Section 6908 - Small town environmental planning(a) EstablishmentThe Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (hereafter referred to as the "Administrator") shall establish a program to assist small communities in planning and financing environmental facilities. The program shall be known as the "Small Town Environmental Planning Program".
(b) Small Town Environmental Planning Task Force(1) The Administrator shall establish a Small Town Environmental Planning Task Force which shall be composed of representatives of small towns from different areas of the United States, Federal and State governmental agencies, and public interest groups. The Administrator shall terminate the Task Force not later than 2 years after the establishment of the Task Force.(2) The Task Force shall-(A) identify regulations developed pursuant to Federal environmental laws which pose significant compliance problems for small towns;(B) identify means to improve the working relationship between the Environmental Protection Agency (hereafter referred to as the Agency) and small towns;(C) review proposed regulations for the protection of the environmental and public health and suggest revisions that could improve the ability of small towns to comply with such regulations;(D) identify means to promote regionalization of environmental treatment systems and infrastructure serving small towns to improve the economic condition of such systems and infrastructure; and(c) Identification of environmental requirements(1) Not later than 6 months after October 6, 1992, the Administrator shall publish a list of requirements under Federal environmental and public health statutes (and the regulations developed pursuant to such statutes) applicable to small towns. Not less than annually, the Administrator shall make such additions and deletions to and from the list as the Administrator deems appropriate.(2) The Administrator shall, as part of the Small Town Environmental Planning Program under this section, implement a program to notify small communities of the regulations identified under paragraph (1) and of future regulations and requirements through methods that the Administrator determines to be effective to provide information to the greatest number of small communities, including any of the following:(A) Newspapers and other periodicals.(C) Trade, municipal, and other associations that the Administrator determines to be appropriate.(d) Small Town OmbudsmanThe Administrator shall establish and staff an Office of the Small Town Ombudsman. The Office shall provide assistance to small towns in connection with the Small Town Environmental Planning Program and other business with the Agency. Each regional office shall identify a small town contact. The Small Town Ombudsman and the regional contacts also may assist larger communities, but only if first priority is given to providing assistance to small towns.
(e) Multi-media permits(1) The Administrator shall conduct a study of establishing a multi-media permitting program for small towns. Such evaluation shall include an analysis of-(A) environmental benefits and liabilities of a multi-media permitting program;(B) the potential of using such a program to coordinate a small town's environmental and public health activities; and(C) the legal barriers, if any, to the establishment of such a program.(2) Within 3 years after October 6, 1992, the Administrator shall report to Congress on the results of the evaluation performed in accordance with paragraph (1). Included in this report shall be a description of the activities conducted pursuant to subsections (a) through (d).(f) "Small town" definedFor purposes of this section, the term "small town" means an incorporated or unincorporated community (as defined by the Administrator) with a population of less than 2,500 individuals.
(g) AuthorizationThere is authorized to be appropriated the sum of $500,000 to implement this section.
Pub. L. 102-386, title I, §109, Oct. 6, 1992, 106 Stat. 1515.EDITORIAL NOTES
CODIFICATIONSection was enacted as part of the Federal Facility Compliance Act of 1992, and not as part of the Solid Waste Disposal Act which comprises this chapter.
- Administrator
- The term "Administrator" means the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
- Federal facility
- The term "Federal facility" means any building that is constructed, renovated, leased, or purchased in part or in whole for use by the Federal Government.
- State
- The term "State" means any of the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
- disposal
- The term "disposal" means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking, or placing of any solid waste or hazardous waste into or on any land or water so that such solid waste or hazardous waste or any constituent thereof may enter the environment or be emitted into the air or discharged into any waters, including ground waters.
- solid waste
- The term "solid waste" means any garbage, refuse, sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations, and from community activities, but does not include solid or dissolved material in domestic sewage, or solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows or industrial discharges which are point sources subject to permits under section 1342 of title 33, or source, special nuclear, or byproduct material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (68 Stat. 923) [42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.].