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June 24, 1999
AMSA Presses Congress for Funding, Consistent Regulations
In testimony this week before the House Subcommittee on Water Resources & Environment AMSA called on Congress to support the Urban Wet Weather Priorities Act of 1999 in order to provide the federal funds and nationally consistent regulations that local governments need to continue to move forward on the full array of municipal wet weather issues.Testifying on behalf of AMSA, Board Member William B. Schatz, General Counsel for the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District in Cleveland and Vice Chair of AMSA's Legislative Policy Committee, said that while “chronic water program shortfalls and nonpoint source pollution will require long-term solutions . . . Congress can take a critical first step by passing the Urban Wet Weather Priorities Act of 1999. This bill is essential to the future success of the Clean Water Act and the future of communities grappling with an uncertain regulatory climate and the skyrocketing costs of correcting sewer overflows and controlling stormwater.”
With the Urban Wet Weather Priorities Act of 1999, AMSA and other municipal organizations are seeking to clarify existing Clean Water Act provisions pertaining to wet weather and to codify or accelerate existing, consensus-based EPA policies in the interest of providing regulatory certainty and the funding required to address their wet weather discharges.
“Because urban wet weather discharges constitute the most pervasive and most costly municipal challenge to achieving the goals of the Clean Water Act and because current and projected funding gaps threaten to jeopardize hard-fought progress, we believe that any reforms should seek to remedy these problems first,” Schatz recommended to the Subcommittee. “Above all else,” he said, “municipalities desperately need and deserve: 1) nationally consistent requirements that define clear standards of compliance for all programs and 2) the availability of sufficient funding sources to pay the enormous cost of controlling urban wet weather flows.”Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.), Chairman of the Subcommittee, said the hearing was prompted in large part by the funding needs outlined in The Cost of Clean and the $550 million State Revolving Loan Fund (SRF) cut in EPA's budget. The high needs documented in The Cost of Clean, he said, “demand innovation and flexibility to responsibly and realistically control wet weather flows.” “The level of the clean water funding debate must increase,” he added, noting that, “flexibility and accountability go hand and glove.” Ranking member of the Subcommittee, Rep. Robert Borski (D-Pa.), discussed the importance of reauthorizing the SRF and said that there was considerable “bipartisan agreement for codifying the Combined Sewer Overflow Policy and a similar policy for sanitary sewer overflows.” AMSA's full testimony has been forwarded to the membership via Legislative Alert 99-11 and will be posted on AMSA's web site, www.amsa-cleanwater.org.
AMSA Summer Conference Hotel Cut-Off Extended to June 30th
There's still time to get AMSA's special room rate for the summer conference in Philadelphia. The cut-off date has been extended to Wednesday, June 30. Hotel space in Philadelphia is limited, so contact the Philadelphia Marriott now — 1-800/228-9290 or 215/625-2900. Please contact the National Office at 202/833-AMSA if you have any problems making your hotel registration.