Click Here to see previous Fax Alerts.
June 12, 1998
$123 Million for Clean Water Action Plan Recommended in Senate Appropriations Committee’s Mark-Up for EPA
On June 11, the Senate Appropriations Committee responsible for EPA funding approved $123 million in support of the Clinton Administration's Clean Water Action Plan during fiscal year 1999. The amount is 20% less than the Administration had requested for the Action Plan, but $30 million more than the VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies Senate Appropriations Subcommittee had recommended in their bill to the full committee on June 9. The language to increase Action Plan funding was included in a manager’s amendment offered by Senator Christopher Bond (R-Mo.), chairman of the Subcommittee. During the June 11 mark-up, Bond said that he promised EPA Administrator Carol Browner, on the Clean Water Action Plan, that "I would try to find more funds for this critical program, and I have." The $30 million increase would be offset by reductions in EPA’s Environmental Programs and Management account.
The total appropriation recommended for by the full committee for EPA in 1999 is $7.413 billion, $50 million more than the enacted level in 1998, but $400 million less than requested by the Administration. Superfund received $1.4 billion, which does not include the almost $600 million increase requested. The extra money had been promised to EPA under conditional terms during consideration of the EPA 1998 appropriations bill. EPA would only receive the money if Congress reauthorized the Superfund law by May 15, 1998, which did not happen.
SSO Municipal Caucus Forwards Response to
EPA Office 0f EnforcementOn Tuesday, June 9, AMSA and other representatives of the SSO Federal Advisory Committee’s municipal caucus held a conference call to discuss their response to the six questions posed on May 28 by EPA’s Office of Enforcement regarding national SSO control strategy issues. (See the May 29 FaxAlert). A draft version of the caucus’ responses to the questions was forwarded to EPA on June 11 for their consideration during an internal meeting being held June 12 on the national strategy. In addition to addressing the six questions, the caucus’ letter emphasized their concern with EPA’s expectation that SSOs can be eliminated - i.e. the "zero overflow problem." The letter presented a clear explanation as to why engineers believe zero SSO overflows are unattainable no matter how much money is spent on the problem because of the way sewer systems are designed and operated. The municipal caucus will finalize their responses to EPA in another letter to be submitted next week. AMSA members can review the June 11 draft letter on AMSA’s web site at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org, under the Committee Correspondence section of the Member Pipeline.
Summer Conference Agenda Refined
As AMSA fine tunes the Summer Conference agenda adjustments are being made to General Session II on Thursday, July 16. Due to the expansion of the whole effluent toxicity session, the scheduled concurrent source water protection session will not take place. It is anticipated, however, that many of the conference’s speakers will address source water protection issues during their remarks.
Ø Three more successful Competitiveness Workshops were held recently on the West Coast, with sold-out attendance in both San Francisco, Calif., and Seattle, Wash. Please note: the hotel reservation phone number provided in the Thinking, Getting & Staying Competitive flyer for the Sept. 15-16 workshop in Northbrook, Illinois was incorrect. The correct number for the Northbrook Hilton is: 800/328-6516.