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June 2, 2000
AMSA Summer Conference to Provide Critical TMDL Insights
The controversy over EPA's total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) continues to mount in Washington , DC. A number of questions loom about the fate of the TMDL program. Will EPA finalize the rule despite heavy opposition from key Members of Congress and environmental activist groups? Rule or no rule, what does it mean for POTWs? No matter what happens in the coming weeks, AMSA's upcoming summer conference — Total Maximum Daily Loads . . . Opportunities or Obstacles? July 18-21 in Louisville, Ky. — will be an important conference for all who are concerned with the future of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) embattled TMDL program.Over the last month, serious challenges to the future of the TMDL program have arisen. While several bills in the House and Senate seek to delay the rule or completely exempt agriculture and forestry from TMDLs, an appropriations rider in the House's EPA funding bill would bar the Agency from spending any funds to implement the program. At the same time, several environmental groups and key Members of Congress have separately called upon the Agency to withdraw the rule. The courts have also factored heavily in the TMDL program's future. The landscape is continuously changing, and the program will feature all emerging issues.
Key Officials to Offer Insights
In order to get the clearest sense of the TMDL program's future, AMSA has invited Chuck Fox and USDA Natural Resources and Environment Deputy Undersecretary Jim Lyons to deliver a joint keynote at the summer conference. Their views on TMDLs will provide important insights into the interagency cooperation necessary to successfully include nonpoint sources on water quality impairment in TMDLs.The conference will coincide with EPA's targeted finalization date for the TMDL rule. To provide conference-goers with a glimpse of what to expect, Elizabeth Fellows Director, Assessment and Watershed Division in EPA's Office of Wetlands, Oceans & Watersheds, and Mike Cook, Office of Wastewater Management Director have been invited to present discuss the rule's impacts and the Agency's next steps. AMSA' Total Maximum Daily Loads . . . Opportunities or Obstacles? will offer the first, best opportunity to hear the perspectives of regulatory, legal and congressional policy-makers on the status of the program as well as the insights of leading technical experts on the inner workings of TMDLs. The program's sessions will begin with a wide array of stakeholder perspectives on the obstacles and the opportunities presented by TMDLs. Sessions will also focus on determining the appropriate role of POTWs in the TMDL process, successful watershed approaches to TMDLs, integrating TMDLs with existing environmental regulations and TMDL permitting issues.
June 15 Hotel Deadline for AMSA Summer Conference
AMSA members will soon receive agendas and registration information by mail. But don't wait. Register online at AMSA's web site, www.amsa-cleanwater.org. The deadline for hotel reservations at AMSA's special conference rate is June 15. Members are encouraged to register early for what promises to be an essential meeting for POTWs impacted by TMDLs.