Member Pipeline - Fax Alerts - December 16, 2005
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for the FaxAlert ArchiveDecember 16, 2005
Clean Water Trust Fund Bill Introduced in House
Late yesterday, Representative John J. Duncan, Jr. (R-TN), Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, introduced the Clean Water Trust Act of 2005, H.R. 4560. The bill reauthorizes the funding portion of the Clean Water Act and sets up a federal trust fund to provide approximately $7.5 billion a year for five years to local communities to address clean water infrastructure needs. The introduction of H.R. 4560 is a milestone in the funding effort led by the NACWA Clean Water Funding Task Force, whose ongoing work has been made possible by contributions from NACWA member utilities and affiliates.Chairman Duncan's bill takes the best parts of legislation he introduced in the 108th Congress (H.R. 1560), while also incorporating all of the key programs NACWA put forth in its draft trust fund legislation. The bill creates a dedicated, deficit-neutral Clean Water Trust Fund, similar to those that finance highways and airports.
Annually, States will award the first $1.5 billion from the trust fund to municipalities through state water pollution control revolving funds. Another $4.5 billion a year from the trust fund then will be awarded in the form of High Priority Partnership Grants to municipalities, via 65%-35% federal-municipal cost share financing to projects that "address the most serious water pollution problems; are necessary to ensure compliance with the requirements of the [Clean Water Act]; or, benefit communities with the greatest need". The revenue source for the trust fund requires the EPA Administrator to submit to Congress within 180 days an equitable system of user fees. This language may be replaced before final passage of the bill with specific user fees.
H.R. 4560 also includes annual allocations in the amounts of $250 million for sewer overflow grants, $20 million for watershed pilot projects, $250 million for critical regional waters, $295 million for research and technology, $250 million for fisheries enhancement, $100 million for state wetlands programs, $50 million for small and rural technological assistance and $5 million for a Center for Utility Management.
As Chairman Duncan notes in his press release, "There is nothing as important and yet nothing as taken for granted as a safe, clean supply of water. We have to do more to protect and enhance our clean water and wastewater systems for the future."
A copy of the final bill, as introduced in the House, will be sent via a Legislative Alert to all NACWA members as soon as it is available from the Government Printing Office (GPO). Please contact NACWA Executive Director Ken Kirk at 202.833.4653 or kkirk@nacwa.org or NACWA’s Lee Garrigan at 202.833.4655 or lgarrigan@nacwa.org with any questions regarding this important legislation.
NACWA, stakeholder groups, and supporting organizations now will launch an effort to recruit 200 Representatives as cosponsors of the bill and to advocate for similar legislation in the Senate. In the coming weeks and months, NACWA will make available to member utilities an array of educational materials to be used at the local level to generate support for the bill through the Clean Water America (CWA) website (http://www.cleanwateramerica.org). For more information on the CWA online initiative, please contact Adam Krantz, NACWA Managing Director of Government & Public Affairs, at 202.833.4651 or akrantz@nacwa.org.