Member Pipeline - Fax Alerts - December 14, 2001
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December 14, 2001
Meeting at AMSA’s National Office,
Capitol Hill Staff Pledge Infrastructure Bill in 2002
Two high level House Transportation and Infrastructure staffers visited AMSA’s National Office today and announced that Committee members will introduce a water infrastructure bill, most likely in February of 2002. The announcement came from both Susan Bodine, Senior Majority Counsel for the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee and Kenneth J. Kopocis, Senior Minority Counsel for the House Water Resources & Environment Subcommittee during a Water Infrastructure Network meeting. Both Bodine and Kopocis agreed that such a bill will likely pass easily through Committee and should garner broad congressional support. Both officials are also planning to have further meetings with AMSA, WIN representatives and others to hammer out technical funding issues as the drafting process proceeds. AMSA will provide regular updates to the membership throughout this exciting process.
AMSA Files Three Sets of Key Comments with EPA
AMSA filed three sets of comments with EPA this week, voicing the municipal wastewater community’s concerns over several key Agency initiatives. AMSA provided comments Dec. 7 on EPA’s draft report on costs associated with the total maximum daily load (TMDL) program. AMSA pointed out that the Agency made numerous assumptions in calculating the number of publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) affected by the rule and in estimating POTW compliance costs associated with the TMDL program. AMSA also commented Dec. 10 on the Agency’s nutrient criteria guidance for estuarine and coastal marine waters, expressing concern with EPA’s use of the reference condition approach because it will lead to unrealistic criteria values disconnected from designated uses. Finally, AMSA commented Dec. 10 on proposed revisions to EPA’s Mercury Test Method 1631, highlighting a number of technical issues and underscoring that Method 1631 is not well suited for use as a routine monitoring method. AMSA is a vocal stakeholder in these regulatory initiatives and will continue to work closely with EPA on them. All three comment sets are available at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/reg_outreach.cfm.
At Dynamic TMDL Listening Session
AMSA Voices Concerns of Publicly Owned Treatment Works
AMSA’s Legal Affairs Committee Vice Chair and Philadelphia Water Department Deputy Water Commissioner David Katz highlighted the Association’s major concerns with the total maximum daily load (TMDL) rule at a Dec. 11 EPA listening session on the upcoming TMDL rule. Katz did an excellent job advocating AMSA’s priority TMDL concerns before a crowd of over 300 people and a panel that included EPA’s Assistant Administrator for Water, Tracy Mehan. States should begin the TMDL process with a full review of water quality standards, Katz said, adding that state assessment and listing methods should be held to a more uniform federal standard on data quality and quantity. Katz also pointed out, among other issues, that EPA must take into account the impacts that TMDLs have on National Pollutant Discharge Elimination Systems permits. As the Agency reviews the July 2000 TMDL rule, EPA stated that feedback from the listening sessions will play a critical role in developing the new rule, a process in which AMSA will continue to be intimately involved. EPA will be posting a summary of the Dec. 11 listening session on its web site at http://www.epa.gov/owow/tmdl/meetings/.