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Member Pipeline - Fax Alerts - June 29, 2006

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June 29, 2006

NACWA to Comment on EPA
Notice to Reconsider Final Solid Waste Incinerator Rule
NACWA plans to file comments to EPA maintaining its long-held position that sewage sludge incinerators (SSIs) should be excluded from a rule regulating emissions from “other” solid waste incinerator units (OSWIs). EPA published a notice in the June 28 Federal Register (71 Fed. Reg. 36,726) announcing its intention to take comments on whether it should reconsider its December 16, 2005, final OSWI rule, which does not cover SSIs (70 Fed. Reg. 74,870). The Sierra Club sought reconsideration of the rule in a February 2006 petition to EPA, arguing that SSIs should be subject to the OSWI requirements under Clean Air Act (CAA) Section 129.

This announcement from EPA is the latest development in a decade-long effort by the Sierra Club to bring SSIs within the scope of CAA § 129. In 2001, NACWA intervened in Sierra Club v. EPA, in which Sierra Club challenged EPA’s delay in promulgating final § 129 rules. The case resulted in the December 2005 rulemaking deadline for EPA. NACWA’s long-standing position, supported by EPA, is that SSIs are not the type of OSWI contemplated by CAA § 129 due to their extensive regulation under the CWA and its regulations. NACWA will file comments by the August 14 deadline supporting EPA’s exclusion of SSIs from the OSWI rule.

Senate Committee Approves
Cuts to EPA Budget, Including $687.5 Million for SRF
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a $200 million cut to EPA’s budget, slashing funding for fiscal year 2007 to $7.5 billion. The funding levels mirror the amount approved by the House. Most of the decrease was to the clean water state revolving fund (CWSRF), which would receive $687.5 million under both the House and Senate versions of the bill. This represents a steep reduction from the $886 million appropriated in FY 2006 and the $1.35 billion in FY 2004. While the House agreed to provide $1 million for the National Biosolids Partnership, details of the Senate bill were not immediately available.

Nearly 60 Organizations
Participate in NACWA/WERF Web Series on UAAs
Close to 60 groups logged into the first part of a web seminar series entitled Use Attainability Analyses (UAAs): Beyond the Basics sponsored by NACWA and the Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) on June 28. Experts in the wastewater field explained that UAAs are important tools for meeting the goals of the Clean Water Act by helping to focus scarce resources to priority areas and providing rigorous watershed-based reviews of designated uses and water quality criteria. The UAA process can be complicated, but the web series, which referenced the recently released NACWA/WERF handbook, Collaborative Water Quality Solutions: Exploring Use Attainability Analyses (UAA Handbook), detailed important elements for success, such as including stakeholders, compiling scientific data, and determining the basis for attainable uses and applicable water quality criteria. The series also looked at conducting UAAs for aquatic life designated uses and uses related to human health.

The second part of the web series will be held July 12 at 2:30 p.m. and will cover some of the unique factors associated with UAAs for wet weather situations, modified urban environments, effluent-dominated waters, ephemeral and intermittent waters, antidegradation, antibacksliding, and protection of downstream and other states’ water quality standards.
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