Search

Member Pipeline - Fax Alerts - June 29, 2001

Click Here
to see previous Fax Alerts

June 29, 2001

Last Week To Pre-Register For AMSA’s July Conference!
The advance registration deadline for AMSA's July 17-20 summer conference, in Milwaukee, Wis., The Biosolids Challenge . . . Ensuring Success, is Friday, July 6. With the July 4 holiday on its way, that deadline will be fast upon us, so please register as soon as possible for what is shaping up to be a full house! Also register now for the July Conference’s "main events" – AMSA’s 15th Annual AMSA Open golf tournament at the renowned "Bog" golf course in nearby Saukville, Wis., or a guided facility tour of Milwaukee’s Jones Island Wastewater Treatment Plant & Milorganite® Production Facility. For more conference information, see AMSA's homepage at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org.

 
AMSA Expresses Serious Concern with Controversial Metals Rule
On Monday, AMSA will provide its comments to EPA on the Agency’s proposed Effluent Limitations Guidelines, Pretreatment Standards, and New Source Performance Standards for the Metal Products & Machinery Point Source Category. AMSA’s comments outline several key concerns with the proposal, including its reliance on outdated data on POTWs, questionable science, and underestimated cost. As the comments state, "AMSA simply cannot support this or any other version of this rule" and AMSA again urges all members to incorporate the Association’s comments by reference in your agency’s MP&M comments to EPA. To facilitate meeting the comment deadline of July 2, AMSA has posted a draft cover letter to send along with your comments to EPA, as well as the Association’s comments at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org. AMSA’s efforts on MP&M do not end with these comments, however, and include an upcoming meeting with EPA officials to discuss potential alternative approaches for regulating the MP&M industry sector.


AMSA Supports Local POTW Land Application of Biosolids
California’s Riverside County Board of Supervisors this week voted predictably for a moratorium on the land application of biosolids in Riverside County. The controversy has been ongoing for several years and the outcome came as no surprise to AMSA given the Board’s reliance on so-called biosolids "authorities." To ensure that AMSA’s position was on record, however, AMSA sent a June 25 letter to the Riverside County Board saying, "A majority of our member agencies rely upon land application for the management of their biosolids . . . [I]t is premature. . . to restrict biosolids land application before the NRC [National Research Council] has had an opportunity to completely assess existing Federal biosolids regulations." AMSA, the Water Environment Federation, and the National Biosolids Partnership, will continue to advocate for environmentally sound biosolids use. AMSA’s letter is available on our website at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/legreg/outreach/letter.pdf.


AMSA Plays Key Role at Meeting with EPA on Nutrient Criteria
Many of AMSA’s comments on EPA’s proposed nutrient criteria were the centerpiece of discussion at a national stakeholder meeting this week with EPA, demonstrating the central role AMSA plays in ensuring that POTW concerns are a key component of water quality policy development. Norm LeBlanc, Chair of AMSA’s Water Quality Committee and Chief, Technical Services Hampton Roads Sanitation District, Va., highlighted concerns with the scientific basis for the criteria, and called on EPA to clarify in writing that the criteria are intended only as guidance from which states and tribes can deviate in developing water quality standards. EPA and AMSA will meet in July to discuss POTW concerns with the criteria further.

  • The July 20th application deadline for the Water & Wastewater Leadership Center is rapidly approaching, so if you are planning to apply please do so today! Additional information is available on our website.
  • President Bush announced this week that he will nominate Donald Schregardus, director of Ohio EPA from 1991-99, to be EPA’s next assistant administrator for enforcement. EPA also named administrators for three regional offices: Robert Varney for Region I; Donald Welsh for Region III; and Thomas Skinner for Region V.