Member Pipeline - Fax Alerts - August 10, 2001
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August 10, 2001
Lobby Your Delegates on Water Infrastructure, Draft Letters!
AMSA strongly urges all its members to meet with their Congressional delegates, who are home for the August recess until after Labor Day, to put the local face on the urgent national shortfall in water infrastructure funding. There is a great opportunity to get a water infrastructure bill this Congress and now is the time to bring this issue to your delegates’ doorsteps. Several members of Congress have also told AMSA that to obtain their support for water infrastructure funding, local support is a threshold matter. To meet this challenge, AMSA has drafted a template letter to the editor for you to sign and place for publication in local newspapers. There are bracketed spaces for you to input key local information. We are at a significant juncture in this effort and need your support! Please send a copy of your submitted letter to Adam Krantz at akrantz@amsa-cleanwater.org or call 202/833-4651. The letter is available at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/legreg/outreach/amsalettertotheeditor.doc.
AMSA Responds to Washington Post’s Slanted Sludge Article
AMSA responded decisively this week to an unusually biased biosolids article on the front page of the Aug. 6 Washington Post’s Metro section, titled “Health Fears over Sludge Spur Quest for Controls.” In a pointed letter to the editor, AMSA writes, “The article made a significant, indeed, glaring omission in its failure to recognize the critical steps being taken by municipal officials to protect the safety and health of their workers and the general public.” The letter points to POTWs’ embrace of comprehensive biosolids environmental management systems that go beyond regulatory requirements, and the hundreds of research studies done in the past decade that have failed to find any adverse health effects from biosolids. See the letter at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/legreg/outreach/8-7-01postletter.pdf. AMSA will continue its strong support of biosolids before EPA and Congress. To this end, visit your Senate delegates to advocate for full Fiscal Year 2002 National Biosolids Partnership funding.
EPA Releases Draft TMDL Cost Estimate, Extends TMDL Rule
A draft cost study of the July 2000 TMDL program released this week by EPA indicates that compliance with the water quality program would cost anywhere from $900 million to $4.3 billion. The report was requested in Congressional appropriations language last fall, amid great controversy over the Clinton-era rule. The July 2000 rule is currently being reviewed by EPA, and AMSA is continuing its involvement in both the regulatory and legal arenas to ensure the Agency’s consideration of the concerns of POTWs, including the regulation of non-point source pollution. A 120-day comment period will be available on the cost study and AMSA will provide members with more details on the comment process in a future Regulatory Alert. EPA also proposed Thursday a 30-day comment period on an 18-month extension of the July 2000 TMDL rule. AMSA intends to file comments during this period on behalf of its members.
- EPA published its Final Guidance: Coordinating CSO Long-Term Planning With Water Quality Standards Reviews in the Federal Register today. The guidance will be sent to Congress and posted to EPA’s website next week. AMSA will distribute it via a future Regulatory Alert.