Armed Services Bill IX
H. R. 3155
A BILL
To require the suspension of the use, sale, development, production, testing, and export of depleted uranium munitions pending the outcome of certain studies of the health effects of such munitions, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
(a) SHORT TITLE- This Act may be
cited as the `Depleted Uranium Munitions Suspension and Study Act of 2001'.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS- The table of contents of this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of
contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Purposes.
Sec. 4. Suspension of use of depleted uranium munitions.
Sec. 5. Suspension of sale and export of depleted uranium munitions.
Sec. 6. Comptroller general investigation of plutonium contamination.
Sec. 7. Study of health effects of depleted uranium.
Sec. 8. EPA studies of environmental contamination by depleted uranium.
Sec. 9. Environmental mitigation and cleanup requirements.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The highest regard should be
given to the health and safety of the Nation's military personnel.
(2) Among the characteristics of depleted uranium munitions are that (A) they
are pyrophoric, resulting in the munition burning upon impact with a target, and
(B) the impact of a depleted uranium munition on a target creates aerosol
particles, which can be inhaled.
(3) Depleted uranium munitions were used by the United States in 1991 during the
Persian Gulf War in Southwest Asia and during the conflicts in the former
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Bosnia, Kosovo, Serbia, and Montenegro) during
the 1990s, with approximately 300 metric tons of depleted uranium being used
during the Gulf War, three metric tons being used in Bosnia, and over nine
metric tons being used in Kosovo, Serbia, and Montenegro.
(4) The United States has provided or sold depleted uranium and depleted uranium
munitions to allied nations, and the United Kingdom used depleted uranium
munitions during the Persian Gulf War.
(5) Depleted uranium munitions have been used at numerous United States military
installations, proving grounds, and testing facilities.
(6) The Yugoslav and Iraqi Governments have claimed that depleted uranium is
affecting the health of their people, although such claims have yet to be
independently verified.
(7) No definitive cause has been established for the various illnesses (commonly
referred to as `Gulf War Syndrome') that currently affect approximately 130,000
United States servicemembers and veterans who served in Southwest Asia during
the Persian Gulf War.
(8) The British Royal Navy, Canadian Navy, and United States Navy have all
announced that they would phase out use of depleted uranium munitions.
(9) It has been reported that depleted uranium munitions use has proliferated to
more than 20 nations.
(10) Crash investigators of the Federal Aviation Administration are instructed,
in FAA Advisory Circular 20-123, dated December 20, 1984, to `handle with
caution' any depleted uranium that they encounter in crash investigations, and
are instructed that `the main hazard associated with depleted uranium is the
harmful effect the material could have if it enters the body,' and that `[i]f
particles are inhaled or digested, they can be chemically toxic and cause a
significant and long-lasting irradiation of internal tissues,'.
(11) The 1949 Geneva Convention specifically outlines the precautions warring
nations must take to avoid harming civilian populations, and it would be a
violation of the 1977 Protocol to that Convention to cause superfluous injury or
unnecessary suffering to civilians, as depleted uranium has the potential to
cause.
(12) The Department of Defense has acknowledged that stocks of depleted uranium
munitions have been contaminated with transuranic elements, including plutonium.
(13) Plutonium is an extremely toxic, carcinogenic, and radioactive material
with a half-life of 4.5 billion years.
The purposes of this Act are the following:
(1) To eliminate health threats from depleted uranium munitions to--
(A) United States military
personnel and United States civilian employees;
(B) military personnel and employees of NATO member nations; and
(C) civilian populations in regions where such munitions were used (whether in
conflict, training, or development) or produced.
(2) To provide for studies of--
(A) the level and scope of contamination of depleted uranium munitions by plutonium and other transuranic elements;
(B) the health effects resulting from exposure by inhalation, ingestion, or injection to depleted uranium munitions; and
(C) environmental contamination caused by depleted uranium at sites where depleted uranium was used in conflict, development, testing, or training and at sites where depleted uranium and depleted uranium munitions were produced.
(3) To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to issue regulations and requirements, based upon Environmental Protection Agency studies, concerning the cleanup and mitigation of depleted uranium contamination at sites of depleted uranium munition use and production in the United States.
(a) SUSPENSION OF USE- Effective no later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall direct that all elements of the Department of Defense suspend use of depleted uranium munitions.
(b) DURATION- (1) The suspension of use of depleted uranium munitions required by subsection (a) shall remain in effect until the Secretary of Health and Human Services, based upon the results of the study under section 7(a), certifies to the committees specified in paragraph (2) that use of depleted uranium munitions in future conflicts--
(A) will not pose a likely long-term or residual threat to the health of United States or NATO military personnel; and
(B) will not jeopardize the health of civilian populations in the area of such use.
(2) The committees referred to in paragraph (1) are the following:
(A) The Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Government Reform of the House of Representatives.
(B) The Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Governmental Affairs of the Senate.
(c) FUTURE USE LIMITED TO STOCKS FREE OF TRANSURANIC MATTER- Upon a certification by the Secretary of Health and Human Services described in subsection (b), the Secretary of Defense shall limit any subsequent use of depleted uranium munitions to stocks of such munitions that the Secretary certifies to be free of plutonium and other transuranic matter.
(a) SUSPENSION OF SALE AND EXPORT- Upon the enactment of this Act, all elements of the Government with responsibility for approving the foreign sale or export of munitions shall suspend the approval of the sale and export of munitions containing depleted uranium.
(b) DURATION- The suspension required by subsection (a) of approval of the foreign sale and export of depleted uranium munitions shall remain in effect until the Secretary of Health and Human Services makes a certification described in section 4(b).
(c) FUTURE EXPORTS TO BE LIMITED TO STOCKS FREE OF TRANSURANIC MATTER- Upon a certification by the Secretary of Health and Human Services described in section 4(b), any subsequent foreign sale or export of depleted uranium munitions or preproduction depleted uranium may be made only from stocks of such munitions or preproduction depleted uranium that the Secretary of Defense certifies to be free of plutonium and other transuranic matter, excluding depleted uranium.
(a) INVESTIGATION- The Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct a full investigation into the contamination of stocks of depleted uranium munitions with transuranic elements, including plutonium, neptunium, americium, and other forms of uranium. The investigation shall include--
(1) determination of when such contamination occurred;
(2) identification of the manufacturing or refining facilities at which such contamination occurred;
(3) identification of the quantity, by volume and percentage, of the material by which such contamination occurred;
(4) identification of when such contamination was first realized by Department of Defense personnel and when such contamination was brought to the attention of senior Department of Defense management;
(5) identification of persons responsible for monitoring the quality of such production;
(6) identification of the time when notification of such contamination was made to NATO-member nations; and
(7) determination of whether any law or treaty was broken by any such contamination or by any failure to provide timely notice of such contamination to any affected party.
(b) REPORT- Upon completion of the investigation under subsection (a), the Comptroller General shall submit to the committeed specified in section 4(b)(2) a report on the investigation.
(a) STUDY- The Director of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and the Director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention shall jointly conduct a comprehensive study of the health effects of exposure to depleted uranium munitions on uranium-exposed veterans and on their children who were born after their respective exposures to uranium.
(b) URANIUM-EXPOSED VETERANS- For purposes of this section, the term `uranium-exposed veteran' means a member or former member of the Armed Forces who while on active duty handled, came in contact with, or had the likelihood of contact with depleted uranium munitions, including members and former members who while on active duty--
(1) were exposed to smoke from fires resulting from the burning of vehicles uploaded with depleted uranium munitions or fires at depots at which depleted uranium was stored;
(2) worked within environments containing depleted uranium dust or residues from depleted uranium fires;
(3) were within a structure or vehicle while it was struck by a depleted uranium munition;
(4) climbed on or entered equipment or structures struck by depleted uranium; or
(5) were medical personnel who provided near-term treatment to members of the Armed Forces described in paragraph (1), (2), (3), or (4).
(c) PUBLIC HEALTH ASSESSMENT- The Director of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry shall conduct a public health assessment of persons who are thought to have an epidemiological link to any United States military installation or facility at which depleted uranium munitions have been or currently are used or any production facility at which depleted uranium or depleted uranium munitions are currently, or have been, produced.
(d) REPORT- The Directors shall submit to Congress a report on the results of the study under subsection (a) and the assessment under subsection (c). The report shall be submitted not later than two years after the date of the enactment of this Act and shall include the findings of the Directors on the matters covered by the report. The Directors shall include in the report a list of diseases or conditions that are found to exist within the populations specified in subsection (a) and their rate of occurrence compared to the general population.
(a) LIST OF LOCATIONS IN UNITED STATES- Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall provide to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency a list of all sites in the United States where depleted uranium munitions have been used or produced and a site-specific map of each such site.
(b) EPA STUDIES- After receipt of the list and maps under subsection (a), the Administrator shall, for each site specified on the list, conduct a comprehensive environmental study of the possible contamination of the soil, air, water, and vegetation by depleted uranium at that site.
(c) REPORT- Not later than two years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency shall submit to the Secretary of Defense and the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Government Reform of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Governmental Affairs of the Senate a report--
(1) describing the extent of contamination by depleted uranium at each site studied by the Administrator pursuant to subsection (b);
(2) providing site-specific recommendations for the mitigation and cleanup of each such site; and
(3) providing general recommendations regarding the cleanup of sites where depleted uranium has been used on foreign lands.
(a) DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE CLEANUP PLAN- Not later than one year after receiving the report under section 8(c), the Secretary of Defense shall develop a plan for mitigation and cleanup at each site and a prioritized list for such cleanups. The Secretary shall submit a copy of the plan to the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Government Reform of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Governmental Affairs of the Senate.
(b) REPORT- The Secretary shall submit a report to those committees and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency each year before commencement of the mitigations and cleanups until those projects are complete.
(c) CLEANUP- After filing of such plans, the Secretary shall commence, or contract for, the mitigation and cleanup of each site for which the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency has recommended such mitigation and cleanup and in the manner and scope that the Administrator's report specifies.
(d) APPLICABILITY OF NEPA- Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the cleanup and mitigation required by subsection (c) shall be carried out in a manner consistent with the provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, without regard to any exemption to any of the provisions of that Act for the Department of Defense or any element thereof.