Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS -- (Senate - June 10, 2008)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

By Mr. THUNE (for himself, Mr. CARDIN, and Mr. LAUTENBERG):

S. 3109. A bill to amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a hazardous waste electronic manifest system; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a bipartisan bill that seeks to update the way in which the Federal Government tracks the shipment of hazardous waste. I am pleased that Senators CARDIN and LAUTENBERG have joined me in introducing this bill, which builds upon the bipartisan legislation I introduced last Congress with Senator Jeffords and Senator Inhofe when I served as chairman of the Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Superfund and Waste Management.

Simply put, our legislation would direct the Environmental Protection Agency to begin a much needed transformation of the tracking of hazardous wastes. While the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, RCRA, that Congress passed in 1976 has done a great deal to protect human health and the environment, the paper manifest process that is used to track federally-regulated hazardous wastes from ``cradle to grave'' has turned into the single largest continuous paperwork burden imposed on regulated entities under Federal environmental law.

On an annual basis, roughly 139,000 regulated entities track anywhere between 2.5-5 million hazardous waste manifests. This paperwork burden has been estimated to cost states and the regulated community between $200 million and $500 million annually. This is largely due to the fact that each paper manifest is comprised of numerous carbon copies that must be signed, mailed to waste generators and State agencies--and then ultimately stored by each regulated entity. To underscore just how cumbersome this paper manifest is, the Environmental Protection Agency has noted that roughly 22 States don't even keep copies because it represents too large of a paperwork burden.

The benefits of using electronic manifests are numerous and each of the witnesses who testified at the EPW Subcommittee hearing that I chaired on September 26, 2006 spoke to the benefits it would have--both in terms of improving federal oversight of hazardous waste transport and lessening the paperwork burden on regulated entities.

I would like to stress that this legislation builds upon the measure I introduced last Congress and incorporates a handful of changes made at the request of various stakeholders, including Senator BOXER who now chairs the EPW Committee.

Because of the broad support that this measure enjoys, I look forward to the long awaited mark-up of this bill before the EPW Committee. I would like to thank both Senator CARDIN and Senator LAUTENBERG for their support as we work to improve the arcane system currently utilized to track hazardous waste shipments. Transitioning to an electronic system is long overdue and this legislation would be paid for by the users of the system--the generators and waste companies that handle hazardous waste.

In closing I would like to highlight just one of the statements of support I received for the legislation that I began working on over 2 years ago. The following statement of support came from Terrence Gray, President of the Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials, who noted:

It is appropriate, many would say overdue, in the 21st Century economy to have the capability of using electronic reporting for such a tracking system, and we are supportive of your efforts to initiate this process. It is our understanding that [this bill] is the necessary first step in designating the detailed system for electronic manifesting, and for that reason we think it should go forward.

I trust that my colleagues will recognize the benefits of setting up an electronic manifest system as is envisioned under the Thune-Cardin bill we have introduced today.

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