Bush to Seek Curbs on Hazardous Waste Exports to Third World

President Bush, seeking to impose controls on dumping of hazardous wastes to the Third World, announced Friday that he will propose legislation to outlaw such exports unless the country guarantees that it will handle the material in an environmentally safe manner.

The move is an attempt to forestall the possibility that U.S. firms might turn to less developed countries as waste-disposal sites in an effort to dodge domestic regulations that have become increasingly stringent.

That specter was raised last summer, when American companies sought permission from governments of the Congo, Benin and Guinea Bissau to dispose of waste in their countries.

Those West African states refused the requests at the time, but U.S. officials have become concerned that economic need might compel such countries to accept contracts to dispose of waste with which they are unable to cope.

“We’re determined to work with other concerned governments to exercise wise stewardship over our environment, particularly where matters of health are concerned,” Bush said in announcing the proposed move at a swearing-in ceremony for Louis W. Sullivan, the new secretary of health and human services.

The proposal would not affect the bulk of the 275 million tons of hazardous industrial waste generated annually in this country. Nearly all of it is disposed of domestically and most of the rest is sent to Canada and Mexico, with which the United States already has agreements guaranteeing safe disposal.

Nor would the measure regulate the disposal of municipal wastes, including sludge and incinerator ash, some of which now is sent to other countries.

But the legislation for the first time would allow the United States to veto proposed waste exports until recipient countries sign treaties obligating them to follow rigorous procedures in the disposal of hazardous wastes.

While there has been no significant increase in waste exports to Third World countries in recent years, there has been a marked jump in the number of requests for permits for such exports, according to officials of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Those requests provide U.S. companies with a “credit card” enabling them to dispose of waste in places where standards are less strict, said Wendy Greider of the agency’s office of international activities. “That’s what we want to revoke,” she said.

“This is the realization of a potential problem and an attempt to come to grips with it,” said Linda Fisher, assistant administrator for policy at the EPA.

Agency officials said that while only Canada and Mexico have signed treaties with the United States regulating waste disposal, they expect that such treaties could be quickly concluded with other nations that currently recycle or dispose of small amounts of U.S. hazardous waste, including members of the European Community and Japan.