Environment

Radon Assessment and Reduction Act of 1985

United States · United States Congress · 1 August 1985

Radon Assessment and Reduction Act of 1985 - Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to report to the Congress within one year an evaluation on the threat to human health of radon gas and radon daughters forming from naturally occurring deposits of uranium and collecting in residences. Directs the Administrator to conduct a demonstration program testing methods of reducing or eliminating the threat, reporting periodically to the Congress on the results. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Disaster Relief Act of 1974 to include assistance for releases of radon gas.

Beverage Container Reuse and Recycling Act

United States · United States Congress · 1 August 1985

Beverage Container Reuse and Recycling Act - Prohibits the sale of carbonated beverages in beverage containers by retailers and distributors unless such containers carry a refund value of not less than five cents. Requires that retailers and distributors pay the refund on returned containers of brands sold by such retailers or distributors. Prohibits distributors and retailers from selling beverages in metal beverage containers with detachable openings. Preempts inconsistent State or local laws. Prohibits State and local governments from imposing any tax on the collection or return of refund values. Imposes penalties of up to $1,000 for violations.

A bill to direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to conduct a national assessment of the extent to which radon gas formed from naturally occurring deposits of uranium is a threat to public health, to authorize a demonstration program to test methods of eliminating the threat to public health from radon gas, and to authorize disaster relief assistance for releases of radon gas.

United States · United States Congress · 1 August 1985

Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to report to the Congress within one year an evaluation on the threat to human health of radon gas and radon daughters forming from naturally occurring deposits of uranium and collecting in residences. Directs the Administrator to conduct a demonstration program testing methods of reducing or eliminating the threat, reporting periodically to the Congress on the results. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Disaster Relief Act of 1974 to include assistance for releases of radon gas.

A bill to amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 to encourage the use of innovative technologies, including technologies used by small businesses, for the cleanup of hazardous substances.

United States · United States Congress · 1 August 1985

Amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish an Office of Demonstration within the Office of Emergency and Remedial Response within EPA to administer a program for testing and demonstrating innovative technologies for hazardous waste cleanup. Requires the program to develop and choose projects for demonstration at selected sites on the National Priorities List (NPL). Permits any person to apply to demonstrate innovative technology, each application to be reviewed within EPA. Directs the Administrator to establish a plan, based upon the applicant's demonstration plan, and evaluate the technology's effectiveness. Directs the Administrator to act upon applications according to a specified timetable. Authorizes the Administrator to provide loan guarantees for demonstration projects. Requires a minimum of five projects in FY 1986, increased to a minimum of ten per year during the succeeding four fiscal years. Directs the Administrator to revise and republish the National Contingency Plan (NCP) to include standards and testing procedures utilizing alternative or innovative technologies, according to cost-effectiveness. Requires the Administrator to document for the demonstrator how the technology concerned is considered for NPL site response actions. Authorizes appropriations from the Hazardous Substance Response Trust Fund (Superfund) for FY 1986 through 1990 to carry out this demonstration program.

A bill to amend the Clean Air Act to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to determine the effectiveness of State vehicle emission control inspection and maintenance programs before implementing the additional State plan requirements under the Clean Air Act applicable to such programs.

United States · United States Congress · 1 August 1985

Amends the Clean Air Act to direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to evaluate existing State vehicle emission control inspection and maintenance programs for cost-effectiveness. Prohibits the implementation of additional requirements in a State unless the Administrator determines such additional requirements to be the most cost-effective in attaining the national ambient air quality standards for such State.

Community Emergency Preparedness and Response Act of 1985

United States · United States Congress · 30 July 1985

Community Emergency Preparedness and Response Act of 1985 - Amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to direct the President to publish a list identifying extremely hazardous substances and information relating to their toxicity, reactivity, volatility and usage to the quantity at which an imminent and substantial endangerment to the public health or the environment would be posed if released. Directs the President to establish de minimis levels for such substances. Requires the owners or operators of facilities with sufficient quantities of such substances to pose a threat if released to notify the Governor of the facility's State of such fact. Requires the Governor to designate emergency planning districts with emergency planning committees to evaluate the resources necessary to an emergency plan which identifies such facilities, substance transportation routes, emergency notification procedures and personnel and a response and evacuation plan. Requires local official and facility representation at such planning process. Directs the National Response Team to publish guidelines for emergency plans. Directs Regional Response Teams to review plans at the request of the emergency planning committee. Establishes civil penalties for violations of such requirements by facility owners or operators. Requires such owners or operators to immediately provide notice of a threatening release to the appropriate emergency official in a potentially affected area, including all pertinent information about the nature and extent of the release and possible hazards posed, updating such information as necessary. Establishes criminal penalties for violations of such requirements. Requires each covered owner or operator to file a material safety data sheet for each hazardous chemical with the emergency planning committee in the facility's area. Requires that such information be updated and made available to the public. Permits State or local governments to require additional or more stringent information reporting. Establishes civil penalties for violations.

A bill to amend and extend title I of the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act, as amended, for two years.

United States · United States Congress · 25 July 1985

Amends the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act to authorize appropriations for FY 1986 and 1987 to carry out that portion of the Act relating to ocean dumping regulation.

Toxic Substances Health Effects Act of 1985

United States · United States Congress · 25 July 1985

Toxic Substances Health Effects Act of 1985 - Amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to direct the Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) to list the 100 hazardous substances which pose the most significant threat to human health or are most frequently found at facilities on the National Priority List (NPL) under the National Contingency Plan (NCP). Requires, for five years, the annual addition of at least 25 other hazardous substances. Directs the Administrator to prepare toxicological profiles for each substance listed which evaluate the information available and the need for additional research on a priority, 25 annual minimum basis. Requires the adequate staffing of the ATSDR to prepare such profiles. Permits an individual to petition the Administrator for a preliminary assessment of the environmental and public health hazards associated with the release of a particular substance. Requires the Administrator of the ATSDR to notify the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) if a substance's release may be dangerous so that such substance may be ranked. Directs the Administrator of ATSDR to conduct a health effects study on a hazardous substance where a preliminary assessment indicates its release may pose a threat to human health or upon petition by exposed individuals. Requires such study to be completed within nine months of the petition or assessment.

Superfund Clean-up Technology Research and Demonstration Act

United States · United States Congress · 24 July 1985

Superfund Clean-up Technology Research and Demonstration Act - Amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) to direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to conduct an alternative or innovative treatment technology research, evaluation, and demonstration program to develop permanent solutions for use in remedial actions for the release of hazardous substances. Directs the Administrator to conduct a technology transfer program, including a central reference library for such information. Prohibits the Administrator from disclosing trade secret or proprietary information. Authorizes the Administrator to contract out such research and to provide assistance or information as appropriate, including the use of National Priority Sites for research and demonstration purposes. Requires the Administrator to designate at least ten demonstration sites for alternative or innovative treatment technologies, requiring public participation and compliance. Directs the Administrator to report to the Congress annually on the research and demonstration program, requiring congressional notice before expending funds on a single project in excess of specified levels. Directs the Administrator to revise and republish the National Contingency Plan to include standards and testing procedures for using the alternative or innovative treatment technologies developed under this Act. Requires the Administrator to select permanent solutions when evaluating the cost-effectiveness of a remedial action. Funds such research program out of Superfund, up to specified levels. Exempts persons conducting field demonstrations from liability for anything but releases caused by negligence. Directs the Administrator to transmit within one year a study to the Congress on the standards of liability and financial responsibility under CERCLA and the costs and incentives for developing the new technologies.

PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DECISION ADOPTING MULTIANNUAL R&D PROGRAMMES IN THE FIELD OF THE ENVIRONMENT (1986-1990)

European Union · European Commission · 24 July 1985

ASSENT NO 28/85 OF THE COUNCIL, PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 55 ( 2 ) ( C ) OF THE TREATY ESTABLISHING THE EUROPEAN COAL AND STEEL COMMUNITY, TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A FIFTH ECSC RESEARCH PROGRAMME ON THE TECHNICAL CONTROL OF NUISANCES AND POLLUTION AT THE PLACE OF WORK AND IN THE ENVIRONMENT OF IRON AND STEEL WORKS

European Union · Council of the European Union · 23 July 1985

A bill to amend section 123 of the Clean Air Act regarding tall stacks and dispersion techniques.

United States · United States Congress · 11 July 1985

Amends the Clean Air Act to modify the requirements for stack height for sources of not well controlled emissions of air pollutants. Includes among dispersion methods any other measure which disperses pollutants at ground level measuring points.

A bill to prohibit certain discharges of agriculture waste waters into Morro Bay or Monterey Bay, California.

United States · United States Congress · 11 July 1985

Prohibits the Secretary of the Interior from in any way funding the discharge of agricultural wastewaters from the Central Valley Project into the Pacific Ocean at either Morro or Monterey Bay, California.

Community Information and Emergency Response Planning Act

United States · United States Congress · 11 July 1985

Community Information and Emergency Response Planning Act - Amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to require the Governor of each State to appoint an emergency response commission. Requires each commission to appoint and coordinate regional emergency response committees which shall develop emergency response plans to minimize the injury to human health and the environment in the event of a hazardous substance emergency. Requires such plans to contain specified information, including: the names and phone numbers of persons to be contacted in case of an emergency, a description of measures to be taken, and an evaluation of the medical and municipal services needed in such an event. Requires the operator of a facility on the National Priority List (NPL) issued a permit under the Solid Waste Disposal Act, or containing significant amounts of a hazardous substance, to prepare for the appropriate regional emergency response committee a hazardous substance report identifying the type, amount, location, routes of potential human exposure, and appropriate emergency procedures and notifications for any hazardous substances contained therein. Requires such reports to be updated periodically and to comply with a uniform format. Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to publish and revise a list of covered hazardous substances for purposes of these provisions. Permits regional committees or individuals to petition for the designation of additional substances. Requires the owner or operator of any facility which produces, uses, or stores any hazardous chemical to prepare or obtain a material safety data sheet indicating how much of the chemical will be present during the next year, such sheet to be distributed to the appropriate regional committee. Requires the maintenance of permanent records of such information. Permits exemptions from reporting and information maintenance requirements under specified circumstances. Requires a covered operator to provide an emergency bulletin to the emergency response committee in the area when an emergency arises. Requires such bulletins to identify the chemical, the actions to be taken, the scope of the emergency, and recommendations for additional actions. Requires all reports, bulletins, and data sheets to be made available to the public. Establishes civil and criminal penalties for violations of such information provisions. Permits citizen suits for such violations or for the failure of the Administrator to perform mandatory acts. Preempts State laws for hazardous substances reporting requirements unless the State standard is more protective. Permits an otherwise covered operator to withhold certain trade secrets from reports, bulletins, and data sheets, but requires disclosure to health officials upon written demonstration of need.

Radioactive Materials Transportation Protection Act of 1985

United States · United States Congress · 9 July 1985

Radioactive Materials Transportation Protection Act of 1985 - Amends the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act to direct the Secretary of Transportation, when route determinations are made for the shipment of such material, to file an environmental impact statement which includes consideration of alternative modes of transporting a controlled quantity of radioactive materials into or through a high-density metropolitan area. Requires the Secretary to include the use of barges when considering such alternative modes of transportation. Applies the alternative transportation modes requirement to route determinations made after January 19, 1981.

Siebter Bericht und Empfehlung der Europa-Kommission zur Frage der Festlegung der europäischen Abgasnormen (G-SIG: 10002803)

Germany · German Bundestag · 2 July 1985

Senkung der Abgasgrenzwerte, insbesondere auch im Bereich der Stickoxide, Herstellung der Vergleichbarkeit der Auswirkungen mit den US-Abgaswerten durch objektivierte Tests

Verhandlungen des EG-Umweltrates vom 27. Juni 1985 in Luxemburg zum umweltfreundlichen Auto (G-SIG: 10002727)

Germany · German Bundestag · 28 June 1985

Festlegung der Grenzwerte für Autoabgase, Inkrafttreten des steuerlichen Förderungssystems für umweltfreundliche Pkw's, Begrenzung der Dieselpartikelemissionen, Einführung von bleifreiem Benzin und Aufbau eines Netzes bleifreier Tankstellen, europaweite Einführung des umweltfreundlichen Pkw's

A bill to provide for a study of the use of unleaded fuel in agricultural machinery, and for other purposes.

United States · United States Congress · 27 June 1985

Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Secretary of Agriculture to jointly conduct a study of the use of unleaded fuel in agricultural machinery and to report to the Congress on such study. Prohibits any reduction in the permitted lead level in gasoline below a specified level until after the Congress receives such report. Authorizes appropriations

A bill to amend the Tariff Schedules of the United States by repealing item 807.00 relating to certain articles assembled abroad from fabricated components which are products of the United States.

United States · United States Congress · 27 June 1985

Amends the Tariff Schedules of the United States to delete the tariff provisions which base the tariff on imports of products assembled abroad from U.S. components on the full value less the value of the U.S. components.

A bill to amend section 123 of the Clean Air Act regarding tall stacks and dispersion techniques.

United States · United States Congress · 27 June 1985

Amends the Clean Air Act to modify the requirements for stack height for sources of not well controlled emissions of air pollutants. Includes among dispersion methods any other measure which disperses pollutants at ground level measuring points.

Acid Rain Control Act of 1985

United States · United States Congress · 27 June 1985

Acid Rain Control Act of 1985 - Amends the Clean Air Act to direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), within 90 days after the enactment of this Act, to compute a State share for each of the 48 contiguous States of a 10,000,000 ton two-tiered reduction in annual emissions of sulfur dioxide below that of 1980 by 1996. Sets forth a formula for determining State shares. Sets deadlines and procedures for submission and approval of State plans for such State shares. Directs the Administrator to promulgate a State plan in the absence of a State-submitted, Administrator-approved plan. Requires such plans to achieve reductions through the use of continuous emission reduction. Prohibits the construction of any new stationary sources of sulfur dioxide in a State which fails to achieve its 1990 or 1996 emissions goals. Prohibits a stationary source from emitting more sulfur dioxide under such plan than it did under the applicable 1982 implementation plan. Directs the Administrator to promulgate regulations to facilitate State trading of reduction requirements and the substitution of reductions in oxides of nitrogren for reductions in emissions of sulfur dioxide permitted under State plans. Establishes civil and criminal penalties and empowers the Administrator to bring civil actions against an electric utility in violation of the fee requirement. Terminates the fee after six years. Imposes a fee on each kilowatt hour of electric energy generated by an electric utility in the contiguous States. Exempts electricity generated by nuclear or hydroelectric power. Establishes in the Treasury the Acid Deposition Control Fund to provide funding for emissions reductions from specified appropriations. Sets forth conditions and administrative provisions for such Fund. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to report annually to the Congress on the current and five-year projected financial condition of the Fund. Directs the Administrator to revise nitrogen oxide emissions standards for fossil fuel-fired electric utility steam generating units. Directs the Administrator to promulgate emissions standards for new, large fossil-fuel-fired steam generating units. Establishes oxides of nitrogen emission standards for light duty trucks after model year 1985. Directs the Administrator to report to the Congress on the equity of the pass-through of emission control costs through utility rates. Directs the Administrator to conduct an acid deposition research and clean coal technologies demonstration program. Directs the Administrator to financially assist State programs for mitigating the adverse effects of acid rain.

Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment

European Union · EUR-Lex · 27 June 1985

A bill to enhance the carrying out of fish and wildlife conservation and natural resource management programs on military reservations, and for other purposes.

United States · United States Congress · 25 June 1985

Amends the Sikes Act to extend the authorization of appropriations for conservation programs on military reservations and public lands through FY 1988.

A bill relating to the authorization of appropriations for certain components of the National Wildlife Refuge System.

United States · United States Congress · 25 June 1985

Amends the Act which established the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge, Alabama, to increase the authorization of appropriations, which shall remain available until expended. Amends the Act which established the Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge, Louisiana, to make the authorization of appropriations, which shall remain available until expended. Amends the Act which established the Bogue Chitto National Wildlife Refuge, Louisiana and Mississippi, to increase the authorization of appropriations, which shall remain available until expended. Amends the Act which established the Tinicum National Environmental Center, Pennsylvania, to make the authorization of appropriations available until expended.

A bill to authorize appropriations for nongame fish and wildlife conservation during fiscal years 1986, 1987 and 1988.

United States · United States Congress · 25 June 1985

Amends the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act of 1980 to extend the authorization of appropriations through FY 1988 for State nongame fish and wildlife conservation plans.

A bill to amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to provide for coordination of research information regarding the health and environmental effects of hazardous substances; to establish a program for research, development, and demonstration of permanent remedial action technologies; and to assure adequate public participation in the selection of remedial action.

United States · United States Congress · 25 June 1985

Amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to direct the President to establish a Task Force to coordinate Federal research on risks associated with the release of hazardous substances. Requires the Force to report to the President and the Congress within one year on where additional research is needed, terminating such Task Force upon the report's submission. Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to establish an innovative technologies program to provide permanent solutions to the risks associated with hazardous substance release. Authorizes the Administrator to contract-out such program. Requires that the public be given notice and an opportunity to comment before a remedial action is adopted or a claim settled. Authorizes the use of funds from Superfund for such purposes.

Superfund Amendments of 1985

United States · United States Congress · 20 June 1985

Superfund Amendments of 1985 - Title I: Provisions Relating Primarily to Response and Liability - Amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA)(Superfund) to direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish reportable quantities for all hazardous substances by December 31, 1986. Directs the Administrator to give primary attention to releases which may present a threat to public health. Confirms the President's discretion to decide when responsible parties are authorized to conduct cleanup actions in lieu of Superfund-financed responses. Requires short-term removal actions undertaken by the Administrator to contribute to the highest degree possible to the efficient performance of any long-term action. Increases the maximum time and funding limit on short-term response actions when appropriate. Limits the 50 percent State cleanup obligation to those facilities which are both owned and operated by the State. Credits States with expenditures made at National Priorities List (NPL) sites on cost-eligible response actions. Revises other State cost-sharing measures. Treats long-term cleanup of groundwater, surface water, or soil contamination as part of the costs of remedial action. Grants EPA employees or contractors the necessary access to facilities and information to determine if the need for a response action exists. Prescribes a cleanup schedule for Superfund, requiring an evaluation within three years of sites on the Emergency Response and Remedial Investigation System (ERRIS) list for possible inclusion on the NPL. Sets a schedule for the conduct of remedial investigations and feasibility studies (RIFS) for NPL sites, requiring the commencement of remedial action at a minimum of 90 percent of such facilities within one year of the RIFS' completion. Directs the Administrator to revise the National Contingency Plan (NCP) within 18 months to reflect this Act's amendments. Requires the review of the hazard ranking system within one year. Permits individuals to petition the Administrator for a preliminary hazard assessment at a site. Includes contamination of the ambient air as a criterion for ranking a hazard. Eliminates the requirement that the NPL contain at least 400 sites. Prohibits the Administrator from taking abatement action against any release resulting from an applied pesticide registered under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. Includes all vessels releasing hazardous substances within the jurisdiction of the United States under the liability provisions of CERCLA. Makes certain investigatory and assessment costs recoverable from the responsible party. Exempts from liability for all but negligence actions of government agencies responding to a hazardous substance emergency. Directs the Administrator and each Governor to appoint Federal and State trustees, respectively, for natural resources, creating a rebuttable presumption that their assessment of damages to such resources is valid. States that cleanup costs incurred in a response action constitute a Federal lien against the property of a responsible party. Sets forth evidentiary requirements for establishing financial responsibility. Permits direct action against a financial guarantor if the person liable is financially or physically unavailable for redress. Entitles such a guarantor to all rights and defenses available to the liable party. Limits the liability of such guarantor to its financial responsibility to the responsible party. Increases criminal penalties and adds certain civil penalties for violations of this Act, including failure to provide accurate information at specified times. Establishes a total fund level of $1,750,000,000 for each of five years, through FY 1990. Authorizes the use of Superfund monies for the authorities created by this Act. Eliminates the use of Superfund for payment of natural resource damage claims. Revises auditing procedures to require annual audits and reports to the Congress by the Inspector General. Authorizes appropriations for Superfund for FY 1986 through 1990. Establishes a six-year statute of limitations for Superfund claims, setting forth special rules for minors and incompetents. Authorizes nationwide service of process under CERCLA. Establishes a three-year statute of limitations for the initiation of actions for contribution for response costs of damages and for recovery claims for damages to natural resources. Establishes a six-year statute of limitations for cost recovery actions. Authorizes a State to require contributions to a fund to pay the costs of hazardous substance response actions or damages. Establishes within the Public Health Service the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), headed by an Administrator. Requires ATSDR to implement the health-related authorities of this Act. Directs such Administrator to establish and maintain a listing of areas closed to the public or otherwise restricted in use because of contamination by hazardous substances or pollutants or contaminants. Directs the Administrator of EPA to list and periodically revise a list of hazardous substances or pollutants or contaminants which pose the most significant potential threat to human health. Directs the Administrator of ATSDR to establish and maintain an inventory of information on the health effects of each listed substance. Requires such Administrator to also develop toxicological profiles for each such substance, assessing the current state of knowledge of their deleterious effects, and revising such profiles at least every three years. Requires the Administrator to initiate research where inadequate information is available on a substance. Requires Federal coordination of research efforts. Requires the Administrator of ATSDR to perform a health assessment for each NPL facility where a significant possibility exists that a human population has been exposed to hazardous substances existing at such facility and a significant threat of adverse health effects exists. Bases the selection of such facilities on criteria developed by the Administrator of EPA. Permits the Administrator of ATSDR to conduct health assessments at other facilities as well. Authorizes individuals to petition the Administrator of EPA for a health assessment of a site where evidence of human exposure to hazardous substances exists. Requires the completion of health assessments before the completion of remedial investigation and feasibility studies (RIFS) whenever possible. Grants priority to those sites where the potential risk to human health appears highest. Requires State or local officials conducting a health assessment to report the results and recommendations to the Administrators. Requires the Administrator of ATSDR to provide the affected State and the Administrator of EPA with the results and recommendations of any ATSDR assessment. Includes the costs of an assessment among recoverable cleanup costs whenever such assessment reveals human exposure to a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. Directs the Administrator of ATSDR to conduct a pilot study of health effects of exposure whenever justified by an assessment to determine if full scale epidemiological studies are appropriate. Requires the Administrator to establish a registry of exposed persons if appropriate. Directs the Administrator to initiate a health surveillance program for an exposed population if justified by an epidemiological study or exposure registry. Requires the Administrator to report biennially to the Administrator of EPA on ATSDR's activities under this Act. Directs the Administrator of EPA to abate significant risks to the human population through exposure by providing alternate household water or relocation of individuals. Requires peer review of all ATSDR studies and research. Requires the Administrator of ATSDR to provide States and health professionals with educational materials on exposure-related issues. Requires the Administrator of EPA to provide a reasonable opportunity for public comment on any proposed plan for remedial action before it is implemented. Requires the Administrator to publish an explanation of any divergences from such plan or public comments. Authorizes the Administrator to make assistance available to affected individuals to help them evaluate and assess technical information and data. Prohibits the Administrator from taking a response action to certain types of releases unless such releases constitute a public health or environmental emergency. Prohibits response to releases: (1) of naturally occurring substances; (2) of building products; (3) into drinking water supply systems due to ordinary deterioration; and (4) from coal mining sites. Grants highest cleanup priority to releases which have contaminated or closed a sole or principal drinking water source. Requires the consideration of certain factors when adopting offsite remedies, including the long-term risks and uncertainties of land disposal. Exempts response-action contractors from liability for nonnegligent cleanup activities if they would not otherwise have been liable. Includes Federal facilities under CERCLA as if they were private facilities, except for certain financial responsibility and time period provisions. Requires the Administrator to establish a Federal Agency Hazardous Waste Compliance Docket for each Federal agency and department which will include information on off-site contamination and monitoring data, and releases of reportable quantities of hazardous substances. Requires that such information be made available to the public. Requires the Administrator to evaluate certain Federal facilities by January 31, 1987, for placement on the NPL, using National Contingency Plan (NCP) criteria. Requires the commencement of a RIFS within six months of a Federal site's placement on the NPL. Directs the Administrator to review the RIFS and enter into interagency agreements for cleanup when necessary, allowing for public participation. Requires each agency to report annually to the Congress on its implementation progress. Requires Federal agencies to notify buyers or transferees of Federal land where hazardous substances were disposed of or stored. Requires the Administrator to select appropriate cost-effective remedial actions in accordance with the NCP. Requires remedial actions selected to provide sufficient control or amelioration of the hazardous substance so as to protect human health and the environment. Requires such measures to take into account the long-term effectiveness of the solution and the alternative technologies available to the maximum extent possible. Requires a standard of control at least as strict as that provided by any other applicable Federal environmental law such as the Safe Drinking Water Act. Requires onsite disposal to be in compliance with the relevant provisions of the Solid Waste Disposal Act. Authorizes the Administrator to enter into agreements whereby the releasor or any potentially responsible person conducts the remedial response. Permits the Administrator to fund part of such response. Limits the liability of the cleaning up party to that specified in the agreement. Permits the Administrator to take action against any person not a party to such agreement. Enters such agreements in the appropriate U.S. district court as consent agreements, enforceable as such. Directs the Administrator to notify potentially responsible parties of each other's identities and of the seriousness of the necessary cleanup, providing a moratorium on the commencement of remedial action for a specified period after such notice has been given. Grants notified persons an opportunity to submit a proposal to the Administrator for the undertaking or financing of remedial action. Permits the Administrator to commence remedial action if no good faith proposal is forthcoming within a specified period. Authorizes the Administrator to proceed on remedial actions where a significant public health threat exists, regardless of the status of negotiations. Authorizes the Administrator to agree to refrain from pursing any future liability of a person if an approved response action would be expedited and the person is in full compliance with the consent decree. Permits such an agreement only in the public interest after an evaluation of the effectiveness of the remedy and the nature of the remaining risks. Places premiums from such agreements into a contingency fund for future remedial actions at other facilities. Permits the Administrator to settle with persons whose share of response costs is not substantial. Title II: Miscellaneous Provisions - Terminates the Post-Closure Liability Fund's responsibility to fund the cleanup of already closed sites where hazardous waste was stored in compliance with the Solid Waste Disposal Act. Requires the promulgation of natural resource assessment damage claims regulations within six months of this Act's enactment. Requires the Department of Transportation to promulgate regulations requiring shippers to notify transporters whenever hazardous substances are offered for transportation. Establishes a federally-required commencement date for the running of State statutes of limitations for injury or damages caused by exposure to a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. Makes such date the time a plaintiff should reasonably have known exposure to such a substance caused or contributed to a personal injury. Renames the Hazardous Substance Response Trust Fund the Hazardous Substances Superfund. Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to authorize the Administrator to provide for the cleanup of leaking underground storage tanks. Requires the Administrator to use funds in the Petroleum Release Response Account of Superfund for such purposes, but holds the owners and operators of such tanks strictly liable for such costs. Authorizes State implementation of such authority under specified conditions, authorizing the Administrator to make grants to such States for such purpose. Establishes the Petroleum Release Response Account within Superfund out of specified funds. Authorizes citizen suits against violators of this Act, including the Administrator and other government officials who have failed to perform nondiscretionary duties. Permits citizen suits against nongovernment officials in the Federal district court in which the violation occurred. Permits citizen suits against any Federal official only in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Empowers such courts to impose civil penalties and to order the performance of required acts. Requires plaintiffs to give notice to the Administrator, the alleged violator, and the State in which the violation occurred before commencing proceedings. Prohibits citizen suits where the Administrator has commenced and is pursuing an enforcement action. Permits the awarding of court costs to the substantially prevailing party. States that the United States may intervene as a matter of right in all citizen suits in which it is not otherwise a party. Requires the Federal Government to provide the assurances that it will pay a share of the remedial action and maintenance costs of a cleanup on Indian lands that is otherwise required to be made by a State. Authorizes Indian tribes to recover damages for injury to natural resources from hazardous substance releases, except as specified. Includes Indian tribes on the same basis as States under certain provisions of CERCLA. Requires the Administrator to commence a study on the adverse effects of drilling fluids, produced waters, and other wastes associated with the production of crude oil or natural gas on human health and the environment within six months of this Act's enactment. Title III: Community Right to Know and Emergency Planning - Requires owners and operators of facilities which produce, use, or store hazardous chemicals to file with local and State officials and periodically revise a material safety data sheet for each hazardous chemical. Requires such sheets to contain the same information as the sheets required under the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Requires each State Governor to designate the appropriate government officials to receive such information and who in turn must make such information available to the public. Requires such owners and operators to supply such information to any other facility owner or operator who is receiving shipments of such chemicals. Requires owners and operators to supply health professionals with specific chemical information on a substance if requested to do so. Requires owners or operators to provide a material safety data sheet to such professionals when an emergency arises or it is medically necessary to do so. Limits the use of certain information to health-related needs. Directs each Governor to appoint a Hazardous Substance Emergency Response Commission to coordinate response planning in such State. Directs these Commissions to designate local Emergency Response Committees to develop and implement Emergency Response Plans in case of a a hazardous substance emergency. Requires such Plans to include emergency notification personnel and procedures, evacuation plans, and an assessment and use plan for local medical and police resources. Requires the owner or operator of a facility having a hazardous substance emergency to immediately notify the appropriate authorities according to the Plan, including providing an emergency bulletin for the community which provides sufficient chemical and response information to inform the public of the nature of the crisis. Preempts State and local law in the area of chemical hazard communication. Establishes civil penalties for violations of these requirements and provides for court-ordered enforcement of the medical information provisions. Permits owners and operators to withhold trade secret information from their material safety data sheets, but not from medical personnel. Title IV: Provisions Relating to Taxation - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend the environmental tax on petroleum and certain chemical feedstocks for five years, through FY 1990. Repeals the Post-Closure Liability Trust Fund and tax. Exempts certain chemicals from such tax, including: (1) methane or butane used as fuel; (2) substances used in the production of fertilizer; (3) sulfuric acid produced as a byproduct of air pollution control; (4) substances derived from coal; (5) substances used in the production of motor fuel; (6) substances having transitory presence during the refining process; and (7) substances used in the production of animal feed. Allows refunds or credits for certain uses. Imposes a waste end tax sufficient to raise $300,000,000 in each of the five years of the environmental tax extension period. Imposes a broad-based corporate tax sufficient to raise $900,000,000 in each of those five years. Deposits all such revenues in Superfund. Imposes taxes sufficient to raise $250,000,000 in each of the five years for deposit in the Petroleum Release Response Account.

Superfund Amendments of 1985

United States · United States Congress · 18 June 1985

Superfund Amendments of 1985 - Title I: Provisions Relating Primarily to Response and Liability - Amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA)(Superfund) to direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish reportable quantities for all hazardous substances by December 31, 1986. Directs the Administrator to give primary attention to releases which may present a threat to public health. Confirms the President's discretion to decide when responsible parties are authorized to conduct cleanup actions in lieu of Superfund-financed responses. Requires short-term removal actions undertaken by the Administrator to contribute to the highest degree possible to the efficient performance of any long-term action. Increases the maximum time and funding limit on short-term response actions when appropriate. Limits the 50 percent State cleanup obligation to those facilities which are both owned and operated by the State. Credits States with expenditures made at National Priorities List (NPL) sites on cost-eligible response actions. Revises other State cost-sharing measures. Grants EPA employees of contractors the necessary access to facilities and information to determine if the need for a response action exists. Prescribes a cleanup schedule for Superfund, requiring an evaluation within two years of sites on the Emergency Response and Remedial Investigation System (ERRIS) list for possible inclusion on the NPL. Sets a schedule for the conduct of remedial investigations and feasibility studies (RIFS) for NPL sites, requiring the commencement of remedial action at a minimum of 90 percent of such facilities within one year of the RIFS completion. Directs the Administrator to revise the National Contingency Plan (NCP) within 18 months to reflect this Act's amendments. Requires the review of the hazard ranking system within one year. Permits individuals to petition the Administrator for a preliminary hazard assessment at a site. Includes contamination of the ambient air as a criterion for ranking a hazard. Eliminates the requirement that the NPL contain at least 400 sites. Prohibits the Administrator from taking abatement action against any release resulting from an applied pesticide registered under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. Makes liability for releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances requiring abatement actions strict, joint, and several. Includes all vessels releasing hazardous substances within the jurisdiction of the United States under the liability provisions of CERCLA. Makes certain investigatory and assessment costs recoverable from the responsible party. Exempts from liability for all but negligent actions government agencies responding to a hazardous substance emergency. Directs the Administrator and each Governor to appoint Federal and State trustees, respectively, for natural resources, creating a rebuttable presumption that their assessment of damages to such resources is valid. States that cleanup costs incurred in a response action constitute a Federal lien against the property of a responsible party. Sets forth evidentiary requirements for establishing financial responsibility. Permits direct action against a financial guarantor if the person liable is financially or physically unavailable for redress. Entitles such a guarantor to all rights and defenses available to the liable party. Limits the liability of such guarantor to its financial responsibility to the responsible party. Increases criminal penalties and adds certain civil penalties for violations of this Act, including failure to provide accurate information at specified times. Directs the Administrator to establish a program for alternative or innovative treatment technologies which can be used in remedial actions through research contracts and grants, information exchange, and demonstrations at NPL sites in each of the EPA regions. Requires the Administrator to revise the NCP to include the use of such technologies in remedial actions. Authorizes the use of Superfund monies for such research. Directs the Administrator to report to the Congress an evaluation of the demonstration projects. Esablishes a total fund level of $2,020,000,000 for each of five years, through FY 1990. Authorizes the use of Superfund monies for the authorities created by this Act. Eliminates the use of Superfund for payment of natural resource damage claims. Revises auditing procedures to require annual audits and reports to the Congress by the Inspector General. Authorizes appropriations for Superfund for FY 1986 through 1990 at a level of $250,000,000 per year. Establishes within Superfund the Underground Storage Tank Account to clean up petroleum leaks from underground storage tanks. Establishes a six-year statute of limitations for Superfund claims, setting forth special rules for minors and incompetents. Authorizes nationwide service of process under CERCLA. Establishes a three-year statute of limitations for the initiation of actions for contribution for response costs of damages and for recovery claims for damages to natural resources. Establishes a six-year statute of limitations for cost recovery actions. Authorizes a State to require contributions to a fund to pay the costs of hazardous substance response actions or damages. Establishes within the Public Health Service the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), headed by an Administrator. Requires ATSDR to implement the health-related authorities of this Act. Directs such Administrator to establish and maintain a listing of areas closed to the public or otherwise restricted in use because of contamination by hazardous substances or pollutants or contaminants. Directs the Administrator of EPA to list and periodically revise a list of hazardous substances or pollutants or contaminants which pose the most significant potential threat to human health. Directs the Administrator of ATSDR to establish and maintain an inventory of information on the health effects of each listed substance. Requires such Administrator to also develop toxicological profiles for each such substance, assessing the current state of knowledge of their deleterious effects, and revising such profiles at least every three years. Requires the Administrator to initiate research where inadequate information on a substance is available. Requires Federal coordination of research efforts. Requires the Administrator of ATSDR to perform a health assessment for each NPL facility where a significant possibility exists that a human population has been exposed to hazardous substances existing at such facility and a significant threat of adverse health effects exists. Bases the selection of such facilities on criteria developed by the Administrator of EPA. Permits the Administrator of ATSDR to conduct health assessments at other facilities as well. Authorizes individuals to petition the Administrator of EPA for a health assessment of a site where evidence of human exposure to hazardous substances exists. Requires the completion of health assessments before the completion of remedial investigation and feasibility studies (RIFS) whenever possible. Grants priority to those sites where the potential risk to human health appears highest. Requires State or local officials conducting a health assessment to report the results and recommendations to the Administrators. Requires the Administrator of ATSDR to provide the affected State and the Administrator of EPA with the results and recommendations of any ATSDR assessment. Includes the costs of an assessment among recoverable cleanup costs whenever such assessment reveals human exposure to a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. Directs the Administrator of ATSDR to conduct a pilot study of health effects of exposure whenever justified by an assessment to determine if full scale epidemiological studies are appropriate. Requires the Administrator to establish a registry of exposed persons if appropriate. Directs the Administrator to initiate a health surveillance program for an exposed population if justified by an epidemiological study or exposure registry. Requires the Administrator to report biennially to the Administrator of EPA and ATSDR's activities under this Act. Directs the Administrator of EPA to abate significant risks to the human population through exposure by providing alternate household water or relocation of individuals. Requires peer review of all ATSDR studies and research. Requires the Administrator of ATSDR to provide States and health professionals with educational materials on exposure-related issues. Requires the Administrator of EPA to provide a reasonable opportunity for public comment on any proposed plan for remedial action before it is implemented. Requires the Administrator to publish an explanation of any divergences from such plan or public comments. Authorizes the Administrator to make assistance available to affected individuals to help them evaluate and assess technical information and data. Prohibits the Administrator from taking a response action to certain types of releases unless such releases constitute a public health or environmental emergency. Prohibits response to releases: (1) of naturally occurring substances; (2) of building products; (3) into drinking water supply systems due to expected deterioration; and (4) from coal mining sites. Grants highest cleanup priority to releases which have contaminated or closed a sole or principal drinking water source. Requires the consideration of certain factors when adopting offsite remedies, including the long-term risks and uncertainties of land disposal. Exempts response-action contractors from liability for nonnegligent cleanup activities if they would not otherwise have been liable. Requires Federal agencies to notify buyers or transferees of Federal land where hazardous substances were disposed of or stored. Requires the Administrator to select appropriate cost-effective remedial actions in accordance with the NCP. Requires remedial actions selected to provide sufficient control or amelioration of the hazardous substance so as to protect human health and the environment. Requires such measures to take into account the long-term effectiveness of the solution and the alternative technologies available to the maximum extent possible. Requires a standard of control at least as strict as that provided by any other applicable Federal environmental law such as the Safe Drinking Water Act. Requires offsite disposal to be in compliance with the relevant provisions of the Solid Waste Disposal Act. Permits the waiver of such requirements as specified. Authorizes the Administrator to enter into agreements whereby the releasor or any potentially responsible person conducts the remedial response. Permits the Administrator to fund part of such response. Limits the liability of the cleaning up party to that specified in the agreement. Permits the Administrator to take action against any person not a party to such agreement. Enters such agreements in the appropriate U.S. district court as consent agreements, enforceable as such. Directs the Administrator to notify potentially responsible parties of each other's identities and of the seriousness of the necessary cleanup, providing a moratorium on the commencement of remedial action for a specified period after such notice has been given. Grants notified persons an opportunity to submit a proposal to the Administrator for the undertaking or financing of remedial action. Permits the Administrator to commence remedial action if no good faith proposal is forthcoming within a specified period. Authorizes the Administrator to proceed on remedial actions where a significant public health threat exists regardless of the status of negotiations. Authorizes the Administrator to agree to refrain from pursuing any future liability of a person if an approved response action would be expedited and the person is in full compliance with the consent decree. Permits such an agreement only in the public interest after an evaluation of the effectiveness of the remedy and the nature of the remaining risks. Places premiums from such agreements into a contingency fund for future remedial actions at other facilities. Permits the Administrator to settle with persons whose share of response costs is not substantial. Title II: Miscellaneous Provisions - Terminates the Post-closure Liability Fund's responsibility to fund the cleanup of already closed sites where hazardous waste was stored in compliance with the Solid Waste Disposal Act. Requires the promulgation of natural resource assessment damage claims regulations within six months of this Act's enactment. Requires the Department of Transportation to promulgate regulations requiring shippers to notify transporters whenever hazardous substances are offered for transportation. Holds responsible parties strictly, jointly, and severally liable in State court actions for personal damages caused by exposure to any hazardous substance released. Establishes a federally-required commencement date for the running of State statutes of limitations for injury or damages caused by exposure to a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. Makes such date the time a plaintiff should reasonably have known exposure to such a substance caused or contributed to a personal injury. Directs the Administrator to provide for the cleanup of leaking underground storage tanks, establishing a separate Tank Priorities List under the NCP. Requires the Administrator to use funds in the Underground Storage Tank Account of Superfund for such purposes. Authorizes the Administrator to utilize the response authorities available under CERCLA. Directs the Administrator to promulgate interim financial responsibility regulations which permit owners or operators or others to assume financial responsibility for leaks. Authorizes the Administrator to issue corrective action orders when a release or threatened release presents an imminent and substantial endangerment. Establishes a one-year moratorium on liability and abatement action coverage for leaks, but subjects owners and operators to such provision afterwards to the extent they have agreed to assume financial responsibility and have complied with specified provisions of the Solid Waste Disposal Act. Authorizes citizen suits against violators of this Act, including the Administrator and other government officials who have failed to perform nondiscretionary duties. Permits citizen suits against nongovernment officials in the Federal district court in which the violation occurred. Permits citizen suits against any Federal official only in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Empowers such courts to impose civil penalties and to order the performance of required acts. Requires plaintiffs to give notice to the Administrator, the alleged violator, and the State in which the violation occurred before commencing proceedings. Prohibits citizen suits where the Administrator has commenced and is pursuing an enforcement action. Permits the awarding of court costs to the substantially prevailing party. States that the United States may intervene as a matter of right in all citizen suits to which it is not otherwise a party. Requires the Federal Government to provide the assurances that it will pay a share of the remedial action and maintenance costs of a cleanup on Indian lands that is otherwise required to be made by a State. Authorizes Indian tribes to recover damages for injury to natural resources from hazardous substance releases, except as specified. Includes Indian tribes on the same basis as States under certain provisions of CERCLA. Requires the Administrator to commence a study on the adverse effects of drilling fluids, produced waters, and other wastes associated with the production of crude oil or natural gas on human health and the environment within six months of this Act's enactment. Title III: Community Right to Know and Emergency Planning - Amends the Toxic Substances Control Act by adding a new title II concerning the communities' right-to-know, emergency planning, and liability. Requires each covered manufacturer, distributor, user, and importer of a covered hazardous substance (potential releasors) to prepare and update a fact sheet for such substance for distribution to local police, fire, and health officials. Requires the fact sheet to include the name, physical properties of, and hazards posed by the substance, including potential routes of human exposure to such substance, symptoms of such exposure, and appropriate emergency and first aid procedures. Requires status sheets on the same basis as fact sheets, with each status sheet to include the maximum inventory and method of storage of the substance, the quantity of its emission into the environment, and the quantity and method of disposal. Requires the releasor of a covered hazardous substance in an emergency situation to provide an emergency bulletin to the State and local police and other local officials. Requires the bulletin to identify the name and amount of the substance released and the response actions taken. Requires fact and status sheets and emergency bulletins to be made available for public inspection with public notice of such availability at the facility of the potential releasor. Requires the Administrator to publish a uniform format for fact and status sheets. Authorizes a State's Governor to identify local officials to receive covered hazardous substance release information, with the Administrator doing so in the absence of the Governor's identification. Requires the potential releasors to maintain records of information required by this Act. Requires manufacturers or importers to transmit fact sheets to covered distributors or users upon shipping of a covered hazardous substance. Provides protection for trade secrets while continuing to make necessary information available to the appropriate persons. Excludes listed or possible carcinogens from such protection. Sets forth application and substantiation procedures for trade secret claims. Permits affected citizens or government officials to compel disclosure of nonsubstantiated trade secrets through the Federal courts. Authorizes the Administrator to grant exemptions from the basic notification requirements of this Act through specified procedures open to the public based upon a cost-benefits analysis where there is no reasonable likelihood of harm. Directs each covered major manufacturer to develop within two years of the enactment of this Act a comprehensive evacuation and emergency response plan which addresses the health and safety issues applicable to such manufacturer's particular situation. Requires the plan to include designations of the appropriate government officials to be notified, mitigation measures, evacuation routes, notification plans, and evaluation of community support services. Authorizes each Governor to designate emergency response districts within 18 months of the enactment of this Act or the Administrator will do so. Permits each Governor to appoint an Emergency Response Committee per district or the Administrator will be treated as such Committee. Requires such Committees to review the manufacturers' plans, revising them where necessary. Directs the Administrator, within 18 months of the enactment of this Act, to develop uniform national mandatory labeling requirements for pipes, storage tanks, or containers not otherwise required to be labeled which could reasonably be presumed to release a covered hazardous substance. Requires the label to indicate the appropriate response to a release. Directs the Administrator to designate covered major manufacturers for emergency response purposes within one year of the enactment of this Act. Limits the designation to those whose substances would pose an imminent and substantial danger to health and the environment if released in significant quantities. Includes all persons covered under this Act in lieu of such designations. Includes Federal departments as potential covered major manufacturers. Exempts those whose emergency activities are sufficiently covered under other Federal or State law. Sets forth categories of substances to be considered covered hazardous substances and procedures for adding additional substances. Directs the Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to compile and update a digest of all such substances. Exempts certain substances for this Act's purposes, based upon the form, amount, and other regulation of such substances. Establishes civil and criminal penalties, limiting criminal penalties to the knowing violation of emergency requirements. Authorizes citizens' suits to enforce this Act. Permits States to adopt more stringent right-to-know standards in the workplace context and emergency response requirements. Permits State and local governments to impose fees upon potential releasors to cover administrative costs. Title IV: Internal Revenue Code Provisions - Imposes taxes of $1,770,000,000 for each of FY 1986 through 1990 for deposit in the Hazardous Substance Response Trust Fund.

Superfund Clean-up Technology Research and Demonstration Act of 1985

United States · United States Congress · 18 June 1985

Superfund Clean-up Technology Research and Demonstration Act of 1985 - Amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) to direct the President to establish in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) an alternative or innovative treatment technology research program. Requires such program to: (1) focus on technologies with potential for use in remedial actions; (2) establish a central reference library to make information related to such technologies available to the public; and (3) provide for assistance to and participation by public and nonprofit entities in the evaluation of technologies. Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to designate a national priority site in each of the EPA regions as a national technology demonstration site. Directs the Administrator to revise and republish the national contingency plan to include standards for the use of these technologies in remedial actions. Requires the President to include such technologies in any selection of cost-effective permanent solutions. Authorizes the use of funds from the Hazardous Substance Response Trust Fund (Superfund) for such research program. Requires the President to report to the Congress within one year of this Act's effective date on a study of the effects of the standards of liability and financial responsibility requirements imposed by CERCLA on the cost of and incentives for developing such technologies. Requires the President to submit to the Congress within 18 months of the national technology demonstration sites' designations an evaluation of the demonstration projects undertaken.

A bill to provide for a study of the use of unleaded fuel in agricultural machinery, and for other purposes.

United States · United States Congress · 18 June 1985

Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Secretary of Agriculture to jointly conduct a study of the use of unleaded fuel in agricultural machinery and to report to the Congress on such study. Prohibits any reduction in the permitted lead level in gasoline below a specified level until after the Congress receives such report. Authorizes appropriations

Federal Pesticide Reform Act of 1985

United States · United States Congress · 17 June 1985

Federal Pesticide Reform Act of 1985 - Amends the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act to require a person defined as a "certified applicator" to have undergone pesticide safety training. Requires pesticide ingredient statements to list inert as well as active ingredients. Eliminates from the definition of "misbranded" the provision relating to an unregistered pesticide manufactured in the United States solely for export. Defines "data gap" and "adverse reproductive effect" for purposes of this Act. Requires the registration of pesticides intended for export. Permits public access to pesticide application information before a final registration decision has been reached. Prohibits the registration of a pesticide having an adverse reproductive effect. Restricts the use of conditional registration. Requires public access to supporting data for any such registration. Repeals the interim administrative review provision which required a validated test or other significant evidence of adverse effect before initiation of a formal agency review. Establishes a timetable for the registration of pesticides which have not been reregistered since September 30, 1978, and which: (1) are used on food crops or remain as residues in potable ground water; (2) have significant data gaps; or (3) cause mutagenic effects. Requires specified additional data on inert ingredients. Prohibits registration of a pesticide containing an inert element which either by itself or in combination causes harmful environmental effects. Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop a comprehensive plan for evaluating inert ingredients. Subjects information concerning the toxicity of inert ingredients to specified disclosure provisions. Requires reregistration determinations to be made within one year of data receipt. Requires a registrant to disclose EPA information regarding any adverse effects (human or environmental) of a pesticide. (Currently the disclosure standards is unreasonable environmental effects.) Directs the Administrator to initiate a cancellation hearing if materially false, misleading, or inaccurate supporting information has been submitted on behalf of a pesticide registration or residue tolerance. Directs the Administrator to issue a notice of intent to cancel, or to hold a cancellation hearing, based upon a pesticide's substantial question of safety. Permits any member of the public to initiate a cancellation hearing. Revises cancellation hearing provisions, including: (1) giving the parties a right to participate; and (2) setting specific time limits for hearing dates and determinations. Prohibits the reregistration of canceled, suspended, or withdrawn pesticides under conditional registration, experimental use, or special local need categories unless: (1) there is no available alternative; (2) there is a threat of significant infestation damage; and (3) data is available supporting the pesticide's effectiveness against such infestation. Sets forth additional health and safety information for the Administrator to collect and make public regarding pesticide manufacturing plants. Subjects pesticide exporters to recordkeeping requirements under such Act. Provides for the disclosure of pesticide intermediary chemicals. Repeals the prohibition on disclosure of health and safety information to foreign or multinational producers. Requires commercial applicators to maintain pesticide spraying records. Requires specified activities to reduce pesticide drift. Prohibits the use in foreign countries of U.S.-submitted registration or licensing data. Makes it unlawful to: (1) fail to disclose findings of additional risk; and (2) violate EPA regulations. Repeals the provisions requiring Federal indemnification of holders of canceled or suspended pesticides. Provides a private right of action for violations of such Act. Prohibits the export of a pesticide whose U.S. registration has been canceled on withdrawn unless: (1) the exporter notifies the Administrator regarding quantity and destination; and (2) the Administrator has received a request for such pesticide from such country (after having provided such country with the appropriate data regarding the pesticide's cancellation). Prohibits the importation of agricultural commodities with detectable residues of U.S.-prohibited pesticides. Authorizes the Administrator to provide foreign countries with technical assistance to develop pesticide research and regulatory programs. States that in exercising any authority under such Act, the Administrator shall not be preempting Department of Labor authority under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. Places additional requirements on applications for special local needs registrations. Authorizes EPA to establish and enforce standards for indoor pesticide residues. Authorizes the Administrator to change pesticide use classifications or package labeling. Directs the Administrator to: (1) establish a worker health and safety program; (2) establish within EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs a separate administrative unit responsible for pesticide workers' health and safety; and (3) issue pesticide worker safety regulations. Directs the Administrator: (1) upon detection of pesticide groundwater contamination to notify the affected State and each registrant of such pesticide; and (2) to issue a notice of intent to cancel such pesticide's use registration unless the affected State acts to control further contamination or the registrant amends such use. Requires the imposition of registration fees sufficient to run the registration program. Protects employees from being dismissed or penalized for reporting violations of such Act.

Nordseesterben (G-SIG: 10002672)

Germany · German Bundestag · 14 June 1985

Aussprache auf Verlangen der Fraktion DIE GRÜNEN, unabhängig von einer Fragestunde

A bill to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to allow all recipients of grants for treatment works to use dedicated ad valorem taxes in order to meet the requirement of the Act that such recipients adopt user charges to pay for operation and maintenance of treatment works.

United States · United States Congress · 13 June 1985

Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to permit all grant recipients for waste treatment works to use dedicated ad valorem taxes to satisfy the grants' requirement that recipients adopt operation and maintenance user charges.

A bill to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act relating to the construction and operation of certain treatment works which are subject to regulation under international treaties.

United States · United States Congress · 13 June 1985

Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to reimburse State or municipal agencies for increased costs of constructing or operating any publicly owned treatment works attributable to compliance with any international treaty. Authorizes appropriations.

Great Lakes Management and Research Act of 1985

United States · United States Congress · 12 June 1985

Great Lakes Management and Research Act of 1985 - Establishes within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the Great Lakes National Program Office (Program Office), to be headed by a Director. Lists as responsibilities of the Program Office, the following: (1) developing and implementing specific plans under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement of 1978; (2) establishing a systemwide surveillance network to monitor the water quality of the Great Lakes; (3) serving as liaison with, and providing information to, the Canadian members of the International Joint Commission and the Canadian counterpart to the EPA; (4) identifying and conducting an inventory of all Federal, State, tribal, and international agencies with environmental management responsibilities for the Great Lakes; (5) identifying judicial overlap and existing management plans relating to the Great Lakes; (6) entering into agreements with States delineating respective duties; (7) developing a program for reducing the amount of nutrients introduced into the Great Lakes; and (8) carrying out a five-year study and demonstration projects relating to the control and removal of toxic pollutants in the Great Lakes. Directs the Administrator to: (1) include a funding request for the Program Office as a separate budget line item; and (2) submit an annual report to the Congress. Requires the Program Office to be located in a Great Lakes State. Establishes within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration the Great Lakes Research Office (Research Office). Lists as responsibilities of the Research Office, the following: (1) identifying lead agencies with primary responsibility for each issue relating to the Great Lakes resources; (2) identifying Federal, State, and tribal environmental research programs relating to the Great Lakes; (3) establishing a Great Lakes research exchange; (4) developing an environmental data base for the Great Lakes System; and (5) conducting research and monitoring activities which address priority issues relating to the Great Lakes. Requires the Research Office to be located in a Great Lakes State. Provides for the coordination of certain activities between the Program Office and the Research Office. Directs the head of each department or agency of the Federal Government which is in any way connected with the enhancement of the Great Lakes to: (1) cooperate with the Program Office and Research Office; (2) make available such personnel, services, or facilities as may be necessary to achieve the purposes of this Act; and (3) furnish, upon written request, any data or information deemed necessary to fulfill such purposes. Directs the Chief of Engineers of the Army, the Chief of the Soil Conservation Service, the Commandant of the Coast Guard, the Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Administrator of NOAA to submit annual reports to the Administrator of the EPA regarding issues for which they have been identified as lead agencies. States that this Act does not affect the jurisdiction or powers of any Federal or State department or agency or of any Indian tribe or international body created by treaty with authority relating to the Great Lakes. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1987 through 1991.

A bill to amend the Clean Air Act with respect to the control of interstate air pollution.

United States · United States Congress · 12 June 1985

Amends the Clean Air Act to require State plans for the implementation and maintenance of a national primary ambient air quality standard to prohibit a source or multiple sources within such State from interfering with another State's attainment of its air quality standard. Requires such plans to provide for notifying another State if significant air pollution may travel interstate. Modifies the petitioning procedures available to a State regarding violations of such requirements.

Abgasgrenzwerte schadstoffarmer Autos (G-SIG: 10002663)

Germany · German Bundestag · 12 June 1985

Aussprache auf Verlangen der Fraktion DIE GRÜNEN, unabhängig von einer Fragestunde; Antrag der Fraktion DIE GRÜNEN auf Herbeirufung des Bundeskanzlers - Ablehnung nach Auszählung der Stimmen (Hammelsprung)

A bill to amend the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act.

United States · United States Congress · 10 June 1985

Amends the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act to provide that either the National Marine Fisheries Service or the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (whichever is the responsible Federal agency) must be consulted where the waters of any stream or other body of water are proposed or authorized to be impounded, diverted, or controlled by any department or agency of the United States or by any public or private agency under Federal permit or license. Requires that reports and recommendations of the Secretaries of Commerce and Interior on the wildlife aspects of water projects which are based on surveys or investigations of the National Marine Fisheries Service or the United States Fish and Wildlife Service be made a part of certain Federal reports submitted to the Congress. Requires that certain such recommendations of such Secretaries regarding proposed mitigation measures cover both onsite and offsite locations. Requires any agency planning the construction of a water resource development project to transfer sufficient funds to the responsible Federal agency to allow it to carry out its responsibility under the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act. (Under current law, the transfer of such funds is discretionary.) Requires the United States Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service (whichever is the responsible Federal agency) to: (1) compile an inventory of water projects, by categories, for which consultations and recommendations were made under such Act; and (2) select a statistically significant sample of such projects in order to evaluate the extent to which such recommendations were incorporated into licenses or permits, to notify Federal agencies having jurisdiction over such projects of such evaluation, and to evaluate compliance. Requires each Federal agency having jurisdiction over such projects to supply the responsible Federal agency appropriate information. Allows either the Secretary of Commerce or the Interior to: (1) participate or cooperate with Federal, State, local, or private agencies in the preparation of certain wildlife conservation plans; and (2) enter into contractual agreements with those parties that provide assurances, consistent with law, regarding the value and extent of habitat to be conserved or enhanced, the mitigation to be provided for the affected wildlife resources, and the nature and extent of habitat modifications which may be permitted in the future.

Acid Deposition Control Act of 1985

United States · United States Congress · 5 June 1985

Acid Deposition Control Act of 1985 - Title I: Acid Deposition Control Program - Amends the Clean Air Act to establish an interstate transport and acid precursor reduction program. Designates an acid deposition impact region comprising a long-range transport corridor of 31 States east of the Mississippi and the District of Columbia. Sets forth sulfur dioxide emission reduction standards for such region of ten million tons below 1980 levels by the beginning of 1996. Requires such reduction to be accomplished in two phases, half the reductions to be made by the start of 1991. Directs the Acid Precipitation Task Force to conduct an accelerated research program during the first phase, examining the pattern of effects of atmospheric loading of pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. Authorizes appropriations through FY 1990, the program itself to be completed by the start of 1990. Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to evaluate the results by the start of FY 1991. Authorizes the Administrator to change the second phase of the reduction program, based upon first-phase research, in any of the following areas: (1) excluding or including States; (2) restricting reallotment of reductions among States; (3) altering individual State targets; and (4) requiring reduction of nitrogen oxide emissions. Requires alterations to be made through public rule-making and after notice to the Congress, demonstrating increased protection. Requires impact region States to reduce their sulfur dioxide emissions in two phases to achieve a rate of no more than 1.2 pounds of sulfur dioxide per million British thermal units (Btus). Grants credits for reductions achieved after 1980 and permits States to reallot reductions among themselves unless otherwise prohibited. Requires State Governors to submit to the Administrator for approval two-phase reduction plans and compliance schedules. Directs the Administrator to establish reduction standards for any major source in noncompliance with its own plan or in a State without an acceptable emissions reduction plan. Requires owners or operators of major sources of sulfur dioxide emissions to submit to the Administrator reduction plans for such emissions if their State does not have an approved plan. States that failure to do so constitutes an emissions violation. Sets forth alternative methods of maintaining emissions limitations in addition to enforceable continuous emission reduction measures if such measures are enforceable by entities and persons other than the State in which the emissions occur: (1) least emissions dispatch to meet electric generating demand at existing generating capacity; (2) retirement of major stationary sources at an earlier than provided for date; (3) investments in energy conservation where emission reductions can be identified with such investments; (4) trading of emission reduction requirements and actual reductions through emission reduction banks or brokerage institutions; (5) precombustion cleaning of fuels; and (6) fuel substitution. Directs the President and the Secretary of State to negotiate emissions reductions with the Governments of Canada and Mexico to protect U.S. air from pollution from foreign sources. Directs the President to report periodically to the Congress on progress made. Directs the Administrator to report to the Congress within four years on a study of long-range transport of pollutant problems in the remaining States. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1986 through 1989. Directs the Administrator to report to the Congress on the emission limitation and enforceable measures adopted by the States or major stationary sources and approved by the Administrator. Directs the Administrator to develop and report to the Congress within four years on an inventory of sources of oxides of nitrogen in the impact region, control methods, and recommendations for emissions standards.

A concurrent resolution in support of the United Nations Environment Program.

United States · United States Congress · 4 June 1985

Expresses the sense of the Congress that the United States, in its endeavor to help developing countries to preserve the health of environmental systems and to promote global peace and security, should maintain the level of its contribution to the United Nations Environment Program at no less than the amount of its 1973 contribution.

Politik zur Bekämpfung der Massenarbeitslosigkeit und Überwindung der Wachstumsschwäche (G-SIG: 10002641)

Germany · German Bundestag · 30 May 1985

Einrichtung eines Sondervermögens "Arbeit und Umwelt" bei der Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, Finanzierung durch einen Steuerzuschlag auf den Energieverbrauch, Entwicklung eines Bund-Länder-Programms zur Eindämmung der Jugendarbeitslosigkeit, Finanzierung aus dem Bundesbankgewinn, Abbau der steuerlichen Benachteiligung des in Unternehmen gebundenen Eigenkapitals, Maßnahmen zur Verstärkung öffentlicher Investitionen, insbesondere bei den Kommunen, Ausgleich von Mindereinnahmen der Kommunen durch die geplante Steuersenkung, Initiative für beschäftigungsfördernde Maßnahmen auf Gemeinschaftsebene beim Europäischen Rat in Mailand am 28. Juni 1985

Indoor Air Quality Research Act of 1985

United States · United States Congress · 23 May 1985

Indoor Air Quality Research Act of 1985 - Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to carry out a research program with respect to indoor air quality. Requires that such program be designed to: (1) gather data and information on all aspects of indoor air quality in order to contribute to the understanding of health problems associated with the existence of air pollutants in the indoor environment; and (2) coordinate Federal, State, local and private research, development, and demonstration efforts relating to the improvement of indoor air quality. Authorizes the Administrator to establish committees of representatives of appropriate Federal agencies and advisory groups of representatives of the scientific community, industry, and public interest organizations as may be necessary to assist in carrying out such indoor air quality research program. Directs the Administrator to consult and coordinate with State and local officials and other interested parties having concerns related to such program. Directs the Administrator to submit to the Congress an indoor air quality research implementation plan within 90 days after enactment of this Act and a final report, after consultation with the National Academy of Sciences, within two years of such enactment. Requires such report to assess the risks to human health associated with indoor pollution including the known or potential effects of radon and other naturally occurring chemical elements. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1986 and 1987.

Military Radioactive Emissions Control Act of 1985

United States · United States Congress · 23 May 1985

Military Radioactive Emissions Control Act of 1985 - Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to promulgate radiation standards and effluent limitations for waste management and disposal at atomic energy defense facilities. Requires the Administrator to monitor compliance through onsite and offsite monitoring and inspection. Directs the Administrator to report annually to the Congress on monitoring results. Requires the Secretary of Energy to reimburse the Administrator for costs incurred in implementing these requirements.

A bill to amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 to provide for a hazardous substances inventory.

United States · United States Congress · 23 May 1985

Amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) (Superfund) to require manufacturers and importers of hazardous substances to prepare and distribute a Hazardous Substance Inventory which shows the use of such substance, the maximum inventory, the annual and monthly emmissions of such substance, the quantity and method of waste disposal, and the date of preparation and name and emergency telephone number of the preparer of such Inventory. Requires the preparer to include a copy of any Material Safety Data Sheet required under the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to establish adequate and reliable administrative standards for the collection of information under this Act. Directs the Administrator to report to the appropriate congressional committees on appropriate reporting requirements for small quantity handlers of such substances. Requires that the Inventory be distributed to appropriate government officials. Requires the Administrator to establish a toll-free telephone number for inquiries concerning the Inventory and its information. Establishes criminal penalties for violations of this Act's requirements. Requires the National Toxicology Program to review biennially new and existing chemicals for inclusion by the Administrator on such Inventory.

A bill to amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to provide that the removal of hazardous substances to facilities regulated under the Solid Waste Disposal Act will not be subject to State environmental review.

United States · United States Congress · 23 May 1985

Amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) to exclude from State environmental review the removal of a hazardous substance pursuant to such Act to a facility operating in accordance with the Solid Waste Disposal Act permit provisions.

Toxic Release Control Act of 1985

United States · United States Congress · 22 May 1985

Toxic Release Control Act of 1985 - Title I: General Provisions - Applies national emission standards under the Clean Air Act only to those hazardous air pollutants for which a standard has been promulgated before this Act's enactment. States that standards promulgated pursuant to this Act supersede standards under the Clean Air Act for any particular pollutant. Identifies hazardous substances. Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to publish within one year and revise annually a list of additional substances, including all those listed under the Clean Air Act's national emission standards provision. Requires the listing of substances which are released into the air and cause air pollution which can reasonably be expected to increase mortality, illness, or which are acutely or chronically toxic. Sets forth sources of listed carcinogens to be included. Requires the consideration of other substances listed by various Federal health-conscious sources, including all substances defined as hazardous under Superfund (the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980). Requires the Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances to keep revised records of such substances. Permits the petitioning for additions to the list and limited judicial review of list decisions. Title II: Inventory, Monitoring, and Right-to-Know - Requires manufacturers or processors of over a specified amount of a substance listed under this Act to report annually to the Administrator on: (1) the identity, location, and rate of emission for each emmissions unit; (2) aggregate emissions figures; and (3) hazardous substance status sheets. Requires the Administrator to compile annually for each substance an inventory of total amounts released at both the State and national levels. Requires such inventory to be included in the National Library of Medicine Online Data Bank. Requires the Administrator to conduct public hearings on adverse health effects of a release upon petition by 20 or more persons. Requires the Administrator to conduct public hearings on adverse health effects of a release upon petition by 20 or more persons. Requires the Administrator to monitor and measure the ambient concentrations of each released hazardous substance in the air. Requires each covered manufacturer and processor to prepare a hazardous substance fact sheet for each substance, such sheet to include the appropriate chemical properties and emergency response information. Requires the updating of such fact sheet periodically. Requires such manufacturers and processors to prepare hazardous substance status sheets on each hazardous substance at each facility, setting forth the inventory, storage method, amounts released in normal business operations, and the quantity and method for disposing of any wastes containing such substance. Requires that copies of fact and status sheets be provided to the appropriate government official. Requires such manufacturers and processors to provide the appropriate government officials with emergency bulletins in the event of an emergency setting forth all pertinent information as to substance type, quantity, duration, and response taken. Requires that fact and status sheets and emergency bulletins be made available to the public. Directs the Governor of each State to designate the appropriate officials to receive the hazardous substances information, including State and local police and fire and health officials. Requires the manufacturers and processors to keep records of such information and for manufacturers to inform processors of such information. Authorizes the withholding of the name or identity of a substance if it is a trade secret so long as the generic category is disclosed and certain designated officials and health personnel have access to such information in case of any emergency. Sets forth procedures for requesting and substantiating a trade secret claim. Title III: Control of Releases from Stationary Sources - Directs the Administrator of EPA to promulgate leak control, monitoring, vapor recovery, and other equipment requirements to prevent the release of hazardous substances into the air from a manufacturer's or processor's devices or systems. Requires operation and maintenance standards and provides for biannual safety inspecting by the owner or operator of a covered facility. Directs the Administrator to promulgate uniform national mandatory labeling requirements for pipes, storage tanks, or containers used by covered manufacturers and processors, giving appropriate identification and response information. Requires the Administrator to conduct audits at least annually for each stationary source. Directs the Administrator to publish a list of all categories of stationary emissions units which release hazardous substances into the air, to be revised as necessary. Requires the Administrator to promulgate national standards for each category which provide an ample margin of safety to protect human health and safety. Sets forth a timetable for the promulgation of such standards, including the possibility of interim standards where the national standard could not be reached even with the application of all potential emission reduction measures. Limits interim standards to a six year maximum. Requires both interim and national standards to be at least as stringent as the most stringent level of control achievable in practice by any emissions unit in its category, determined by EPA to be achievable, or required under any Clean Air Act permit. Authorizes the Administrator to distinguish within categories of emissions units as to types, sizes, etc. for standards purposes. Requires the Administrator to review this Act's standards every eight years and Clean Air Act standards within four years. Applies this Act's standards for foreign emissions units. Requires covered manufacturers and processors to obtain a permit from the Administrator before modifying or constructing any emissions unit. Requires each unit to comply with the applicable limitation for each substance, with adjustments made for possible cumulative and synergistic effects. Permits interim limitations under the same conditions as apply to interim standards. Requires all existing stationary emissions units to operate under an Administrator's permit, complying with applicable limitations but allowing for cumulative effects, synergistic effects, and the need for interim limitations. Permits two year waivers of compliance with the leak prevention requirements. Permits emergency extensions of such waiver for three years if severe hardship would result from nonextension and compliance can be assured by the end of the extension. Requires the Governor of an affected State to be notified of any extension application. Requires the President to report all granted extensions to the Congress. Requires all permits to include monitoring requirements, including the monitoring of air in the affected community. Requires such information to be reported to the Administrator and made available to the public. Sets forth procedures, conditions, terms, and fee requirements for such permits, allowing one three year renewal of the three-year permit term. Requires permit standards for emissions to be at least as stringent as the applicable interim or national standards. Lists extremely hazardous substances, requiring the Administrator to revise such list. Includes those substances which by their physical and chemical properties present the greater danger to health and safety in their manufacturing, processing, or use. Directs the Administrator to review periodically the manufacturing and processing methods for such substances, evaluating alternative methods and approaches to reduce the risk of release. Directs the Administrator to issue the necessary orders or withhold the necessary permits to assure that releases of such substances are at a level which is as safe as is technologically possible and do not present a danger to health and safety. Title IV: Control of Hazardous Substance Releases From Mobile Sources - Designates specified substances as motor vehicle hazardous substances, requiring the Administrator to revise the list of substances which are released into the ambient air by a motor vehicle and which may cause illness or are acutely and chronically toxic. Makes the duties of the Administrator under these provisions nondiscretionary and therefore enforceable through citizen suits. Requires manufacturers of motor vehicles, their parts and fuels to report to the Administrator on any substance which is generated in normal use and should be on the hazardous substances list. Directs the Administrator to promulgate emissions standards for each substance listed, permitting interim standards where the application of all potential emission reduction measures would not result in compliance. Limits interim standards to six years. Sets forth minimum emission standards for diesel particulates for light and heavy duty vehicles for specified model years. Requires the Administrator to control the use of fuel and fuel additives. Prohibits the use of lead or lead additives in gasoline after 1986. Title V: Liability -Makes liability joint and several for processors and manufacturers releasing hazardous substances into the air. Makes compensable: (1) medical and burial costs; (2) lost income; (3) pain and suffering; and (4) economic loss. Sets forth acceptable proofs of causation of harm. Establishes a three year statute of limitations for such actions, running from the date of reasonable discovery of harm or the date of this Act's enactment. Provides for no preemption of State law in the area of liability. Requires recovery under workers' compensation rather than this Act where possible. Title VI: Emergency Response and Labeling - Requires each covered major manufacturer to develop within two years a comprehensive evacuation and emergency response plan which provides the names and numbers of the appropriate government officials and manufacturing personnel to contact or be contacted in case of a hazardous substance emergency along with a description of measures to be taken to mitigate expected health effects. Requires such plan to evaluate the resources available in the community and to specify emergency evacuation and notification plans. Authorizes each Governor to designate emergency response districts with Emergency Response Committees to evaluate a manufacturer's emergency plan. Directs the Administrator to designate covered major manufacturers within one year of enactment, but considers all manufacturers and processors major in the absence of such designation. Includes Federal agencies and departments where appropriate. Exempts those major manufacturers whose activities in an emergency are otherwise adequately covered by Federal or State law. Title VII: Enforcement - Establishes civil penalties for violations of this Act. Establishes criminal penalties for knowing or willful violation, including the knowing provision of false information. Empowers the Administrator to seek a restraining order through the courts or, if not practicable, to issue orders directly to protect the health of persons from an imminent and substantial endangerment presented by a hazardous substance. Limits the effectiveness of such orders to one day for direct Administrator orders or two days or longer as authorized by the court. Permits citizen action suits for violations of this Act, including actions against the Administrator for failure to act. Requires plaintiffs to notify the Administrator of an intent to file and permits such plaintiffs to intervene in State- or federally-initiated suits as a matter of right. Permits the Administrator or State to intervene in citizen action suits as a matter of right. Awards costs to the substantially prevailing plaintiff. Permits judicial review of this Act's regulations or emergency extension actions in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Title VIII: Miscellaneous Provisions - Authorizes States to establish and enforce stationary source emissions controls, subject to the Administrator's approval, including a State permit program. Requires the Administrator to audit such State programs periodically and provide grants to assist the implementation of such programs. Permits more stringent State disclosure, right-to-know, and emergency response requirements, giving such standards supersedence over otherwise applicable Federal standards. Permits States and local governments to impose fees on covered manufacturers and processors to cover regulatory costs. Exempts the implementation of this Act from otherwise applicable requirements including those of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980.

Federal Pesticide Reform Act of 1985

United States · United States Congress · 22 May 1985

Federal Pesticide Reform Act of 1985 - Amends the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act to require a person defined as a "certified applicator" to have undergone pesticide safety training. Requires pesticide ingredient statements to list inert as well as active ingredients. Eliminates from the definition of "misbranded" the provision relating to an unregistered pesticide manufactured in the United States solely for export. Defines "data gap" and "adverse reproductive effect" for purposes of this Act. Requires the registration of pesticides intended for export. Permits public access to pesticide application information before a final registration decision has been reached. Prohibits the registration of a pesticide having an adverse reproductive effect. Restricts the use of conditional registration. Requires public access to supporting data for any such registration. Repeals the interim administrative review provision which required a validated test or other significant evidence of adverse effect before initiation of a formal agency review. Establishes a timetable for the registration of pesticides which have not been reregistered since September 30, 1978, and which: (1) are used on food crops or remain as residues in potable ground water; (2) have significant data gaps; or (3) cause mutagenic effects. Requires specified additional data on inert ingredients. Prohibits registration of a pesticide containing an inert element which either by itself or in combination causes harmful environmental effects. Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop a comprehensive plan for evaluating inert ingredients. Subjects information concerning the toxicity of inert ingredients to specified disclosure provisions. Requires a registrant to disclose EPA information regarding any adverse effects (human or environmental) of a pesticide. (Currently the disclosure standard is unreasonable environmental effects.) Directs the Administrator to initiate a cancellation hearing if materially false, misleading, or inaccurate supporting information has been submitted on behalf of a pesticide registration or residue tolerance. Directs the Administrator to issue a notice of intent to cancel, or to hold a cancellation hearing, based upon a pesticide's substantial question of safety. Permits any member of the public to initiate a cancellation hearing. Revises cancellation hearing provisions, including: (1) giving the parties a right to participate; and (2) setting specific time limits for hearing dates and determinations. Prohibits the reregistration of canceled, suspended, or withdrawn pesticides under conditional registration, experimental use, or special local need categories unless: (1) there is no available alternative; (2) there is a threat of significant infestation damage; and (3) data is available supporting the pesticide's effectiveness against such infestation. Sets forth additional health and safety information for the Administrator to collect and make public regarding pesticide manufacturing plants. Subjects pesticide exporters to recordkeeping requirements under such Act. Provides for the disclosure of pesticide intermediary chemicals. Repeals the prohibition on disclosure of health and safety information to foreign or multinational producers. Requires commercial applicators to maintain pesticide spraying records. Requires specified activities to reduce pesticide drift. Prohibits the use in foreign countries of U.S.-submitted registration or licensing data. Makes it unlawful to: (1) fail to disclose findings of additional risk; and (2) violate EPA regulations. Repeals the provisions requiring Federal indemnification of holders of canceled or suspended pesticides. Provides a private right of action for violations of such Act. Prohibits the export of a pesticide whose U.S. registration has been canceled or withdrawn unless: (1) the exporter notifies the Administrator regarding quantity and destination; and (2) the Administrator has received a request for such pesticide from such country (after having provided such country with the appropriate data regarding the pesticide's cancellation). Prohibits the importation of agricultural commodities with detectable residues of U.S.-prohibited pesticides. Authorizes the Administrator to provide foreign countries with technical assistance to develop pesticide research and regulatory programs. States that in exercising any authority under such Act, the Administrator shall not be preempting Department of Labor authority under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. Places additional requirements on applications for special local needs registrations. Authorizes EPA to establish and enforce standards for indoor pesticide residues. Authorizes the Administrator to change pesticide use classifications or package labeling. Directs the Administrator to: (1) establish a worker health and safety program; (2) establish within EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs a separate administrative unit responsible for pesticide workers' health and safety; and (3) issue pesticide worker safety regulations. Directs the Administrator: (1) upon detection of pesticide groundwater contamination to notify the affected State and each registrant of such pesticide; and (2) to issue a notice of intent to cancel such pesticide's use registration unless the affected State acts to control further contamination or the registrant amends such use. Requires the imposition of registration fees sufficient to run the registration program. Protects employees from being dismissed or penalized for reporting violations of such Act.

Superfund Expansion and Protection Act of 1985

United States · United States Congress · 21 May 1985

Superfund Expansion and Protection Act of 1985 - Title I: Provisions Relating Primarily to Response and Liability - Amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) (Superfund) to include among hazardous substances subject to such Act any petroleum released from an underground storage tank. Includes pollutants and contaminants under Superfund, defining them as any substance which after release into the environment causes disease or abnormalities upon exposure or assimilation, either directly or through the food chain. Excludes petroleum and natural gas except as otherwise indicated under CERCLA. Redefines "release" to include the abandonment of containers containing hazardous substances or pollutants, or contaminants. Includes within remedial action the offsite transport and treatment and storage of hazardous substances and associated contaminated materials. Includes within removal costs the costs of permanent relocation of residents, business debt installments during the evacuation period, and assistance for lost wages. Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish reportable quantities for all hazardous substances within six months of this Act's enactment. Requires the Administrator to conduct periodic audits of reported releases and report to the Congress at least annually on such audits. Directs the Administrator to give primary attention to those releases which may present a public health threat. Permits the Administrator to authorize cleanup by the responsible party if the Administrator determines it will be done properly. Prohibits the Administrator from providing removal or remedial actions for releases or threatened releases which are the product of naturally occurring processes, are in a facility of which such substance forms a structural part, or are the result of ordinary use deterioration in a drinking water system. Permits the Administrator to respond despite such prohibition if a public health or environmental emergency exists and no other authority can respond in a timely and competent fashion. Requires removal actions undertaken by the Administrator to contribute to any long-term remedial action necessary for a release or potential release. Requires the Administrator to assess the health effects associated with such release. Exempts response action contractors from liability for any damages caused by a release in the absence of negligence. Limits the 50 percent State cleanup obligation to those facilities which are both owned and operated by the State. Credits States with expenditures made at National Priorities List (NPL) sites on cost-eligible response actions. Revises other State cost-sharing measures. Requires the Administrator to select appropriate cost-effective remedial actions in accordance with the National Contingency Plan, (NCP). Requires remedial actions selected to provide permanent solutions when feasible. Requires the Administrator to provide interim measures which protect human and environmental health until a permanent solution becomes feasible. Requires these Interim Category sites on the NPL to be reviewed at five-year intervals for removal to the NPL when a feasible, permanent solution is possible. Requires a standard of control at least as strict as that provided by any other applicable Federal environmental law such as the Clean Water Act. Requires onsite disposal to be in compliance with the relevant provisions of the Solid Waste Disposal Act. Requires offsite disposal to be made only at facilities in compliance with such Act. Permits the waiver of such requirements as specified. Grants EPA employees or contractors the necessary access to facilities and information to determine if the need for a response action exists. Requires the Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) to develop toxicological profiles for at least 100 hazardous substances, assessing the current state of knowledge of their deleterious effects. Sets forth a schedule for developing such profiles, funding the process out of Superfund monies. Prescribes a cleanup schedule for Superfund, requiring an evaluation by January 1, 1987, of sites on the Emergency Response and Remedial Investigation System (ERRIS) list for possible inclusion on the NPL. Sets a schedule for the conduct of remedial investigations and feasibility studies (RIFS) for NPL sites, requiring the commencement of remedial action at a rate of not fewer than 150 facilities per year. Requires completion of remedial action within five years of this Act's enactment, requiring published explanations of noncompletions. Directs the Administrator to revise the National Contingency Plan (NCP) within 18 months to reflect this Act's amendments. Authorizes individuals to petition the Administrator for a preliminary assessment of a hazardous substance release. Includes human food chain damage and contamination of the ambient air as factors in the hazard ranking system. Eliminates the requirement that the NPL contain at least 400 sites. Permits a State to designate its highest priority facility on the NPL only once. Directs the Administrator to revise abatement action provisions to comply with this Act. States that there is no judicial review of abatement action orders other than orders enforcing such orders or recovery of penalties and punitive damages. Prohibits the subsequent storage of a hazardous waste at a solid Waste Disposal Act site if such waste has leaked sufficiently to require an abatement action and a certain density of population has been or may be affected. Makes certain investigatory and assessment costs recoverable from the responsible party. Exempts from liability for all but negligent actions of government agencies responding to a hazardous substance emergency. Prohibits the Attorney General from representing any Federal agency other than EPA who may be a defendant in a civil environmental action brought by EPA. Presumes the validity of federally- or State-run lab tests. Permits apportionment of damages among parties. Makes liability for abatement actions strict, joint, and several. Permits defendants to bring contribution actions against other, potential defendants. Makes a party to a judically-approved settlement not liable for claims for contribution. States that cleanup costs incurred in a response action constitute a Federal lien against the property of a responsible party. Sets forth evidentiary requirements for establishing financial responsibility. Permits direct action against a financial guarantor if the person liable is financially or physically unavailable for redress. Entitles such a guarantor to all rights and defenses available to the liable party. Limits the liability of such guarantor to its financial responsibility to the responsible party. Authorizes appropriations to the Hazardous Substance Superfund of not more than $2,020,000,000 for each of FY 1986 through 1990. Authorizes $250,000,000 out of general revenues. Prohibits the use of Superfund monies to satisfy claims for natural resources damage. Requires the Inspector General to audit annually the use of Superfund monies. Requires claims for response costs to first be made to the responsible parties or financial guarantor. Sets forth procedures for claim payment. Establishes a three-year statute of limitations for the initiation of actions for contribution for recovery claims for damages to natural resources. Establishes a six-year statute of limitations for cost recovery actions setting forth special rules for minors and incompetents. Requires the promulgation of natural resource assessment damage claims regulations within six months of this Act's enactment. Authorizes nationwide service of process under CERCLA. Authorizes a State to require contributions to a fund to pay the costs of hazardous substance response actions or damages. Requires the Administrator of EPA to provide a reasonable opportunity for public comment on any proposed plan for remedial action before it is implemented. Requires the Administrator to publish an explanation of any divergences from such plan or public comments. Authorizes the Administrator to make assistance available to affected individuals to help them evaluate and assess technical information and data. Authorizes individuals to petition the Administrator of EPA for a health assessment of a site where evidence of human exposure to hazardous substances exists. Requires the Administrator to either initiate a health effects study or publish an explanation of a determined lack of significant risk. Requires the Administrator to provide alternative household water, relocate individuals, or take such measures as may be necessary to eliminate the risk. Requires Federal agencies to notify buyers or transferees of Federal land where hazardous substances were disposed of or stored for one year or more. Holds responsible parties strictly, jointly, and severally liable in State court actions for personal damages caused by exposure to any hazardous substance release. Establishes a three-year statute-of-limitations for such actions, setting forth special rules for minor and incompetents. Title II: Miscellaneous Provisions - Authorizes citizen suits against violators of this Act, including the Administrator and other government officials who have failed to perform nondiscretionary duties. Permits citizen suits against nongovernment officials in the Federal district court in which the violation occurred. Permits citizen suits against any Federal official only in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Empowers such courts to impose civil penalties and to order the performance of required acts. Requires plaintiffs to give notice to the Administrator, the alleged violator, and the State in which the violation occurred before commencing proceedings. Prohibits citizen suits where the Administrator has commenced and is pursuing an enforcement action. Permits the awarding of court costs to the substantially prevailing party. States that the United States may intervene as a matter of right in all citizen suits to which it is not otherwise a party. Requires the Administrator to commence a study on the adverse effects of drilling fluids, produced waters, and other wastes associated with the production of crude oil or natural gas on human health and the environment within six months of this Act's enactment. Requires the Department of Transportation to promulgate regulations requiring shippers to notify transporters whenever hazardous substances are offered for transport. Increases criminal penalties and adds certain civil penalties for violations of this Act, including failure to provide accurate information at specified times. Requires the Federal Government to provide assurances that it will pay a share of the remedial action and maintenance costs of a cleanup on Indian lands that is otherwise required to be made by a State. Authorizes Indian tribes to recover damages for injury to natural resources from hazardous substance releases, except as specified. Includes Indian tribes on the same basis as States under certain provisions of CERCLA. Terminates the Post-closure Liability Trust Fund's responsibility to fund the cleanup of already closed sites where hazardous waste was stored in compliance with the Solid Waste Disposal Act. Title III: Community Right to Know and Emergency Planning - Amends the Toxic Substances Control Act by adding a new title II concerning the communities' right-to-know, emergency planning, and liability. Requires each covered manufacturer, distributor, user, and importer of a sheet for such substance for distribution to local police, fire, and health officials. Requires the fact sheet to include the name, physical properties of, and hazards posed by the substance, including potential routes of human exposure to such substance, symptoms of such exposure, and appropriate emergency and first aid procedures. Requires status sheets on the same basis as fact sheets, with each status sheet to include the maximum inventory and method of storage of the substance, the quantity of its emission into the environment, and the quantity and method of disposal. Requires the releasor of a covered hazardous substance in an emergency situation to provide an emergency bulletin to the State and local police and other local officials. Requires the bulletin to identify the name and amount of the substance released and the response actions taken. Requires fact and status sheets and emergency bulletins to be made available for public inspection with public notice of such availability at the facility of the potential releasor. Requires the Administrator to publish a uniform format for fact and status sheets. Authorizes a State's Governor to identify local officials to receive covered hazardous substance release information, with the Administrator doing so in the absence of the Governor's identification. Requires the potential releasors to maintain records of information required by this Act. Requires manufacturers or importers to transmit fact sheets to covered distributors or users upon shipping of a covered hazardous substance. Provides protection for trade secrets while continuing to make necessary information available to the appropriate persons. Excludes listed or possible carcinogens from such protection. Sets forth application and substantiation procedures for trade secret claims. Permits affected citizens or government officials to compel disclosure of nonsubstantiated trade secrets through the Federal courts. Authorizes the Administrator to grant exemptions from the basic notification requirements of this Act through specified procedures open to the public based upon a cost-benefits analysis where there is no reasonable likelihood of harm. Directs each covered major manufacturer to develop within two years of the enactment of this Act a comprehensive evacuation and emergency response plan which addresses the health and safety issues applicable to such manufacturer's particular situation. Requires the plan to include designations of the appropriate government officials to be notified, mitigation measures, evacuation routes, notification plans, and evaluation of community support services. Authorizes each Governor to designate emergency response districts within 18 months of the enactment of this Act or the Administrator will do so. Permits each Governor to appoint an Emergency Response Committee per district or the Administrator will be treated as such Committee. Requires such Committees to review the manufacturers' plans, revising them where necessary. Directs the Administrator within 18 months of the enactment of this Act to develop uniform national mandatory labeling requirements for pipes, storage tanks, or containers not otherwise required to be labeled which could reasonably be presumed to release a covered hazardous substance. Requires the label to indicate the appropriate response to a release. Directs the Administrator to designate covered major manufacturers for emergency response purposes within one year of the enactment of this Act. Limits the designation to those whose substances would pose an imminent and substantial danger to health and the environment if released in significant quantities. Includes all persons covered under this Act in lieu of such designations. Includes Federal departments as potentially covered major manufacturers. Exempts those whose emergency activities are sufficiently covered under other Federal or State law. Sets forth categories of substances to be considered covered hazardous substances and procedures for adding additional substances. Directs the Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to compile and update a digest of all such substances. Exempts certain substances for this Act's purposes, based upon the form, amount, and other regulation of such substances. Establishes civil and criminal penalties, limiting criminal penalties to the knowing violation of emergency requirements. Authorizes citizens' suits to enforce this Act. Permits States to adopt more stringent right-to-know standards in the workplace context and emergency response requirements. Permits State and local governments to impose fees upon potential releasors to cover administrative costs. Title IV: Internal Revenue Code Provisions - Imposes taxes of $1,077,000,000 for each of FY 1986 through 1990 for deposit in the Hazardous Substance Response Trust Fund.

Investitionsbedarf für den Umweltschutz; Aufträge für die Bauwirtschaft (G-SIG: 10048513)

Germany · German Bundestag · 17 May 1985

An original bill to amend the Toxic Substances Control Act to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 1986.

United States · United States Congress · 15 May 1985

Amends the Toxic Substances Control Act to authorize appropriations for FY 1986.