106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.R. 2726

THE SMALL BUSINESS REMEDIATION ACT

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled...

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the Small Business Remediation Act of 1999.

 

SECTION 2. FINDINGS AND INTENT OF CONGRESS.

(a) The Congress declares that the public should be protected from the risk of spilled or waste solvents and other chemicals in the soil, surface water, groundwater, and other environmental media.

 

(b) The Congress finds that the remediation requirements for spilled or waste solvents are often inconsistent, conflicting, and may impose a burden that bears little relationship to the potential harm to human health or the environment; and that these requirements pose a special burden on small businesses and landowners.

 

(c) Congress intends that standards shall be set for remediation that, with an adequate margin of safety, will protect public health from significant risk from these chemicals, and below which level remediation will be permitted but not required.

 

(d) Congress recognizes that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued a Soil Screening Guidance Document setting limits below which dry cleaning solvents in soil, including soils affecting groundwater, will require no further action or study, and several states have adopted remediation cut-off levels based on this range.

 

(g ) Congress resolves that it would be in the public interest to set a maximum level of remediation in soil, surface water, groundwater, and other environmental media for solvents for the dry cleaning industry based on the present soil screening guidance document.

 

SECTION 3. STANDARD FOR CLEAN-UP

(a) The maximum level of remediation for a dry cleaning solvent in soil, surface water, groundwater and other environmental media, other than for groundwater or surface water actually used as a drinking water source, that any person may require of a person who was or is engaged in dry cleaning or in supplying goods or equipment to such a person, or of the owner of land or a facility in which a person was or is conducting dry cleaning shall be equal to the soil screening level for inhalation for that dry cleaning solvent determined in accordance with the Soil Screening Guidance Document.

 

(b) Unless and until the determination for a facility is made in accordance with subsection (a), the maximum level of remediation of that facility for a dry cleaning solvent in soil, surface water, groundwater and other environmental media, other than for groundwater or surface water actually used as a drinking water source, that any person may require of a person described in subsection (a) shall be equal to the generic soil screening level for inhalation for that dry cleaning solvent as set forth in the Soil Screening Guidance Document.

 

(c) The Applicable or Relevant and Appropriate Requirements for dry cleaning solvents under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act shall be the remediation standards set forth in subsection (a) or (b), as applicable,

 

(d) The Administrator may, by rule, change these standards in accordance with the provisions of any revised Soil Screening Guidance Document published after the date of enactment of this Act if necessary to protect human health or the environment,

 

SECTION 4. NON-PREEMPTION

Nothing in this Act:

 

(a) shall preempt or otherwise prevent the federal government or a state government from, remediating soil, surface water, groundwater or other environmental media to a level other than the maximum remediation level determined in accordance with Section 3 if that government determines, on a site-by-site basis, that a more stringent standard is necessary to protect human health or the environment, or

 

(b) shall alter or affect the federal drinking water standards for public consumption under Title XIV of the Public Health Service Act.

 

SECTION 5. DEFINITIONS

For purposes of this Act the term "Soil Screening Guidance Document" means the Soil Screening Guidance: User's Guide (EPA1540IR-961018) and the Soil Screening Guidance: Technical Background Document (EPA1540IR-951128) developed by the Environmental Protection Agency.