{ "id": "R43441", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "R43441", "active": true, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 433436, "date": "2014-08-12", "retrieved": "2016-04-06T20:11:44.564202", "title": "S. 1961 and H.R. 4024: Legislative Responses to a Chemical Storage Facility Spill", "summary": "In January 2014, an estimated 10,000 gallons of 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol (MCHM) and other chemicals leaked from a bulk aboveground storage tank at a chemical storage facility located upstream from the intake pipes of the water treatment plant serving Charleston, WV, and nearby counties. In the wake of the resulting contamination of this large public water supply, Congress has undertaken oversight and is considering legislative options.\nThe chemical storage tank at the center of the West Virginia incident appears to not have been subject to regulation under various federal or state laws aimed at protecting water resources from chemical releases. Oversight hearings by House and Senate committees began within a month to review the event, and to identify policy issues regarding the federal and state roles in regulating chemical facilities and whether legislation might be warranted. In further response to the spill, S. 1961, the Chemical Safety and Preparedness Act, was introduced on January 27, 2014, and H.R. 4024, the Ensuring Access to Clean Water Act of 2014, was introduced on February 10, 2014.\nThis report describes and analyzes H.R. 4024 and S. 1961, as reported. The bills share a number of broadly similar provisions\u2014both would direct states or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish programs to prevent and respond to releases from chemical storage facilities (H.R. 4024) or tanks (S. 1961) located near drinking water sources\u2014but they take different approaches to doing so: S. 1961 would make programmatic changes by amending the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), while H.R. 4024 would amend the Clean Water Act (CWA).\nThe bills would require states with primary enforcement responsibility for public water systems (S. 1961), or states with primary authority to issue CWA discharge permits (H.R. 4024), to establish a regulatory program for chemical storage tanks or facilities, and would have EPA establish programs in other states. Only S. 1961 would require EPA to establish and administer the program in primacy states that refrain from doing so. H.R. 4024 would require EPA or states to carry out a \u201cchemical storage facility source water protection program\u201d within one year of enactment, while S. 1961 would give EPA or states two years to establish a \u201cchemical storage tank surface water protection program.\u201d\nBoth bills include similar program requirements: (1) a state inventory of chemical storage facilities (H.R. 4024) or tanks (S. 1961); (2) regular inspections; and (3) requirements for facilities or tanks (including construction standards, leak detection, emergency response and communication plans, employee training, etc.). Both bills would authorize EPA or a state to issue corrective action orders to enforce the requirements of the legislation, and to recover response costs from facility or tank owners or operators. The bills would require pre-transfer inspections of facilities or tanks, and require information about stored chemicals and response plans to be shared with local water systems. The bills define \u201cchemical\u201d and \u201cstorage tank\u201d differently, but would give states or EPA broad discretion in determining the scope of covered facilities or tanks.\nBoth bills contemplate creating state programs to provide for oversight and inspection of covered chemical storage facilities or tanks, but neither would provide financial resources to assist states in establishing or administering the programs. The pending bills broadly present one approach among an array of possible approaches that have received some discussion. Some Members of Congress and stakeholders have suggested that a federal legislative response to the West Virginia spill is premature, saying that they favor allowing states to take the lead in determining the need for and details of programs to address chemical storage tanks and facilities within their borders.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R43441", "sha1": "dd540578352ff292fcfca9d16c4ac1b29b01de43", "filename": "files/20140812_R43441_dd540578352ff292fcfca9d16c4ac1b29b01de43.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R43441", "sha1": "45797f031964c24f0b48b82708f1456059f6a2cf", "filename": "files/20140812_R43441_45797f031964c24f0b48b82708f1456059f6a2cf.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc284529/", "id": "R43441_2014Mar26", "date": "2014-03-26", "retrieved": "2014-05-06T21:21:54", "title": "S. 1961 and H.R. 4024: Legislative Responses to a Chemical Storage Facility Spill", "summary": "This report describes and analyzes the Chemical Safety and Preparedness Act and H.R. 4024, the Ensuring Access to Clean Water Act of 2014.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20140326_R43441_3e08e90c5131bbffa75b0d12124fc2a13e138e96.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20140326_R43441_3e08e90c5131bbffa75b0d12124fc2a13e138e96.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Pollution", "name": "Pollution" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Hazardous substances", "name": "Hazardous substances" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Chemical spills", "name": "Chemical spills" } ] } ], "topics": [] }