AMSA January 2005 Legislative Update

This edition of the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies’ (AMSA) Legislative Update, current through January 27, 2005, provides information on the activities of the 109th Congress including anticipated legislative action of interest to the nation’s publicly owned treatment works (POTWs). 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 website to congressional websites 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” website. To renew or bookmark the Bill Tracker, go to http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/legreg/legupdate/leg_tracker.cfm.

Clean Water Legislation

AMSA Distributes Second Draft of Trust Fund Bill
On November 22, 2004, AMSA released the first draft of a clean and safe water trust fund bill for review and comment by December 10, 2004. AMSA subsequently compiled and reviewed the comments received from AMSA members, Water Infrastructure Network (WIN) member organizations and environmental and conservation organization stakeholder groups.

AMSA integrated as many of the recommendations as possible into a revised, second draft of the proposed trust fund legislation – The Water Assistance Trust and Environmental Restoration (WATER) Act of 2005. The revised bill was distributed via Legislative Alert 05-01 (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/legreg/legalrts/la05-1.cfm) with a list of significant changes and a revised bill overview to AMSA members, WIN member organizations and other stakeholder groups for review and response by January 21, 2005. AMSA has requested that interested organizations begin to consider signing onto a list of supporters of the legislation in preparation for advancing the bill to Capitol Hill.

AMSA to Support Sewer Overflow Grant Bill
Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) plans to reintroduce a bill that would extend until 2011, the $1.5 billion authorization for the sewer overflow grant program that was signed into law in 2001. The original authorization for appropriations for the grants from the EPA to municipalities expired in 2003 and was never funded. The bill, currently in draft form, would provide $250 million for each of fiscal years 2006 through 2011 to help municipalities pay for construction projects that would reduce sewer overflows.

Last year, AMSA 2003 – 2004 Past President Paul Pinault, Executive Director of the Narragansett Bay Commission in Providence, Rhode Island, testified on behalf of AMSA at a hearing before the House Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee on Rep. Camp’s bill, the Water Quality Investment Act of 2003. Other than Rep. Camp, AMSA was the only witness to testify. Although the full Transportation and Infrastructure (T & I) Committee passed the bill on July 21, it was never scheduled for a vote on the House floor. After the bill is introduced, AMSA will work with Rep. Camp and other sponsors to pass the bill and secure appropriations to fund the grants as part of the effort to secure long-term funding for local wastewater infrastructure projects.

Environmental Protection

Democratic Senators Seek to Halt EPA Guidance on Blending
Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee James Jeffords (I-VT) gathered the signatures of 15 Senate Democrats on a December 20, 2004 letter to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Leavitt opposing the issuance of EPA’s proposed blending guidance. The letter (http://epw.senate.gov/pressitem.cfm?id=230238&party=dem) implies that EPA is ignoring the public health ramifications of blending and calls on Administrator Leavitt to “end consideration” of the proposed guidance document entitled “National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit Requirements for Municipal Wastewater Treatment Discharges During Wet Weather Conditions,” which was published in the Federal Register on November 7, 2003. EPA officials have subsequently told AMSA that the Agency remains committed to finalizing the guidance.

In anticipation that Senator Jeffords will lead an effort to introduce new legislation in the 109th Congress that would prevent EPA from issuing the guidance, AMSA has resumed its educational efforts (see article below), begun in January 2004, to garner congressional support for the immediate issuance of the EPA guidance on blending.

Several House Members Seek Support for Anti-Blending Position
Reps. Bart Stupak (D-MI), Clay Shaw (R-FL) and Frank Pallone, Jr. (R-NJ) are seeking signatories onto a “Dear Colleague” letter opposing EPA’s blending guidance. A similar letter was organized last year and received the support of over 50 Representatives. As part of their effort to garner support for their anti-blending position, the congressmen sponsored a briefing that included the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), several shellfishing associations and a professor of public health from Tufts University who provided the anti-blending perspective. AMSA subsequently met with the Members’ staff to provide the municipal perspective and continue its congressional educational campaign through regular Hill visits and mailings to all Members of Congress.

In response to this congressional activity, AMSA re-energized a broad coalition of national, regional and state organizations that jointly sent a January 21, 2005 letter (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/reg_outreach.cfm) to key EPA officials in support of the Agency’s November 7, 2003 blending policy. The letter also was sent to Members of Congress and their environmental staff. The organizations joining AMSA on the letter include the National League of Cities, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National Association of Counties, the National Association of Towns and Townships, the Water Environment Federation and over 20 other municipal organizations. As the letter states, the signatories believe that “[A] national blending policy is essential to the cities across the country that use blending to manage and provide clean water treatment to unpredictable, exceptionally heavy rain and snow melt” and that such a policy will “increase permitting consistency and make more information publicly available on a long-standing, EPA-approved wet weather management practice.” AMSA and its coalition partners will continue to work to ensure EPA finalizes its proposed blending policy as swiftly as possible. AMSA also updated and sent a “Fact-Fiction” one-pager (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/advocacy/co/2005-01-21Blendfandf.pdf) to all Members of Congress as part of the Association’s ongoing effort to set the record straight.

House Bill Would Outlaw Blending by Stopping EPA Guidance
A Michigan congressman took aim at the practice of blending and introduced a bill just before Congress adjourned for the year that seeks to bar the Administrator of EPA from promulgating regulations or issuing guidance that would authorize a publicly owned treatment works to divert flows to bypass a portion of its treatment facility. H.R. 5421, Save Our Water from Sewage Act of 2004, was introduced by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) in response to EPA’s November 2003 draft guidance that would allow publicly owned wastewater treatment facilities to blend during heavy rains. Stupak says he intends to fight for the bill and will reintroduce it this year.

Stupak was one of 58 Members of Congress that signed a letter earlier in 2004 to EPA Administrator Michael Leavitt in opposition to the proposed guidance. AMSA responded to Rep. Stupak’s bill with a December 9, 2004 letter explaining the municipal need for a final blending guidance (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/leg_outreach.cfm). A copy of the two-page bill can be found under Environmental Protection on AMSA’s Bill Tracker (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/legreg/legupdate/leg_tracker.cfm).

109th Congress

The House and the Senate convened the 109th Congress on January 4, 2005. Republicans and Democrats met separately to elect their leaders and appoint Members to congressional committees. President Bush is scheduled to deliver his State of the Union address on February 2 and send Congress his fiscal year 2006 federal budget, including proposed funding levels for EPA programs, February 7.

Senator Lincoln Chafee Named New Water Subcommittee Chairman
Senator Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) was elected January 5 as the new chairman of the Fisheries, Wildlife and Water Subcommittee of the Senate Environmental and Public Works (EPW) Committee. The subcommittee deals with issues including water infrastructure projects, endangered species legislation, clean water issues, and fish and wildlife. Chafee previously served as chairman of the subcommittee on Superfund and Waste Management and replaces Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) who gave up his seat on the EPW Committee to join the Finance Committee. Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) has moved up to become the minority’s ranking member on the subcommittee.

While the leadership of the full EPW committee will remain the same with Senators James Inhofe (R-OK) and Senator James Jeffords (I-VT) returning as the Chair and Ranking Member, several veteran members are departing the committee. Leaving the committee are Republican Senators John Cornyn (TX), Craig Thomas (WY), and Wayne Allard (CO) and Democratic Senators Harry Reid (NV), Ron Wyden (OR) and Bob Graham (FL).

Only two new Democrats will join the committee, former EPW member Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and freshman Senator Barak Obama (D-IL). On the Republican side, the four freshmen who will join the committee are Senators John Thune (SD), Jim DeMint (SC), Johnny Isakson (GA) and David Vitter (LA).

While EPW Chairman Inhofe has stated that his two priorities for this year are the completion of the surface transportation bill and President Bush’s Clear Skies Act, AMSA will urge the Chairman to begin work as soon as possible on clean water funding legislation.

Appropriations

Appropriations Subcommittees Still Without Chairs
The House Republican leadership has delayed until early February the naming of the appropriations subcommittee chairs while it pushes a proposal to consolidate several of the subcommittee panels. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) and House Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA) would like to cut the number of subcommittees from 13 to 10. According to Congressional Quarterly, the VA-HUD and Independent Agencies (VA-HUD) Subcommittee would be broken apart, with its pieces distributed to other subcommittees. Appropriations for the Environmental Protection Agency would be transferred to the Interior funding appropriations bill. The plan is meeting with significant resistance from the Senate side of the Capitol, including from Senator Christopher Bond (R-M), chairman of the VA-HUD subcommittee.

If the House Appropriations Committee reorganization is not successful, Rep. Jim Walsh (R-NY), who has chaired VA-HUD for the past six years, will seek a waiver from term limits in order to remain chairman of the subcommittee for one more year. If he is not granted the waiver, potential successors include Reps. Henry Bonilla (R-TX), Joe Knollenberg (R-MI), and David Hobson (R-OH).

Budget Cuts to Clean Water Loan Program Likely to Continue
Recent comments by federal officials and Capitol Hill staff indicate that President Bush’s fiscal year (FY) 2006 budget could seek further cuts to programs that provide federal financial assistance to wastewater and water programs. In November, the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) program was cut by approximately 18 percent, from $1.35 billion to $1.1 billion, and is subject to an across-the-board decrease of 0.83 percent, leaving $1.09 billion to fund local wastewater projects in 2005. The reduction in appropriations for the CWSRF was in line with the President’s budget request for FY 2005. If congressional appropriators reduce funding for wastewater infrastructure improvement programs this year, it could signal the fulfillment of Congress’ intent, when it approved the state revolving fund program, to phase out federal contributions to local wastewater projects.

Also approved in the omnibus appropriations bill were $970,000 for the National Biosolids Partnership, $843 billion for the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and $18 million for competitive Targeted Watershed grants, of which $8 million is earmarked for Chesapeake Bay projects to demonstrate effective nonpoint source nutrient reduction approaches for small watersheds.

The Water Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Water ISAC) will receive $2 million this year and another $310 million will be provided for 667 targeted grants to communities for the construction of drinking water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure and for general water quality protection. Forty-five percent of a project’s cost must be paid for by the grant recipient.

The final appropriations report can be found on AMSA’s Bill Tracker ( http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/legreg/legupdate/leg_tracker.cfm) by clicking on H.R 5041 under Budget and Appropriations, then click on House Report 108-674.