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House T&I Panel Members Haggle Over Clean Water Trust Fund
Tasha Eichenseher, E&E Daily reporter
Americans would overwhelmingly support a national trust fund for clean water but deciding who would pay may prevent lawmakers from quickly finding a way to avert a clean water crisis, according to a panel of experts who testified yesterday at a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing.
At issue is finding a way to plug a $300 billion to $800 billion funding gap
over the next 20 years for wastewater infrastructure repairs and upgrades.
Environmentalists and industry groups have encouraged Congress to address the
situation with urgency, citing the potential for leaking sewer systems to cause
public health problems and expensive penalties.
Lawmakers have generally responded with concern. Yesterday's Water Resources and
Environment Subcommittee hearing focused on the possibility of developing a
trust fund, similar to those that support federal highway and aviation projects.
A poll released in March showed that nearly 85 percent of Americans support a
clean water trust fund, according to Frank Luntz, president of Luntz Research
Companies, which surveyed 900 adults. That is "a public opinion consensus rarely
seen in America," Luntz said at the hearing.
Polling results also showed that 71 percent of survey respondents would rather
see dedicated federal funding for clean water programs than for additional road
and airport projects.
How to work out the specifics of who would contribute to the trust fund and how
much are less clear, panelists said.
Most agreed that user fees or taxes would have to be shared among a broad base
of water consumers, ranging from the bottled beverage and computer industries to
farmers and homeowners.
American Beverage Association President Susan Neely yesterday warned that a tax
on just one industry, such as bottled drinks, could be unequitable and highly
opposed. "Our role is as one of many users that could pay higher rates that
reflect infrastructure needs -- not as the sole source of these funds," she
said.
And Julius Ciaccia, testifying on behalf of the American Water Works
Association, stressed the need to minimize water rate increases.
Kenneth Rubin on behalf of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies,
while supportive of a broad base of funding, reminded Congress that identifying
water users is not always as easy as identifying highway users.
With the federal government currently paying less than 10 percent of the cost of
maintaining clean water, several witnesses agreed that even with a trust fund,
supplemental funding would have to come from other sources, such as rate
increases. But "Increased investment must still take place," said Subcommittee
Chairman John Duncan (R-Tenn.).
No one has yet floated a trust fund bill, with previous efforts to increase
wastewater funding directed at increasing the U.S. EPA's Clean Water State
Revolving Fund, which provides low interest loans to states (E&E Daily, June 6).
A second hearing next Tuesday will look at other options.