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January 5, 2001

EPA Administrator Browner Signs SSO Proposed Rule
This morning, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Carol Browner signed the sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) proposed rule clearing the regulation for Federal Register publication and public comment in the next week to 10 days. A nine-month White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) review and nagging Department of Justice (DOJ) concerns significantly delayed the rule’s release, which was slated for summer 2000. Review of the full proposal will provide important insight into how the concerns of OMB and DOJ were resolved.

As soon as possible, AMSA will obtain and distribute a copy of the proposed rule to the Wet Weather Issues Committee, SSO Workgroup and the AMSA membership – early next week. AMSA expects a 120-day comment period, as EPA has previously indicated.

An EPA fact sheet – the only information currently available on the proposal – is posted on the Agency’s web site, www.epa.gov/ow/sso.cfml and highlights the following proposed requirements: Capacity Assurance, Management, Operation & Maintenance Programs; Public Notification; Prohibition of Overflows; and Satellite System Permitting.

Two key elements of the proposal include clarification of the SSO prohibition and the permitting of satellite systems. Crucial details are unavailable without access to the complete proposal, but the fact sheet states that the Clean Water Act SSO prohibition "is clarified to provide communities with limited protection from enforcement in cases where overflows are caused by factors beyond their reasonable control or severe natural conditions, provided there are no feasible alternatives" and that "some 4,800 satellite collection systems will be required to obtain National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits." A prepublication copy of the rule and additional information will be posted on EPA’s web site on Monday, January 8, 2001.

AMSA members are encouraged to attend the Association’s Winter Meeting in San Diego, Jan. 30 - Feb. 2, where AMSA’s Wet Weather Committee and SSO Workgroup will meet to discuss the proposal in depth. EPA Office of Wastewater Management staff will be invited to attend the Wet Weather Issues Committee meeting to discuss the rule directly with AMSA members.

Proposed MP&M Rule Hits Federal Register
On January 3, EPA published proposed effluent guidelines for the Metal Products & Machinery (MP&M) sector, which includes eight subcategories of facilities. Next week, AMSA will distribute the full proposal via Regulatory Alert (RA). The Alert will also contain a member survey to determine the rule’s impact upon the nation’s POTWs. AMSA’s Pretreatment & Hazardous Waste Committee has noted that many of the facilities covered by the proposal are currently regulated by local limits and have questioned the rule’s environmental benefits.

Washington Representative Information Update Requested
The National Office is currently in the process of updating our AMSA Member Agency Washington, DC Representative/Lobbying Firm/Law Firm List. To ensure that your Washington DC representative is up-to-date on all of AMSA’s activities, please call or e-mail Robin Davis at 202/833-3280 or rdavis@amsa-cleanwater.org by January 12, 2001 to provide AMSA with contact information. The National Office will be scheduling regular meetings with member agency Washington representatives to collaborate on key initiatives.