Member Pipeline - Fax Alerts - July 23, 2004
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July 23, 2004
EPA Budget Bill Reflects Funding Challenge, AMSA Influence
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on VA-HUD, Independent Agencies this week passed its EPA budget bill (H.R. 2861), which would reduce fiscal year 2005 funding for the clean water state revolving fund (CWSRF) but includes AMSA-supported provisions funding the National Biosolids Partnership and clarifying language on combined sewer overflow (CSO) long-term control plans (LTCPs). H.R. 2861 cut the CWSRF by $500 million from its current $1.35 billion to $850 million. AMSA continues to work on its own and via a broad municipal and activist coalition to urge the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to restore full CWSRF funding. A coalition letter, which was sent this week to key committees in immediate response to H.R. 2861, is available on AMSA’s website (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/leg_index.cfm). The subcommittee bill did, however, provide $980,000 in funding for the NBP’s continued work on biosolids management – a 2% cut from last year’s level but in line with an across-the-board cut for earmarks. This funding is a testament to the consistent work of AMSA and its members in light of the subcommittee’s budget scrutiny.AMSA also was able to include language in H.R. 2861 clarifying section 402(q) of the Clean Water Act (CWA), which requires that permits, orders and decrees “shall conform to” the 1994 CSO policy. The language clarifies congressional intent on the meaning of this language by stating that the preferred method to implement the CSO policy is via CWA permits. Only if this option is not available should state orders and, as a last resort, federal enforcement action be taken. This clarification should be of significant use to CSO communities. In a related matter, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee passed the AMSA-backed Water Quality Investment Act of 2003 (H.R. 784) this week. H.R. 784 would provide $250 million per year for fiscal years 2005-2010 for combined and sanitary sewer overflow control projects (see FaxAlerts 07/16 and 07/09).
AMSA Files Briefs in Whole Effluent Toxicity, Permit Cases
AMSA this week filed its reply brief in the ongoing lawsuit on EPA’s whole effluent toxicity (WET) test methods. The brief articulates AMSA’s position that because the test methods are substantially flawed, the agency is not entitled to the deference that it claims should be applied to the methods. In conjunction with this legal effort, AMSA continues to talk to EPA about potential regulatory fixes to the WET test methods (see FaxAlert 07/09). AMSA also filed a joint brief with the California Association of Sanitation Agencies (CASA) in support of Healdsburg, California, which is seeking to ensure that the state permitting authority cannot require National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits for groundwater. These briefs will be on AMSA’s Litigation Tracker (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/littrack/) next week.AMSA Summer Conference Offers Information, Inspires Action
AMSA’s 2004 Summer Conference, Leading the Way . . . POTWs Take Environmental Protection Beyond the Pipe, concluded today after municipal, state and federal officials shared their perspectives on issues from monitoring, water reuse, and constructed wetlands. A detailed conference article will be available in the July Clean Water News. AMSA’s special committees also had informative meetings and a summary of them will be distributed to members via an upcoming Member Update. The Board of Directors also approved four new Targeted Action Fund (TAF) projects at the meeting, including a white paper on wet weather affordability issues and an AMSA handbook on developing and implementing use attainability analyses. Descriptions of the new TAF projects will also be discussed in future publications and on AMSA’s TAF webpage (www.amsa-cleanwater.org).