Member Pipeline - Fax Alerts - August 11, 2006
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for the FaxAlert ArchiveAugust 11, 2006
NACWA Circulates Farm Bill Options Paper for Member Comment
NACWA released an options paper, 2007 Farm Bill Reauthorization and Potential Benefits for NACWA Members, via a Legislative Alert (http://www.nacwa.org/private/legreg/legalrts/la06-5.cfm) this week outlining plans to take a leading role in the Congressional negotiations expected to begin soon on reauthorizing the Farm Bill. The Farm Bill enacted in 2002 contained record funding for conservation programs intended to reduce agricultural runoff, a significant source of impairment to the nation’s waters. As the options paper states, “NACWA supports significantly strengthening conservation programs in U.S. farm policy to help agricultural producers minimize their impact on the nation’s water quality while providing measurable downstream benefits to the Association’s public agency members.” The options paper outlines the current status of congressional and international initiatives regarding the Farm Bill and provides NACWA’s proposal for Association advocacy in the law’s reauthorization. Please submit comments on the options paper to Lee Garrigan at lgarrigan@nacwa.org by Sept. 1.NACWA Sponsors Global Mercury Conference
NACWA staff and members of the Association’s Mercury Workgroup participated this week in what was likely the single largest gathering of scientists and policy makers dedicated to the issue of mercury. The Eighth International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant, held August 6-11 in Madison, Wis., brought together more than 1,200 people from 69 nations to discuss the latest advances in the understanding of environmental mercury pollution. NACWA co-sponsored the event, and the Association’s showcased the numerous studies, reports, and other information that the Mercury Workgroup has produced over the last few years (http://www.nacwa.org/advocacy/merc_issues.cfm), including its January 2006 white paper on controlling mercury discharges from dental clinics. While many at the conference focused on improving current knowledge about the sources and impacts of mercury in the environment, NACWA’s members again demonstrated that they were on the front line of improving the control of mercury releases to the environment. Several NACWA members featured their pollution prevention and amalgam separator installation efforts as well as other innovative work being conducted by the nation’s municipalities during the conference.EPA Releases Draft Guidance
on Criteria for Methylmercury, NACWA to Comment
Also on the mercury front, EPA released for comment its draft guidance for implementing the 2001 methylmercury criteria for fish tissue (71 Fed. Reg. 45,560; http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/criteria/methylmercury/). NACWA’s Mercury Workgroup is in the process of reviewing the document and will submit comments on the draft by the October 10 deadline. NACWA will work with EPA to ensure the guidance provides a workable roadmap for translating the criteria into water quality standards. The first-ever water quality criterion for methylmercury takes the unusual step of considering concentrations of mercury in fish tissue to derive a residue criterion for methylmercury of 0.3 milligrams per kilogram of tissue. Criteria for other pollutants are usually set for the water itself, not for the fish in the water. NACWA had raised concerns about the difficulty of translating the criteria into numeric limits that can be used in National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits and in the development of total maximum daily loads (TMDLs). In a meeting last year with the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), NACWA had said that such guidance was needed, so EPA’s work on this is a key step. NACWA will keep its members informed about efforts to shape this important document.Pennsylvania Press
Touts Congressional Members Support for Trust Fund Bill
The Clean Water Trust Act of 2005 (H.R. 4560), a bill strongly backed by NACWA, gained the vocal support this week from three Pennsylvania Members of Congress who stood in front of a wastewater treatment plant operated by NACWA member agency Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN) to announce their support. The announcement by Republican Reps. Phil English, Melissa Hart, and Tim Murphy got significant play in the Pennsylvania press (http://www.nacwa.org/advocacy/news.cfm), demonstrating the major interest from the media and the public regarding clean water infrastructure funding. NACWA will continue its advocacy and outreach to media outlets to ensure this important legislation remains a priority for the public and Members of Congress. On a related matter, due to significant interest in the infrastructure funding issue, NACWA and the Water Infrastructure Network (WIN) will hold a briefing on H.R. 4560 for House staff on August 16. NACWA will report on this event in upcoming Alerts and Updates.Ninth Circuit Holding
Finds Man-Made Percolation Pond Subject to Clean Water Act
Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decided the case of Northern California River Watch v. City of Healdsburg (http://www.nacwa.org/private/littrack/#healdsburg), in which NACWA joined as amicus on the side of the City. The initial issue in the case was whether the City of Healdsburg is subject to Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction, permitting, and regulations relating to its discharge of partially treated effluent to a man-made percolation pond. The pond at issue, which was originally a quarrying pit, had been incorporated as a design element of the wastewater treatment system. The pond is also located next to the Russian River. The City and NACWA argued that a design element of a wastewater treatment system is not a water of the United States, and, therefore, should not be subject to CWA permitting requirements. The Ninth Circuit Court, however, relied on the Supreme Court’s June 19 Rapanos v. U.S. decision, and provides an important interpretation of that holding. Specifically, the Ninth Circuit interpreted the Rapanos decision as employing a "significant nexus" test to determine whether a wetland is sufficiently connected to a navigable waterbody to be subject to CWA jurisdiction. As the Ninth Circuit held, the pond "and its wetlands possess such a 'significant nexus' to waters that are navigable . . . [and] seep directly in the navigable Russian River,” that the pond is "subject to the CWA." NACWA will provide members with a more detailed analysis and implications of the Healdsburg case in upcoming Alerts and Updates.