Thune bill passes into law

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A bill authored by Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., that seeks to modernize the way both the states and the federal government track the shipment of hazardous waste was signed into law by the president Friday.

The Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest Establishment Act (S. 710) modernizes a 25-year-old requirement by the Environmental Protection Agency which mandates that businesses provide carbon copy paper manifests to accompany waste materials from their origin to ultimate storage or disposal — commonly referred to as “cradle to grave” documentation.

The bill was originally introduced in the Senate by Thune and had bipartisan sponsorship.

“Congress has a responsibility to make federal regulatory processes more efficient and less costly,” he said.

“It is long overdue for Congress to cut the red tape for businesses by streamlining and modernizing the tracking of shipment of hazardous waste.”

Roughly 139,000 regulated businesses submit between 2.5 million to 5 million hazardous waste manifests annually at a cost between $200 million and $500 million per year.

Businesses that utilize everything from dry-cleaning chemicals to used engine oil are required to properly document the shipment of waste materials to ensure they are disposed of properly under existing environmental law.

Thune began working on this issue in 2005 when he was the Senate Environment and Public Works subcommittee chairman on superfund and waste management.

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