Member Pipeline - Fax Alerts - Special Edition - October 2
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for the FaxAlert ArchiveOctober 2, 2006
NACWA Efforts Lead to POTW Exemption
from New DHS Security RegulationsThe House and Senate over the weekend each approved the Conference Report on H.R. 5441 – the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2007, thus passing into law a three-year exemption for wastewater treatment systems from new chemical security rules to be proposed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) over the next 6 months. The provision, Section 540 of the Conference Report, gives oversight for the security of the nation’s chemical plants for the first time to DHS. Passage of the fiscal year 2007 DHS spending bill capped weeks of negotiations between the White House, industry and lawmakers to insert a new section into the Conference Report to regulate security of the chemical industry. During this time, NACWA successfully launched a major effort in the House and Senate to include in this section an exemption from the new rules for POTWs, arguing that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), not DHS, has jurisdiction over wastewater security and that the new rules should only apply to private facilities.
Regulatory Mandates, Fines, Facility Shutdowns Avoided
Efforts to insert Section 540 into the Conference Report were initiated after House and Senate efforts to pass separate chemical security bills stalled last month. The broad reach of the bills brought before the House and Senate homeland security committees placed up to a third of NACWA’s members into the same category as private sector chemical plants. Although the House and Senate bills were different, their starting points were the same – all facilities required to prepare risk management plans under Section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act could be subject to new DHS oversight that would include mandatory vulnerability assessments, extensive planning and reporting requirements, and the threat of federal shut-downs and monetary fines. Additionally, an amendment accepted in the House bill would have required some POTWs – deemed high risk facilities – to seriously consider switching from gaseous chlorine to alternative disinfectants. NACWA members would have been regulated by both EPA and DHS, and likely would have faced costly duplicative and overlapping requirements in their security efforts. NACWA’s actions to exclude POTWs from coverage in the bills included numerous one-on-one briefings for congressional staff, participation in coalition and stakeholder meetings to gain support for NACWA’s position, providing input into suggested conference report language to exempt wastewater treatment plants from chemical facility bills, individual contact with NACWA member agencies to request that they contact their congressional delegations in support of the measure, and coordinating with other water utility associations to develop a consistent and unified message.EPA Retains Authority over POTWs
The relevant passage in Section 540 of the Conference Report states: “. . . the Secretary shall not apply regulations issued pursuant to this section to facilities regulated pursuant to . . . Public Water Systems, as defined by section 1401 of the Sate Drinking Water Act, Pub. L. 93-523, as amended; Treatment Works as defined in section 212 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, Pub. L. 92-500, as amended; any facility owned or operated by the Department of Defense or the Department Energy, or any facility subject to regulate by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.” Lending support to NACWA’s efforts were Senator James Inhofe, Chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, NACWA member POTWs, and other lawmakers on Capitol Hill. To read more about the latest congressional actions on wastewater and chemical security legislation, please read the October 2006 NACWA Legislative Update.