noncompliance (and continues the authority of the Administrator, when appropriate, to do so). Repeals a requirement that the Administrator send notices of noncompliance to specified persons, in the event the State fails to send such notices. Requires persons receiving such notices to submit a calculation of the amount of penalty owed and a schedule of payments within a reasonable period prescribed by the Administrator or the State (currently requires such submission within 45 days of notice issuance or petition denial). Makes a similar change in the deadline for submissions of petitions challenging such notice or alleging entitlement to an exemption. Provides that public hearings on such petitions be conducted by the Administrator or the State, as appropriate, and that decisions on such petitions be made within a reasonable time (currently requires the Administrator to hold such hearings unless the State agrees to do so and currently requires a decision within 90 days after receipt of the petition). Repeals provisions authorizing the Administrator to review State decisions on such petitions and requiring such review under certain conditions. Authorizes the State or the Administrator, as appropriate, to adjust or compromise any penalty assessment if the source is in compliance. Repeals provisions for: (1) final adjustments of penalties after compliance; and (2) Administrator objections to, and substitutions for, State noncompliance penalties. Revises requirements for noncompliance penalty assessed amount determinations and payment schedules. Attainment Date Extensions - Permits States to receive up to five-year extensions beyond the December 31, 1982, primary NAAQS attainment date for pollutants in nonattainment areas (the Act currently permits extensions up to December 31, 1987, for carbon monoxide and photochemical oxidants). Requires, in order to receive such extensions, that a State: (1) certify to the Administrator that attainment is not possible before December 31, 1982, despite implementation of all reasonably available measures; and (2) commit itself to not modifying State nonattainment plan provisions so as to adversely affect reasonable further progress. Directs the Administrator to publish notice of such certification and afford an opportunity of not more than 60 days for public comment, including a hearing where appropriate. Directs the Administrator, if satisfied that such attainment is not possible, to extend the deadline to a date providing for attainment as expeditiously as possible, but not later than December 31, 1987. Grants the Administrator discretionary authority, upon State application and after notice and public hearing, to provide an additional extension of an attainment date for any NAAQS, for up to six years beyond the December 31, 1987 extension. Conditions such additional extensions on a State demonstration that: (1) reasonable further progress toward attainment has been made during the previous extension period; (2) air quality problems are so severe and persistent, for identified reasons, that the previous extended deadline cannot be attained; (3) all applicable SIP provisions, including those relating to legislative and funding actions and reasonably available control technology are being adequately implemented; (4) an approved program has been adopted and implemented applicable to in-use motor vehicle emissions (including a vehicle inspection and maintenance program, where appropriate in the case of carbon monoxide and photochemical oxidants; and (5) a reasonable and practical program for attainment within a specified period has been submitted as a revision of the SIP. Directs the Administrator to: (1) promulgate regulations for determining the terms of such additional extensions; and (2) annually audit the progress of any State that has not attained a NAAQS by the additional extension deadline. Prohibits issuance of a construction or modification permit for any major stationary source which emits a pollutant for which a NAAQS has not been attained by the appropriate deadline. Permits case-by- case waivers of such prohibition for the construction of any new stationary source to replace an existing stationary source, upon determination that emissions from the new source of each air pollutant for which the area is designated a nonattainment area will be less than such emissions from the existing source. Directs the Administrator to: (1) enforce such permit requirements by issuing an order or bringing a civil action; and (2) seek an injunction or assess a civil penalty for violations of such prohibitions against construction or modification. Nonattainment (other amendments) - Revises other part D provisions for permit requirements in nonattainment areas to require that proposed new or modified major stationary sources comply with the best available control technology (BACT) standard, in the case of permits issued on or after the date 180 days after the enactment of this Act (compliance with the lowest achievable emission rate (LAER) standard is thus required only for permits issued before such date). Repeals a requirement that SIP provisions for nonattainment areas establish a specific schedule for implementation of a vehicle emission control inspection and maintenance (I and M) program in order to qualify for a deadline extension in meeting the primary NAAQS for photochemical oxidants or carbon monoxide. Requires that SIP nonattainment provisions for urban areas with greater than 500,000 population in which the 1981 photochemical oxidants and/or carbon monoxide level exceeded the respective primary NAAQS by 50 percent or more must contain a cost-effective program applicable to in-use motor vehicle emissions and not inconsistent with title II (Emission Standards for Moving Sources) of the Act. Requires that such program include an I and M program, if the Administrator deems this appropriate. Allows a State to decide that the I and M program will apply first to motor vehicle fleets and commercial operators and then, when the State determines necessary for attainment, to other vehicles. Permits any State to: (1) continue an I and M program for any nonattainment area which does not fall under the new requirements concerning urban areas with the above-mentioned population and pollution areas; or (2) submit revisions to modify or eliminate such program. Makes specified emissions level requirements for construction and operation in nonattainment areas inapplicable in the case of any SIP under which: (1) all new major stationary sources are required to comply with the best available control technology (BACT) standard; (2) an adequate emissions inventory is maintained; (3) all existing major stationary sources will be in compliance with emission limitations based upon reasonably available control technology (RACT) not later than 1987 (or earlier, as appropriate); and (4) notwithstanding the construction of new major stationary sources, there is a program for obtaining such annual reductions in emissions as represent reasonable further progress. Repeals provisions for Federal authority to withhold Federal grant funds for sewage treatment and highways in cases of noncompliance with the Act. Prevention of Significant Deterioration - Revises provisions for Prevention of Significant Deterioration of Air Quality (PSD). (PSD provisions currently specify allowable short-term and long-term "increments" of emissions of sulfur oxide and particulate matter - regulations for other pollutants are not yet final - in areas with cleaner air than that required by NAAQS. Currently the smallest increments are allowed in "class I" areas, which include "statutorily designated" large national parks and wilderness areas, with larger increments in "class II" areas, and the largest increments in "class III" areas.) Repeals the "increment" limitations (specified "maximum allowable increases over baseline concentrations") for class II and class III areas. Allows, in class I areas, the short-term increment limitation to be exceeded five times per year (currently only one short-term excess is permitted). Permits State Governors to rule that concentrations of particulate matter attributable to fugitive dust from specified sources shall not be taken into account in determining compliance with maximum allowable increases in ambient concentrations, unless the Administrator rules that the inclusion of such fugitive dust is necessary to carry out the purposes of PSD provisions. Eliminates provisions for PSD area redesignations as class III areas. Revises PSD preconstruction review analysis requirements to grant discretion to the permitting authority in determining whether continuous air quality monitoring data is necessary to determine whether emissions from a facility will exceed maximum allowable increases (class I area increments) or maximum allowable concentrations (primary and secondary NAAQS). Eliminates the special definition of "best available control technology" (BACT) for purposes of PSD provisions. Defines BACT for purposes of the Act to mean the applicable New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) (the EPA-set technology-based standards for categories of industries), along with applicable national emission limitation standards for hazardous air pollutants (NESHAPs). Retains determination of the BACT by the permitting authority on a case-by-case basis where no NSPS exists for a stationary source in a particular category. Allows State and local governments to adopt or enforce standards or limitations more stringent than the BACT standard. Provides that PSD preconstruction requirements shall only apply to physical or operational changes resulting in a significant net increase in source emissions of any air pollutant regulated under provisions for NAAQS, NSPS, or NESHAPs. Sets a de minimis amount for such increase at 100 tons per year (1,000 tons per year of carbon monoxide) for any air pollutant for which a NAAQS is established (except lead). Authorizes the Administrator to determine, by rule, that a lesser amount is necessary to carry out PSD purposes. Makes technical and conforming amendments. Eliminates the requirement that PSD regulations for hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, photochemical oxidants, and nitrogen oxides contain measures at least as effective as the "increment" limitations for sulfur oxides and particulate matter. Effective Data and Transitional Rules - Sets forth an effective date and transitional rules for the amendments relating to Nonattainment provisions and to PSD provisions. Regulatory Stability - Sets forth regulatory stability provisions establishing a ten-year "grandfather" period, commencing with construction or modification, during which a stationary source (unless subsequently modified) shall not be subject to more stringent requirements if the construction or modification is subject to NSPS, obtains a permit or approval, and meets all permit or approval requirements. Excludes from such "grandfather" provision any emission limitation or standard imposed on any stationary source with respect to: (1) hazardous pollutants designated under NESHAP provisions; (2) pollutants with no NAAQS in effect at commencement of the construction; or (3) any other air pollutant, if the Administrator judges that the public health or welfare may be endangered. Ozone Protection - Directs the President to report to the Congress annually, beginning within two years of the enactment of this Act, on the status of actions toward international agreements concerning the protection of stratosphere. Requires that copies of such reports be made available to the public. Directs the Administrator to make specified determinations, considerations of study results, and findings before any ozone protection regulation on chloroflurocarbon control is proposed or promulgated. Title II: Mobile Source Amendments - Revises part A (Motor Vehicle Emission and Fuel Standards) of title II (Emission Standards for Moving Sources) of the Act. Establishment of Emission Standards for New Motor Vehicle or New Motor Vehicle Engines - Requires that any more stringent new standard not become effective for at least: (1) 48 months after prescription or revision, in the case of heavy-duty vehicles or engines; and (2) 36 months after prescription or revision, in the case of all other new motor vehicles or engines. Provides that any more stringent new standards must reflect the degree of emission reduction the Administrator determines to be reasonably achievable through application of technology adequately demonstrated to be available for the appropriate model year. Directs the Administrator, in making such determination, to consider costs, applicability to gasoline or diesel-fueled vehicles or engines, impact on fuel economy, effect on level of all emissions from such vehicles or engines, safety, commercial use, and other appropriate factors. Authorizes the Administrator to arrange with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to review the technical feasibility of such proposed new standards and to submit written reports which shall be available to the public. Revises provisions relating to regulations applicable to emissions of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, oxides of nitrogen, and particulate matter from classes or categories of heavy duty vehicles or engines. Provides that the standards prescribed (after enactment of this Act) in such emissions regulations shall apply for a minimum period of four model years unless less stringent standards are prescribed for any model year during that period. Requires that standards applicable to emissions of oxides of nitrogen and particulate matter be prescribed at the same time. Directs the Administrator to arrange with NAS for a technological feasibility report with respect to any proposed standard for particulate matter to be prescribed for heavy-duty vehicles and engines. Revises provisions for a continuing pollutant specific study concerning the effects of air pollutant emissions. Revises deadlines for such study (making the next deadlines January 1, 1983, and before January 1 of each fourth year thereafter). Requires notice and opportunity for public comment before the Administrator determines that the operation or function of an emission control device, system, or element of design will cause or contribute to an unreasonable risk to public health, welfare, or safety. Adds to the factors the Administrator must consider in making such determination any information obtained from any manufacturer under specified compliance testing provisions. Revises standards for regulation of emissions from light-duty vehicles and engines manufactured during and after model year 1982 for specified pollutant grams per vehicle mile (gpm): (1) .41 gpm of hydrocarbons; (2) seven gpm of carbon monoxide; and (3) two gpm of oxides of nitrogen. Authorizes the Administrator to revise any such standard for any model year after model year 1986. Prohibits any revised standard from being more stringent than the standard applicable (without regard to any waiver) to light-duty vehicles and engines manufactured in the 1981 model year. Revises provisions for waivers of such emission standards. Directs the Administrator, after notice and opportunity for public hearing, to waive any emission standard for any model of vehicles or vehicle engines for up to four model years, upon petition and demonstration by the manufacturer that such waiver is necessary for the use of an innovative power train technology, innovative emission control device or system, or alternative fuel or power source. Adds "the potential to conserve energy" to factors to be considered in granting such waivers. Revises th maximum number of vehicles or engines per manufacturer to which such waivers may apply. Sets such maximum at 200,000 vehicles or engines per year of such waiver, but not more than 500,0000 for a four model years waiver. Prohibits extension or renewal of four model years waivers. Requires that such waivers include appropriate emissions standards to: (1) ensure, in the Administrator's judgment, no significant adverse impact on achieving applicable NAAQS; and (2) encourage development and production of such model. Limits to one-half the average original actual life for each class or category of motor vehicle or motor vehicle engine (other than light-duty or motorcycle) that period of use the Administrator is authorized to determine as appropriate for specified provisions relating to the "useful life" of such vehicles or engines. Provides that future regulations affecting the manufacture, distribution, or sale of motor vehicles or engines for high altitude areas of the United States: (1) shall include the exemptions provided in regulations for model year 1982; and (2) may provide specified high altitude performance adjustments. Prohibits any regulation requiring a percentage of reduction in emissions from high altitude motor vehicles greater than that required for non-high altitude motor vehicles. Prohibits regulations applying a numerical standard for determination of such percentage reduction for high altitude vehicles more stringent than that for non-high altitude vehicles. Prohibits regulations requiring that any emission control device or element of design needed to meet the applicable emissions standards under high altitude conditions also be installed on motor vehicles or engines intended for principal use in non-high altitude locations. Prohibited Acts - Includes among prohibited acts the failure or refusal by any manufacturer to comply with EPA requests for information for a study relating to the availability and distribution to motor vehicle dealers located at high altitudes of models of new light-duty motor vehicles. Compliance Testing and Certification - Revises provisions for compliance testing and conformity certification to direct the Administrator to reliably evaluate or require reliable evaluation of (but not necessarily to test or require testing of): (1) any new motor vehicle or new motor vehicle engine submitted by a manufacturer; and (2) any emission control system incorporated in a vehicle or engine submitted by any person. Repeals a one-year maximum limit on the period which a certificate of conformity may cover. Requires that compliance tests or other reliable evaluations determine the average emissions from vehicles or engines. Requires, in making such determination, that: (1) gasoline-fueled vehicles or engines not be in the same class or category as diesel-fueled; and (2) light-duty vehicles or engines not be in the same class or category as heavy-duty. Allows the inclusion of light-duty trucks, certified as such by the Administrator, in the same class or category as light-duty vehicles or engines. Directs the Administrator to establish an acceptable quality level for all new motor vehicles equivalent to the level applicable to 1981 model year light-duty vehicles. Repeals a requirement that all light-duty vehicles manufactured during and after model year 1984 comply with specified emission standards regardless of the altitude at which they are sold. Compliance by Vehicles and Engines in Actual Use - Revises provisions for compliance by vehicles and engines in actual use to base determinations of nonconformity with regulations by any class or category of vehicles and engines manufactured after a specified date upon the average performance in testing a statistically valid and representative sample. Permits manufacturers to elect to take other actions, in lieu of remedying such nonconformity, with respect to those or other vehicles or engines, consistent with the purposes of title II of the Act. Prohibits manufacturers from including together in the same such actions: (1) both gasoline and diesel-fueled vehicles or engines; or (2) both light-duty and heavy-duty vehicles or engines. Directs the Administrator to consider the effects on competition, in approving a manufacturer's plan to remedy or take other actions with respect to such nonconformity. Repeals a requirement that dealers furnish purchasers of new light-duty motor vehicles certificates of conformity with applicable emission standards, including notice of purchaser warranty rights. State Standards - Provides that, in the case of any new motor vehicle or engine designed to comply with State emission control standards for which a waiver of Federal standards has been granted, compliance with such State standards shall be treated as compliance with applicable Federal standards. High Altitude Performance Adjustments - Repeals a provision requiring that there be a State-instituted motor vehicle inspection and maintenance (I and M) program in nonattainment areas of a State before authority relating to high altitude performance adjustments may be available to such State. Effective Date - Provides that specified foregoing amendments made by this title shall take effect with respect to vehicles and engines manufactured in model years beginning more than 60 days after the enactment of this Act. Study and Development of Alternative Emissions Control - Directs the Administrator to initiate a study and related proceedings, including appropriate informal public hearings, to: (1) develop alternative and practicable approaches to emission control of any air pollutant, subject to such regulation, from new motor vehicles or engines; and (2) evaluate the existing control program. Sets forth the factors to be considered by the Administrator concerning such alternative approach. Requires that a report of such study, including public comments, be submitted to the appropriate committees of the Congress within one year. Sets forth criteria for proposed regulations under any such alternative approach. Prohibits promulgation of such regulations except after final rulemaking as required by this Act and pursuant to legislation reported from the appropriate committees of Congress and enacted either after the date of submission of the report of the study or after the date of submittal of the regulations to the Congress. Warranties and Parts Certifications - Repeals a requirement that manufacturers warrant that new motor vehicles or engines are: (1) designed, built, and equipped so as to conform with emissions standards at the time of sale; and (2) free from defects in materials and workmanship which cause failure to conform during the period of useful life. Requires, instead, a production warranty that the vehicle or engine is equipped with emission control components designed to enable such vehicle or engine to conform at the time of sale with emissions standards for the first 24 months or first 24,000 miles. Repeals provisions for motor vehicle or engine parts certifications by manufacturers or rebuilders for compliance with emissions standards. Limits a free replacement obligation of manufacturers to emissions control components installed for the sole (currently, sole or primary) purpose of reducing vehicle emissions. Limits specified performance warranties to: (1) the first 24 months or 24,000 miles; and (2) certain components installed for the sole purpose of emissions control. Revises provisions for manufacturers' instructions for the maintenance, replacement, and repair of emission control parts or components to eliminate requirements that: (1) such instructions correspond to regulations promulgated by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; and (2) the replacement parts be certified. Eliminates provisions for waivers of a prohibition against including conditions on the purchaser's using components or services unconnected with the manufacturer. Specifies that waivers of the prohibition against State or local standards for emissions control of new motor vehicles or engines subject to Federal standards will be given only: (1) insofar as numerical emission levels are concerned; and (2) if such standards and new motor vehicle certification and other tests are consistent with Federal standards. Specifies that tampering prohibitions refer to parts or components placed on or in motor vehicles or engines for the sole purpose of controlling emissions. Exempts communications regarding any part, component, system, or service provided without charge under the terms of the purchase agreement from specified prohibitions against manufacturer's communications conditioning warranty coverage on use of certain products or services. Prohibits State new motor vehicle emission standards in nonattainment areas from including any provision similar to the production or performance warranty provisions under the Act. Title III: Study and Conforming Provisions - High Altitude Study - Directs the Administrator, upon the request of any national association of motor vehicle dealers with a membership which includes a majority of U.S. retail franchisers selling imported and domestic new light-duty motor vehicles, to compile data relating to the availability and distribution to dealers located at high altitudes of all models of such vehicles manufactured by any specified manufacturer in a specified model year. Authorizes the Administrator to utilize specified information and to require manufacturers to submit relevant information (except information identifying shipments to individual dealers). Directs the Administrator, within six months after such a request is made, to submit to the Congress and publish in the Federal Register a report setting forth the data so compiled, including specified information. Title IV: Amendments Relating to Authorizations - Authorization of Appropriations - Authorizes appropriations to the Administrator for fiscal years 1982 through 1985. Provides for sums necessary for: (1) the Administrator and the States to effectively carry out the Act's provisions, including training of State and local personnel, enforcement, abatement, and control, consideration of SIPs and revisions, and audits; and (2) sufficient funding for personnel for the Administrator to carry out the Act, particularly its regulatory functions, without undue reliance on contractors. Requires that such authorization not be less than the appropriations authorized in fiscal year 1981 to carry out the Act (except provisions relating to the National Commission on Air Quality). Prohibits the Administrator from using any funds appropriated under the Act for any payment for a reduction-in-force in any fiscal year. Directs the Administrator to inform the appropriate committees of the Congress of the reasons for such reduction, its impact on carrying out the Act, and other detailed or pertinent information, at least 30 days prior to issuing any general notice of such reduction. Declares that nothing in this title shall authorize appropriations for any research and development activities under the Act.
United States · United States Congress · 16 December 1981
Expresses the sense of the Congress that Ann Gorsuch should resign her post as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and that the President should appoint to that office an individual committed to fulfilling the Agency's statutory mission.
United States · United States Congress · 15 December 1981
Great Lakes Protection Act of 1981 - Amends the National Ocean Pollution Planning Act of 1978 to redesignate specified provisions and to revise definitions under such Act. Establishes a Great Lakes Protection program under such Act. Directs the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to establish within NOAA a Great Lakes Research Office, to be directed by an Executive Director appointed by the Administrator. Requires the Executive Director to compile, within one year of the date of enactment of this Act, an inventory of all major actions of the Federal, State, and local governments since 1977 which have significantly affected (or may so affect) the Great Lakes. Requires that such inventory be submitted to the Congress and the President and be updated at least once every three months. Requires that, within one year of the date of enactment of this Act, the Executive Director report to the President and the Congress, together with recommendations for improvement and coordination, on: (1) the current state of Federal efforts to improve the Great Lakes' environmental quality; and (2) the degree of coordination among the States to preserve and protect such quality. Sets forth other responsibilities of the Executive Director. Requires that all Federal agencies prepare Great Lakes environmental impact analyses in their recommendations or reports for major Federal actions significantly affecting the Great Lakes. Sets forth provisions relating to such analyses, including a requirement that copies be available to the President and to the public. Directs that, to the fullest extent practicable: (1) U.S. policies, regulations, and public laws be interpreted and administered in accordance with the policies of protection for the Great Lakes set forth in this Act; and (2) any major Federal action significantly affecting the Great Lakes be modified to accommodate such policies and include all possible planning to minimize harm to the Great Lakes. Revises provisions relating to interagency cooperation, dissemination of information, and effect on other laws. Extends through fiscal year 1984 the authorization of appropriations to carry out the National Ocean Pollution Planning Act of 1978. Reserves a specified amount of such appropriations to be obligated and expended on the Great Lakes Research Office in each fiscal year ending after September 30, 1981.
United States · United States Congress · 14 December 1981
Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act Amendments of 1981 - Amends the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act to revise pesticide registration provisions. Extends the time for securing additional registration data. Sets forth joint data development provisions. States that applicants who purchase a pesticide for an end-use product shall not be required to share in data production expenses. Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to give notice to affected registrants of the risks upon which a proposed public interim review will be based. Makes an interim decision not to restrict a pesticide's use or classification to judicial review. Requires the Administrator to: (1) notify registrants about reregistration; and (2) cancel a product's registration upon failure to reregister within a specified time. Sets forth specified data provisions for applications approved beginning 18 months after enactment of this Act. Revises cancellation and classification provisions. Requires an applicant to explain why specific registration data should be protected from disclosure as a trade secret or commercial or financial information. Requires the Administrator to provide an applicant with up to 60 days to show that data to be disclosed is protected manufacturing, testing, or ingredient percentage information. Requires the Administrator to make testing data available to the public through the Environmental Protection Agency reading rooms. Sets forth guidelines for public use of these facilities. Replaces the penalty provision for Federal employees disclosing protected information with a provision prohibiting the unauthorized disclosure of an applicant's data available in such reading rooms to a pesticide producer. Requires the Administrator to notify an applicant when and by whom such data has been borrowed. Sets forth guidelines for nondisclosure of certain information acquired from foreign governments or international organizations. Makes it unlawful to fire or adversely affect a person's work status for exercising his or her rights under such Act. Revises penalty provisions for improperly obtaining or using specified pesticide data. Permits aggrieved persons to sue for pesticide misuse. Provides, beginning with fiscal year 1982, that funds for State and Indian pesticide application certification shall be distributed on a formula basis. Sets forth procedures for State requests of health and safety data concerning State-regulated federally registered pesticides. Extends the scientific advisory panel through fiscal year 1983. Requires the Administrator to adopt pesticide safety guidelines within one year. Revises State enforcement provisions to provide that a State must: (1) begin investigating a complaint within 30 days, and begin enforcement action within 120 days; and (2) begin investigating an alleged injury to an agricultural worker within five days.
United States · United States Congress · 4 December 1981
Interstate Compact - Grants the consent of Congress to the cooperative agreement between the States of New Hampshire and Vermont for the construction and operation of facilities for the processing or disposal of solid waste.
United States · United States Congress · 19 November 1981
Acid Precipitation Accelerated Review and Reporting Act - Amends the Energy Security Act (title VII provisions also known as the "Acid Precipitation Act of 1980") to reduce the period to be covered by a comprehensive research plan from ten years to five years. Makes conforming amendments relating to implementation of, and authorization of appropriations for, the comprehensive research plan. Directs the Acid Precipitation Task Force to submit a final report, with detailed recommendations, within five years of enactment of the Energy Security Act. Directs the Task Force to: (1) study fuel precombustion treatment and low-polluting combustion processes for reduction of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions; and (2) solicit State agency acid deposition research information.
United States · United States Congress · 19 November 1981
Expresses the sense of Congress that the President should press for unconditional discussions among the major political factions in El Salvador in order to guarantee a safe and stable environment for democratic elections.
United States · United States Congress · 18 November 1981
High-Level Radioactive Waste Management and Policy Act - States that this Act shall not apply to the siting, construction, or operation of repositories used exclusively for the disposal of radioactive waste or spent fuel from the atomic energy defense activities of the Secretary of Energy. Requires the Secretary to prepare a comprehensive mission plan which will provide an informational basis for decisionmaking with respect to the siting, construction, and operation of repositories for the disposal of radioactive waste and spent fuel and the research, development, and demonstration programs required under this Act. Specifies the information to be included in such plan. Directs the Secretary to submit, within a specified time, a draft mission plan to the States, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and other Federal agencies for comments. Requires that the plan and the comments be available for public inspection and that a statement of reasons be published in the Federal Register if the Secretary does not revise the plan to meet any objections raised. Directs the Secretary to submit the plan to appropriate congressional committees within a specified time. Makes the plan effective at the end of the 30-day period following transmittal of the plan. Requires annual reports on the implementation of the plan, including any revisions. Directs the Secretary to complete a final programmatic environmental impact statement on the management of radioactive waste and spent fuel from civilian nuclear activities within 12 months after the enactment of this Act. Requires the Secretary, in consultation with specified Federal agencies, to issue repository site selection guidelines within six months of enactment of this Act. Directs the Secretary to identify three or more potential repository sites in different geologic media within one year after enactment of this Act. Sets forth criteria for the location of such sites in addition to the guidelines issued by the Secretary. Requires notification of the Governor of a State in which a site is located or of the Indian tribe on whose reservation a site is located. Requires the completion of siting research activities, including site characterization activities, for at least three of the potential repository sites within 42 months after the sites have been identified. Requires that the Secretary be able to select a site for the expanded siting research activities pursuant to this Act within 30 months after the site identifications. Requires that within six months of the site identifications, and before beginning site characterization activities, the Secretary hold public meetings near each site on the activities to be conducted there and prepare an environmental assessment of the nonradiological impacts of the site characterization activities. Sets forth restrictions on the use of radioactive material at such sites. Requires at least one legislative-type public hearing near a site before repository site selection and within three months after completion of site characterization activities by the Secretary. Directs the Secretary to notify the Governor of the State in which a site is located or the appropriate Indian tribe if the Secretary selects such site for a repository. Requires submission of a Repository Development Report by the President to Congress. Requires submission of a subsequent Repository Development Report for another site if the Secretary's first selection is disapproved by Congress or the President. Directs the Secretary to apply to the NRC for a license for a repository at an approved site within 30 days after the site selection becomes effective and to provide the appropriate Governor or Indian tribe with a copy of the application. Requires the NRC to submit annual licensing status reports to Congress until an operating license is issued. Requires the NRC to make a final decision on the issuance of construction authorization within 24 months after the submission of the application. Permits an extension of the period for such final decision under certain circumstances. Requires the Secretary to select another repository site if the NRC disapproves an application. Sets forth the procedural requirements for NRC hearings on construction authorization and repository license applications. Requires that within six years after the Secretary obtains a construction authorization: (1) the Secretary complete construction of facilities needed to initiate emplacement of waste; (2) the Secretary operate the repository as soon as practicable after receiving an operating license; and (3) the NRC approve or disapprove an operating license for all or part of a repository. Authorizes the Secretary to petition the NRC any time after filing a license application for a construction authorization, license, or license amendment on an interim basis before the completion of a required hearing on the application. Directs the NRC to grant the petition if all legal requirements other than the required hearing are met and there will be adequate protection to the public health and safety. Prohibits the disposal of waste or spent fuel in a repository for which an interim license has been issued until the regular license to receive and possess waste in the repository has been issued. Requires the NRC to promulgate rules and criteria to apply in the review of all repository license applications within six months after the enactment of this Act. Authorizes the Secretary to take title to the radioactive material emplaced in a repository. Grants to the State or Indian tribe notified of a site identification under this Act the immediate and continuing right to participate in a process of consultation and concurrence (including written agreements with the Secretary) whereby: (1) the Secretary keeps the Governor or appropriate Indian tribe informed about economic or public health and safety impacts in all stages of the establishment of a repository and receives, and works to resolve, objections of the Governor or Indian tribe; and (2) the State may independently and reasonably monitor on-site activities. Requires the Secretary to submit to the President, within six months after completing hearings, a Repository Development Report containing: (1) an environmental impact statement for the site selected; (2) the views and comments of the Governor of the affected State, the appropriate Indian tribe, the Governor of any other interested and affected State, the public, and appropriate Federal agencies and the Secretary's responses; (3) the repository license application to be submitted to the NRC; and (4) a plan for transporting the radioactive materials to the repository. Provides for presidential approval or disapproval of the site selection within 30 days after submission of the report. Requires notice to Congress of the President's decision. Makes a site selection effective 30 days after the President transmits approval to Congress unless the Governor of the affected State or the appropriate Indian tribe submits a petition for disapproval to Congress. Provides that if the President approves a site selection and the Governor or the Indian tribe submits a petition for disapproval, the site selection shall be effective 40 days of continuous session of Congress after submission of the petition unless either House of Congress passes a resolution approving such petition. Requires Federal agencies to assist the Secretary in the preparation of reports required by this Act. States that Federal agency action taken before a site selection becomes effective shall not be considered a major Federal action for purposes of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. Directs the Secretary and heads of all Federal agencies to avoid duplication of effort in the preparation of reports pursuant to such Act. Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to promulgate general standards to protect the environment from radioactive material in repositories. Requires the Secretary to establish a Project Decision Schedule which shall constitute the lawful decisionmaking deadlines for Federal agencies involved in the establishment of a repository. Sets forth procedural requirements for agencies which cannot comply with the schedule. Requires the Secretary to begin, within 64 months after enactment of this Act, the mining and construction of a Test and Evaluation Facility for research on, and demonstration of, the technology for radioactive waste disposal in a repository. Sets forth design requirements for the facility. Requires the Secretary to begin within 88 months after enactment of this Act, an in situ testing program of research and development activities with respect to radioactive waste disposal to support the repository program. Sets forth limitations on the use, and the termination date, of the facility. Requires that the system of engineered barriers and selected geology have the design life required by NRC regulations for repositories. Directs the Secretary to enter into written agreements with the NRC and the Governor of the State in which the Test and Evaluation Facility site is located, or the appropriate Indian tribe, to establish consultative and cooperative roles in the construction and operation of the facility. Requires the Secretary to report to the appropriate congressional committees on the status of such agreements. Requires the Secretary to prepare an environmental assessment before excavating major shafts for the facility and an environmental impact statement before conducting tests with radioactive materials. Provides for the establishment of a demonstration program, in cooperation with the private sector, for the dry storage of spent fuel at nuclear powerplant sites. Directs the Secretary to select between one and three candidate sites at nuclear powerplants and enter into cooperative agreements with the utilities to carry out demonstration projects using alternate dry storage technologies. Requires the Secretary to undertake a cooperative program with utilities to encourage the development of the technology for spent fuel rod consolidation in existing reactor water storage basins. Limits the total contribution to the demonstration program by the Secretary from appropriated funds and Federal services and facilities to 25 percent of the estimated total costs of the program. Provides for the remaining costs to be paid by the utilities involved or from the nuclear waste fund established by this Act. Provides for the Secretary to make specified payments to each State or Indian tribe which has entered into written agreements with respect to the consultation and concurrence process if the State agrees to provide a specified percentage of such payments to the local government which has jurisdiction over the repository site. Grants the State or Indian tribe discretion to use the payments for whatever purpose it deems necessary under the repository program. Grants to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia original and exclusive jurisdiction over civil actions for review of Federal agency action under this Act and over civil actions challenging the constitutionality of actions taken under this Act. Provides that the Supreme Court shall have exclusive authority to review interlocutory judgments or orders of the Court of Appeals pursuant to this Act. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into contracts with individuals for radioactive waste and spent fuel disposal services. Prohibits the NRC from issuing a license to any person to use a utilization or production facility unless such person has contracted, or is negotiating a contract, with the Secretary for such services. Authorizes the NRC to require such an agreement as a precondition to the issuance of a license or license amendment under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954. Establishes in the U.S. Treasury a nuclear waste fund to be used by the Secretary in carrying out this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 12 November 1981
Amends the Clean Air Act to prohibit the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from requiring that State implementation plans for meeting the national primary ambient air quality standard provide for periodic inspection and testing of motor vehicles until the Congress modifies or reaffirms Clean Air Act provisions relating to motor vehicle inspection and maintenance.
United States · United States Congress · 10 November 1981
Acid Precipitation Control Act of 1981 - Amends title I of the Clean Air Act (Air Pollution Prevention and Control) to establish a new program (Acid Precipitation Control) to: (1) regulate acid precipitation precursor emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide; and (2) reduce the transport of air pollutants across international boundaries. Establishes an "acid precipitation mitigation region" consisting of 31 States (east of or bordering the Mississippi River) and the District of Columbia. Requires States in the region to reduce, prior to December 31, 1991, sulfur dioxide emissions from all major stationary sources by an amount equal to 85 percent of the actual 1980 sulfur dioxide emissions from all major emitting powerplants (fossil-fuel-fired electric powerplants with specified emissions levels) within such States. Disregards, for purposes of determining such reduction, any emissions from a separate generating unit or units of such powerplants that are subject to new source performance standards. Sets forth formulas for determining the maximum required reduction for any State, based on annual Statewide utility sulfur dioxides emissions rates. Directs the Administrator to: (1) determine such rates within 60 days; (2) establish a reduction requirement for each State in the region within 90 days; and (3) notify each State of such requirement within 120 days. Requires that, within one year, each applicable State implementation plan be amended to contain enforceable measures for meeting the sulfur dioxide emissions reduction requirement by December 31, 1991. Permits States to substitute a reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions for a reduction in sulfur dioxide emissions, at a specified rate. Prohibits States, in meeting the requirement deadline, from including emissions reductions representing compliance with Federal emission standards other than those imposed under this Act by sources in operation before December 31, 1980. Permits for sources not in operation before such date, inclusion of emissions reductions in excess of those required under such other Federal standards. Directs the Administrator, to: (1) review State implementation plan amendments within 90 days of submission; (2) approve plan amendments that will insure that the emissions reduction requirement will be met by December 31, 1991; (3) revise plan amendments where necessary to meet the requirement deadline; (4) periodically review such plans; (5) take actions necessary to insure compliance with the requirement deadline; and (6) apply additional sanctions or limitations on emissions with respect to any major emitting powerplant, if necessary to insure such compliance.
United States · United States Congress · 26 October 1981
Global Resources, Environment, and Population Act of 1981 - Declares it to be the public policy to: (1) promote national population stabilization; (2) encourage other nations to achieve population stabilization; and (3) coordinate research and national planning concerning global trends in population characteristics, the availability of natural resources, and environmental change. Directs all Federal agencies to: (1) use reliable demographic research in planning and decisionmaking which affect national and global population characteristics; and (2) develop procedures to insure the consideration of population characteristics, population stabilization, and environmental, economic, and natural resource aspects in agency planning and decisionmaking. Directs each agency head to: (1) review the agency's statutory authority, policies, and regulations to determine whether there are any impediments to complying with this Act; and (2) recommend the necessary administrative or legislative actions to eliminate such impediments. Establishes an interagency Council on Global Resources, the Environment, and Population to: (1) coordinate research, conduct studies, and report to the President and Congress on trends in population characteristics; (2) assess the impact of such trends on population stabilization, the environment, and the availability of natural resources; (3) recommend legislative and administrative actions to modify or eliminate Federal programs, laws, and regulations which limit the achievement of the policies of this Act; and (4) recommend to Congress and the President a national population policy and policies to encourage global population stabilization at a level which maintains the highest possible standard of living and does not deplete the world's natural resources or degrade the global environment. Requires the President to submit to Congress, annually, a national population change and planning report which includes: (1) an evaluation of the impact that national and global trends in population characteristics, the availability of natural resources, and environmental change will have on the nation's economy and national security; and (2) recommendations for necessary legislative actions.
United States · United States Congress · 22 October 1981
Acid Rain Research Implementation Act of 1981 - Declares it to be the policy of the United States to strengthen specified research and development programs relating to acid precipitation pollution and to establish a process for cooperative decisionmaking on strategies to control such pollution. Directs the the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency ("the Administrator"), the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to ensure that the comprehensive research plan prepared under the Acid Precipitation Act of 1980 satisfies such policy. Directs the Administrator of NOAA, as director of task force research under such Act, to provide the Administrator with a status report within 12 months of enactment of this Act and once every 24 months thereafter. Directs the Administrator, within specified periods, to: (1) determine whether new measures are necessary; (2) report, with recommendations to Congress; and (3) issue proposed rules requiring measures that may help prevent, limit, and remedy the harmful effects of acid precipitation. Directs the Administrator, in order to prepare such reports and proposed rules, to: (1) contract with the National Academy of Science for specified services; (2) work with the task force, State, local, and foreign governments, and private industrial, environmental, scientific, and international organizations in establishing and strengthening monitoring networks to determine the sources and effects of acid precipitation and other long-range pollutants; and (3) arrange, with such entities, for information exchange and cooperative data analysis to ensure that remedial measures may be planned and implemented cooperatively, with minimum social and economic dislocation and maximum environmental protection. Directs the Administrator, working within the plan and in cooperation with other programs, to: (1) ensure that adequate analysis and comparative consideration is given to institutional arrangements (including cost sharing and capital formation approaches that will minimize unforseen or inequitable economic impacts on particular regions or economic sectors) necessary to implement new measures specified in such reports; and (2) include in the task force's annual report a description of actions taken to ensure such analysis and consideration, as well as any recommendations for legislative or administrative action concerning such institutional arrangements. Directs the Administrator, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture and the Administrator of NOAA, to include in the annual task force report a statement concerning the adequacy of task force resources to carry out this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 22 October 1981
Acid Deposition Control Act - Amends title I (Air Pollution Prevention and Control) of the Clean Air Act to establish a new program entitled "Interstate Transport and Acid Precursor Reduction." Establishes an "acid deposition region" consisting of 31 States (east of or bordering the Mississippi River) and the District of Columbia. Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to: (1) study air pollution problems associated with long-range transport of pollutants in the portions of the continental United States not included in the acid deposition region; and (2) report the results to Congress within two years. Establishes an acid deposition regional target providing for a ten-year phased schedule of reductions to achieve an annual average emission level that is 10,000,000 tons of sulfur dioxide below the 1980 baseline level. Directs the Administrator, within six months, to compute and publish a target and a schedule for each affected State. Permits two or more States to agree to change their share of the sulfur dioxide emissions reduction ("reduction"). Requires that State reduction schedules begin within five years, be substantially complete within eight years, and reach the State target within ten years of enactment of this Act. Sets forth formulas for: (1) State reduction fractions (based on 1980 emissions from electric utility steam generating units); and (2) the 1980 baseline level for the region or any State within the region. Requires States within the region to prepare, publish, and submit to the Administrator, within two years of enactment of this Act, State programs of reduction in accordance with the State schedules. Directs the Administrator to approve State programs, within four months of submission, if such programs: (1) were adopted after public notice, opportunity for hearing, and submission to Governors of the other States in the region; and (2) contain enforceable reduction measures, including emission limitations, monitoring requirements, and compliance schedules. Requires State programs to include enforceable continuous emission reduction measures. Lists some measures that State programs may include. Permits a State or any person subject to State program requirements to substitute a reduction of twice as many units of oxides of nitrogen emissions for each unit of required reductions of sulfur dioxide emissions. Provides for an EPA alternative program if a State program: (1) has not been adopted by a State within two years; or (2) has not been approved by the Administrator within two years and four months. Requires, in such cases, that any owner or operator of an electric utility steam generating unit in such State submit, within three years of enactment of this Act, a unit plan and schedule for reductions. Requires unit plans and schedules only from units which: (1) are major stationary sources; (2) are not subject to new source performance standards; and (3) actually emitted, or were permitted to emit, sulfur dioxide during 1980 in excess of a specified rate. Requires that unit plans and schedules provide for a reduction to a specified rate of emissions, according to a phased schedule (beginning within five years, substantially complete within eight years, and finally complete within ten years of the enactment of this Act). Sets forth provisions for approval of unit plans and schedules. Provides that any unit for which a plan has not been submitted and approved must comply with the specified emission limitation within five years of the enactment of this Act. Directs the Administrator to establish a program of purchase and sale of emission reduction credits among stationary sources of sulfur dioxide in five emission reduction credit regions within the acid deposition region. Provides that specified requirements under this Act shall be treated as emission limitation requirements of applicable State implementation plans. Sets forth procedures for petitions for determination that programs or plans will not meet deadlines and for petitions for review of such determinations or denials.
United States · United States Congress · 22 October 1981
Amends title I (Air Pollution Prevention and Control) of the Clean Air Act to require States within an acid rain mitigation area to include control of acid deposition in their State implementation plans. (Defines "acid precipitation mitigation area" to mean the 31 States east of a line running south from the western borders of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and Arkansas). Provides that, if a State fails to submit within one year of this Act's enactment a plan meeting acid precipitation mitigation requirements or if the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency does not approve such plan within one year and four months after such date, no plan shall be promulgated by the Administrator. Requires, in such cases, that specified electric utility steam generating units comply, within five years of this Act's enactment, with a specified emission limitation for sulfur dioxide. Requires that, for purposes of required provisions for revision of State plans, a one-year period after enactment expire before the Administrator may submit a notice of a determination of noncompliance with acid deposition mitigation requirements or treat any plan as not complying with such requirements. Provides for a new program of Mitigation of Acid Precipitation to establish sulfur dioxide emission limitations applicable to certain large stationary sources in the acid rain mitigation area in order to: (1) prevent any net increase of such emissions in the area; and (2) attain a substantial and reasonably achievable reduction in such emissions from the area. Directs the Administrator to publish in the Federal Register, within 90 days of this Act's enactment, lists of electric utility steam generating units in the area not subject to new stationary source performance standards, identifying: (1) the 50 units with the highest annual sulfur dioxide emissions for 1980; and (2) all other such units with a generating capacity of more than 100 megawatts. Requires that applicable State implementation plans establish statewide programs for net reduction of sulfur dioxide emissions from such units. Sets forth statewide program schedule requirements: (1) for any of the 50 units to attain in three three-year periods before 1990; and (2) for any of the other units to attain in two three-year periods before 1990. Directs the Administrator to publish baseline levels, for any of the 50 units, from which such emissions reductions schedules can be determined according to a specified formula. Permits achievement of required total emission reductions by application of enforceable emission reduction techniques to any of such units or to any other sources of sulfur dioxide in the acid rain mitigation area. Specifies some permissible emission reduction techniques. Requires continuous emissions monitoring and publication of resultant data by applicable sources. Requires assurances that States will have adequate personnel, funding, and authority to carry out required plan provisions. Provides that emissions limitations or other requirements under the acid precipitation mitigation program shall apply only if they are more stringent than the requirements they replace. Directs the Administrator to establish an emission reduction credit program for the specified stationary source units in the acid rain mitigation area, as divided into five emission reduction credit regions. Sets forth formulas and procedures for compliance with emission limitations through purchase or exchange of such credits within such regions.
United States · United States Congress · 21 October 1981
Commitment to the Clean Air Act resolution of the Ninety-seventh Congress - Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that: (1) clean air is fundamentally important for the health and well-being of the citizens, economy, and environment of the United States; and (2) the existing Clean Air Act should be maintained and strengthened subject only to changes that will improve its administration and effectiveness.
United States · United States Congress · 14 October 1981
Radioactive Waste Repository Restriction Act - Restricts the location of permanent radioactive waste repositories to land that, on or before October 14, 1981, is owned by the Federal Government and is used as a permanent radioactive waste storage site or a nuclear weapon test site. Prohibits the Secretary of Energy from recommending or approving sites in densely populated areas for the location of permanent radioactive waste repositories.
United States · United States Congress · 7 October 1981
Amends the Clean Air Act to revise provisions relating to interstate pollution abatement. Extends required State implementation plan prohibitions against interstate pollution to cover emissions: (1) from any source (currently, stationary sources) within a State; (2) interfering with (currently, preventing) another State's attaining or maintaining) national air quality standards; and (3) contributing to air pollution that may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare in another State. Mandates that State implementation plans require each major proposed new (or modified) source that may significantly contribute to violations of such prohibitions to provide written notice to all possibly affected nearby States at least 60 days prior to the date on which opportunity for public comment on the construction or modification permit commences (currently, prior to commencement of construction). Requires implementation plans, not later than July 1, 1982, to: (1) identify areas of emissions from all sources (in addition to all major existing stationary sources) that may have such an interstate pollution impact; and (2) notify all nearby States of the location and level of pollutants from (in addition to the identity of) such sources and areas. Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to make a finding or deny a State or local government petition for a finding that any source violates such interstate pollution prohibitions within 120 days after receipt of such petition (currently, 60 days after receipt and after public hearing). Requires a public hearing to be held during such 120-day period. Prohibits the Administrator, in considering such petitions, from requiring the petitioner to rely solely on modeling or other previously approved methodologies for estimating interstate air pollution. Directs the Administrator to also consider: (1) total emissions of a pollutant in each State; (2) reasonable estimates of outside contributions to air quality problems in the petitioning State; (3) meteorological factors; (4) comparative economic impact; and (5) other factors established by regulation. Permits the petitioning State to apply for a court order directing the Administrator to act, if the Administrator has not made a ruling on such petition within 120 days of receipt. Permits the petitioning State to apply for such order without regard to a normal 60-day notice requirement. Directs the court, on finding that the Administrator has failed to act within the 120 days, to issue such order, award costs to the petitioning State, and assess a $100,000 civil penalty against the United States, to be paid to the petitioning State. Requires that State implementation plan procedures for review of new source locations provide an opportunity for public comment, to extend for at least 60 days, prior to issuance of a permit to commence construction or modification.
United States · United States Congress · 7 October 1981
Clean Water Act Amendments of 1981 - Amends the Clean Water Act (also known as the Federal Water Pollution Control Act) to revise provisions for Grants for Construction of Treatment Works (title II). Prohibits Federal grants, after October 1, 1981, which provide assistance only for facility plans, or plans, specifications, and estimates for any proposed construction of treatment works. Provides that non-Federal funds expended during the facility planning and advanced engineering and design phase shall be reimbursed at the prevailing Federal share, if the proposed project later receives a Federal grant for construction. Authorizes each State to use up to ten percent of allotted funds to establish a revolving fund for advancing facility planning costs to potential grant applicants otherwise unable to prepare construction cost grant requests. Lowers the Federal share for treatment works grants (from 75 percent in fiscal year 1981) to 65 percent for fiscal years 1982 through 1984 and to 55 percent thereafter, for specified grants. Requires that treatment works grants be made only for: (1) secondary treatment or more stringent treatment, or any cost effective alternative; and (2) new interceptors and appurtenances. Revises formulas for determining the amount of any grant, made after September 30, 1978, for treatment works using innovative or alternative wastewater treatment processes and techniques. Sets such amount at a percentage rate of the construction costs 20 percent greater than the rate established for other treatment works grants or the modified uniform percentage rate, up to 85 percent of such costs. Extends the definition of the term "eligible treatment works" to cover those which can be fully funded by States in fiscal years beyond fiscal year 1981 (and which meet specified other requirements). Authorizes the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, upon the request of the Governor of an affected State, to use funds from State allotments to assist new sewage collection systems in existing communities and to address storm water and sanitary sewer overflow problems, under specified circumstances. Makes available to the Administrator specified additional funds per fiscal year to be used to address water quality problems of bays and estuaries due to discharges from combined storm water and sanitary sewer overflows, not otherwise eligible for Federal payments for treatment works. Authorizes the use of such funds upon the request of and demonstration of water quality benefits by the Governor of an affected State. Raises the total estimated cost limit for treatment works for which single grants may be awarded to cover the combined Federal share of plan preparation costs and construction costs. Repeals a provision that allows a higher (than the current) limit in cases of unusually high construction costs. Revises conditions on treatment works grants to prohibit grants to construct that portion of the treatment works providing reserve capacity (except for specified planning and preparation grants). Directs the Administrator to base determinations of size and capacity of eligible treatment works upon 1980 population statistics. Permits the total eligible design flow capacity of a treatment works to include existing industrial flows. Prohibits publicly owned treatment works grants made after November 15, 1981, from being used to treat, store, or convey flows from industrial users in excess of existing flow. Revises provisions relating to "brand name or equal" descriptions for technical requirements by grantees. Requires that treatment works construction grants provide that the engineers or firms providing architect engineering or supervisory services during construction shall: (1) continue their relationship to the grant applicant for one year after the completion of construction and initial operation; (2) supervise operation and train operating personnel during such year; and (3) certify whether the treatment works meet specifications. Requires that failures to meet specifications be corrected in a timely manner at other than Federal expense. Sets forth formulas, schedules, and procedures for the allotment of funds for treatment works grants in fiscal years 1982 through 1985. Extends a formula for specified State and territorial allotments, as well as an authorization of appropriations for such allotments, through fiscal year 1985. Sets forth a formula for reserving specified funds from each State's allotment for fiscal year 1982 and thereafter. Authorizes the Administrator to reserve an additional amount from State allotments to be available to States, local governments, or multijurisdictional agencies for: (1) water quality management decision-making as to treatment works construction; and (2) implementing provisions for water quality standards and implementation plans. Extends through fiscal year 1985 requirements that specified minimum amounts be expended from State allotments in order to increase the Federal share of grants for construction of treatment works utilizing innovative processes and techniques. Revises formulas for determining such amounts. Lowers the amount authorized to be appropriated for fiscal year 1982 for treatment works construction grants. Authorizes appropriations, in such lowered amount, for fiscal years 1983 through 1985 for such purpose. Eliminates provisions for project priority that relate to: (1) specified categories of projects; (2) required allocation of funds; and (3) the authority to remove a project from a State's priority list. Provides that the determination of priority shall be made by the State in which the projects are to be constructed, consistent with the treatment works grants provisions of such Act. Limits projects included on a State's priority list to those eligible for funding under specified provisions. Directs a State to give highest priority to projects which demonstrate that significant public health or water quality benefits will be achieved, and in particular to projects having the greatest effect on water quality improvement. Requires that the review, revision, adoption, or promulgation of revised or new water quality standards, pursuant to specified provisions of such Act, be completed three years after the enactment of this Act. Requires that, to the extent practicable, the establishment of total maximum daily loads of pollutants, pursuant to specified provisions, also be completed by such date. Prohibits the making of grants for a project after such date until water quality standards are reviewed and revised and total maximum daily loads of pollutants are established for the waters affected by the project, except where the Administrator has not approved or disapproved good faith State submissions within 120 days of receipt. Extends to July 1, 1988, the period during which the Administrator may issue or modify permits to extend compliance deadlines for specified effluent limitations, in cases where reductions in the amount of financial assistance under such Act or changed conditions affecting the rate of construction beyond the control of the owner or operator will make it impossible to complete construction by July 1, 1983. Repeals a provision that all publicly owned treatment works must comply by a certain date with specified requirements for study and evaluation of alternative waste management techniques and for application of best practicable waste treatment technology. Expresses the sense of Congress that courts take judicial notice of specified amendments made by this Act, of reduced authorization levels, and of final compliance date extensions, in considering modifications of court ordered deadlines and schedules. Provides that, for purposes of specified information and guidelines provisions, certain biological treatment facilities shall be deemed the equivalent of secondary treatment upon a showing satisfactory to the Administrator by the owner or operator that water quality will not be adversely affected. Directs the Administrator, in cooperation with the States, to submit to Congress, within 18 months, a report: (1) identifying those publicly owned treatment works needed to comply with specified requirements and standards; and (2) taking into account all actions of the Administrator pursuant to specified provisions, estimating the total cost and the Federal share necessary for the construction of such works.
United States · United States Congress · 6 October 1981
Acid Precipitation Control Act of 1981 - Amends title I of the Clean Air Act (Air Pollution Prevention and Control) to establish a new program (Acid Precipitation Control) to: (1) regulate acid precipitation precursor emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide; and (2) reduce the transport of air pollutants across international boundaries. Establishes an "acid precipitation mitigation region" consisting of 31 States (east of or bordering the Mississippi River) and the District of Columbia. Requires States in the region to reduce, prior to December 31, 1991, sulfur dioxide emissions from all major stationary sources by an amount equal to 85 percent of the actual 1980 sulfur dioxide emissions from all major emitting powerplants (fossil-fuel-fired electric powerplants with specified emissions levels) within such States. Disregards, for purposes of determining such reduction, any emissions from a separate generating unit or units of such powerplants that are subject to new source performance standards. Sets forth formulas for determining the maximum required reduction for any state, based on annual statewide utility sulfur dioxide emission rates. Directs the Administrator to: (1) determine such rates within 60 days; (2) establish a reduction requirement for each State in the region within 90 days; and (3) notify each State of such requirement within 120 days. Requires that, within one year, each applicable State implementation plan be amended to contain enforceable measures for meeting the sulfur dioxide emissions reduction requirement by December 31, 1991. Permits States to substitute a reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions for a reduction in sulfur dioxide emissions, at a specified rate. Prohibits States, in meeting the requirement deadline, from including emissions reductions representing compliance with Federal emission standards other than those imposed under this Act by sources in operation before December 31, 1980. Permits for sources not in operation before such date, inclusion of emissions reductions in excess of those required under such other Federal standards. Directs the Administrator to: (1) review State implementation plan amendments within 90 days of submission; (2) approve plan amendments that will insure that the emissions reduction requirement will be met by December 31, 1991; (3) revise plan amendments where necessary to meet the requirement deadline; (4) periodically review such plans; (5) take actions necessary to insure compliance with the requirement deadline; and (6) apply additional sanctions or limitations on emissions with respect to any major emitting powerplant, if necessary to insure such compliance.
United States · United States Congress · 6 October 1981
Acid Deposition Control Act - Amends title I of the Clean Air Act (Air Pollution Prevention and Control) to establish a new program (Interstate Transport and Acid Precursor Reduction) to: (1) regulate the long-range transport of pollutants and their transformation products; and (2) reduce acid compounds, and their precursors, in the atmosphere. Establishes a long-range transport corridor, the "acid deposition impact region," consisting of 31 States (east of or bordering the Mississippi River) and the District of Columbia. Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to: (1) conduct a study of air pollution problems associated with the long-range transport of pollutants in the portions of the continental United States not included in the acid deposition impact region; and (2) report the results to Congress within two years. Prohibits the increase of emissions of sulfur dioxide and of oxides of nitrogen from stationary sources in the acid deposition impact region over such total actual emissions there as of January 1, 1981. Prohibits any major stationary source in the region from significantly increasing such emissions, unless a not otherwise required net reduction of such regional pollution, in excess of the proposed increase, has been identified. Requires a ten-year phased reduction in annual emissions of sulfur dioxide in the region of 10,000,000 tons from the total 1980 level. Requires each State to achieve reductions in annual sulfur dioxide emissions according to a formula based on each State's share of utility emissions in the region. Permits State Governors to agree to reallot the required reductions. Requires each State in the region to adopt, within two years, enforcement measures to achieve such reduction. Directs the Administrator to approve such measures within four months if specified criteria are met. Sets forth a uniform sulfur dioxide emission limit for fossil-fuel-burning electric generating facilities (which are major stationary sources not subject to new performance standards) in any State that has not adopted, or has not had approved, such enforcement measures by such deadlines. Requires that owners or operators of such sources: (1) submit an approvable reduction plan and schedule within three years of enactment of this Act; (2) comply with such plan and schedule; and (3) achieve the required emission reduction at the earliest practicable date, but no later than ten years after enactment of this Act. Specifies methods or programs for enforceable net emission reduction that may be used by a State or the owner or operator of a source. Permits a State or owner or operator to substitute reduction in emissions of oxides of nitrogen for required sulfur dioxide emissions reductions, at a specified rate. Adds to State implementation plan requirements a prohibition of stationary source air pollutant emissions in amounts that will contribute to atmospheric loadings of pollutants or their transformation products so as to adversely affect public health or welfare or the environment in any other State or foreign country.
United States · United States Congress · 6 October 1981
Nuclear Waste Research, Development, and Demonstration Act of 1981 - Directs the Secretary of Energy to review the Department of Energy's research and development program for high-level radioactive waste disposal and to prepare a comprehensive management plan for research, development, and demonstration activities under this Act. Requires the Secretary to identify, within one year, three geographically distributed sites in different geologic media in the continental United States and to select one site for a test and evaluation facility by January 1, 1985. Specifies design requirements for such facility. Requires that the facility be in operation by the end of fiscal year 1988. Provides that the operation of the facility shall terminate when the Secretary determines it is no longer needed. Requires the Secretary to conduct various in situ research and development activities with respect to high-level radioactive waste disposal. Prohibits the conversion of the facility into a permanent disposal facility unless the Secretary can comply with legislation authorizing high-level radioactive waste repositories. Directs the Secretary, upon authorization by Federal law, to establish waste solidification facilities which provide a waste form resistant to the release of radionuclides in a repository. Requires that the waste forms and components of such facilities be ready for placement in the demonstration facility by the end of fiscal year 1988. Requires consultation and coordination with the officials of each State in which a potential facility site is located. Directs the Secretary to prepare and transmit to specified congressional committees a comprehensive management plan for the activities under this Act. Requires submission of a description of such plan as in effect each year to Congress. States that this Act shall not be construed to authorize remedial action or commercialization activities. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 5 October 1981
Amends the Clean Air Act to revise provisions for compliance with emissions standards by vehicles and engines in actual use. Repeals a requirement that manufacturers warrant that new motor vehicles or engines are: (1) designed, built, and equipped so as to conform with emissions standards at the time of sale; and (2) free from defects in materials and workmanship which cause failure to conform for its useful life. Requires, instead, a production warranty that the vehicle or engine is equipped with emission control components designed to enable such vehicle or engine to conform at the time of sale with emissions standards for the first 12 months or first 12,000 miles. Repeals provisions for motor vehicle or engine parts certifications by manufacturers or rebuilders for compliance with emissions standards. Limits a free replacement obligation of manufacturers to emissions control components installed for the sole (currently, sole or primary) purpose of reducing, vehicle emissions. Limits specified performance warranties to: (1) the first 12 months or 12,000 miles; and (2) certain components installed for the sole purpose of emissions control. Revises provisions for manufacturers' instructions for the maintenance, replacement, and repair of emission control parts or components to eliminate requirements that: (1) such instructions correspond to regulations promulgated by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; and (2) replacement parts be certified. Eliminates provisions for waivers of a prohibition against such instructions, including conditions on the purchaser's using components or services unconnected with the manufacturer. Specifies that waivers of the prohibition against State or local standards for emissions control of new motor vehicles or engines subject to Federal standards will be given only: (1) insofar as numerical emission levels are concerned; and (2) if such standards and new motor vehicle certification and other tests are consistent with Federal standards. Specifies that tampering prohibitions refer to parts or components placed on or in motor vehicles or engines for the sole purpose of controlling emissions. Prohibits State new motor vehicle emission standards in nonattainment areas from including any provision similar to the production or performance warranty provisions under the Clean Air Act. Sets forth effective dates for specified amendments made by this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 2 October 1981
Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to extend specified compliance deadlines applying to publicly owned treatment works.
United States · United States Congress · 1 October 1981
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should press for a negotiated settlement among the political factions in El Salvador to guarantee a safe environment for free elections.
United States · United States Congress · 24 September 1981
National Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1981 - Title I: Findings and Purpose - Declares the purpose of this Act to be the establishment of a Federal policy for the acquisition and interim storage of spent fuel and the long-term storage and disposal of high-level radioactive waste generated by civilian nuclear activities. Title II: Definitions - Defines the terms used in this Act. Title III: Interim Storage of Spent Fuel From Civilian Nuclear Powerplants - Directs the Secretary of Energy to enter into contracts with owners of civilian nuclear powerplants which cannot provide adequate spent fuel storage capacity at the powerplant site. Requires that under such contracts the Government agree to take title to any spent fuel which cannot be stored onsite and transport it to, and store it in, federally owned and operated interim storage facilities, pending further processing, storage, or disposal. Prohibits contracts for spent fuel in amounts in excess of available storage capacity. States that this Act does not authorize contracts with respect to spent fuel from a nuclear powerplant located outside the United States. Sets forth contract requirements with respect to: (1) a one-time payment by the owner of the spent fuel to cover transportation, storage, and disposal costs; (2) the owner's right to the value of the remaining fuel resource; (3) the transfer of title to the spent fuel; and (4) the effective date of the contract. Requires the Secretary to publish notice of intent to enter into such contracts and the one-time payment charge in the Federal Register. Directs the Secretary to construct or acquire one or more interim storage facilities for such spent fuel. Limits the total storage capacity at all such facilities. Directs the Secretary to contract with private industry for the transportation of spent fuel. Authorizes the use of Federal transportation services if private industry cannot or will not provide such services at a reasonable cost. Makes funds available for the establishment of the interim storage facilities. Directs the Secretary to inform the Governor and the legislature of any State in which a potential facility site or an existing facility is located of the investigation and selection of such site or facility for interim storage of spent fuel. Requires the Secretary to: (1) suspend work on a facility if the Governor objects; and (2) transmit such objections, with recommendations, to the President. Directs the Secretary to terminate such work unless, within 90 days of being notified by the Secretary, the President determines such facility is essential to the national interest. Amends the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 to provide that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) shall have licensing and related regulatory authority over storage facilities for high-level radioactive waste and spent fuel from foreign reactors whose transfer is authorized under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954. Subjects the transportation of spent fuel under this Act to licensing and regulation by the NRC as provided under existing law. Requires the Secretary, the NRC, and Federal officials to encourage and expedite the effective use of existing storage facilities and the addition of needed new storage capacity at civilian nuclear powerplant sites. Directs the Secretary to establish a cooperative program to assist private development of alternate technologies for spent fuel storage which can be licensed by the NRC on a generic basis for use at all civilian nuclear powerplant sites. Permits an applicant for a license or license amendment to expand the spent fuel storage capacity at a civilian nuclear powerplant site to petition the NRC for an interim license or license amendment prior to a required hearing on the application. Authorizes the NRC to issue an interim license or license amendment if all legal requirements other than a required hearing are met and there will be adequate protection of the public health and safety and the environment during the interim period. Sets forth administrative review requirements with respect to an application for a license or license amendment to expand spent fuel storage capacity at a civilian nuclear powerplant site. Prohibits the NRC from considering as spent fuel storage alternatives spent fuel storage in away-from-reactor facilities. Title IV: Disposal of High-Level Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel From Civilian Nuclear Activities - Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to promulgate standards for offsite releases of radioactivity from repositories for solidified high-level radioactive waste and spent fuel from civilian nuclear activities. Requires the NRC to promulgate technical criteria for review of applications for: (1) authority to construct repositories; (2) licenses to emplace such waste and spent fuel in repositories; and (3) license amendments to decommission repositories. Directs the Secretary to issue guidelines for repository site recommendations. Requires the Secretary to make repository site characterization recommendations to the President according to a specified time schedule. Requires the Secretary to notify the Governor of the State in which a site is located and affected Indian tribes and to hold public meetings in the vicinity of the site before making a site characterization recommendation to the President. Provides for Presidential approval or disapproval of a site characterization recommendation within 60 days after submission of the recommendation. Authorizes the President to delay a decision for six months if there is insufficient information to make a decision. States that the site shall be considered approved if the President fails to act within the required time periods. Requires the Secretary to submit to the NRC, the Governor of the affected State, and affected Indian tribes for review: (1) an environmental assessment of the nonradiological impacts of the site characterization activities planned for an approved site and alternatives to avoid such impacts; (2) a general plan for site characterization activities; and (3) proposals for the packaging of the waste and spent fuel to be emplaced in the repository. Directs the Secretary to report to the NRC, the Governor, and the Indian tribes during site characterization activities. Requires the Secretary to conduct, and report to them on, tests to provide data for a construction authorization application for a repository at the site and for compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. Restricts the Secretary's use of radioactive materials during site characterization activities. Requires the Secretary to hold public meetings in the vicinity of a site to receive area residents' comments before recommending that the President approve the site for development of a repository. Directs the Secretary to apply to the NRC for authorization to construct a repository at a site selected by the President. Requires the NRC to report to Congress on the application proceedings. Requires that the NRC issue a final decision on an application by January 1, 1988. Directs the Secretary, the NRC, and Federal officials to achieve operational status of a repository licensed under this Act as soon as possible. Requires the Secretary to transmit to Congress a proposal for at least one test and evaluation facility for developing the packaging, handling, and emplacement technology for solidified high-level radioactive waste and spent fuel. Requires that an environmental assessment accompany such proposal. Makes the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 applicable when Congress authorizes construction of the facility. States that the facility shall not be subject to an NRC license but that the Secretary shall obtain the concurrence of the NRC in the establishment of the facility. Requires the Secretary and the U.S. Geological Survey to conduct a national site survey program to be used for identifying and recommending sites for site characterization. Title V: Long-Term Storage of High-Level Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel From Civilian Nuclear Activities - Requires the Secretary to transmit to Congress a proposal for a system of at least one facility for the long-term, retrievable, monitored storage of solidified high-level radioactive waste and spent fuel from civilian nuclear activities. Requires that an environmental assessment accompany such proposal. Makes the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 applicable when Congress authorizes the construction of the initial facility. Subjects any such facility authorized under this Act to a license under the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974. Title VI: Financial Arrangements -Establishes in the Treasury a separate account for the operation of the storage and disposal program under this Act. Permits the Secretary to borrow money from the Treasury in amounts provided in appropriations Acts. Imposes a mandatory fee on electricity generated and sold by civilian nuclear powerplants 90 days or more after the enactment of this Act in order to cover the costs of the long-term storage and permanent disposal of solidified high-level radioactive waste and spent fuel. Requires the persons owning and operating such powerplants to collect such fees and pay them to the Treasury for deposit in the separate account. Title VII: State Participation in the Development of Repositories and Retrievable, Monitored Storage Facilities For Solidified High-Level Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel - Directs the Secretary to notify the Governor, the State legislature, and affected Indian tribes of States with potentially acceptable repository or storage facility sites. Requires the Secretary to establish a cooperative agreement with each State and Indian tribe notified under which the State or Indian tribe shall have the right to participate in all stages of the establishment of a repository or a retrievable, monitored storage facility. Authorizes such participation once site approval for a repository or site designation for a retrievable, monitored storage facility has occurred. Requires that a cooperative agreement provide procedures for resolving objections of the State or Indian tribe at any stage of the repository or storage facility siting process. Directs the Secretary to notify the Governor, the State legislature, and affected Indian tribes of an affected State at least 90 days before applying to the NRC for construction authorization for a repository or storage facility. Requires the Secretary to transmit to Congress, within 90 days after receipt of such notice: (1) objections made by the Governor or an Indian tribe; and (2) recommendations concerning such objections. Requires suspension of work on the proposed repository or storage facility if either the House of Representatives or the Senate passes a resolution disapproving the proposal for the repository or storage facility within 60 days after submission of such objections to Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 16 September 1981
Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1981 - Repeals a specified provision of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act thereby deleting limits on the use of public treatment works grants for treating, storing, or conveying the flow of industrial users into treatment works. Amends such Act to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 1982 for the construction of treatment works. Increases the amount of funds that may be reserved by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency for fiscal year 1982 for State management assistance. Revises the Federal share of such grants. Directs the Administrator to allot funds to the State of New York to pay for conveying sewage from the New York City Convention Center to the Newtown, New York, sewage treatment plant. Reduces the authorization of appropriations for the purposes of such Act. Declares it congressional policy that waste treatment and management projects undertaken with Federal assistance under such Act shall be economical and cost effective. Describes procedures for approval or disapproval of State applications for such construction grants. Modifies permit requirements concerning pollutants discharged into marine waters. Grants certain States and the Administrator (currently, the Administrator with the concurrence of a State) discretionary powers in regard to such discharges. Repeals provisions in regard to applications for modifications of provisions concerning publicly owned treatment works in existence on July 1, 1977, or approved before June 30, 1974, or certain effluent limitations defined by the Administrator. Directs the Administrator, before approving grants under such Act, to determine the relationship between the capacity of such treatment works and the needs to be served by such works. Requires the Administrator to make grants for projects for secondary treatment or more stringent treatment and new interceptors and appurtenances. Limits to a specified sum the amount that may be allotted to a State for such purposes. Directs the Administrator to report to Congress concerning the Federal water pollution control program.
United States · United States Congress · 11 September 1981
Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to modify the procedures followed by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in regard to treatment of pollutants discharged from publicly owned treatment works into marine waters. Makes municipalities eligible to receive permits that modify such procedures. Declares that specified costs incurred in applying for such permits shall be eligible for certain grants under such Act. Authorizes the Administrator to increase such grants. Directs the Administrator to authorize States to administer permit programs under specified conditions. Repeals provisions in regard to applications for modifications of provisions concerning publicly owned treatment works in existence on July 1, 1977, or approved before June 30, 1974, or certain effluent limitations defined by the Administrator.
United States · United States Congress · 4 August 1981
Mobile Source Clean Air Act Amendments of 1981 - Title I: Amendments to Title II - Amends title II of the Clean Air Act (Emission Standards for Moving Sources, also known as the "National Emission Standards Act") to provide that where any national ambient air quality standard is established pursuant to such Act for any pollutant, the standard applicable to the emissions of such pollutant shall relate to the achievement of the national ambient air quality standard. Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, in prescribing any such standard, to consider specified factors, including compliance costs, potential inflationary or recessionary effects, and effects on small business competition, consumer costs, and energy use. Requires that more stringent standards shall not become effective for at least: (1) 48 months after final prescription, in the case of heavy-duty vehicles or engines; and (2) 36 months after final prescription, in the case of all other new motor vehicles or engines. Repeals requirements that standards reflecting the greatest degree of emission reduction achievable through application of available technology be contained in regulations applicable to: (1) emissions of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides from heavy-duty vehicles or engines manufactured during model years 1979 through 1982; and (2) emissions of particulate matter from vehicles manufactured during and after model year 1981 (or during any earlier model year, if practicable). Repeals requirements that regulations applicable to vehicles or engines manufactured during and after model year: (1) 1983 require a reduction of at least 90 percent of hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions; and (2) 1985 require reduction of at least 75 percent of nitrogen oxides emissions. Provides for notice and opportunity for comment before the Administrator determines that any emission control device, system, or element of design will cause or contribute to an unreasonable risk to public health, welfare, or safety (and therefore may not be used to comply with emission standards). Directs the Administrator to include specified information obtained from manufacturers in making such determination. Excludes methane from any hydrocarbon standard for motor vehicle emissions under such Act. Directs the Administrator to establish an appropriate allowance applicable to the exhaust hydrocarbon standard for those vehicles and engines that emit low levels of evaporative hydrocarbon emissions, except that measurement of such emissions shall not be required in specified new vehicle or motor compliance tests. Revises provisions for regulations applicable to emissions from light-duty vehicles and engines. Eliminates the requirement that regulations applicable to such vehicles manufactured during or after model year 1981 require: (1) reduction of at least 90 percent of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons emissions from those allowable under standards applicable to 1970 models; and (2) limitation of nitrogen oxides emissions to one gram per vehicle mile. Provides also that regulations applicable to such vehicles manufactured during or after model year 1982 shall not contain standards more stringent than 0.39 grams per vehicle mile of non-methane exhaust hydrocarbons (exclusive of allowances for evaporative hydrocarbons), seven grams per vehicle mile of carbon monoxide, and two grams per vehicle mile of nitrogen oxides. Revises provisions relating to waivers of such standards. Replaces, as a precondition for such waivers, a determination of a potential for both long-term air quality benefit and meeting average fuel economy standards with a determination of a potential to conserve energy. Makes 500,000 units the maximum number of vehicles or engines of each model to which such waivers may apply (the current maximum is five percent of the manufacturer's production or 50,000 of such units, whichever is larger). Revises provisions relating to any future prescribed regulations affecting the manufacture, distribution, or sale of motor vehicles or engines for high altitude areas of the United States to require inclusion of exemptions prescribed for model year 1982 and to permit specified performance adjustments. Prohibits more stringent numerical standards in regulation of high altitude vehicles of any model year than those applicable to vehicles certified under non-high altitude conditions. Prohibits any regulation requiring the installation, on motor vehicles or engines intended for principal use in non- high altitude locations, of any emission controls needed to meet the applicable standards under high altitude conditions. Includes among prohibited acts the failure or refusal of any manufacturer to comply with requests by the Administrator for specified information on new light-duty motor vehicles and their use at high altitudes. Revises provisions for compliance testing and conformity certification to direct the Administrator to evaluate or to require evaluation of (but not necessarily to test or require testing of): (1) any new motor vehicle or new motor vehicle engine submitted by a manufacturer; and (2) any emission control system incorporated in a vehicle or engine submitted by any person. Prohibits the revision of any test applicable to 1981 model heavy-duty vehicles or engines until after the 1986 model year. Repeals a one-year maximum limit on the period which a certificate of conformity may cover. Directs the Administrator to establish: (1) methods and procedures for making tests for determining average emissions from vehicles; and (2) an acceptable quality level for all new motor vehicles equivalent to the level applicable to 1981 model year light-duty vehicles. Repeals a requirement that all light-duty vehicles manufactured during and after model year 1984 comply with specified emission standards regardless of the altitude at which they are sold. Revises provisions for compliance by vehicles and engines in actual use. Bases determinations of nonconformity with regulations by any class or category of vehicles and engines manufactured after a specified date upon the average performance in testing a statistically valid and representative sample. Permits manufacturers to elect to take other actions, in lieu of remedying such nonconformity, with respect to those or other vehicles or engines, consistent with the purposes of such title. Directs the Administrator to consider the effects on competition, in approving a manufacturer's plan to remedy or take other actions with respect to such nonconformity. Repeals a requirement that dealers furnish purchasers of new light-duty motor vehicles certificates of conformity with applicable emission standards, including notice of purchaser warranty rights. Repeals a requirement that the manufacturer remedy, at its own cost, any nonconformity, during a specified period, of a motor vehicle with emission standards. Revises provisions relating to: (1) State standards; and (2) high altitude performance adjustments. Provides that the foregoing amendments made by this title shall take effect with respect to vehicles and engines manufactured in model years beginning more than 60 days after the enactment of this Act. Requires that the economic impact assessment with respect to any motor vehicle emission or fuel standard or regulation under such title also contain an analysis of the noise, safety, and other factors deemed appropriate by the Administrator associated with application of any technology necessary to comply with the standard or regulation. Directs the Administrator to initiate a study and related proceedings, including appropriate informal public hearings, to: (1) develop alternative and practicable approaches to emission control of any air pollutant, subject to such regulation, from new motor vehicles or engines; and (2) evaluate the existing control program. Sets forth the factors to be considered by the Administrator concerning such new approach. Requires that a report of such study, including public comments, be submitted to the appropriate committees of the Congress within one year. Sets forth criteria for proposed regulations under any such new approach. Title II: Study and Conforming Provisions - Amends the Clean Air Act to direct the Administrator, upon the request of any national association of motor vehicle dealers with a membership which includes a majority of U. S. retail franchisers selling imported and domestic new light-duty motor vehicles, to compile data relating to the availability and distribution to dealers located at high altitudes of all models of such vehicles manufactured by any specified manufacturer in a specified model year. Authorizes the Administrator to utilize specified information and to require manufacturers to submit relevant information (except information identifying shipments to individual dealers). Directs the Administrator, within six months after such a request is made, to submit to the Congress and publish in the Federal Register a report setting forth the data so compiled, including specified information.
United States · United States Congress · 31 July 1981
Public Lands Protection Act of 1981 - Authorizes specified parties to maintain an action, in the United States district court for the district in which the alleged violation occurred or is likely to occur, for declaratory and equitable relief against a party for the protection of the air, water, and other natural resources of any public land or the public trust therein. Sets forth procedures concerning the rebuttal of plaintiff's evidence and the showing of an affirmative defense. Permits the court to appoint a master or referee to take testimony and report his or her findings to the court. Describes the types of relief that may be granted by the court, including temporary and permanent equitable relief. Declares that this Act shall be supplementary to existing administrative and regulatory procedures provided by law.
United States · United States Congress · 30 July 1981
Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to provide that not less than 30 percent of funds appropriated for grants for construction of treatment works shall be made available for obligation in nonmetropolitan areas. Defines "nonmetropolitan area" for the purposes of this Act.
United States · United States Congress · 22 July 1981
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to revise "air or water pollution control facilities" for purposes of the income tax exclusion of interest on industrial development bonds. Requires such equipment to meet Federal or State certification requirements in order to qualify for preferential tax treatment. Disallows an income tax exclusion for that portion of the bond proceeds which exceed the amount by which the acquisition and construction costs exceed the net profit reasonably expected to be derived through the recovery of wastes or by the operation of the pollution control facility over its useful life. Places specified dollar limits on the face amounts of obligations issued for air or water pollution control facilities at any new manufacturing or processing plant. Defines "hazardous waste or solid waste disposal facilities," for purposes of the exclusion of interest on industrial development bonds, to include depreciable property installed solely to comply with hazardous or solid waste management requirements imposed by the Solid Waste Disposal Act.
United States · United States Congress · 21 July 1981
Nuclear Fuel Management Corporation Act of 1981 - Establishes the Nuclear Fuel Management Corporation which shall be a mixed-ownership Government corporation subject to the District of Columbia Business Corporation Act but which shall not be considered a U.S. agency or instrumentality. Requires the Corporation's conversion to a privately controlled corporation when the Barnwell Nuclear Fuel Plant is licensed and operational pursuant to this Act. Authorizes the Corporation to issue capital stock, bonds, debentures, and other certificates of indebtedness. Limits the amount of stock which may be owned by any foreign person or partnership, limited partnership, syndicate, or group to which such person belongs. Gives to any Corporation stockholder inspection and copying rights, notwithstanding District of Columbia requirements with respect to such rights. Authorizes the President to restrict the exercise of such rights in the interest of national defense or foreign policy interests. Limits the Corporation's functions to: (1) acquiring, reprocessing, storing, and transferring spent nuclear fuel; and (2) conducting research and development programs. Directs the Corporation to acquire the Barnwell Nuclear Fuel Plant in Barnwell, South Carolina. Requires the Corporation to enter into long-term contracts to acquire, reprocess, provide temporary storage services for, and transfer spent nuclear fuel. Vests in the United States title to and control of any plutonium, or any other special nuclear material designated by the President, which is obtained or produced by the Corporation. Requires the Corporation to conduct research and development programs related to its functions, including programs on nuclear waste solidification, nuclear safeguards, and plutonium separation, treatment, and storage. Authorizes appropriations to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Department Energy to provide financial assistance to the Corporation for such programs. Specifies the general powers and limitations of the Corporation. Provides for Congressional oversight of the Corporation. Directs the NRC to license the Barnwell facility in a single, site-specific proceeding. Requires the Secretary of Energy to identify Federal, State, and local regulatory requirements with respect to the operation of the Barnwell facility and initiate efforts to coordinate and expedite the decision making process on such requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 16 July 1981
Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to authorize the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to make grants to States or interstate agencies for up to 50 percent of the cost of construction of publicly owned or State permitted facilities for the neutralization, incineration, or recycling of hazardous waste. Prohibits construction of any secure landfill or other facility for the storage of hazardous waste for periods in excess of one year. Sets forth limitations, conditions, and allotment procedures for such grants.
United States · United States Congress · 15 July 1981
Environmental Poisoning Compensation Act - Amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (the "Superfund Act") to extend the liability of specified owners, operators, or other responsible persons under such Act to cover any out-of-pocket medical expenses for personal injury resulting from a release of hazardous substances. Excludes liability for such medical expenses from the limitations on the amounts of liability set forth in such Act. Provides that such claims for medical expenses may be asserted against the Hazardous Substance Response Fund. Includes damages for personal injury under the definition of damages. Lowers (from 85 percent) to 66 2/3 percent the amount of the money credited to the Fund which is to be available only for certain purposes relating to governmental and other persons' response costs and to other specified governmental costs. Raises (from $1,380,000,000) to $3,000,000,000 the sum of the amounts received in the Fund which must be reached for the authority to collect environmental taxes (on petroleum and certain chemicals) to be terminated before September 30, 1985.
United States · United States Congress · 9 July 1981
Amends the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to provide for a process for State consideration of a proposal to locate a long-term storage or disposal facility for high-level radioactive waste, transuranic waste, or spent nuclear fuel in such State. Requires the Secretary of Energy to publish notice of a site identification for such a facility in the Federal Register and notify the Governor of the State in which the site is located. Requires such notice to include: (1) an analysis of the anticipated environmental, health, safety, and economic impact of such proposal; (2) a plan for the transport of the high-level radioactive waste, transuranic waste, or spent nuclear fuel to the site; and (3) plans for impact assistance to State or local governments or Indian tribes. Directs the Secretary to establish within 15 days after publication of such a notice a Federal-State Radioactive Waste Management Commission, composed of specified Federal agency representatives, the Governor of the affected State, and individuals designated by the Governor, to examine the proposal for a facility site with the objective of achieving substantial concurrence between the State and the Secretary on such proposal. Provides that if a majority of the Commission does not concur with such proposal, the Governor may, within 18 months from the date of the Commission's appointment, file with the President, the Secretary, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives a report stating the basis for such nonconcurrence and identifying acceptable alternatives. Permits the State legislature of any affected State to notify the Commission of the legislature's concurrence or nonconcurrence with such proposal. Terminates the Commission at the end of the 18-month period. Prohibits site designation or facility development or construction: (1) during the 18-month period after a Commission has been appointed; or (2) if the Commission does not concur with such proposal, unless Congress passes a concurrent resolution approving the site identification.
United States · United States Congress · 22 June 1981
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) Canada and the United States should create the North American Air Quality Commission (NAAQC); (2) the NAAQC should be the primary means for coordinating U.S. and Canadian enforcement efforts to reduce acid precipitation pollution; (3) the NAAQC should recommend to Canada and the United States policies and legislation to reduce acid precipitation pollution; and (4) the NAAQC should report twice annually to the Canadian Parliament and the U. S. Congress on both countries' progress toward reduction of such pollution.
United States · United States Congress · 18 June 1981
Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to direct (currently authorizes) the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief of Engineers, to issue permits for the discharge of dredged or fill material into navigable waters at a disposal site or sites specified by the applicant (currently specified by the Secretary), unless the Secretary determines that such site cannot be specified through the application of certain guidelines or other considerations. Limits the definition of "navigable waters" for purposes of such permits to mean all waters which are presently used or are susceptible to use in their natural condition as a means to transport interstate or foreign commerce shoreward to their ordinary high water mark, including all waters which are subject to the ebb and flow of the tide shoreward to their mean high water mark. Declares that the discharge of dredged or fill material in waters other than navigable waters (as limited by such definition) is not prohibited by or otherwise subject to regulation under any Act of Congress. Revises procedures for application of the provisions of this Act by a State requesting Federal jurisdiction over nonnavigable waters. Repeals provisions relating to State permit programs for the discharge of dredged or fill material into other types of navigable waters. Eliminates the qualifying phrase "to the maximum extent practicable" in the requirement that specified agreements between Federal agencies assure that decisions on permit applications be made within 90 days of published notice.
United States · United States Congress · 17 June 1981
Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to prohibit the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from establishing any effluent limitation with regard to the discharge of alum or alum sludge.
United States · United States Congress · 9 June 1981
Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to pay to a State, municipality, or agency that constructs or operates a publicly owned treatment works that portion of the costs made necessary by any standard or limitation regarding discharges of pollutants or control or abatement of pollution required by an international treaty or agreement. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 4 June 1981
Repeals a specified provision of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act thereby deleting limits on the use of public treatment works grants for treating, storing, or conveying the flow of industrial users into treatment works.
United States · United States Congress · 4 June 1981
Atomic Energy Act Amendments of 1981 - Title I: Amendments Relating Primarily to Radioactive Waste - Directs the Secretary of Energy to issue guidelines for the recommendation of sites for repositories for the permanent disposal of transuranic waste, high-level radioactive waste, and spent nuclear fuel. Requires the Secretary to identify and to recommend to the President, by January 1, 1982, at least two sites suitable for site characterization activities to determine the suitability of such sites for repositories. Requires the identification and recommendation of at least two additional sites by February 1, 1985. Directs the Secretary to: (1) notify the State review board of any State in which a site is located or the Indian tribe on whose reservation a site is located of such recommendation; and (2) hold public hearings in the vicinity of a site before it is recommended for site characterization. Requires the President to: (1) review each site recommendation; (2) either approve or disapprove the recommendation within 60 days; and (3) transmit such decision to the Secretary and the appropriate State review board or Indian tribe. Provides that Presidential failure to approve or disapprove a site within the 60-day period or to invoke authority to delay the determination shall be considered an approval. Requires that, prior to the commencement of site characterization activities, the Secretary shall submit to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the appropriate State review board or Indian tribe for review: (1) an environmental assessment of the nonradiological impact of such activities; (2) a site characterization plan; and (3) proposals for the form or packaging for the waste and spent fuel which would be emplaced in the repository. Directs the Secretary to conduct tests at sites where characterization activities are being conducted to provide the data needed for a construction authorization application for a repository and for compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. Sets forth restrictions on the use of radioactive materials during site characterization activities. Requires the Secretary to hold public hearings in the vicinity of each site under consideration as a repository site. Authorizes the Secretary to submit a recommendation for site approval and a site report to the President after completion of site characterization activities and hearings. Directs the President, by March 30, 1987, to recommend to Congress a site qualified as an initial repository. Requires recommendation of another site for an initial repository if Congress disapproves the President's first recommendation. Authorizes the President to submit subsequent site recommendations. Directs the Secretary to submit a construction license application to the NRC and the appropriate State review board or Indian tribe if the President's site recommendation becomes effective. Requires the NRC to submit to Congress a status report on such application within two years of its submission by the Secretary. Requires final NRC approval or disapproval of such application within a specified time. Makes a site designation effective 30 days after the President recommends such site to Congress unless an affected State review board or Indian tribe submits a petition for disapproval of such site designation. Provides that if such petition is submitted, a site designation shall be effective unless Congress passes a resolution approving such petition. Authorizes a State review board to: (1) review activities under this Act to determine the effects of any repository located in the State; (2) represent the State in any NRC proceeding with respect to a repository site in such State; and (3) submit petitions requesting Congress to disapprove repository construction in such State. Directs the Secretary to make grants to the State review boards of each State in which a repository site has been approved to support board activities. Directs the Secretary to consult and cooperate with affected State review boards and Indian tribes to resolve State and tribal concerns regarding the public health and safety, environmental, and economic impacts of any repository. Authorizes the governing body of any affected Indian tribe to: (1) review activities under this Act to determine the effects of a repository located on the reservation; and (2) submit petitions requesting Congress to disapprove repository construction. Directs the Secretary to provide funds to any affected Indian tribe for activities pursuant to this Act. Provides for judicial review of agency actions relating to repository site designation and repository construction and operation pursuant to this Act. Requires Federal officers or agencies to issue or grant a certificate, right-of-way, permit, lease, or other authorization related to the characterization, construction, or initial operation of any recommended site at the earliest practicable date. Requires the promulgation of: (1) Environmental Protection Agency standards for the protection of the general environment from radioactive material in repositories; and (2) NRC criteria for reviewing applications for repository construction authorizations. Requires any repository for the disposal of high-level waste and spent fuel to be designed and constructed so that the spent fuel may be retrieved. Authorizes appropriations for fiscal year 1982 to carry out this title. Requires the Secretary to submit a report to Congress proposing fees to be collected to offset all construction, operation, administrative, and other costs incurred in providing for the management, interim storage, and disposal of nuclear wastes and spent fuel. Amends the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to include low-level radioactive waste for purposes of State licensing and regulation requirements (currently State requirements with respect to safety standards and procedures apply to the licensing and regulation of byproduct material). Authorizes the NRC to provide technical assistance to States to help them resolve problems relating to radioactive waste disposal. Applies NRC requirements with respect to ownership and custody of byproduct material and disposal sites to ownership and custody of low-level radioactive waste. Requires the NRC to insure that low-level radioactive waste disposal is carried out in such a way as to protect public health and safety and the environment. Authorizes the NRC to provide for safe low-level radioactive waste disposal at sites located within or near sites designated for hazardous waste disposal or classified as sanitary landfills pursuant to the Solid Waste Disposal Act. Authorizes the NRC to promulgate rules and regulations designating concentrations or levels of activity for low-level radioactive waste which may be disposed of at such sites. Authorizes the NRC to apply bonding or surety requirements to holders of licenses for the disposal of low-level radioactive waste. Title II: Modification of Price - Anderson Provisions - Amends the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to increase the limit on the standard deferred premium which may be charged under an industry retrospective rating plan following any nuclear incident to not more than $20,000,000 (currently the premium which may be charged cannot be less than $2,000,000 or more than $5,000,000). Provides that deferred premiums shall be payable in equal installments over a period of not less than one year or more than five years. Increases from $500,000,000 to $5,000,000,000 the maximum aggregate indemnity for all persons indemnified by the NRC in connection with a nuclear incident. Reduces the amount of indemnity by the amount of financial protection required of such persons. Limits the maximum aggregate liability of a licensee and other persons resulting from a nuclear incident to the sum of: (1) the financial protection required; and (2) any indemnity provided by the NRC if the persons indemnified are (a) licensees for which the NRC requires financial protection of less than $560,000,000; (b) nonprofit educational institutions; or (c) connected with the nuclear ship Savannah. Increases from $30 to $1,000 per year per thousand kilowatts of thermal energy capacity the indemnity fee which the NRC is authorized to collect from licensees of facilities for which an indemnification agreement is executed. Authorizes the NRC to return to the payee any portion of an indemnity fee collected under such Act after ten years after the date on which the fee was paid. Directs the NRC to survey the causes and damages after any nuclear incident and report its findings to the appropriate Congressional committees, Congressmen and Senators of affected districts and States, and the public (currently such a report is required after any nuclear incident which will probably require indemnification by the United States or probably result in public liability claims in excess of $560,000,000). Increases the statute of limitations for suits based on nuclear incidents from 20 to 40 years for purposes of waiver of defenses. Prohibits the courts from considering claims by the owner or operator of a nuclear reactor until all other claims permitted under such Act have been resolved. Directs the NRC to include in the report required by such Act recommendations with respect to liability issues not already addressed, including issues relating to proof of causation of damages associated with nuclear incidents and the elements of such damages for which compensation should be provided. Title III: Amendments Relating Primarily to Facility Siting and Safety - Requires a determination by the NRC that a licensee meets all requirements under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 before a construction permit and an operating license for a nuclear powerplant may be issued. Makes the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) primarily responsible for carrying out functions relating to State and local radiological emergency response planning and preparedness in connection with facilities licensed under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 which the FEMA determines have the potential for significant accidental offsite radiological releases. Requires the FEMA to establish criteria for State and local radiological emergency response plans, evaluate such plans, and provide emergency preparedness training to State and local officials. Directs the FEMA to establish, with the NRC's assistance, public information programs on radiological emergency response. Prohibits the issuance of a license for the operation of any utilization or production facility unless: (1) the licensee has in effect a radiological emergency response plan which has been found by the NRC and the FEMA to be adequate to protect public health and safety; (2) adequate State and local emergency plans are in effect in each area which may be substantially affected by a radiological emergency connected with such facility; and (3) the NRC and the FEMA have determined that the general emergency preparedness of the licensee, State and local authorities, and Federal agencies is adequate. Requires the FEMA to review, and report to Congress on, the State and local radiological emergency response plans of States and localities which could be significantly affected by radiological emergencies at facilities licensed before the enactment of this Act. Directs the NRC to report to Congress on alternative safety objectives with respect to nuclear reactors, nuclear material processing, and transportation and storage of nuclear materials. Prohibits the issuance of a limited work authorization or a construction permit for a utilization facility designed for the commercial production of electric energy unless such facility is located in conformity with facility siting regulations promulgated by the NRC. Provides that such regulations shall not apply to facilities for which construction permit applications were filed on or before October 1, 1979. Directs the NRC to provide information and recommendations to State and local land use planning authorities to assist them in making land use decisions which may affect emergency planning in relation to utilization facilities. Provides that the NRC shall not have any authority to preempt any State land use or siting requirement except where a State or local requirement is not identical to, or more stringent than, a NRC requirement relating to the same aspect of facility siting. Requires that any environmental impact statement required in connection with the issuance of an operating license for a facility shall be based on, and incorporate, any environmental impact statement prepared in connection with the issuance of a construction permit for such facility. Prohibits reassessment of certain issues in the statement or at the operating license hearing unless warranted by new facts or circumstances. Directs the NRC to establish a program for funding public participation in Commission rulemaking proceedings. Directs the NRC to make awards of all or part of the costs of participation in NRC proceedings to persons who: (1) present a view or interest which is not adequately presented in the proceeding and which contributes substantially to the consideration of any relevant fact or issue; (2) do not have sufficient resources to participate in the proceeding without an award; and (3) have not acted improperly with respect to such proceeding. Bases the costs of public participation awarded on the appropriations available and the prevailing rates for the services furnished. Permits the NRC to consolidate duplicative presentations and limit compensation awards. Subjects NRC decisions under this program to limited judicial review. Terminates the NRC's authority to make funds available under this program three years after the enactment of this Act, except in the case of award applications made before such termination date. Requires the NRC to report to Congress on the program's impact and effectiveness. Directs the NRC to designate and specifically refer to the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards those permit and license applications which it considers most appropriate for review by the Committee (currently the Committee is required to review all such applications). Requires the Committee to report to the NRC on any application which the Committee reviews. Directs the NRC to carry out a survey of, and report to Congress on: (1) the major health and safety requirements applicable to currently operating utilization facilities required to be licensed under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954; and (2) the extent to which a representative sample of such facilities is in substantial compliance with such requirements. Requires an NRC statement on the effect of such survey on the implementation of the comprehensive plan for systematic safety evaluation of all such facilities. Directs the NRC to establish an independent Temporary Advisory Panel to evaluate: (1) the effectiveness of the nuclear powerplant licensing process with respect to meeting the requirements of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969; (2) the efficiency of, and the potential for delays in, the licensing process; (3) the stability and predictability in the licensing process; and (4) the opportunity for public participation in the licensing process. Requires the Advisory Panel to submit a report setting forth the results of such evaluation to the NRC and specified House and Senate committees. Terminates the Advisory Panel upon submission of such report. Directs the NRC to submit its views on the Advisory Panel's report to such Congressional committees within 30 days of receipt of such report.
United States · United States Congress · 4 June 1981
Authorizes the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to permit the dumping of solid, semisolid, or liquid waste generated by a municipal waste water treatment plant into ocean waters under specified circumstances.
United States · United States Congress · 28 May 1981
Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to reimburse the Upper Occoquan Sewage Authority for 50 percent of its costs in constructing the advanced waste water treatment plant in the Occoquan Reservoir watershed area of Fairfax County, Virginia. Limits the amount of such Federal assistance to a specified sum. Requires that the Administrator first receive reasonable assurances that the Authority will use such Federal assistance to reduce the sewer rates charged to customers in Fairfax and Prince William Counties, Virginia, and in Manassas and Manassas Park, Virginia.
United States · United States Congress · 27 May 1981
Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to extend, through fiscal year 1982, the authorization of appropriations to carry out all but specified provisions of such Act. Requires that the sums authorized for fiscal year 1982 be allotted to each State based on such State's needs as a percentage of the total national needs. Extends through fiscal year 1982 the program under such Act which provides grants to States for eligible treatment works. Permits the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, at the request of the Governor of a State, to set aside from funds authorized under such Act for fiscal year 1982 not more than three percent of funds allotted to such State for such grants to be available only for increasing grants for construction of treatment works from 75 percent to 85 percent, and to set aside not more than four percent of such funds to be available only for alternatives to conventional sewage treatment works for municipalities having a population of 3,500 or less, or for the highly dispersed sections of larger municipalities, as defined by the Administrator. Limits such grants for treatment works to the following categories of projects: (1) secondary treatment or more stringent treatment, or any cost- effective alternative thereof; and (2) new interceptors and appurtenances. Authorizes the Administrator, from sums authorized for each fiscal year beginning on or after October 1, 1981, to reserve from the allotment for each State for each such fiscal year an amount not to exceed one percent of the sum of the unexpended obligations and the unobligated allotment available to such State as of the first day of such fiscal year, or $400,000, whichever is greater. Repeals the provision under which the Administrator is authorized to pay the Federal share of the cost of advanced construction on publicly owned treatment works in cases where a State allotment has been obligated under specified provisions. Permits the Administrator to retain the authority to pay such eligible obligations in such amounts as the Administrator considers appropriate. Prohibits any grant, other than for facility planning and the preparation of construction plans and specifications, to be made under such Act to construct that portion of the treatment works providing reserve capacity. Makes the Administrator responsible for determining the size and capacity of the treatment works eligible for a grant under such Act. States that the determination of the priority to be given projects within each State shall be made by that State. Requires each State, in determining such priority, to give highest priority to projects which: (1) demonstrate that significant public health or water quality benefits will be achieved; and (2) will directly benefit communities having urban-industrial concentrations.
United States · United States Congress · 21 May 1981
Clean Water Act Amendments of 1981 - Amends the Clean Water Act (also known as the Federal Water Pollution Control Act) to revise provisions for Grants for Construction of Treatment Works (title II). Prohibits Federal grants, after October 1, 1981, which provide assistance only for facility plans, or plans, specifications, and estimates for any proposed construction of treatment works. Provides that non-Federal funds expended during the facility planning and advanced engineering and design phase shall be reimbursed at the prevailing Federal share, if the proposed project later receives a Federal grant for construction. Prohibits grant approval until the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the State have reviewed and approved plans, specifications, estimates, compliance with specific Federal laws, and a grant payment schedule. Lowers the Federal share for treatment works grants (from 75 percent in fiscal year 1981) to 65 percent for fiscal years 1982 through 1984 and to 55 percent thereafter. Requires that treatment works grants be made only for: (1) secondary treatment or more stringent treatment, or any cost-effective alternative; and (2) new interceptors and appurtenances. Revises formulas for determining the amount of any grant, made after September 30, 1978, for treatment works using innovative or alternative wastewater treatment processes. Extends the definition of the term "eligible treatment works" to cover those that can be fully funded by States in fiscal years beyond fiscal year 1981 (and which meet specified other requirements). Makes available to the Administrator specified additional funds per fiscal year to be used to address water quality problems of bays and estuaries due to discharges from combined storm water and sanitary sewer overflows, not otherwise eligible for Federal payments for treatment works. Authorizes the use of such funds upon the request of and demonstration of water quality benefits by the Governor of an affected State. Revises conditions on treatment works grants to prohibit grants to construct that portion of the treatment works providing reserve capacity (except for specified planning and preparation grants). Directs the Administrator to base determination of size and capacity of the eligible treatment works upon 1980 population statistics. Requires grant applicants to identify the engineer or firm responsible for architect-engineering or supervisory services for treatment works construction. Requires such engineer or firm to acknowledge such responsibility in writing and to give a two-year warranty of performance of such works according to specifications. Provides for resolution by binding arbitration of disputes about the nature of the responsibility of the engineer or firm. Sets forth formulas, schedules, and procedures for the allotment of funds for treatment works grants in fiscal years 1982 through 1985. Extends a formula for specified State and territorial allotments, as well as an authorization of appropriations for such allotments, through fiscal year 1985. Sets forth a formula for reserving specified funds from each State's allotment for fiscal year 1982 and thereafter. Authorizes the Administrator to reserve an additional amount from State allotments to be available to States, local governments, or multijurisdictional agencies for: (1) water quality management decision-making as to treatment works construction; and (2) implementing provisions for water quality standards and implementation plans. Extends through fiscal year 1985 requirements that specified minimum amounts be expended from State allotments to increase the Federal share of grants for construction of treatment works utilizing innovative processes and techniques. Revises formulas for determining such amounts. Lowers the amount authorized to be appropriated for fiscal year 1982 for treatment works construction grants. Authorizes appropriations, in such lowered amount, for fiscal years 1983 through 1985 for such purpose. Eliminates provisions for project priority that relate to: (1) specified categories of projects; (2) required allocation of funds; and (3) the authority to remove a project from a State's priority list. Provides that the determination of priority shall be made by the State in which the projects are to be constructed, consistent with the treatment works grants provisions of such Act. Limits projects included on a State's priority list to those eligible for funding under specified provisions. Directs a State to give highest priority to projects which demonstrate that significant public health or water quality benefits will be achieved, and in particular to projects having the greatest effect on water quality improvement. Requires that the review, revision, adoption or promulgation of revised or new water quality standards, pursuant to specified provisions of such Act, be completed two years after the enactment of this Act. Requires that, to the extent practicable, the establishment of total maximum daily loads of pollutants, pursuant to specified provisions, also be completed by such date. Extends to July 1, 1988, the period for which the Administrator may issue or modify permits to extend compliance deadlines for specified effluent limitations, in cases where reductions in the amount of financial assistance or changed construction conditions beyond the control of the owner or operator will make it impossible to complete construction by July 1, 1983. Repeals a provision that all publicly owned treatment works must comply by a certain date with specified requirements for study and evaluation of alternative waste management techniques and for application of best practicable waste treatment technology. Provides that, for purposes of specified information and guidelines provisions, certain types of facilities shall be deemed the equivalent of secondary treatment upon a showing satisfactory to the Administrator that water quality will not be adversely affected. Directs the Administrator, in cooperation with the States, to submit to the Congress, within 18 months, a report: (1) identifying those publicly owned treatment works needed to comply with specified requirements and standards; and (2) taking into account all actions of the Administrator pursuant to specified provisions, estimating the total cost and the Federal share necessary for the construction of such works.
United States · United States Congress · 20 May 1981
Amends the Clean Air Act to exempt electric generating facilities on Guam from standards of performance for new stationary sources and from stack height requirements under such Act.
United States · United States Congress · 15 May 1981
Amends the Clean Air Act to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 1982 to carry out the provisions of such Act (other than research, development, and demonstration activities).
United States · United States Congress · 15 May 1981
Amends the Environmental Quality Improvement Act of 1970 to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 1982 for the operations of the Office of Environmental Quality and the Council on Environmental Quality.
United States · United States Congress · 15 May 1981
Environmental Research, Development, and Demonstration Act of 1982 - Authorizes appropriations for fiscal year 1982 to the Environmental Protection Agency for specified environmental research, development, and demonstration activities relating to air quality, water quality, water supply, solid and hazardous wastes, pesticides, radiation, interdisciplinary activities, toxic substances, and energy. Authorizes appropriations for fiscal year 1982 to the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Research and Development for program management and support. Authorizes the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to utilize funds authorized under this Act for appropriate scientific and professional review of research and development grant, contract, and cooperative agreement applications. Permits transfers of funds of up to ten percent between categories of activities authorized under this Act, as well as transfers of more than ten percent if the Congress is notified and the appropriate committees do not object. Requires that at least 15 percent of funds appropriated for each activity be obligated and expended for long-term environmental research and development programs. Reduces the total amount of appropriations authorized under this Act by $1,000,000 (such reduction to be apportioned among the supported activities at the discretion of the Administrator).