PFAS Accountability Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1372 To encourage Federal agencies to expeditiously enter into or amend coopera- tive agreements with States for removal and remedial actions to address PFAS contamination in drinking, surface, and ground water and land surface and subsurface strata, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 8, 2019 Ms. STABENOW (for herself, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. CARPER, Mr. TILLIS, Mrs. SHA- HEEN, Mr. BURR, Mr. PETERS, Ms. HASSAN, Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. CANT- WELL, and Mr. MANCHIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works A BILL To encourage Federal agencies to expeditiously enter into or amend cooperative agreements with States for removal and remedial actions to address PFAS contamination in drinking, surface, and ground water and land surface and subsurface strata, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘PFAS Accountability 4 Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:37 May 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 \\ALPHA3\E\BILLS\S1372.IS S1372 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1372 IS SEC. 2. COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS WITH STATES FOR RE- 1 MOVAL AND REMEDIAL ACTIONS TO AD- 2 DRESS DRINKING, SURFACE, AND GROUND 3 WATER AND SOIL CONTAMINATION FROM 4 PFAS. 5 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 6 (1) FEDERAL FACILITY.— 7 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘Federal fa- 8 cility’’ means a facility (as defined in section 9 101 of the Comprehensive Environmental Re- 10 sponse, Compensation, and Liability Act of 11 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601)) that is owned or oper- 12 ated by the Federal Government. 13 (B) INCLUSION.—The term ‘‘Federal facil- 14 ity’’ includes— 15 (i) a facility or site— 16 (I) owned by, leased to, or other- 17 wise possessed by the United States; 18 or 19 (II) under the jurisdiction of the 20 Secretary of Defense; 21 (ii) a facility or site that, at the time 22 of the actions leading to contamination or 23 suspected contamination of drinking water, 24 surface water, or groundwater or land sur- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:37 May 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 \\ALPHA3\E\BILLS\S1372.IS S1372 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1372 IS face or subsurface strata from a 1 perfluorinated compound, was— 2 (I) owned by, leased to, or other- 3 wise possessed by the United States; 4 or 5 (II) under the jurisdiction of the 6 Secretary of Defense; and 7 (iii) land owned and operated by a 8 State when the land is used for training 9 the National Guard pursuant to chapter 5 10 of title 32, United States Code, with funds 11 provided by the Secretary of Defense or 12 the Secretary of a military department, 13 even though that land is not under the ju- 14 risdiction of the Secretary of Defense. 15 (2) FULLY FLUORINATED CARBON ATOM.—The 16 term ‘‘fully fluorinated carbon atom’’ means a car- 17 bon atom on which all the hydrogen substituents 18 have been replaced by fluorine. 19 (3) PERFLUORINATED COMPOUND.—The term 20 ‘‘perfluorinated compound’’ means a perfluoroalkyl 21 substance or a polyfluoroalkyl substance (or 22 ‘‘PFAS’’) that is manmade with at least 1 fully 23 fluorinated carbon atom. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:21 May 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1372.IS S1372 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1372 IS (4) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean- 1 ing given the term in section 101 of the Comprehen- 2 sive Environmental Response, Compensation, and 3 Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601). 4 (b) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—On request by the Governor 6 or chief executive of a State, a Federal department 7 or agency shall work expeditiously to finalize a coop- 8 erative agreement for, or to amend an existing coop- 9 erative agreement to address, testing, monitoring, 10 removal, and remedial actions to address contamina- 11 tion or suspected contamination of drinking water, 12 surface water, or groundwater or land surface or 13 subsurface strata from a perfluorinated compound 14 originating from a Federal facility. 15 (2) MINIMUM STANDARDS.—A cooperative 16 agreement finalized or amended under paragraph 17 (1) shall require the area subject to the cooperative 18 agreement to meet or exceed the most stringent of 19 the following standards for perfluorinated com- 20 pounds in any environmental media: 21 (A) An enforceable State standard, in ef- 22 fect in that State, for drinking water, surface 23 water, or groundwater or land surface or sub- 24 surface strata, as required under section 121(d) 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:37 May 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 \\ALPHA3\E\BILLS\S1372.IS S1372 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 1372 IS of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, 1 Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 2 U.S.C. 9621(d)). 3 (B) A health advisory under section 4 1412(b)(1)(F) of the Safe Drinking Water Act 5 (42 U.S.C. 300g–1(b)(1)(F)). 6 (C) Any Federal standard, requirement, 7 criterion, or limit, including a standard, re- 8 quirement, criterion, or limit issued under— 9 (i) the Toxic Substances Control Act 10 (15 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.); 11 (ii) the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 12 U.S.C. 300f et seq.); 13 (iii) the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 14 7401 et seq.); 15 (iv) the Federal Water Pollution Con- 16 trol Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.); 17 (v) the Marine Protection, Research, 18 and Sanctuaries Act of 1972 (commonly 19 known as the ‘‘Ocean Dumping Act’’) (33 20 U.S.C. 1401 et seq.); or 21 (vi) the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 22 U.S.C. 6901 et seq.). 23 (3) OTHER AUTHORITY.—In addition to the re- 24 quirements for a cooperative agreement under para- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:37 May 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 \\ALPHA3\E\BILLS\S1372.IS S1372 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 1372 IS graph (1), when otherwise authorized to expend 1 funds for the purpose of addressing ground or sur- 2 face water contaminated by a perfluorinated com- 3 pound, the head of a Federal department or agency 4 may, to expend those funds, enter into a grant 5 agreement, cooperative agreement, or contract 6 with— 7 (A) the local water authority with jurisdic- 8 tion over the contamination site, including— 9 (i) a public water system (as defined 10 in section 1401 of the Safe Drinking 11 Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300f)); and 12 (ii) a publicly owned treatment works 13 (as defined in section 212 of the Federal 14 Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 15 1292)); or 16 (B) a State, local, or Tribal government. 17 (c) NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENT.— 18 (1) DEFINITION OF APPROPRIATE CONGRES- 19 SIONAL COMMITTEES.—In this subsection, the term 20 ‘‘appropriate congressional committees’’ means— 21 (A) the Committee on Environment and 22 Public Works of the Senate; 23 (B) the Committee on Homeland Security 24 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:37 May 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 \\ALPHA3\E\BILLS\S1372.IS S1372 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 1372 IS (C) the Committee on Energy and Com- 1 merce of the House of Representatives; and 2 (D) the Committee on Oversight and Re- 3 form of the House of Representatives. 4 (2) REPORT.— 5 (A) IN GENERAL.—If a cooperative agree- 6 ment is not finalized or amended under sub- 7 section (b) by the date that is 1 year after the 8 date on which a request by the Governor or 9 chief executive of a State was made, the Presi- 10 dent shall submit a report described in subpara- 11 graph (B) to— 12 (i) the appropriate congressional com- 13 mittees; 14 (ii) each Senator from the State af- 15 fected by the perfluorinated compound con- 16 tamination; and 17 (iii) each member of Congress that 18 represents a district affected by the 19 perfluorinated compound contamination. 20 (B) REPORT DESCRIBED.—The report re- 21 ferred to in subparagraph (A) shall include— 22 (i) a detailed explanation of why a co- 23 operative agreement has not been finalized 24 or amended, as applicable; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:37 May 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 \\ALPHA3\E\BILLS\S1372.IS S1372 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 1372 IS (ii) a projected timeline for finalizing 1 or amending a cooperative agreement, as 2 applicable. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:37 May 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 \\ALPHA3\E\BILLS\S1372.IS S1372 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS