HR 1804 Introduced - Community Cleanup Act

Back in March, Rep Carter (R,GA) introduced HR 1804, the Community Cleanup Act. The bill would expand the public notification requirements of 42 USC 9617 when a site is remediated under provisions of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980

Changes

Section 2(a) of the bill amends §9617(a). It adds a requirement to notify the highest-ranking official of the local government about the contents of the remediation plan. It also expands the content of the plan to include “comments regarding use of the facility at issue after remedial action is taken”.

Section 2(b) amends §9617(b). It adds a requirement to send a copy of the final remediation action plan to “all local, elected officials”.

Section 2(c) amends §9617(d). It expands the definition of ‘publication’ to include an “announcement sent to a radio station, or television station, the broadcast area of which includes the community surrounding the facility at issue” and including the information on various web sites.

Moving Forward

Both Carter and his sole cosponsor {Rep Blunt (D,DE)} are both members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, one of the two committees to which this bill was assigned for consideration. This means that there could be enough influence to see this bill considered in Committee. I do not see anything that would engender any serious opposition to the bill. I suspect that the bill will receive at least some bipartisan support.

If it receives enough bipartisan support in Committee, it will be considered in the House under the suspension of the rules process. If there is not enough bipartisan support to obtain the super majority required under that process, this bill is unlikely to be considered under regular order. It is just not important enough to take up the time necessary to go through the floor debate and amendment process.

Bills Introduced – 3-11-21

Yesterday, with both the House and Senate in session, there were 146 bills introduced. Two of those bills will receive additional coverage in the blog:

HR 1804 To amend the public participation requirements of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, and for other purposes. Rep. Carter, Earl L. "Buddy" [R-GA-1]

HR 1833 To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to provide for the responsibility of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to maintain capabilities to identify threats to industrial control systems, and for other purposes. Rep. Katko, John [R-NY-24]

Interesting turn of phrase “maintain capabilities to identify threats to industrial control systems” in the description of HR 1833. I look forward to seeing what it actually means.

NOTE: Corrected date in title to date of introduction 3-13-21 06:45 EST

HR 1804 Introduced – Crude by Rail Safety Act

As I mentioned earlier, Rep McDermott (D,WA) introduced HR 1804, the Crude-By-Rail Safety Act. This is a companion bill to S 859. This means that the two bills are very nearly identical and were introduced at about the same time so that they could begin the committee process in both houses of Congress at the same time.

Since neither McDermott, nor any of his four co-sponsors are members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, it is unlikely that this bill will be considered in the House any more than S 859 will be considered in the Senate.

Bills Introduced – 04-15-15

Yesterday there were 69 bills introduced in the House and Senate. Of those only two may be of specific interest to readers of this blog:

HR 1804 To protect the public, communities across America, and the environment by increasing the safety of crude oil transportation by railroad, and for other purposes. Rep. McDermott, Jim [D-WA-7]

S 961 A bill to protect information relating to consumers, to require notice of security breaches, and for other purposes. Sen. Carper, Thomas R. [D-DE]

We see a continuing interest in crude oil train regulations by some members of Congress; HR 1804 being just the latest. I don’t think that we will see any real movement on this issue until bills start being drafted by Repubicans. As always, a serious derailment in an urban area or one that otherwise results is significant loss of life or really gross destruction will completely change the legislative picture.

S 961 appears to be just  a breach notification bill. If there are no specific mentions of industrial control system related issues, this will be the last time that this bill is mentioned.