NACWA March 2006 Legislative Update

This edition of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies’ Legislative Update, current through March 2, 2006, provides information on the activities of the 109th Congress of interest to the nation’s publicly owned treatment works (POTWs). For more detailed information regarding NACWA activities related to specific legislation, click on the web links in selected news items, or contact NACWA’s Lee Garrigan at 202/833-4655 or lgarrigan@nacwa.org.

NACWA advocates on behalf of its members before Congress. You can find individual bills through NACWA’s Bill Tracker (http://www.nacwa.org/private/legreg/legupdate/leg_tracker.cfm), which provides a direct link to congressional websites where bill texts and summaries are posted. You can find NACWA letters, statements, alerts, updates and related documents under Legislative (http://www.nacwa.org/private/leg_index.cfm) in the Member Pipeline section of the NACWA website.

FISCAL YEAR 2007 BUDGET

Congress Criticizes EPA’s CWSRF Cuts
The fiscal year (FY) 2007 White House budget for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposes another round of cuts to the clean water state revolving fund (CWSRF) program, fulfilling the Administration’s promise to end federal capitalization of the program in FY 2011. The nearly $200 million budget cut would reduce the nation’s primary infrastructure program for water quality projects from $886.8 million in the current fiscal year to $687.6 million. Federal funding for the CWSRF has been slashed nearly 50 percent since the $1.35 billion annual appropriation it received up until FY 2004.

EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson appeared before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies on March 2 and the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee on February 15 to defend the Administration’s proposal but was widely criticized by Representatives and Senators at both hearings. In the House, Administrator Johnson said wastewater infrastructure needs are so large that EPA’s budget cannot address them. Assistant Administrator for Water Benjamin Grumbles added that the $688 million request is on target to fund the CWSRF to revolve at $3.4 billion a year by 2011. According to hearing reports, Grumbles then acknowledged that even though the CWSRF will revolve at that level, a large funding gap will continue to exist. The $300 billion financing gap will likely worsen as the federal government continues to disinvest in clean water public works projects.

In the Senate, EPW Chairman James M. Inhofe (R-OK) stated at the February 15 hearing, that the “cuts will not be sustained throughout the process” and that “Congress would be justified in restoring many of the cuts you proposed. There is a nationwide crisis and need for more water infrastructure money. It is clear from the cuts you have proposed that the Administration does not fully understand this crisis.” Other Committee members had similar objections to the clean water program cut.

The proposed budget also would delete $280 million that Congress added to the FY 2006 budget for more than 330 specific earmarked projects in local communities. The budget proposes to increase funding for the drinking water SRF by $4 million over FY 2006, increasing the proposed budget to $841.5 million. Also on the chopping block is the Wastewater Operator Training program which EPA proposed to zero out in FY 2007. The program received nearly $1.2 million in FY 2006.

In a NACWA press release issued in conjunction with the March 2 appropriations hearings, NACWA points to the funding decline and the spending gap as the primary reasons to establish a sustainable, reliable, long-term trust fund to finance wastewater treatment projects (http://www.nacwa.org/advocacy/releases/030206.cfm) (See related story below).

Support the NBP Funding Request – Write Congress Now on NACWA’s Website
A letter (http://www.nacwa.org/private/leg_outreach.cfm) requesting additional funds for the National Biosolids Partnership (NBP), signed by NACWA members during the NACWA 2006 Winter Conference in Palm Desert, California, has been sent to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies. The letter supports at least $1 million for the NBP’s environmental management system (EMS) for biosolids program in EPA’s FY 2007 budget.

Additionally, individual agencies that have Members of Congress on the House and Senate appropriations subcommittees received a Special Legislative Alert (http://www.nacwa.org/private/leg_outreach.cfm) in which they were asked to write a letter urging their Members to request that $1 million for the NBP be included in EPA’s budget for FY 2007. A sample letter that NACWA members can personalize and send to their Representative or Senator also is available from Write Congress Now, which is located on the home page of NACWA’s website (www.nacwa.org).

The House and Senate Budget Committees are expected this month to mark up their budget resolutions which will set funding allocations for agencies. The allocations then are used by the appropriations subcommittee chairs to draft their appropriations bills. In the House Subcommittee on Interior, Environmental and Related Agencies, Member Requests for earmarks (specific programs and local projects), including the NBP request, are due to the Subcommittee by March 16. NACWA members are encouraged to communicate with their members of Congress as soon as possible in support of the NBP funding.

DHS Budget Supports Chemical Security Legislation
The proposed FY 2007 budget for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) includes a request for $10 million to establish a new office to administer a chemical site security program. The establishment of the new office closely tracks bipartisan legislation introduced late last year that would require DHS to regulate the security of thousands of chemical facilities nationwide. The Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act of 2005 (S. 2145) (http://www.nacwa.org/private/legreg/legupdate/leg_tracker.cfm#2) would provide broad new authority to DHS to establish risk-based criteria to determine which chemical facilities are vulnerable to terrorist attack and to establish security standards for those facilities. Chemical facilities would be required to conduct vulnerability assessments and create site security and emergency response plans based on their specific vulnerabilities, subject to approval by the Secretary of DHS. Facilities that fail to comply with the security standards would be subject to fines and penalties. NACWA sought comments from its members on the bill via Legislative Alert 06-02 (http://www.nacwa.org/private/legreg/legalrts/la06-2.cfm) (see related story below).

In testimony March 2, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (HGA) Committee that the Bush Administration would like to see legislation passed this year that would give DHS authority to oversee security at chemical facilities.

Wastewater Treatment Facilities Not Target of Chemical Security Bill
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins (R-ME) and Ranking Member Joe Lieberman (D-CT) introduced S. 2145 following a year of negotiations with DHS and the chemical industry. As a starting point, the bill directs DHS to consider all facilities on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Risk Management Program (EPA RMP) list under Clean Air Act §112(r), which includes more than 15,000 facilities which store, produce, or use greater than threshold quantities of hazardous chemicals. The bill also gives DHS the authority to add facilities not on the EPA RMP list. All listed facilities would be assigned by DHS to a security tier based on risk criteria. However, just because a facility is on the EPA RMP list does not mean DHS will include it on the list of covered facilities. In a March 1 meeting, Senator Collins’ staff told NACWA that “DHS does not intend to capture wastewater facilities” in the legislation. Additionally, in a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on chemical facility security (http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-150), released to the public this week, a DHS comment was included that stated, “it did not intend wastewater treatment facilities to be incorporated in the list of top facilities.”

NACWA has used the comments on S. 2145 it received from member POTWs in response to Legislative Alert 06-02 (http://www.nacwa.org/private/legreg/legalrts/la06-2.cfm) in the recent meetings with HGA staff and in discussions with other municipal groups interested in the legislation. Sen. Collins’ staff expects S. 2145 to be marked up in the HSGA Committee in the near future. Similar legislation in the House is being encouraged by the White House but has not yet been drafted.

CLEAN WATER FUNDING

NACWA/Broad Coalition Work with Committee on Trust Fund Bill
Representative John J. Duncan, Jr. (R-TN), Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, introduced on December 15, 2005 the Clean Water Trust Act of 2005, H.R. 4560. The bill reauthorizes the funding portion of the Clean Water Act and sets up a federal trust fund to provide approximately $7.5 billion a year for five years to local communities to address clean water infrastructure needs. An overview of the bill and a one page flyer were sent via Legislative Alert 06-01 (http://www.nacwa.org/private/legreg/legalrts/la06-1.cfm) to all NACWA members January 3, 2006. A copy of H.R. 4560 is available on NACWA’s Bill Tracker (http://www.nacwa.org/private/legreg/legupdate/leg_tracker.cfm). The introduction of the Clean Water Trust Act of 2005 is a major milestone in the funding effort led by the NACWA Clean Water Funding Task Force, whose ongoing work has been made possible by contributions from NACWA member utilities and affiliates.

A late February legislative strategy meeting between NACWA, Water Infrastructure Network (WIN) associations, and other clean water stakeholder organizations and minority staff of the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment focused on securing bipartisan support for the clean water trust fund bill. Currently, although Ranking Minority Member Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) and other democrats are supportive of clean water trust fund legislation, they have been hesitant to cosponsor the bill because it does not include Davis Bacon prevailing wage provisions.

Davis Bacon wage protection language was added to previous clean water authorizing legislation in the 107th and 108th Congresses during markup of the bills in either the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment or in the full T & I Committee. However, Democrats, with the backing of labor organizations want full Davis Bacon coverage in original legislation.

A growing coalition of supporters is working to help resolve the Davis Bacon issue. NACWA, construction and engineering, and conservation and labor organizations are scheduled to meet March 3 with majority staff of the full T&I Committee to discuss possible options to move forward with a bipartisan clean water trust fund bill. One possible option is the redrafting of the trust fund bill to include wage protection provisions.

NACWA encourages its members to ask their Representatives for their support of H.R. 4560 and to schedule visits with their Members of Congress during the 2006 NACWA/WEF National Clean Water Policy Forum scheduled for May 2—3 in Washington, DC. To register, go to the homepage of NACWA’s website (www.nacwa.org) and click on the “Register Now” icon. For assistance with scheduling meetings with your Representatives and Senators, please contact Lee Garrigan, (202) 833-4655 or lgarrigan@nacwa.org.