withhold information from Congress or any committee of Congress upon the request of the chairman of such committee.

(9) TRAINING.-The Administrator is authorized and directed to carry out, through the Office of Technology demonstration, a program of training and an evaluation of training needs for each of the following:

(A) Training in the procedures for the handling and removal of hazardous substances for employees who handle hazardous substances.

(B) Training in the management of facilities at which hazardous substances are located and in the evaluation of the hazards to human health presented by such facilities for State and local health and environment agency personnel.

(10) DEFINITION.-For purposes of this subsection, the term "alternative or innovative treatment technologies" means those technologies, including proprietary or patented methods, which permanently alter the composition of hazardous waste through chemical, biological, or physical means so as to significantly reduce the toxicity, mobility, or volume (or any combination thereof) of the hazardous waste or contaminated materials being treated. The term also includes technologies that characterize or assess the extent of contamination, the chemical and physical character of the contaminants, and the stresses imposed by the contaminants on complex ecosystems at sites. (c) HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE RESEARCH.-The Administrator may conduct and support, through grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts, research with respect to the detection, assessment, and evaluation of the effects on and risks to human health of hazardous substances and detection of hazardous substances in the environment. The Administrator shall coordinate such research with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the advisory council established under this section, in order to avoid duplication of effort.

(d) UNIVERSITY HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE RESEARCH CENTERS.

(1) GRANT PROGRAM.-The Administrator shall make grants to institutions of higher learning to establish and operate not fewer than 5 hazardous substance research centers in the United States. In carrying out the program under this subsection, the Administrator should seek to have established and operated 10 hazardous substance research centers in the United States.

(2) RESPONSIBILITIES OF CENTERS.-The responsibilities of each hazardous substance research center established under this subsection shall include, but not be limited to, the conduct of research and training relating to the manufacture, use, transportation, disposal, and management of hazardous substances and publication and dissemination of the results of such research.

(3) APPLICATIONS.-Any institution of higher learning interested in receiving a grant under this subsection shall submit to the Administrator an application in such form and containing such information as the Administrator may require by regulation.

(4) SELECTION CRITERIA.-The Administrator shall select recipients of grants under this subsection on the basis of the following criteria:

(A) The hazardous substance research center shall be located in a State which is representative of the needs of the region in which such State is located for improved hazardous waste management.

(B) The grant recipient shall be located in an area which has experienced problems with hazardous substance management.

(C) There is available to the grant recipient for carrying out this subsection demonstrated research resources.

(D) The capability of the grant recipient to provide leadership in making national and regional contributions to the solution of both long-range and immediate hazardous substance management problems.

(E) The grant recipient shall make a commitment to support ongoing hazardous substance research programs with budgeted institutional funds of at least $100,000 per year.

(F) The grant recipient shall have an interdisciplinary staff with demonstrated expertise in hazardous substance management and research.

(G) The grant recipient shall have a demonstrated ability to disseminate results of hazardous substance research and educational programs through an interdisciplinary continuing education program.

(H) The projects which the grant recipient proposes to carry out under the grant are necessary and appropriate. (5) MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT.-No grant may be made under this subsection in any fiscal year unless the recipient of such grant enters into such agreements with the Administrator as the Administrator may require to ensure that such recipient will maintain its aggregate expenditures from all other sources for establishing and operating a regional hazardous substance research center and related research activities at or above the average level of such expenditures in its 2 fiscal years preceding the date of the enactment of this subsection.

(6) FEDERAL SHARE.-The Federal share of a grant under this subsection shall not exceed 80 percent of the costs of establishing and operating the regional hazardous substance research center and related research activities carried out by the grant recipient.

(7) LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS.-No funds made available to carry out this subsection shall be used for acquisition of real property (including buildings) or construction of any building.

(8) ADMINISTRATION THROUGH THE OFFICE OF THE ADMINISTRATOR.-Administrative responsibility for carrying out this subsection shall be in the Office of the Administrator.

(9) EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS.-The Administrator shall allocate funds made available to carry out this subsection equitably among the regions of the United States.

(10) TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER Activities.-Not less than five percent of the funds made available to carry out this subsection

for any fiscal year shall be available to carry out technology transfer activities.

(e) REPORT TO CONGRESS.-At the time of the submission of the annual budget request to Congress, the Administrator shall submit to the appropriate committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate and to the advisory council established under subsection (a), a report on the progress of the research, development, and demonstration program authorized by subsection (b), including an evaluation of each demonstration project completed in the preceding fiscal year, findings with respect to the efficacy of such demonstrated technologies in achieving permanent and significant reductions in risk from hazardous wastes, the costs of such demonstration projects, and the potential applicability of, and projected costs for, such technologies at other hazardous substance sites.

(f) SAVING PROVISION.-Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the provisions of the Solid Waste Disposal Act.

(g) SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION.-The Administrator shall ensure, to the maximum extent practicable, an adequate opportunity for small business participation in the program established by subsection (b).

SEC. 312. LOVE CANAL PROPERTY ACQUISITION.

(a) ACQUISITION OF PROPERTY IN EMERGENCY DECLARATION AREA.-The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (hereinafter referred to as the "Administrator") may make grants not to exceed $2,500,000 to the State of New York (or to any duly constituted public agency or authority thereof) for purposes of acquisition of private property in the Love Canal Emergency Declaration Area. Such acquisition shall include (but shall not be limited to) all private property within the Emergency Declaration Area, including non-owner occupied residential properties, commercial, industrial, public, religious, non-profit, and vacant properties.

(b) PROCEDURES FOR ACQUISITION.-No property shall be acquired pursuant to this section unless the property owner voluntarily agrees to such acquisition. Compensation for any property acquired pursuant to this section shall be based upon the fair market value of the property as it existed prior to the emergency declaration. Valuation procedures for property acquired with funds provided under this section shall be in accordance with those set forth in the agreement entered into between the New York State Disaster Preparedness Commission and the Love Canal Revitalization Agency on October 9, 1980.

(c) STATE OWNERSHIP.-The Administrator shall not provide any funds under this section for the acquisition of any properties pursuant to this section unless a public agency or authority of the State of New York first enters into a cooperative agreement with the Administrator providing assurances deemed adequate by the Administrator that the State or an agency created under the laws of the State shall take title to the properties to be so acquired.

(d) MAINTENANCE OF PROPERTY.-The Administrator shall enter into a cooperative agreement with an appropriate public agency or authority of the State of New York under which the Administrator shall maintain or arrange for the maintenance of all properties within the Emergency Declaration Area that have been acquired by

any public agency or authority of the State. Ninety (90) percent of the costs of such maintenance shall be paid by the Administrator. The remaining portion of such costs shall be paid by the State (unless a credit is available under section 104(c)). The Administrator is authorized, in his discretion, to provide technical assistance to any public agency or authority of the State of New York in order to implement the recommendations of the habitability and land-use study in order to put the land within the Emergency Declaration Area to its best use.

(e) HABITABILITY AND LAND USE STUDY.-The Administrator shall conduct or cause to be conducted a habitability and land-use study. The study shall

(1) assess the risks associated with inhabiting of the Love Canal Emergency Declaration Area;

(2) compare the level of hazardous waste contamination in that Area to that present in other comparable communities; and (3) assess the potential uses of the land within the Emergency Declaration Area, including but not limited to residential, industrial, commercial and recreational, and the risks associated with such potential uses.

The Administrator shall publish the findings of such study and shall work with the State of New York to develop recommendations based upon the results of such study.

(f) FUNDING.-For purposes of section 111 [and 221(c) of this Act], the expenditures authorized by this section shall be treated as a cost specified in section 111(c).

(g) RESPONSE.-The provisions of this section shall not affect the implementation of other response actions within the Emergency Declaration Area that the Administrator has determined (before enactment of this section) to be necessary to protect the public health or welfare or the environment.

(h) DEFINITIONS.-For purposes of this section:

(1) EMERGENCY DECLARATION AREA.-The terms "Emergency Declaration Area" and "Love Canal Emergency Declaration Area" mean the Emergency Declaration Area as defined in section 950, paragraph (2) of the General Municipal Law of the State of New York, Chapter 259, Laws of 1980, as in effect on the date of the enactment of this section.

(2) PRIVATE PROPERTY.-As used in subsection (a), the term "private property" means all property which is not owned by a department, agency, or instrumentality of

(A) the United States, or

(B) the State of New York (or any public agency or authority thereof).

TITLE IV-POLLUTION INSURANCE

SEC. 401. DEFINITIONS.

As used in this title

(1) INSURANCE.-The term "insurance" means primary insurance, excess insurance, reinsurance, surplus lines insurance, and any other arrangement for shifting and distributing risk which is determined to be insurance under applicable State or Federal

law.

(2) POLLUTION LIABILITY.-The term "pollution liability" means liability for injuries arising from the release of hazardous substances or pollutants or contaminants.

(3) Risk retenTION GROUP.-The term "risk retention group" means any corporation or other limited liability association taxable as a corporation, or as an insurance company, formed under the laws of any State

(A) whose primary activity consists of assuming and spreading all, or any portion, of the pollution liability of its group members;

(B) which is organized for the primary purpose of conducting the activity described under subparagraph (A);

(C) which is chartered or licensed as an insurance company and authorized to engage in the business of insurance under the laws of any State; and

(D) which does not exclude any person from membership in the group solely to provide for members of such a group a competitive advantage over such a person.

(4) PURCHASING GROUP.-The term "purchasing group" means any group of persons which has as one of its purposes the purchase of pollution liability insurance on a group basis.

(5) STATE.-The term "State" means any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, and any other territory or possession over which the United States has jurisdiction. SEC. 402. STATE LAWS; SCOPE OF TITLE.

(a) STATE LAWs.-Nothing in this title shall be construed to affect either the tort law or the law governing the interpretation of insurance contracts of any State. The definitions of pollution liability and pollution liability insurance under any State law shall not be applied for the purposes of this title, including recognition or qualification of risk retention groups or purchasing groups.

(b) SCOPE OF TITLE.-The authority to offer or to provide insurance under this title shall be limited to coverage of pollution liabil ity risks and this title does not authorize a risk retention group or purchasing group to provide coverage of any other line of insurance.

SEC. 403. RISK RETENTION GROUPS.

(a) EXEMPTION.-Except as provided in this section, a risk retention group shall be exempt from the following:

(1) A State law, rule, or order which makes unlawful, or regulates, directly or indirectly, the operation of a risk retention group.

(2) A State law, rule, or order which requires or permits a risk retention group to participate in any insurance insolvency guaranty association to which an insurer licensed in the State is required to belong.

(3) A State law, rule, or order which requires any insurance policy issued to a risk retention group or any member of the group to be countersigned by an insurance agent or broker residing in the State.

(4) A State law, rule, or order which otherwise discriminates against a risk retention group or any of its members.