Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Land Withdrawal Amendment Act

Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Land Withdrawal Amendment Act - Amends the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Land Withdrawal Act to repeal definitions relating to: (1) no-migration determination; (2) retrieval; and (3) test-phase and test-phase activities.

(Sec. 3) Declares that existing rights under specified oil and gas leases shall not be affected unless the Secretary of Energy determines that acquisition of such leases is necessary for the long-term protection of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) (currently, unless lease acquisition is required to comply with final disposal regulations or with the Solid Waste Disposal Act).

(Sec. 4) Repeals the mandate for test phase and retrieval plans, and the attendant performance assessment report.

(Sec. 6) Authorizes the WIPP to receive from the Secretary transuranic waste which did not result from a defense activity but that is under the Secretary's control on the date of enactment of this Act.

(Sec. 7) Revises the requirements for commencement of disposal operations to authorize the Secretary to begin the disposal phase after review and certification by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (the Administrator) that Department of Energy's (DOE) application reasonably addresses final disposal standards.

(Sec. 8) Directs the Secretary to submit transuranic waste disposal recommendations and surveys to the Congress.

(Sec. 9) Prescribes criteria under which the Administrator shall certify compliance with disposal regulations. States that the Administrator shall disapprove DOE's application only upon finding that the preponderance of evidence shows that the Secretary has failed to adequately address long-term environmental and human-health related risks. Precludes the Administrator from conducting an independent evaluation of the analyses used to evaluate long-term disposal system performance.

(Sec. 10) Instructs the Secretary to determine whether or not engineered barriers, or both (sic), will be required to comply with specified Federal regulations. (Current law requires the use of both engineered and natural barriers.)

(Sec. 11) Exempts the Secretary from complying with certain Solid Waste Disposal Act proscriptions against land disposal of specified wastes. Repeals the mandate for: (1) periodic oversight and compliance determination by the Administrator and the State of New Mexico (the State); and (2) determination of noncompliance during disposal and decommissioning phases.

(Sec. 12) Repeals retrievability requirements. Declares that it is the intent of the Congress that after completion of the Administrator's review and certification under this Act, the Secretary will begin the disposal phase by June 30, 1997.

(Sec. 13) Repeals the mandate for: (1) a WIPP decommissioning plan; and (2) the deadline for the Secretary to develop a management plan for the Withdrawal.

(Sec. 15) Revises authorization of appropriations guidelines to authorize payments directly to the State instead of to the Secretary for subsequent payments to the State.