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EPA Request for Money to Fund Fee Program Rejected by House Appropriations Committee

The House Appropriations Committee has blocked a $5 million request by the Environmental Protection Agency to launch a pilot program aimed at encouraging states to charge "adequate" fees to process clean water permits.

The committee adopted language June 7 as part of the fiscal 2008 EPA/Department of Interior spending bill (H.R.2643) that includes $8.1 billion for EPA (110 DEN A-1, 6/8/07 ).

However, the legislative language blocks the agency from using appropriated money to demonstrate how states can charge higher fees to cover the costs of processing National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits and to free up funds for other water programs.

According to a legislative aide, H.R. 2643 now heads to the full House for a vote the week of June 25 or thereabouts.

In the report accompanying H.R. 2643, Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, directed EPA to address concerns raised by all stakeholders about the agency's pilot program to increase NPDES fees. Until then, Dicks wrote the "committee denies, without prejudice, the $5,000,000 request for the pilot program."

In H.R. 2643, the Appropriations Committee rescinded $5 million for this program.

Purpose of Pilot Program

The pilot program was meant to demonstrate how EPA would give states additional funds for charging "adequate" fees to process permits under a rule it proposed Dec. 21, 2006 (246 DEN A-6, 12/22/06 ).

EPA issued the proposed rule prior to Dec. 31, 2006, under directions from the White House Office of Management and Budget.

Under the proposed rule, states that certify they are recovering at least 75 percent of the funds spent on operating the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program would be eligible to receive additional water pollution control funds under Section 106 of the Clean Water Act. Section 106 authorizes EPA to amend the formula to allocate grants to states for water pollution control programs (40 C.F.R. ยง35.62).

In the FY 2008 spending bill, however, the House Appropriations Committee forbade EPA from spending $5 million in "unobligated balances" from Section 206 funds to implement the permit fee program.

EPA claims the proposal would give it flexibility to set aside funds within the Section 106 pool of money to reward states that are recouping at least 75 percent of their permit program costs through fees.

Opposition to Proposed Rule

The proposed rule, however, has met with opposition. In a public hearing held this past February in Washington, D.C., the agency received no favorable comments in oral testimony (35 DEN A-12, 2/22/07 ).

The National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA), a group that advocates on behalf of municipally owned wastewater treatment plants, said it remains opposed to the agency's proposed permit fee rule.

"We are very pleased with the inclusion of this language in the spending bill," Adam Krantz, managing director for NACWA's government and public affairs operation, told BNA June 18. "This notion of continuing to pay for federally funded programs off the backs of municipalities needs to stop. The language in the House bill is a good step towards making that clear."

Krantz said he is confident that the Senate will include similarly worded language in its spending bill for EPA. In December 2006, Sens. Hilary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and James Inhofe (R-Okla.) sent a joint letter to the White House Office of Management and Budget, expressing their "serious concerns' with the agency's proposed rule (249 DEN A-6, 12/29/06

The two senators had noted that the Clean Water Act is "currently silent" on how NPDES program should be funded. They also said that the Clean Water Act does not "envision" states as a mandatory source of funds for the NPDES program.

 

By Amena H. Saiyid