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January 22, 2004 AMSA Fax Alert

Member Pipeline - Fax Alerts SpecialEdition - January 22, 2004

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January 22, 2004

Action Please: ASAP – Deadline January 27, 2004

Member Input Sought to Guide Legislative Strategy
Last year, the AMSA-supported Wastewater Treatment Works Security Act of 2003 (S. 1039) won approval in the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) in May 2003. The Senate bill is nearly identical to H.R. 866, also titled the Wastewater Treatment Works Security Act of 2003, which has twice won the approval of the full House of Representatives. Future movement of the legislation is unlikely without an amendment to require vulnerability assessments at nearly all POTWs (see Background).

AMSA needs to hear from its public agency members to determine whether to continue to pursue passage of S. 1039 or evaluate alternate approaches. Please take a moment to answer the following questions.

  • If the only way to pass S. 1039 in the Senate is to agree to conduct and submit (to the federal government) mandatory vulnerability assessments at all POTWs serving more than 25,000 people, should AMSA continue to support the bill and work for its passage?
  • Has your agency already completed a vulnerability assessment and/or remedial activities and would not benefit from the bill, even if it is passed? (funding in the bill is not retroactive)
  • Does your agency plan to switch from chlorine gas to another disinfection process? Do you require funding assistance for transitioning to an alternate technology?
  • Can you identify security-related research, or other security needs, that could be supported by federal funding?

How to Respond
AMSA encourages you to respond as soon as possible to Lee Garrigan at lgarrigan@amsa-cleanwater.org or by phone at 202/833-4655.

Your response will provide valuable input for the members of the AMSA Legislative Policy Committee when they discuss wastewater security legislation during their February 4, 2004 meeting at the AMSA Winter Conference in Santa Monica, CA.

Background
The two wastewater security bills, H.R. 866 and S. 1039, would authorize $200 million for POTWs to conduct voluntary vulnerability assessments and pay for enhanced security at their facilities. An additional $15 million would pay for technical assistance to small POTWs. Another $5 million would be made available to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to make grants to nonprofit organizations for the improvement of vulnerability self-assessment methodologies and tools for POTWs. S. 1039 includes an additional $15 million for EPA to research new security technologies at wastewater treatment plants.

During the Senate EPW Committee’s consideration of S. 1039, Ranking Member James Jeffords (I-VT) offered an amendment that would have required POTWs serving more than 25,000 people to conduct a vulnerability assessment and develop an emergency response plan and submit those documents to the Department of Homeland Security. The Jeffords amendment failed on party lines with 9 Democrats voting yes, 1 Independent voting yes, and 9 Republicans voting no. Without the modifications that were included in the amendment, Jeffords and the democrats will not allow EPW Chairman James Inhofe (R-OK) to move S. 1039 to the Senate floor for a vote.

Thank you for your input on this important wastewater security issue.