Member Pipeline - Fax Alerts - September 15, 2006
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for the FaxAlert ArchiveSeptember 15, 2006
NACWA Sends Letter to EPA Urging Action on SSO Rule
NACWA sent a letter to Ben Grumbles, EPA assistant administrator for water, Sept. 14 urging the Agency to commit to a rulemaking to set national standards for sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs). "Absent a meaningful commitment to move forward from EPA, NACWA intends to formally petition the Agency to initiate an SSO rulemaking," the letter said. NACWA referenced repeated statements by EPA that the Agency would focus on SSOs once work is completed on a national policy for peak excess flows and said the Association is prepared "to engage with EPA on the SSO issue and to commit significant resources to move this critical topic forward." With the final peak excess flow policy nearing finalization, NACWA and its Facility and Collection System Committee will keep the pressure on EPA to follow through on its promise. "A comprehensive national program for SSOs is critical to the success of the ongoing initiatives designed to encourage improved sewer system management," NACWA’s letter said. The letter will be posted on NACWA’s website Sept. 18.NACWA Supports Congressional Effort to Exclude POTWs from Chemical Security Bill
NACWA sent a joint letter (http://www.nacwa.org/getfile.cfm?fn=091306FINALJntChemSecLtr.pdf) signed by other water and wastewater organizations to Congress urging adoption of consensus language that would remove wastewater and drinking water agencies from provisions in chemical security legislation (H.R. 5441) currently being considered. "We oppose any changes to the consensus language that would result in the inclusion of drinking water and wastewater systems in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) chemical security program," according to the Sept. 13 letter, which was sent to select members of Congress. NACWA will continue following this issue to ensure member agencies are not subject to "potentially conflicting regulations and duplicative requirements" in the chemical security arena.NACWA Meets with EPA on Bacteria Criteria, Other Critical Water Quality Issues
NACWA hosted a meeting this week with Ephraim King, the head of the Office Science and Technology (OST) of EPA’s Office of Water, and other key Agency officials to discuss a range of topics important to NACWA members, including litigation by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) on EPA’s missed deadlines for establishing water quality criteria for bacteria under the Beach Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health (BEACH) Act. EPA wants to ascertain the "critical science path" for developing the next generation of bacteria criteria and would also like to consider how different indicators may apply to the coasts versus inland waters, for example. The Association also discussed with EPA the wet weather standards proposed by the Ohio River Valley Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO), effluent limitation guidelines, several analytical method issues, and NACWA's efforts to work collaboratively with EPA to update the decades old study on the fate and transport of pollutants in wastewater treatment plants. NACWA will continue to seek ways to work with OST in the coming months on these important issues.NACWA Late-Breaking Legal Issues Call Focuses on CWA Scope over Wetlands
NACWA’s Legal Affairs Committee hosted a Late Breaking Legal Issues call this week on the hot topic of the scope of Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction over wetlands. Fred R. Wagner, of NACWA legal affiliate Beveridge & Diamond in Washington, D.C., provided an overview of the U.S. Supreme Court’s fractured June 2006 decision in Rapanos v. U.S. and subsequent federal district court decisions. Peter W. McGaw, with Archer Norris in Walnut Creek, Calif., led an in-depth discussion of the controversial Aug. 10 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Northern California River Watch v. City of Healdsburg, the first appellate court ruling since Rapanos was decided and a case in which NACWA participated as an intervenor. McGraw is counsel for the Healdsburg. Documents discussed during that call are posted on NACWA’s website (http://www.nacwa.org/private/legal_index.cfm).NACWA Tracking, Preparing to Comment on Upcoming Greenhouse Gas Inventory
NACWA staff and leaders of its Air Quality Committee met with EPA to discuss EPA’s estimates of greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater treatment facilities. EPA has compiled the U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory (http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/
ResourceCenterPublicationsGHGEmissions.html), as required by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The inventory is currently used only for information purposes, not for developing regulations. However, with California and other states developing their own greenhouse gas reduction programs, the inventory may become more significant in the future. With wastewater treatment listed as the fifth largest source of nitrous oxide and the sixth largest source of methane in the most recently published inventory (2004), clean water agencies could potentially be targeted for state or national greenhouse gas controls. NACWA and its Air Quality Committee will review the 2005 inventory draft when it is released and provide EPA with comments. NACWA will continue to work with EPA to refine and improve the methods used for future estimates of wastewater treatment greenhouse gas emissions.U.S. Seeks More Time to Respond to Petitions for Supreme Court Review in TMDL Case
The U.S. government wants until Oct. 25 to respond to a petition for Supreme Court review of a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decision on the meaning of "daily" in total maximum daily loads (TMDLs). The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a letter (http://www.nacwa.org/getfile.cfm?fn=2006-09-06scltrsg.pdf) Sept. 6 with the Supreme Court asking for the one-month delay to respond to the petition by the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority (D.C. WASA), a NACWA member agency. NACWA and the Wet Weather Partnership (WWP) filed a joint brief (http://www.nacwa.org/getfile.cfm?fn=2006-08-24WWPUSSCAmicus.pdf) supporting DC WASA’s request for review of the D.C. Circuit’s April 25, 2006, decision. The D.C. Circuit held that daily pollutant load limits are required for all TMDLs and that the seasonal and annual averages for dissolved oxygen and total suspended solids for the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C., which EPA said adequately protect water quality, were not valid. NACWA and WWP pointed out that the ruling conflicts with a 2001 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. NACWA also met with EPA staff Sept. 7 to discuss EPA’s position regarding the case and the request for Supreme Court review. The Association will keep members informed of developments in this important litigation.Pretreatment Workshop Hotel Cutoff Extended to Sept. 19
The deadline for registering at New Orleans’ Royal Sonesta Hotel for the 2006 Pretreatment and Pollution Prevention Workshop at the conference rate of $153 per night single/double has been extended to Sept. 19. The Workshop will take place Oct. 4-6 and will feature informative panels on topics geared toward the pretreatment professional, including implementation of the Pretreatment Streamlining Rule, dealing with emerging contaminants, and effluent limitation guidelines. Be sure to secure your accommodations by next Tuesday by contacting the hotel at (504) 586-0300 to reserve your room. Online registration for the conference is available on NACWA’s website (http://www.nacwa.org/meetings/06pret/).Information, Registration for NACWA Clean Water Law Seminar Available Online
Information and registration for NACWA’s 2006 Developments in Clean Water Law: A Seminar for Public Agency Attorneys and Managers is now online! Join your colleagues in Boston from Nov. 15-17 for a discussion of some of the most cutting edge developments in the regulatory and legal arenas. Jody Freeman, director of the Harvard Law School Environment program, will deliver the keynote address. Visit www.nacwa.org/meetings for more information.