Superfund Amendments of 1984

(Reported to Senate from the Committee on Environment and Public Works with amendment, S. Rept. 98-631)

Superfund Amendments of 1984 - Title I - Amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) ("Superfund") to add provisions relating to Indian tribes.

Provides that specified requirements regarding future maintenance and cost-sharing shall not apply in the case of remedial action to be taken on land or water held by an Indian tribe, held by the United States in trust for Indians, held by a member of an Indian tribe (if such land or water is subject to a trust restriction on alienation), or otherwise within the borders of an Indian reservation. Directs the President, in such case, to provide the required assurance regarding the availability of a hazardous waste disposal facility.

Adds references to Indian tribes under various CERCLA provisions, including those involving natural resources damages.

Provides that the governing body of an Indian tribe shall be afforded substantially the same treatment as a State with respect to specified CERCLA provisions regarding notification of releases, consultation on remedial actions, access to information, cooperation in establishing and maintaining national registries, and roles and responsibilities under the national contingency plan and submittal of priorities for remedial action (but not including the provision regarding the inclusion of at least one facility per State on the national priority list).

Defines "alternative water supplies," under CERCLA, as including, but not being limited to, drinking water and household water supplies.

Revises provisions relating to credits to States for specified State or local government response action costs.

Revises provisions for selection of remedial action to direct the President, in evaluating the cost-effectiveness of proposed alternative remedial actions, to take into account the total short- and long-term costs of such actions, including the costs of operation and maintenance for the entire period during which such activities will be required.

Requires that preference be given to remedial actions which have as a principal element treatment which significantly reduces the volume, toxicity, or mobility of the hazardous substances. Declares that, where practicable treatment technologies are available, the offsite transport and disposal of hazardous substances or contaminated materials without such treatment should be the least favored alternative remedial action.

Requires that remedial actions selected or otherwise required or agreed to by the President under CERCLA attain, at a minimum, a degree of cleanup of hazardous substances, pollutants, and contaminants from the environment and of control of further release which assures protection of human health and the environment. Requires that, to the extent practicable, such remedial actions completely remove released hazardous substances, pollutants, and contaminants from the environment.

Provides that no permit shall be required under hazardous waste management provisions of the Solid Waste Disposal Act for the portion of any removal or remedial action conducted under CERCLA entirely onsite. Requires that any onsite treatment, storage, or disposal of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants comply with the requirements of specified standards for remedial action added to CERCLA by this Act.

Directs the President, subject to such specified requirements, to select the appropriate remedial action which provides a balance between the need for protection of public health and welfare and the environment at the facility under consideration and the availability of amounts from the Superfund to respond to other sites which present or may present a threat to public health or welfare or the environment, taking into consideration the relative immediacy of such threats.

Revises response authority provisions relating to State and Federal contributions to operation and maintenance in case of ground or surface water contamination. Provides that, in such cases, completed remedial action includes the completion of treatment or other measures, whether taken onsite or offsite, necessary to restore ground and surface water quality to a level that assures protection of human health and the environment. Provides that the operation of such measures for a period up to five years after the construction or installation and commencement of operation shall be considered remedial action. Provides that activities required to maintain the effectiveness of such measures following such period or the completion of remedial action, whichever is earlier, shall be considered operation or maintenance. Provides that the Federal share of the payment of costs for such operation or maintenance shall be from funds recovered by the Hazardous Substance Response Trust Fund (Superfund) under CERCLA during any period after the availability of funds received by the Trust Fund from the environmental taxes on petroleum and certain chemicals or from specified appropriations.

Prohibits the President, effective four years after the enactment of this Act, from providing any remedial actions pursuant to CERCLA response authority provisions unless the State in which the release occurs first enters into a contract or cooperative agreement with the President regarding the availability of hazardous waste treatment or disposal facilities. Requires that such contract or cooperative agreement provide assurances deemed adequate by the President that the State will assure the availability of facilities acceptable to the President and in compliance with hazardous waste management requirements under the Solid Waste Disposal Act. Requires that such facilities have adequate capacity for the destruction, treatment, or secure disposition of all hazardous wastes that are reasonably expected to be generated within the State during the 20- year period following the date of such contract or cooperative agreement and to be disposed of, treated, or destroyed.

Revises response authority provisions relating to cooperative agreements with State or local governments to authorize the President to combine any existing cooperative agreements. Provides for reimbursement to State or local governments under such cooperative agreements not only for reasonable response cost but also for related activities associated with the overall implementation, coordination, enforcement, training, community relations, site inventory and assessment efforts, and administration of remedial activities authorized by CERCLA.

Revises health-related response authority provisions under CERCLA. Requires the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) to provide consultations upon request on health issues relating to exposure to hazardous or toxic substances, on the basis of available information, to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), State officials, and local officials. Allows such consultations to individuals to be provided by States under cooperative agreements.

Directs the ATSDR Administrator to perform a health assessment for each release, threatened release, or facility on the National Priority List. Requires that such health assessment be completed: (1) within two years after the enactment date of this Act for each release, threatened release, or facility proposed for inclusion on such list prior to such enactment date; or (2) within one year after the proposal for inclusion on such list for each release, threatened release, or facility proposed for inclusion on such list after such enactment date. Directs the ATSDR Administrator to also perform a health assessment: (1) for each facility for which one is required under specified hazardous waste management provisions of the Solid Waste Disposal Act; and (2) upon request of the EPA Administrator, for each facility subject to CERCLA or hazardous waste management provisions of the Solid Waste Disposal Act, where there is sufficient data as to what hazardous substances are present in such facility.

Authorizes the ATSDR Administrator to perform health assessments for releases or facilities where individual persons or licensed physicians provide information that individuals have been exposed to a hazardous substance, for which the probable source of such exposure is a release. Allows such individual persons or licensed physicians (in addition to other formal or informal methods of providing such information) to submit a petition to the ATSDR Administrator providing such information and requesting a health assessment. Requires the ATSDR, after such a petition is submitted, to either initiate a health assessment or provide a written explanation of why a health assessment is not appropriate.

Directs the ATSDR Administrator, in determining sites at which to conduct such health assessments, to give priority to those facilities or sites at which there is documented evidence of release of hazardous constituents, at which the potential risk of human health appears highest, and for which, in the judgment of the ATSDR Administrator, existing health assessment data is inadequate to assess the potential risk to human health.

Requires any State or local government carrying out a health assessment to: (1) report the results of the assessment to the ATSDR Administrator; and (2) include recommendations with respect to further activities which need to be carried out. Directs the ATSDR Administrator to: (1) include the same recommendations in a report on the results of any assessment carried out directly the ATSDR; and (2) issue periodic reports which include the results of all such assessments carried out.

Sets forth requirements relating to such health assessments.

Requires the ATSDR Administrator, at the completion of each health assessment, to provide the EPA Administrator and each affected State with the results of such assessment, together with any recommendations for further action under CERCLA.

Provides that, in any case in which such a health assessment (including one required under the Solid Waste Disposal Act) discloses the exposure of a population to the release of a hazardous substance, the costs of such health assessment may be recovered as a cost of response under CERCLA liability provisions from persons causing or contributing to such release of such hazardous substance or, in the case of multiple releases contributing to such exposure, to all such releases.

Directs the ATSDR Administrator: (1) whenever appropriate on the basis of the results of a health assessment, to conduct a pilot study of health effects for selected groups of exposed individuals, in order to determine the desirability of conducting full-scale epidemiological or other health studies of the entire exposed population; and (2) whenever appropriate on the basis of such pilot study results, to conduct such full- scale studies.

Directs the ATSDR Administrator, in any case in which the results of a health assessment indicate a potentially significant risk to human health, to consider whether the establishment of a registry of exposed persons would contribute to accomplishing the purposes of the health-related response authority provisions, taking into account circumstances bearing on the usefulness of such a registry, including the seriousness or unique character of identified diseases or the likelihood of population migration from the affected area.

Directs the ATSDR Administrator to conduct a study and report to Congress within two years after the enactment of this Act on the usefulness, costs, and potential implications of medical surveillance programs as a part of health studies authorized under response authority provisions. Requires such study to include programs which: (1) identify diseases for which an exposed population at excess risk; (2) provide periodic medical testing to screen for such diseases in subgroups of the exposed population at highest risk; and (3) provide for a mechanism to refer for treatment individuals who are diagnosed as having such diseases.

Directs the President to take necessary steps to reduce the exposure and eliminate or substantially mitigate the significant risk to human health, if a health assessment or other study carried out under health-related response authority provisions contains a finding that the exposure concerned presents a significant risk to human health. Provides that such steps may include provision of alternative household water supplies and permanent or temporary relocation of individuals.

Provides that, in any case which is the subject of a petition, a health assessment or study, or a research program under health-related response authority provisions, nothing in such provisions shall be construed to delay or otherwise affect or impair the authority of the EPA Administrator to exercise any authority vested in the EPA Administrator under any other provision of law (including but not limited to the imminent hazard authority under specified provisions of the Solid Waste Disposal Act) or the response and abatement authorities under CERCLA.

Directs the ATSDR Administrator to: (1) within six months after the enactment of this Act, prepare a list of at least 100 hazardous substances which, in the sole discretion of the ATSDR Administrator, are determined to be those posing the most significant potential threat to human health due to their common presence at the location of responses under response authority provisions or at facilities on the National Priority List or in releases to which a response under response authority provisions is under consideration; (2) within 24 months after such enactment, prepare a list of an additional 100 or more such hazardous substances; and (3) at least annually thereafter, add to such list other substances which are frequently found or otherwise pose a potentially significant threat to human health by reason of their physical, chemical, or biological nature.

Directs the ATSDR Administrator to: (1) assess whether adequate information is available on the health effects of each such substance listed; and (2) assure the initiation of a research program for any such substance for which adequate information is not available (or under development). Requires that such research program: (1) be designed to determine the health effects of such substance and techniques for developing methods to determine such health effects; (2) include specified types of studies and information; and (3) where feasible, seek to develop methods to determine the health effects of such substance in combination with other substances with which it is commonly found. Directs the ATSDR Administrator to consider specified factors in assessing the need to perform laboratory and other studies under such research program. Directs the ATSDR Administrator and the EPA Administrator to coordinate such research program with programs of toxicological testing established under the Toxic Substances Control Act and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act in order to avoid duplication of effort and assure that the hazardous substances listed are tested thoroughly at the earliest practicable date. Allows such a research program to be carried out using such programs of toxicological testing, where appropriate and consistent with such purpose.

Expresses the sense of Congress that the costs of such research programs be borne by the manufacturers of the hazardous substance in question, as required in programs of toxicological testing under the Toxic Substances Control Act, or where that is not practical, by parties responsible for the release of the hazardous substance in question. Provides that, to carry out such intention, the costs of conducting such research program shall be deemed a cost of response for the purposes of recovery (under CERCLA liability provisions) of such costs from a party responsible for a release of such hazardous substance.

Directs the ATSDR Administrator to prepare, based on all available information, including the data developed and collected on the health effects of such hazardous substances, toxicological profiles sufficient to establish the likely effect on human health of each of the substances so listed. Requires that such profiles be revised and republished as necessary, but no less often than once every five years. Requires that such profiles be provided to the States and made available to other interested parties.

Sets forth requirements for peer review of all such studies and research results (other than health assessments). Requires that such peer review be conducted by panels of disinterested scientific experts selected on the basis of their reputation for scientific objectivity and their lack of institutional ties with any person involved in the conduct of the study or research under review. Requires the ATSDR to supply support services for such panels.

Authorizes the ATSDR Administrator, in the implementation of these and other health-related authorities under CERLCA, to: (1) establish a program for the education of physicians and other health professionals on methods of diagnosis and treatment of injury or disease related to exposure to toxic substances; and (2) report to the Congress on the implementation of such education program within one year after the enactment of this Act.

Directs the President, for the purpose of implementing these and other health-related authorities under CERCLA, to provide adequate personnel (no fewer than 100 full-time equivalent employees) to the ATSDR.

Requires the ATSDR to carry out specified activities under specified CERCLA provisions cooperative agreements with State or local governments which the ATSDR Administrator deems capable of carrying out such activities. Provides that such activities shall include the provision of consultations on health information and the conduct of health assessments (including those required under specified provisions of the Solid Waste Disposal Act), health studies, and registries.

Includes the cost of laboratory studies and health assessments under authorized uses of the Superfund.

Requires, for FY 1985, that a specified minimum amount be directly available to ATSDR and used for carrying out epidemiologic studies, long-term health effects study registries of persons exposed to hazardous substances, diagnostic services, and health-related response authorities under CERCLA, including any such activities related to hazardous waste stored, treated, or disposed of at a facility having a permit under specified hazardous waste management provisions of the Solid Waste Disposal Act.

Amends hazardous waste management provisions of the Solid Waste Disposal Act to add provisions relating to exposure information and health assessments. Requires, beginning nine months after the enactment of the Solid Waste Disposal Act Amendments of 1984, that each completed application for a permit for a landfill or a surface impoundment be accompanied by information reasonably ascertainable by the owner or operator on the potential for the public to be exposed to hazardous wastes or hazardous constituents through releases related to the unit. Sets forth requirements relating to such information. Requires that such information with respect to landfills or surface impoundments for which a completed permit application has been submitted prior to such enactment date be submitted within nine months after such enactment date. Directs the EPA Administrator (or the authorized State program) to make such information, together with other relevant information, available to the ATSDR.

Directs the ATSDR Administrator to conduct a health assessment and take other appropriate action with respect to risks pursuant to specified CERCLA provisions added by this Act whenever a landfill or surface impoundment poses a substantial risk to human health. Provides that such risk may be due to the existence of releases of hazardous constituents, the magnitude of contamination as resulting from such a release, or the magnitude of the exposed to such release or contamination. Provides that a judgment that there is such a risk may be made by the ATSDR Administrator, the EPA Administrator, or the authorized State program. Allows any member of the public to submit evidence of releases of or exposure to hazardous constituents from a facility, or as to the risks or health effects associated with such releases or exposure, to the EPA Administrator, the ATSDR Administrator, or the authorized State program.

Revises health-related response authority provisions of CERCLA to provide that the ATSDR shall report directly to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (rather than to the Surgeon General). Specifies that all references to "the Administrator" under such health-related response authority provisions shall refer to the ATSDR Administrator. Replaces a reference to "chromosomal testing" with a reference to "appropriate testing."

Revises CERCLA response authority provisions to add provisions for public participation. Requires that notice of the proposed action and opportunity for meeting in the affected area, as well as a reasonable opportunity to comment, be afforded to the public prior to the United States' or a State's final selection of remedial action or entry into a covenant to settle or dispose of a claim arising under CERCLA. Requires that such notice be accompanied by a discussion and analysis sufficient to provide a reasonable explanation of the proposal and alternative proposals considered.

Provides for acquisition of all properties in the Love Canal area of New York State. Directs the EPA Administrator, in determining priorities among releases and threatened releases under the National Contingency Plan and in carrying out remedial action under CERCLA response authority provisions, to establish a high priority for the acquisition of all properties (including nonowner occupied residential, commercial, public, religious, and vacant properties) in the area which, before May 22, 1980, the President determined an emergency to exist because of the release of hazardous substances and in which owner-occupied residences have been acquired pursuant to such determination.

Directs the President, within 12 months after the enactment of this Act, to revise the National Contingency Plan to reflect the requirements of the amendments to CERCLA made by this Act. Requires that the portion of such Plan known as the National Hazardous Substance Response Plan pursuant to CERCLA which are consistent with amendments made by this Act relating to the selection of remedial action.

Directs the the President, within 12 months after the enactment of this Act, to promulgate amendments to the hazard ranking system in effect on September 1, 1984 (under CERCLA provisions for the National Contingency Plan). Requires publication of notice and opportunity for submission of comments in accordance with specified Federal law before such promulgation of amendments. Requires that such amendments assure, to the maximum extent feasible, that the hazard ranking system accurately assess the relative degree of risk to human health and the environment posed by sites and facilities subject to review. Directs the President to establish an effective date for the amended hazard ranking system which is not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act. Requires that such amended hazard ranking system be applied to any site or facility to be newly listed on the National Priority List after the effective date established by the President. Requires that the hazard ranking system in effect on September 1, 1984, continue in full force and effect until such effective date of regulations.

Provides that no State or local government shall be liable under CERCLA for damages as a result of nonnegligent actions taken in response to an emergency created by the release of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant generated by or from a facility owned by another person.

Authorizes the EPA Administrator, in arranging for response actions under CERCLA, to agree to indemnify a contracting party against specified claims arising out of performance of a cleanup agreement to the extent that such claim does not arise out of the negligence of the contracting party.

Sets forth provisions for a victim assistance demonstration program under CERCLA. Includes among authorized uses of the Superfund the costs of grants (of up to a specified maximum annual total amount) to each of five States selected by the EPA Administrator to establish and operate a program of assistance to individuals suffering injury resulting from exposure to the relase of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants. Directs the EPA Administrator, upon application pursuant to EPA-established procedures, to select by July 1, 1985, five States to each establish and operate such a program for at least a five-year period. Sets minimum and maximum limits on the amount of each such grant for each fiscal year in FY 1986 through 1990. Requires that States be selected in the sole discretion of the EPA Administrator on the basis of specified criteria. Sets forth requirements for such programs, including provision of group policies of insurance, medical benefits, and disability insurance under specified conditions.

Revises CERCLA response authority provisions to require that Superfund money be available for the provision of alternative water supplies (including the reimbursement of costs incurred by a municipality) in any case involving groundwater contamination outside the boundaries of a federally owned facility in which the federally owned facility is not the only potentially responsible party.

Revises statute of limitations provisions for specified claims against the Superfund under CERCLA. Sets forth a three-year statute of limitations: (1) after the date of the response action, for claims for the costs of response; (2) after the date on which final regulations are promulgated for the assessment of natural resources damages, for specified claims for such damages; or (3) after the date of the discovery of the loss and its connection with the release in question or the date of enactment of this Act, whichever is later, for claims for any other damages. Sets forth exceptions for minors or incompetent persons.

Revises provisions for judicial review of any regulation promulgated under CERCLA. Grants jurisdiction over such matters to any U.S. Court of Appeals for a circuit in which the applicant resides or transacts business which is directly affected by such regulation (in addition to the jurisdiction currently granted to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia). Extends the period for application for such judicial review from 90 days to 120 days from the date of promulgation of such regulation and permits applications beyond such extended deadline where the application is based solely on grounds which arose after such 120-day period. Sets forth procedures to be followed under specified circumstances when applications for review of the same agency action have been filed in two or more U.S. Courts of Appeals. Allows any court in which such an application has been filed to transfer such application to any other U.S. Court of Appeals for the convenience of the parties or otherwise in the interest of justice.

Adds to specified provisions concerning CERCLA's relationship to State laws. Provides that nothing in specified CERCLA preemption language shall preclude any State from requiring any person to contribute to a fund to pay: (1) the costs of the non-Federal share or other State responsibilities under specified CERCLA response authority provisions; (2) the direct and indirect costs of response actions at facilities or locations where the President has not responded under CERCLA or in addition to response actions taken under CERCLA; or (3) any other management, enforcement, or administration activities related to response actions or other cleanup of hazardous substances or hazardous wastes.

Sets forth provisions relating to Federal facilities. Revises provisions for the President's authority to delegate duties or powers under CERCLA to require the concurrence of the EPA Administrator (or the responsible State official) in the selection of appropriate remedial action with respect to a Federal facility or activity for which such duties or powers are delegated to an officer, employee, or representative of the Federal agency which owns or operates such facility or conducts such activity. Delegates abatement action authority to the EPA Administrator in such cases.

Declares that the Congress finds that: (1) a specified Recommendation of the Administrative Conference of the United States is generally consistent with the goals and purposes of CERCLA; and (2) the EPA Administrator should consider such Recommendation and implement it to the extent that the EPA Administrator determines that such implementation will expedite the cleanup of hazardous substances which have been released into the environment.

Title II - Extends the termination date for the authority to collect taxes conferred by CERCLA. Provides that, unless reauthorized by the Congress, such authority (other than that relating to the Post-closure Liability Trust Fund and the environmental excise tax on hazardous wastes) shall terminate on September 30, 1990, or when the sum of the amounts received in the Treasury under the environmental excise taxes on petroleum and certain chemicals total $6,470,000,000, whichever occurs first.

Extends through FY 1990 the authorization of appropriations for the Emergency Response Trust Fund (Superfund). Makes the amount of such authorization $206,000,000 for each fiscal year of FY 1986 through 1990 (as compared with the $44,000,000 authorization for each fiscal year of FY 1981 through 1985).

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to revise the rates of the environmental excise taxes on petroleum and certain chemicals.

Extends the termination date of the Environmental excise tax on petroleum to September 30, 1990.

Revises provisions relating to definitions and special rules with respect to the environmental excise tax on certain chemicals to add a tax exemption for substances used in the production of animal feed.