Member Pipeline - Fax Alerts - July 16, 2004
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July 16, 2004
House Subcommittee Approves Wet Weather Funding Bill
The House Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee unanimously approved the Water Quality Investment Act of 2003 (H.R. 784) yesterday. AMSA testified before the Subcommittee on behalf of the bill last week (see Fax Alert 7-9-04). In line with AMSA’s testimony, H.R. 784 authorizes funding for combined and sanitary sewer overflow (CSO & SSO) projects at $250 million per year for fiscal years 2005-2010. This bill will help address the nation’s growing wet weather funding need, which EPA estimates at over $50 billion and $100 billion for CSO and SSO controls, respectively. The legislation is now slated to go to the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee where it will be voted on by the full Committee as early as next week.AMSA Meets with
Environmental, Conservation Groups to Discuss Funding
Building on a previous meeting held on May 13, 2004, AMSA's Clean Water Funding Task Force convened a meeting yesterday of AMSA utility executives, and over a dozen national and regional environmental and conservation group representatives to obtain their commitment to working on behalf of long-term, federal clean water funding alongside AMSA. The meeting was very promising – with the representatives providing significant input into what should be eligible activities for a dedicated fund, as well as what source/s of funding merit further study. The groups also agreed to continue meeting and AMSA will keep them apprised of ongoing Association efforts, including drafting trust fund legislation, performing an economic study to identify a viable source/s of funding, and developing a clean water website – dedicated solely to federal clean water funding in America. AMSA will facilitate future meetings and information sharing, between these key groups.AMSA Continues to Seek Member Input on Ammonia Criteria
AMSA continues to seek technical comments and data from its members on the acute or chronic toxicity of ammonia to aquatic life in response to EPA’s notice (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/legreg/outreach/2004-07-12ammonia.pdf) of its intent to re-evaluate the current aquatic life criteria. EPA has requested additional information to help determine if a revision is warranted for ammonia based on new toxicity data on mussels indicating that some freshwater species may be more sensitive to ammonia than originally thought. Based on information the Association has received, EPA could reduce the current ammonia criteria value by one-half or more. Though AMSA requested an extension, the current comment deadline is set for August 9. As such, AMSA asks members to provide comments by August 2, 2004 to Chris Hornback, Director of Regulatory Affairs, at chornback@amsa-cleanwater.org. For additional information, see Regulatory Alert 04-15 (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/reg_index.cfm).AMSA Requests Member Input on Affordability Issues
AMSA has been asked by EPA’s Environmental Financial Advisory Board (EFAB) to participate on a panel at its Affordability Workshop consisting of water and wastewater industry leaders, who will discuss affordability issues faced by utilities and make recommendations as to how EPA should, if at all, address these issues in the future. To best represent the membership, AMSA is seeking member input on a variety of questions relating to affordability, which are detailed in AMSA’s July 12 Special Edition Fax Alert (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/faxalerts/071204se.cfm). AMSA requests that this input be provided to Adam Krantz, akrantz@amsa-cleanwater.org, by July 30, 2004.
- AMSA wishes its members traveling to Denver for the Association’s 2004 Summer Conference a safe trip and we look forward to seeing you there!