Member Pipeline - Regulatory - Alert (RA 01-04)
To: Members & Affiliates, Wet Weather Issues Committee
From: National Office
Date: February 27, 2001
Subject: EPA’S PROPOSED SSO RULE - REQUEST FOR MEMBER COMMENTS
Reference: RA 01-4
Action Please By:
April 9, 2001
Pending a review by Administrator Whitman of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the release of the proposed sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) rule has been effectively delayed. On January 20, the Bush Administration issued a memorandum that "froze" the publication of new or proposed regulations until specifically reviewed and approved by the Administration. There is currently no indication of when this review will be completed and what implications the evaluation will have for the ultimate fate of the proposed rule. Nevertheless, despite the current delay, AMSA’s National Office and SSO Work Group have determined that the Association should proceed without interruption in the formulation of substantive comments on the current, pre-publication version of the proposed rule. Therefore, we ask that you review the current version of the proposed SSO rule and preamble, and submit comments to the National Office by Monday, April 9.
How to Focus Your Agency’s Comments
This regulation will significantly impact most, if not all, AMSA members. It is imperative that you take time to analyze the regulation and weigh in with us on your specific feedback. We suggest using the following two-step process in reviewing and responding to EPA’s proposal:
Step 1 - AMSA’s Focused Questions
We recommend that you start by responding to AMSA’s list of focused questions. Although AMSA and the SSO Work Group will be addressing many other areas of concern throughout the proposal, these questions (see ATTACHMENT A) cover areas of the proposal where AMSA is in need of specific feedback from the membership.
Step 2 - EPA’s Requests for Comments
As a second step, we ask that you also consider responding to EPA’s specific requests for comments. The Agency’s request for comments are contained in the preamble section of the proposal, which details the supporting data and rationalization for the regulation. Recognizing the extreme length of the preamble, AMSA has consolidated those specific areas where the Agency is asking for feedback. Please refer to ATTACHMENT B for an outline reference to EPA’s specific comment requests. We would like to respond to as many of these questions as possible and appreciate any feedback you can provide us on any of them.
As part of this step, it is important that you download ATTACHMENT D from AMSA’s website (see below) which contains a reformatted version of EPA’s preamble. All section and page numbers used in ATTACHMENT B correspond to this reformatted version.
Download Key Review Documents on AMSA Website
To facilitate your review of the SSO proposal, AMSA has posted all of the attachments to this Regulatory Alert as well as all corresponding EPA documents on the website at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org. The documents are posted as an attachment to this Regulatory Alert (i.e., RA 01-4) in the Member Pipeline.
The following is a list of attachments and specific regulatory support documents that can be downloaded from AMSA’s website:
(1) ATTACHMENT A: AMSA’s Focus Questions (included in this Regulatory Alert)
(2) ATTACHMENT B: EPA’s Specific Requests for Public Comment (included in this Regulatory Alert)
(3) ATTACHMENT C: EPA’s Proposed SSO Rule - Regulatory Language
(4) ATTACHMENT D: EPA’s Proposed SSO Rule - Preamble Sections
(5) ATTACHMENT E: SSO Needs Report (EPA, May 2000)
(6) ATTACHMENT F: Benefits of Abating SSOs (Draft) (EPA, October 2000)
(7) ATTACHMENT G: Economic Analysis of the Proposed Regulations Addressing NPDES Permit Requirements for Municipal Sanitary Collection Systems, Municipal Satellite Collection Systems, and Sanitary Sewer Overflows (Draft) (EPA, October 2000)
AMSA’s Early Recommendations to Administrator Whitman
AMSA has raised a number of significant concerns with the current version of the proposed rule. In summary, the National Office believes the regulation should be reevaluated with regard to:
- Providing liability protection for unavoidable SSOs where a municipality is implementing its required Capacity, Management, Operation and Maintenance plan;
- Expanding the types of wet weather conditions and other circumstances beyond the reasonable control of the POTW operator which cause unavoidable overflows;
- Requiring reporting, notification and record keeping procedures only for those SSOs that reach waters of the U.S.;
- Providing greater flexibility in remediation options, including peak excess flow treatment facilities;
- Giving permitted POTWs sole discretion to determine whether responsibility for operating and maintaining satellite collection systems should fall under their discharge permit;
- Incorporating the use of watershed management and integrated wet weather controls directly in the regulation; and
- Providing the public with a realistic accounting of the costs and benefits arising out of this rulemaking.
AMSA shared these concerns with Administrator Whitman in a February 22 letter which outlined the Association’s regulatory priorities. The letter, AMSA’s Regulatory Priorities for the New EPA Administration, has been posted at the Clean Water Advocacy and Member Pipeline (under Correspondence & Outreach) sections of AMSA’s web site at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org.
Thank you for your participation. Please feel free to contact Greg Schaner at 202/296-9836 or by email at gschaner@amsa-cleanwater.org.
Attachments:
- ATTACHMENT A (PDF ~10 KB )
- ATTACHMENT B (PDF ~55 KB )
- ATTACHMENT C (PDF ~24 KB )
- ATTACHMENT D (PDF ~402 KB )
- ATTACHMENT E (PDF ~6,000 KB )
- ATTACHMENT F (PDF ~340 KB )
- ATTACHMENT G (PDF ~400 KB )
For these downloadable files, you must have the Acrobat Reader. If you don't have the Acrobat Reader, click on the icon below to download a copy. After you download and install a copy, return to this page and click on the link above for the downloadable file.