AMSA Legislative Update February 2003

This edition of AMSA’s Legislative Update, current through February 28, 2003, provides an overview of the disposition of bills of interest to the nation’s publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) in the 108th Congress. For more detailed information regarding AMSA activities related to specific legislation, click on the web links at the end of selected news items, or contact AMSA’s Lee Garrigan at 202/833-4655 or lgarrigan@amsa-cleanwater.org.

AMSA members can track congressional action on individual bills through AMSA’s Bill Tracker. The Tracker provides a direct link from AMSA’s web site to congressional web sites where bill texts and summaries are posted, allowing members to research relevant federal legislation. The site also includes the status and most recent action taken on all federal legislation through a link to the Library of Congress’ “Thomas” web site. To bookmark the Bill Tracker, go to http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/legreg/legupdate/leg_tracker.cfm.

Budget and Appropriations

Congress Funds SRFs and NBP in 2003 Appropriations Bills
Congress approved in mid-February a giant 3,000 page package that contained 11 unfinished appropriations bills from last year. In the VA, HUD & Independent Agencies portion of the omnibus bill, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) received $8.1 billion for the current fiscal year. Congress approved $1.35 billion for the clean water state revolving fund (CWSRF), $850 million for the drinking water SRF and $1 million to fund the National Biosolids Partnership (NBP) program. Lawmakers then added over $300 million for cost-shared grants to communities for construction of water and wastewater treatment facilities and for groundwater protection infrastructure. The grants will fund a total of 483 projects. The SRF and NBP program monies are subject to an across-the-board reduction of 0.65 percent to offset program increases elsewhere in the omnibus bill. Individual federal agencies will determine which of their programs will be cut to meet the targeted reduction.

Hearings Underway on President’s Proposed Budget for 2004
President George W. Bush’s fiscal year 2004 budget request for EPA came under scrutiny in late February as congressional hearings got underway in both the House and the Senate. For the CWSRF, the President’s budget requests $850 million less than the FY 2003 request of $1.212 billion, and $490 million less than the FY 2003 enacted level of $1.34 billion. EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman defended the proposal before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Committee Chairman James Inhofe (R-OK) praised the budget while Ranking Member James Jeffords (I-VT) expressed concern with the proposed cut to the CWSRF.

In the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee, EPA Assistant Administrator for Water, G. Tracy Mehan, also defended the cut to the CWSRF but received criticism from both sides of the aisle. A document released by Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee Chair John J. Duncan (R-TN) at the hearing stated that, “(t)he budget request claims that, through the Clean Water SRF, EPA will be able to close the gap between current funding levels and future wastewater infrastructure needs. As capital needs for wastewater are expected to be approximately $400 billion over the next 20 years, and at the current rate of investment of $13 billion a year, from federal, state and local sources and use fees, spending over the next 20 years will have to increase by $140 billion over current spending levels. It is unclear how the Clean Water SRF will be able to close that gap simply by increasing available assistance from the SRF from $2 billion a year to $2.8 billion a year. Last Congress, the Committee approved legislation that would authorize $20 billion over five years to capitalize the CWSRFs. Similar legislation will be considered by the Committee again this Congress.” Rep. Jerry Costello (D-IL), ranking Democrat on the subcommittee said EPA’s proposed cut to the CWSRF was “unacceptable.”

Wastewater Security

Wastewater Security Bill Approved by Transportation Committee
The House T&I Committee approved in late February the Wastewater Treatment Works Security Act of 2003 (H.R. 866). AMSA members and staff last year worked extensively with the Committee to get a nearly identical bill passed through the House and had urged Committee Chairman Don Young (R-AK) and Ranking Member James Oberstar (D-MN) to move quickly to reintroduce the measure this year. The bill would authorize $200 million for POTWs to conduct vulnerability assessments and to pay for enhanced security at their facilities. An additional $15 million would pay for technical assistance to small POTWs. Another $5 million would be made available to EPA to make grants to nonprofit organizations for the improvement of vulnerability self-assessment methodologies and tools for POTWs. That provision could potentially fund upgrades and training AMSA’s Vulnerability Self Assessment Tool (VSAT™) software over the coming years. AMSA will continue to work with Members and staff to move the bill to the House floor.

The Senate this session has not addressed the issue of wastewater security. Last year, the former chair of the Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW), James Jeffords (D-VT), introduced the Wastewater Treatment Works Security and Safety Act (S. 3037) which was not supported by the municipal wastewater treatment community. AMSA is urging the staff of current EPW Chair James Inhofe (R-OK) and Water Resources Chairman Sen. Michael Crapo (R-ID) to adopt the House version of the bill and to move it quickly out of committee and onto the Senate floor.

Last year’s bill by Sen. Jeffords was resurrected earlier this year by fifteen Senate Democrats and included as Title V of the Comprehensive Homeland Security Act of 2003 (S. 6). The Wastewater Treatment Works Security and Safety Act (Title V) authorizes $125 million for FY 2003 to perform vulnerability assessments, prepare emergency response plans, and implement basic security enhancements; $20 million for fiscal years 2003 and 2004 to address immediate and urgent security needs as determined by the EPA Administrator; $15 million for FY 2003 for treatment works that serve a population of under 10,000 people; and $15 million annually for fiscal years 2003-2007 for EPA research on the vulnerabilities of wastewater treatment works to intentional acts. The final authorization is for $500,000 for each of fiscal years 2003 through 2007 for non-profit organizations to improve vulnerability self-assessment tools for POTWs. Title V requires wastewater treatment agencies to submit both vulnerability assessments and emergency response plans to EPA, a requirement that is vigorously opposed by AMSA, and which is not required by H.R. 866. H.R. 866 requires only that POTWs certify that they have performed vulnerability assessments in order to receive funding for security enhancements. AMSA is also seeking to have a bill that is similar, if not identical to H.R. 866, introduced in the Senate.

AMSA will continue to press Congress to pass and fund balanced wastewater infrastructure security legislation in the 108th Congress. Copies of S. 6 and H.R. 866 are available for printing or downloading on AMSA’s Bill Tracker at: http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/legreg/legupdate/leg_tracker.cfm.

Chemical Security Included in S. 6
Proposed legislation that would affect approximately 15,000 industrial plants that manufacture, store or use toxic chemicals and that are subject to Clean Air Act (CAA) Section 112(r) risk management planning also has been revived by Senate Democrats and included as Title XI of the Comprehensive Homeland Security Act of 2003 (S. 6). AMSA estimated last year that approximately 30 percent of member agencies would be subjected to the requirements of the bill. Although the Senate EPW Committee last year unanimously approved the Chemical Security Act of 2002 (S. 1602), concern was voiced that EPA lacked the resources to review 15,000 plans. EPW Chairman James Inhofe (R-OK) and the White House have called for chemical security legislation that takes a “more reasonable approach” to securing chemicals at various facilities.

Clean Water Funding

Rep. Kelly, Sen. Voinovich Show Support with Early Bills
On the first day of the 108th Congress, Rep. Sue Kelly (R-NY) introduced the Clean Water Infrastructure Financing Act of 2003 (H.R. 20). The bill is similar to a bill she sponsored last year and includes an authorization of $25 billion for the CWSRF over a five year period, Davis-Bacon Act wage provisions, and language on asset management. AMSA provided comments on the bill to Kelly in early January. Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) also introduced funding legislation — the Clean Water Infrastructure Financing Act of 2003 (S.170) — on January 16, which authorizes $3 billion per year for fiscal years 2003 through 2007 for the CWSRF and would provide grant funding for disadvantaged communities and technical assistance for small communities. Copies of H.R. 20 and S. 170 are available on AMSA’s Bill Tracker at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/legreg/legupdate/leg_tracker.cfm.

Outlook for Wastewater Infrastructure Funding Legislation
Last year in the Senate, the Water Investment Act of 2002 (S. 1961) was reported out of the Committee on Environment and Public Works along party lines but never made it to the floor for a vote. AMSA declined to support the bill due to the inclusion of numerous controversial new mandates. Other stakeholder groups voiced opposition to the prevailing wage provision and the funding formula for distribution of the funds to the states. In the House, the T&I Committee successfully passed the Water Quality Financing Act of 2002 (H.R. 3930) with one amendment that made SRF funds subject to prevailing wage rates (Davis-Bacon). The Davis-Bacon provision ultimately prevented the bill from reaching the House floor for a vote.

If new water infrastructure funding legislation is introduced this session in the House or the Senate, many of the same provisions that were controversial last year could resurface in the new bills. EPA Administrator Christine Whitman’s priorities – including asset management and greater private sector involvement – likely would be included. AMSA will work to sustain momentum on the infrastructure funding issue to get a bill passed in the 108th Congress that will provide a long-term, sustainable funding solution to the massive funding shortfall POTWs face, with unnecessary mandates that only add to the funding gap.

Meantime, AMSA and other stakeholder groups will be seeking broader support for the issue through expanded grassroots efforts with businesses and ratepayers across the country. At the direction of the AMSA Infrastructure Funding Task Force, a strategic plan is being finalized, an evaluation of new sources of revenue has been initiated, and a bill is being written that incorporates the legislative recommendations of the second Water Infrastructure Network report. The Task Force met in early February in Santa Fe, N.M. in conjunction with AMSA’s 2003 Winter Conference.

Wet Weather Bill Introduced
U.S. Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) has introduced bipartisan legislation (H.R. 784) that would authorize $1.5 billion in grants over 2004 and 2005 to help communities invest in their wastewater systems. The Water Quality Investment Act of 2003 would extend by two years a law which was enacted in 2001 and that provided $1.5 billion in grants over two years for sewer control projects. AMSA supported the original Wet Weather Water Quality Act of 2000 which also authorized a three-year, $45 million grant program for wet weather watershed pilot projects.

“Protecting our environment and public health should always be a top priority,” Camp said. “By helping communities repair leaking and broken sewer pipes, we can sharply reduce the number of beach closures, ensure cleaner drinking water and prevent water pollution.” Nineteen representatives have signed on as cosponsors of the two-page bill. The text of H.R. 784 can be located on AMSA’s Bill Tracker at: http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/legreg/legupdate/leg_tracker.cfm.

Environmental Protection

AMSA Raises Watershed Rule Profile on Hill
AMSA has been active in both the House and Senate to inform legislative staff of the perilous status of the “watershed rule,” which if proposed, will continue the public discussion on how to best reform the total maximum daily load (TMDL) program. In mid-February, ranking minority member of the Senate EPW Committee Jim Jeffords (I-VT) sent a letter to EPA Administrator Christie Whitman raising concerns that any steps to propose new TMDL rules "could slow needed progress by additional decades by relaxing schedules for setting [pollution limits], reducing EPA's oversight role, allowing states to reclassify polluted waters as clean and adopting other weakening changes to the current program." The letter, which makes several inaccurate statements about the existing TMDL regulations, was cosigned by a number of Democrats, including Sens. Edward Kennedy and John Kerry of Massachusetts and Barbara Boxer of California.

In the wake of the Democratic letter, AMSA and other stakeholders, including the states, governors, and nonpoint source groups, are urging moderate Democratic and Republican senators to express their desire that the TMDL package move forward. While EPA has kept the watershed proposal’s exact regulatory text and preamble close to the vest, based on EPA’s description of the package contents AMSA and other groups are confident that the proposal will improve the existing 1985/1992 TMDL regulations. AMSA’s hope is to secure Senate and House letters favoring the watershed package in the near future.

EPA Cabinet Bill Back on Track
Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), Chair of the House Science Committee, has reintroduced legislation that would elevate EPA to a cabinet-level department. The bill, H.R. 37, is identical to the one Boehlert introduced in July 2001 and would redesignate EPA as the Department of Environmental Protection. The action is supported by the Bush administration and has been referred to the Committee on Government Reform for action. To read a copy of the legislation, go to AMSA’s Bill Tracker at: http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/legreg/legupdate/leg_tracker.cfm.