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November 17, 2000
More Groups Join in TMDL Rule Legal Clash
The list of litigants in a high-profile court challenge of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) total maximum daily loads (TMDL) regulation continued to grow this week as two more environmental activist groups – Friends of the Earth and Water Keeper Alliance – filed suit to request the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to strike down the TMDL rule because it is not stringent enough. Other environmental groups already petitioning the court for the same reason include Trout Unlimited, Southern Environmental Law Center and the National Wildlife Federation.Pretreatment Coordinators Gather for AMSA/EPA Workshop
This week, AMSA co-hosted the annual AMSA/EPA Pretreatment Coordinators Workshop, which provided local, state and federal pretreatment officials the opportunity to meet and discuss ongoing and new pretreatment activities impacting the program and publicly owned treatment works (POTWs). As in its 10 previous years, the workshop was packed with informative, timely agenda items and was extremely well attended – with over 300 participants from across the country. AMSA President Bill Pugh and EPA Permits Division Director Charles Sutfin opened the meeting, and participants heard several presentations from EPA, state and municipal pretreatment personnel.The program featured a moderated panel on recently proposed and finalized effluent guidelines, which included discussion of the new Metal Products & Machinery (MP&M) proposal (see the 11/10/00 FaxAlert), the Iron & Steel effluent guidelines proposal, and the 304(m) planning process. Other panels and presentations covered recent mercury and silver studies; the development and implementation of local limits; pretreatment monitoring, compliance and enforcement; and data needs to support long-term program implementation. There was also a mock pretreatment enforcement trial.
Many of the issues discussed will undoubtedly inform AMSA’s preparations for an active year in regulatory advocacy for POTWs’ pretreatment programs. As an essential part of that process, AMSA’s Pretreatment & Hazardous Waste Committee met today following the workshop’s conclusion. The committee discussed, among many other topics, AMSA’s response to the proposed MP&M rule, which may pose an undue economic burden for local pretreatment programs. The committee also had opportunity to cover other issues raised during the workshop, such as AMSA’s and EPA’s mercury activities; the call for more data on local limits and for use in benchmarking pretreatment program pollution prevention performance; and the need for a "report card" on the entire program in order to gauge progress over the 10 years since last such assessment.
> AMSA notes with sadness the death this week of Elizabeth Fellows, who, as Director of Office of Wetlands, Oceans & Watersheds’ Assessment & Watershed Division worked closely with AMSA members and staff on numerous issues over the years. Ms. Fellows recently addressed AMSA members at the Association’s 2000 Summer meeting.
> Due to the Thanksgiving Holiday, there will be no FaxAlert on Friday, November 24, 2000. Weekly FaxAlerts will resume on Friday, December 1, 2000. Happy Thanksgiving!