Clean Water Advocacy - Newsroom - NACWA in the News
Conference slashes EPA wastewater fund by $190 million
Darren Samuelsohn, E&E Daily senior reporter
The U.S. EPA's major loan account for state wastewater infrastructure projects is targeted for a $190 million cut in the upcoming fiscal year, down to $900 million, under legislation approved yesterday by a congressional conference committee and soon to be signed into law by President Bush.
Overall, EPA would receive $7.9 billion under its FY '06 spending bill, marking a nearly $195 million cut from current levels. But the agency does see $495 million more in funding than Bush's $7.57 billion budget request, as well as increases from the $7.71 billion and $7.88 billion totals approved respectively in earlier House and Senate versions of the legislation.
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have long argued for increases to the EPA Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund, but the conference's final figures reflect competing priorities for other popular environmental programs in the bill, as well as tight allocations provided by House and Senate GOP budget writers. The reductions also serve as a benchmark example of how environmental programs at EPA, the Interior Department and Forest Service must compete with one another for limited dollars under the newly reorganized structure of the House and Senate appropriations committees.
Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.), ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, singled out the wastewater account cuts during his opening remarks at yesterday's conference committee meeting by noting that the program has seen its budget drop 33 percent from a high water mark of $1.35 billion in FY '03. "I don't think that's a good idea," Obey said.
Water industry officials and environmentalists also bemoaned the total figures for the wastewater program. "This signals a continuing lack of committment on the part of the federal government to recognize the severity of the funding shortfall for water and wastewater infrastructure," said Lee Garrigan, a spokeswoman for the wastewater industry's National Association of Clean Water Agencies.
The federal government encourages states to consider their pollution problems by examining their local watersheds, but Garrigan said that philosophy is only possible if the federal government is an adequate partner in funding. And Heather Taylor, deputy legislative director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the latest cut, combined with a nearly $300 million reduction last year, equates to about $1 million less per congressional district. "This is a slap in the face to local communities," she said.
Congress is expected to adopt the wastewater cuts later this week as part of the much larger $26.3 billion Interior and Environment spending bill. House action on the conference report could come today, while the Senate's schedule remains a bit more uncertain, Hill leadership aides said. Bush is nonetheless expected to sign the bill into law by the time Congress heads off next week for its monthlong August recess.