Member Pipeline - Fax Alerts - August 16, 2002
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August 16, 2002
AMSA Seeks to Join Key Wet Weather Legal Battle
Today, AMSA sought permission from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to enter a new wet weather case, Pennsylvania Municipal Authorities Association, et al. v. Whitman, et al., which seeks answers to several sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) and peak flow treatment issues critical to AMSA members. In the case, the plaintiff regional municipal POTW groups and one individual agency challenge EPA Headquarters' and EPA Regions' III, IV, and VI's prohibition on blending, permitting of SSO points, and the lack of an appropriate technology-based standard for SSOs. AMSA's motion echoes the plaintiffs' request that the court declare that: 1) blending is not prohibited under the Clean Water Act (CWA) and applicable regulations; 2) EPA lacks authority under the CWA to direct plant design or use of specific processes to achieve effluent limitations; 3) emergency sanitary sewer outfalls in the collection system can be permitted; and 4) as a matter of law, the best achievable technology/best conventional technology (BAT/BCT) standard, not secondary treatment, applies to SSOs. Given the unpredictable nature of legal battles, however, AMSA remains committed to trying to achieve progress on these SSO and blending issues through the regulatory process. AMSA's motion will be posted to the web site early next week.
AMSA Refutes PIRG Report, Points to Errors and Inconsistencies
In a letter this week to the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), AMSA admonished PIRG for misleading and false findings in its report, Permit to Pollute: How the Government's Lax Enforcement of the Clean Water Act Is Poisoning our Waters. AMSA points out that the Report mischaracterizes POTWs as polluters, omitting that POTWs are primarily responsible for the tremendous water quality progress in the U.S. in the thirty years since the Clean Water Act's enactment, and that the majority of such agencies have stellar compliance records. AMSA criticizes PIRG for playing fast and loose with its definitions of "violations" that qualify as "significant" noncompliance, including minor paperwork and administrative matters that have no bearing on water quality. AMSA strongly urges PIRG, whose mission it is to defend the public interest, to do so by dealing fairly with the nation's public servants who protect their community's environment and public health. AMSA' letter is available at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/faxalerts/08-16-02b.pdf.
AMSA Comments on EPA's Draft Water Quality Strategy
In its comments this week on EPA's draft Strategy for Water Quality Standards and Criteria: Strengthening the Foundation of Programs to Protect and Restore the Nation's Waters, AMSA commends the Agency for recognizing that the standards and criteria program, the foundation of EPA's clean water programs, must continue to adapt as management of the nation's waters becomes increasingly complex. AMSA noted the importance of addressing key issues, such as designated uses, use attainability, and wet weather discharges. AMSA made many of the same comments in response to EPA's Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in July 1998, which sought to overhaul the water quality standards regulation. AMSA's comments on the Draft Strategy can be obtained at: http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/faxalerts/08-16-02a.pdf.
Register Today for AMSA's Last VSAT™ Training Workshop AMSA is offering the second and final on-line training opportunity for its members on AMSA's vulnerability assessment tool, VSAT™wastewater, on August 20 from 9:00am - 1:00pm EST. You can participate in this important training from the comfort of your own office! Register today on AMSA's web site at www.amsa-cleanwater.org/meetings by clicking on the VSAT™ workshop link.