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September 29, 2000
AMSA Issues Addressed in New Wet Weather Bill
AMSA’s exhaustive efforts to gain increased federal wet weather funding and regulatory improvements paid off this week when the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee unanimously approved a narrow wet weather bill that codifies the National Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Policy, provides infrastructure funding for wet weather projects, and includes watershed provisions for wet weather control. The Wet Weather Water Quality Act of 2000 – H.R. 828 – incorporates some of the key objectives sought by AMSA in H.R. 3570. Legislative Alert 00-07 is being sent to the membership and contains further analysis and a copy of the bill.As the 106th Congress draws to a close, the Transportation & Infrastructure committee chose to steer clear of sanitary sewer overflow liability and stormwater clarifications, which are viewed as potentially controversial. During the bill’s markup, lead sponsors of H.R. 3570, Reps. Steve LaTourette (R-Ohio) and William Pascrell (D-N.J.) indicated that they were "pleased that several of the important components of our bill are married to this new bill" and House Water Resources & Environment Subcommittee Chair Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.) praised them for developing a bipartisan approach to wet weather issues beyond CSOs. The committee leadership is seeking to bring the bill to a floor vote. While the Senate is now considering its options for moving a similar measure, indications are that it may have concerns with the House bill. AMSA is currently working with the National League of Cities, the Water Environment Federation, the National Association of Counties and others on next steps.
Although, from AMSA’s point of view, the Wet Weather Water Quality Act of 2000 is not a complete fix, the committee showed a strong awareness of the municipal wet weather challenges posed by inconsistent regulation and funding needs. Committee staff have indicated that SSO liability issues and stormwater clarifications would be considered in the next Congress. AMSA plans to build upon this week’s progress next year in the 107th Congress, when more comprehensive Clean Water Act legislation is more likely to be taken up.
AMSA Urges Radical Overhaul of EPA Nutrient Strategy
AMSA forcefully responded this week to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) strategy for establishing national numeric nutrient criteria for rivers and streams. A complete review of EPA’s guidance indicates that the methods fall short of the Agency’s objectives to "provide scientifically defensible technical guidance to assist States and Tribes in developing regionally based numeric nutrient . . . criteria." Generally, AMSA’s comments fault EPA’s approach because its variety of methods for assigning criteria "did not represent genuine flexibility but rather expediency." "In contrast to flexible methods, expedient approaches will serve to satisfy the immediate need for criteria ‘numbers’ but will do so without regard for their technical defensibility or the associated regulatory consequences," AMSA said. The comments go beyond simply cataloguing problems with EPA’s approach by presenting vastly more workable methods for successfully controlling nutrients. The comments will soon be available on AMSA’s web site at www.amsa-cleanwater.org.
Send in Your AMSA Index Survey Forms . . . AMSA needs a strong response from its member agencies for the 2000 AMSA Index of wastewater service rates as soon as possible. If you have not done so already, please send your survey responses to Jon Schellpfeffer, Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District at FAX 608/222-2703 or e-mail jons@madsewer.org. If you have any questions or need a copy of your agency’s survey form contact Jon by e-mail or phone 608/225-2088.