Clean Water Advocacy - Newsroom - AMSA in the News
No. 73
Tuesday, April 16, 2002 Page A-2
ISSN 1521-9402
News
Water Pollution
Talks Under Way on Infrastructure Funding To Address Concerns of State, City
Officials
Members of a Senate committee considering legislation to reauthorize funding
for water and wastewater infrastructure are negotiating possible changes to a
bill introduced in February to address concerns raised by state and municipal
officials, committee aides told BNA April 15.
A markup of the legislation by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
is scheduled for April 25.
Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) drafted language that would be offered as a
substitute to the Water Infrastructure Investment Act of 2002 (S. 1961), which
would authorize $35 billion over five years for water and waste water
infrastructure.
The water bill, introduced Feb. 20 by Sen. James Jeffords (I-Vt.), would
reauthorize the state revolving fund under both the Clean Water Act and the Safe
Drinking Water Act (33 DEN A-1, 2/19/02 ). In addition, it would revise the
clean water state revolving fund to incorporate some of the flexibility found in
the drinking water fund, which was first authorized in 1996.
Officials with state pollution agencies and municipal wastewater facilities said
they supported the draft Voinovich language because it would remove what they
viewed as obstacles to the funding in S. 1961.
Voinovich met with Jeffords the week of April 8 to discuss these concerns and
how they might be resolved, Scott Milburn, a Voinovich spokesman said. The
senators agreed to work toward a consensus plan for the April 25 markup.
A spokesman for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, chaired by
Jeffords, said he expected changes would be made to S. 1961 reflecting those
negotiations.
Funding Conditions in the Jeffords Plan
Officials with the Association of State and Interstate Water Pollution Control
Administrators, the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies, and the
National Governors Association said they had some reservations about Jeffords's
bill because of some of the funding conditions.
"The cumulative effect of the requirements contained in S. 1961 will seriously
weaken the effectiveness of the [Clean Water State Revolving Fund] and make it a
much less viable financing alternative for potential consumers of all
descriptions," said an April 12 letter to members of the Senate Environment and
Public Works Committee from Tom Morrissey, president of ASIWPCA.
The language being drafted by Voinovich would rectify those concerns, Morrissey
said.
AMSA and NGA officials agreed.
Morrissey said S. 1961 would force states to modify their systems for
determining funding priorities and intended use plans, to become involved in
local land-use planning and local rate restructuring, and to complete "expensive
time-consuming compliance orders before facilities can qualify for loan
assistance."
Adam Krantz, an AMSA spokesman, told BNA the Voinovich language would also
remove a requirement that publicly owned treatment works deemed by the
Environmental Protection Agency or other entities to be in significant
noncompliance with Clean Water Act requirements obtain a consent decree from the
agency before becoming eligible for funds.
Most POTWs experience sanitary sewer overflows or combined sewer overflows, for
example, Krantz said.
"Does that require us to go through the costly process of getting a consent
decree?" he said.
The language in S. 1961 may actually discourage the very applicants the state
revolving fund is designed to help, Krantz said.
Milburn said Voinovich is trying to find a balance between what will help the
environment and what is cost-efficient.
"Regulations [under the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act] are tough,"
Milburn said. "If we want communities to comply, we have to support them."
By Susan Bruninga