Superfund Extension and Improvement Act of 1985

Superfund Extension and Improvement Act of 1985 - Amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) (Superfund) to specify how such program operates within Indian lands. Exempts remedial actions on Indian lands from the cost-sharing and future maintenance requirements imposed on States and requires the President to assure the availability of off-site disposal capability. Authorizes Indian tribes to recover damages for injury to or loss of natural resources resulting from releases of hazardous substances. Treats Indian tribes substantially like States for purposes of certain information, notification, and planning provisions. Includes household water supplies within the scope of alternative water supplies for replacement purposes. Permits a State to apply a credit for certain cleanup expenditures to a site other than the one at which the credit was earned, including credits earned at a National Priority List (NPL) site before the commitment of Federal funds. Requires the State to enter into a cooperative agreement or contract for this purpose. Requires the President to consider long-term as well as short-term costs and to stress permanent solutions to waste contamination when selecting cost-effective remedial responses. Establishes a general cleanup standard for remedial actions which at least provides for the protection of human health and the environment. Requires site specific solutions where needed. States that onsite cleanup must comply with this standard but permits are not required under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA) (Solid Waste Disposal Act). Makes the cleanup of contaminated ground and surface water at NPL sites remedial action requiring State and Federal participation. Limits such designation and Federal involvement to five years or until the general protection standard is met. Requires as a condition of receiving Superfund money for remedial actions that a State provide assurances that there will be adequate capacity and access to hazardous waste management facilities in compliance with RCRA for a State's hazardous waste for the next 20 years. Permits the President to enter into cooperative agreements with States for hazardous waste cleanup on a multi-site basis with reimbursement of costs associated with securing site responses from responsible parties. Revises the health-related authorities of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) to require ATSDR to: (1) provide State and local governments with consultations on toxic or hazardous substances health-related issues; (2) perform health assessments at all NPL sites and certain RCRA hazardous waste disposal facilities; (3) provide health assessments for certain individuals upon request; (4) establish a priority system for assessing CERCLA and RCRA sites based upon the degree of risk to human health; (5) receive and if necessary act upon State and local health assessments as well as its own; (6) report results and recommendations on assessments to the applicable State and the Administrator of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); (7) recover assessment costs from the site owner or operator; (8) conduct pilot epidemiological studies; (9) establish a registry of exposed persons if necessary; and (10) study and report to the Congress on the cost-effectiveness of medical surveillance programs. Directs the President to reduce exposures which an assessment or study finds present significant risks to human health and to mitigate such risks by providing alternative water supplies and individual relocations among other steps. Prohibits health-related activities from impeding cleanup activities. Directs the Administrator of ATSDR to prepare and update a list of hazardous substances which present the most significant potential threat to human health because of their pervasiveness or toxicity. Requires the Administrator to initiate research programs for substances of which not much is known and to coordinate them with toxicological testing techniques. Requires such research to be coordinated with other research efforts of EPA. Expresses the sense of the Congress that the costs of such research should be borne by the manufacturers of the substance in question or, where this is not practical, by the parties responsible for the release of such substance. Directs the Administrator to prepare and update toxicological profiles on each listed substance. Subjects all such research findings to peer review before dissemination. Authorizes the Administrator to establish and report to the Congress on a toxic substance diagnostic education program for health professionals. Earmarks funding from Superfund for the expenses of ATSDR. Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to require owners and operators of landfills and surface impoundments to submit to EPA or a State with an authorized program an assessment of the potential for public exposure to hazardous substances released from their units. Makes such information available to ATSDR, which may then conduct its own assessment of a particular site if necessary. Amends CERCLA to require an opportunity for public comment before a particular remedial action is chosen for any site or any settlement agreement is made. Directs the Administrator of EPA to place a high priority on purchasing the remaining properties in the Love Canal emergency declaration area, Niagara Falls, New York. Directs the President to revise the National Hazardous Substance Plan part of the National Contingency Plan (NCP) to provide procedures and standards for remedial actions pursuant to this Act. Requires the President to amend the hazard ranking system to accurately reflect the relative degree of risk to human health and the environment posed by sites and facilities subject to review. Requires such system to be applied to sites and facilities newly listed on the NPL. Renders State or local governments not liable for damages from non-negligent actions taken in response to emergencies created by the release of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant from a site or facility owned by another person. Authorizes the Administrator to indemnify contractors engaged to respond to the release of hazardous substances. Directs the Administrator to select five States to establish and operate for at least five years a victim assistance demonstration program for individuals injured through exposure to hazardous substances. Sets forth application and program criteria and conditions upon such grants. Requires such programs to include group insurance benefits for burial, medical treatment, and disability. Permits the use of Superfund to pay for alternative water supplies in cases involving federally-owned facilities where groundwater contamination exists beyond the Federal boundary and such facility is not the only potentially responsible party. Extends the statute of limitations for filing claims against Superfund or responsible parties for damages to natural resources until the later of three years after discovery or the promulgation of damage assessment regulations. Sets an outside limit of six years after a response action. Permits the review of CERCLA regulations in any U.S. Court of Appeals. Provides a procedure to determine the forum when more than one appeal has been made. Declares that States are not preempted by Superfund from taxing the same hazardous substances as Superfund does. Limits the 50 percent (or greater) cost-sharing of cleanup obligations of a State or local government which owns a targeted facility to those situations where the State or local government both owns and operates such facility. Requires reimbursement out of Superfund to a State for expenditures in excess of ten percent of cleanup costs at a government-owned but not government-operated facility. Authorizes the President to enter into a consent order for the carrying out of a response action with and by responsible parties. Establishes daily fines for noncompliance. Directs the Administrator to enforce a mandatory schedule for remedial investigations and feasibility studies for all facilities on the NPL. Requires the Administrator to list at least 1,600 facilities on such list by the start of 1988. Requires the commencement of remedial investigations and feasibility studies for such newly listed facilities within two years of this Act's enactment. Requires the commencement of substantial and continuous onsite remedial action at NPL facilities at a rate of 150 per year by FY 1987. Directs the Administrator to complete preliminary assessments of all facilities on the Emergency and Remedial Response Information System (ERRIS) list by the start of 1987. Requires the Administrator to ensure completion of remedial actions on the NPL as of the date of enactment within five years, requiring a published explanation of any noncompletions. Grants high priority to the acquisition of properties in an emergency area because of the release of hazardous substances before May 22, 1980. Requires each Federal agency and department to notify the Administrator of EPA, within six months of this Act's enactment, of any hazardous substance treated, stored, or disposed of at Federal facilities under their control. Requires such agencies and departments to make annual reports to the Administrator on all facilities not on the initial notice. Requires such initial notice to describe the location, nature, toxicity, contamination, response actions, and cleanup techniques for the hazardous substances. Directs the Administrator to establish a Public Federal Agency Hazardous Waste Compliance Docket (Compliance Docket) to record each listed facility and subsequent actions taken. Requires preliminary assessment of each facility for possible evaluation under the NCP and inclusion on the NPL. Requires Federal agencies or departments responsible for facilities placed on the NPL to commence a remedial investigation and feasibility study for such facility and enter into an interagency agreement with the Administrator to conduct remedial action. Requires continuous, substantial onsite response within six months of the agreement. Requires that such agreements: (1) review alternative remedial actions with the Administrator selecting the construction design; (2) schedule completion of remedial actions; and (3) arrange for long-term operation and maintenance of the facility. Requires completion of remedial actions within two years of the agreement to the extent practicable, with explanations of noncompletion to be included on the Compliance Docket and in the agency's or department's annual report to the Congress on its progress on reaching and implementing interagency agreements. Requires such annual report to also include cost information and public comments. Makes Federal facility cleanup actions ineligible for Superfund monies. Provides that the Administrator shall retain enforcement and administrative authority. Requires the Administrator to bring enforcement actions through the Attorney General against any department or agency in noncompliance. Includes Federal facilities within CERCLA guidelines for preliminary assessments, NCP evaluations, and inclusion on the NPL. Directs the Administrator to revise the NCP and propose amendments to the hazard ranking system to reflect this Act's amendments within one year of the enactment of this Act. Permits citizen action lawsuits against any party, including the Federal Government, involved with any hazardous substance in such a way as may present an imminent and substantial endangerment to health or the environment or against the Administrator of EPA or ATSDR for failure to perform a required duty. Requires potential plaintiffs to give 120 days notice to the appropriate Federal and State officials as well as the alleged violator before commencing an action. Prohibits such an action if the Administrator or the State has commenced and is prosecuting court action already or a settlement has been reached. Permits intervention as a matter of right. Prohibits citizen actions for the siting or issuance of a permit to a hazardous waste disposal facility. Authorizes the Federal district court to award costs to any substantially prevailing party. Deems consistent with CERCLA, and directs the Administrator to consider using, Recommendation 84-4 of the Administrative Conference of the United States relating to facilitating negotiated private party cleanup of hazardous substances. Directs the Secretary of Transportation to establish a centralized computer-based system accessible to Government officials through remote communications equipment to provide information on the identity and nature of response means and other suitable information regarding any shipment regulated by the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act. Reauthorizes Superfund for an additional five years, through FY 1990.