Member Pipeline - Fax Alerts - October 7, 2005
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for the FaxAlert ArchiveOctober 7, 2005
NACWA Participates
at EPA Meeting on Improving Outreach to Municipal, State Groups
NACWA participated in a meeting at EPA Headquarters this week for the first of what will become regular sessions between the Agency's Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations and key municipal and state organizations representing interests in the environmental arena. Over thirty organizations were represented at the meeting, including the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCoM), the National Association of Regional Councils (NARC), the National League of Cities (NLC) and the Environmental Council of States (ECOS). Dona DeLeon, EPA's Deputy Associate Administrator for Intergovernmental Relations, noted that water issues topped the priority lists for many of the participants and cited a September 30, 2005 survey of the nation's Mayors that found aging water infrastructure as their top water-related concern. The full USCoM survey will be made publicly available on November 1 but the related press release is available on its website (http://www.usmayors.org/uscm/news/press_releases/documents/CitiesStrongAmerica_093005.pdf). Many of the participants cited water infrastructure funding as their organization's top environmental priority, including avoiding further cuts to the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF). Other critical issues identified by participants were Hurricane Katrina relief efforts and concerns with energy-related initiatives. Overall, attendees and EPA agreed that additional meetings would be useful and give participants an opportunity to provide input into the Agency's budget and priority-setting processes. EPA intends to hold its next meeting in November.NACWA Continues Tradition of Hosting ‘Hot Topics’ Breakfast at WEFTEC
NACWA will hold its annual Legal & Regulatory Hot Topics Breakfast on November 1 from 8:00-11:00am at the Renaissance Washington, D.C. hotel during WEFTEC, the Water Environment Federation’s (WEF) annual technical exhibition and conference. Invited guest speakers consist of high ranking EPA officials, including Jim Hanlon, Director of EPA’s Office of Wastewater Management, who will brief attendees on the Agency’s priority clean water issues. Members requiring accommodations for the Breakfast should contact Nirah Forman at nforman@nacwa.org for assistance. NACWA will provide additional information regarding the Breakfast on its Conferences & Meetings webpage (http://www.nacwa.org/meetings/) when it is available.NACWA Garners Support
for Trust Fund Legislation, Seeks Congressional Sponsors
NACWA has continued to garner support from conservation, rural, engineering, industry, municipal, environmental and other stakeholder organizations for the Clean Water Trust Act of 2005. The list of organizations supporting the trust fund effort continues to grow, with the following groups now listed as advocates: the Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP), the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), Ducks Unlimited, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the National Association of Towns and Townships (NATaT), Trout Unlimited, and the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, among others. The Association has also continued discussions with select members of the House of Representatives regarding introduction of the draft legislation this month. Following the introduction of the bill, NACWA and other supporting organizations will call upon their members to help recruit congressional co-sponsors for the bill. For more information on the legislation, refer to Legislative Alert 05-05 (http://www.nacwa.org/private/legreg/legalrts/la05-5.cfm).Also, the Clean Water America (CWA) website (http://www.cleanwateramerica.org) has continued to make great strides in gaining support to ensure clean and safe water for future generations via the trust fund concept. The site now has nearly 90 supporting organizations (http://www.cleanwateramerica.org/about/sponsors.cfm) and has eclipsed the 1,000 milestone mark for individual supporters. NACWA expects to see an even greater increase in support for CWA in the coming months with the anticipated introduction of the trust fund legislation.
Make Your Plans to Attend NACWA’s 2005 Law Seminar and Pretreatment Workshop
NACWA encourages members who plan on attending the Association’s November conferences to make their hotel reservations soon. Visit NACWA’s Conferences & Meetings webpage (http://www.nacwa.org/meetings/) for registration and hotel information for the 2005 Developments in Clean Water Law Seminar and the 2005 Pretreatment & Pollution Prevention Workshop.