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February 25, 2000
AMSA Thwarts NRDC Attempt to Trash Wet Weather Bill
This week, AMSA has issued a strong response to the misinformation presented by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in opposition to the Urban Wet Weather Priorities Act of 2000 — H.R. 3570. Late last week it came to AMSA's attention that NRDC had spoken with the staff of H.R. 3570's sponsors and distributed an opposition statement to other Members of Congress and the Clean Water Network. Upon review of the statement, AMSA determined that it demonstrates a seriously flawed understanding of the bill and the realities of municipal wet weather control.To set the record straight, AMSA rebutted NRDC's mischaracterization of H.R. 3570 point by point and provided copies of the Association's response to the trade press; the sponsors of H.R. 3570; organizations who helped develop the legislation; and EPA Water Office and Enforcement officials. NRDC's statement appeared to reverse its support of the 1994 CSO Policy by saying that codifying it would cause “years of delay in addressing combined sewer overflows.” NRDC added that the CSO Policy provisions are “vague” and “ambiguous.” AMSA responded to these points by noting that “H.R. 3570 would formally codify the CSO Policy into law, a position that NRDC supported since the Policy was adopted in 1994.” NRDC also claimed that H.R. 3570 would authorize “raw sewage discharges from sanitary sewers under a variety of circumstances in which they are now illegal. Instead of encouraging cities to address systemic problems, such as lack of capacity and poor maintenance, that allow raw sewage to be discharged into our lakes, streams, and coastal waters, this bill would provide a variety of excuses for noncompliance, including lack of planning, lack of resources, and finding some other entity to blame.” AMSA countered this inaccurate interpretation by stating that “H.R. 3570 would establish an aggressive national program for SSO reduction by requiring all POTW systems to adopt minimum procedures for operation and maintenance, by giving systems the legal authority to require the implementation of such procedures in connected municipalities, and by enabling operators to target their resources between short- and long-term reduction efforts.” AMSA also countered NRDC's claims that grant funding for wet weather control would divert funding from the SRF. Next week, the response will be distributed to all Members of Congress and the National Office will distribute a Legislative Alert containing the full text of the Association's response.
AMSA Meets With EPA Office of Wastewater Management
AMSA met with EPA's Office of Wastewater Management and Enforcement officials this week to receive updates on recent and ongoing regulatory issues. During the discussions, EPA confirmed its advocacy role as a supporter for biosolids reuse. EPA also relayed that its proposed SSO regulations are on schedule for May 2000; however, no final promulgation date has been set. EPA Enforcement officials announced that it anticipates release of a new municipal wet weather enforcement guidance to EPA Regions and states as early as next week. The guidance will discuss how Regions and states should inventory and prioritize cities with CSO and SSO problems. EPA indicated that its goal is to target cities lagging in the implementation of the CSO Policy's nine minimum controls and to address 20 percent of high priority municipal systems with SSO problems (per year by Region). EPA also acknowledged that it cannot finalize its proposed pretreatment streamlining until early- to mid-2001 due to staffing and election year considerations.