» Update Archive

This edition of NACWA’s Legislative Update, current through April 29, 2011 provides information on the activities of the 112th Congress of interest to the nation’s public clean water agencies.  For more detailed information regarding NACWA activities, click on the web links in selected news items, visit NACWA’s website, or contact Pat Sinicropi at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or John Krohn at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Funding

Budget Compromise Averts Shutdown, Significantly Cuts Clean Water Funding

Congress narrowly averted a government shutdown in April as Republican and Democratic leadership finalized the fiscal year (FY) 2011 budget after tense negotiations.  The final agreement includes approximately $39 billion in spending cuts from FY10 spending levels.  Included in these cuts was a $1.6 billion funding reduction for EPA, the majority of which (approximately 66%) was taken from the Clean and Safe Drinking Water Revolving Funds (SRFs).  Funding for regional water quality restoration programs also saw reductions.  The Great Lakes program will receive $300 million, a reduction of $175 million from levels provided in FY 2010.  In addition, the compromise includes $116.87 million to be shared among the remaining geographic programs such as the Chesapeake Bay, Puget Sound and Long Island Sound.  The final compromise did not contain any of the sixteen environmental policy riders aimed at curbing EPA's regulatory authority over several contentious issues including water quality issues affecting the Chesapeake Bay and the State of Florida.

Agricultural programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) were also targeted for cut-backs, including an overall cut of $3 billion from FY10 levels.   Specific cuts include a $238 million reduction to the USDA’s conservations programs including a $119 million cut to the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP), a $39 million cut to the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), and an $80 million cut to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).

Following the announcement of the compromise, NACWA sent Advocacy Alert 11-13 to its members detailing specific cuts to federal programs designed to improve water quality.  NACWA also issued a strong press release stating that the SRF cuts are misguided and ignore the financial challenges facing states and municipalities in meeting a growing array of costly Clean Water Act (CWA) requirements.  In its statement, NACWA called on Congress to restore the federal partnership that existed when the CWA was passed in 1972, and to reverse the trend of requiring local communities to shoulder the majority of the burden of improving the nation’s water quality.  Specifically, NACWA called on Congress and the Administration to work closely with the clean water community, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and state regulators in developing a more flexible and cost-effective approach to CWA compliance in line with the Association’s Money Matters™ campaign.   NACWA also called on Congress to enact a dedicated, deficit-neutral and sustainable source of funding for the SRFs so these programs are no longer subject to yearly discretionary budget fluctuations. NACWA was quoted in several newspapers across the country as a result of these efforts. These articles can be viewed on the NACWA in the News webpage.

Regulatory Prioritization/Affordability

NACWA Hosts Facilitated Session on Draft Money Matters Legislation

On April 21, members of NACWA’s Money Matters Task Force and representatives of key stakeholder groups met at the Association’s office in Washington, D.C. for a facilitated discussion on draft legislation being developed as part of the Money Matters™ — Smarter Investment to Advance Clean Water campaign.  The legislative proposal seeks to create a new process under the CWA that provides municipalities and states with the ability to prioritize competing requirements in a manner that is affordable and focused on maximizing water quality benefits.  The discussion focused on the financial challenges municipalities and states are currently facing in implementing and complying with CWA requirements and the unique opportunity in the current political environment to move this type of legislation in Congress.  During the discussion, a consensus emerged that current water quality gains must be protected and that municipalities and states must drive prioritization of program implementation and the targeting of limited ratepayer funds to projects that would yield the greatest water quality benefit.  Other input focused on the need to make the source of pollutants the central factor in setting priorities and employing adaptive management approaches at the municipal level to ensure that efforts that are not working can be altered or replaced by others that will yield increased water quality.

Groups in attendance for this discussion included members and staff from the Association of State and Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators (ASIWPCA), the American Public Works Association (APWA), and the Water Environment Federation (WEF).  LaJuana Wilcher — former EPA Assistant Administrator for Water and Secretary of the Kentucky Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet —facilitated the session.

NACWA will be revising the draft legislation in advance of its National Environmental Policy Forum in May and will be holding a Money Matters Member Roundtable at the Policy Forum on Monday, May 9, 3:00-4:30 p.m. where LaJuana Wilcher will walk through the legislation and engage members in a strategic discussion on its provisions.  If you have any questions about this effort or about the legislation please contact Adam Krantz at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Farm Bill Reauthorization/Nutrient Issues

NACWA-led Farm Bill Coalition Focuses on Policy Solutions; Begins Outreach

During the month, the Healthy Waters Coalition a diverse group of municipal water, wastewater, conservation, agriculture and forest organizations and state agencies convened by NACWA, focused their efforts on developing specific policy solutions for controlling nutrient run-off from agricultural sources.  The Coalition received an in-depth presentation from Martha Noble, Senior Policy Associate with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, on how current conservation programs could be reformed to focus more effectively on nutrient controls.  Noble’s presentation examined conservation programs such as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), and offered recommendations for making targeted reforms to these programs to address nutrient run-off.  Noble’s remarks were followed by a robust discussion among participants on specific policy reforms to recommend to Congress for the 2012 Farm Bill debate. The Coalition agreed to review draft recommendations at its next meeting in May.

Following this discussion, the Coalition continued its outreach to Congress to raise awareness of the importance of strengthening links between the nation’s agricultural policies and water quality through the reduction of nutrient pollution by sending a fact sheet to Congress highlighting the adverse environmental, public health and economic impacts that can occur as a result of nutrient pollution.  The fact sheet outlines various problems caused by nutrient pollution including the growth of hypoxia in U.S. coastal waters, and includes statistics showing that over 50% of water impairment nationally is the result of nutrient over-enrichment.  The fact sheet is designed to raise awareness of this issue among policy-makers and provide a basis for discussion with Members of Congress interested in moving forward common-sense policy reforms to federal agricultural programs to achieve reductions in nutrient run-off from agricultural lands.

Following the circulation of the fact sheet, NACWA staff began meeting with Members of Congress serving on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Senate Agriculture Committee, as well as those who responded to the fact sheet, to brief them on issues associated with nutrient pollution and to provide information on the Healthy Waters Coalition upcoming efforts on the 2012 Farm Bill.  Among these meetings, NACWA met with staff from the office of Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) whose support will be critical to ensure a successful effort in the upcoming Farm Bill. For more information about NACWA’s Farm Bill efforts, please contact Patricia Sinicropi, NACWA’s Legislative Director, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Farm Bill Working Group Approves White Paper, Develops Strategy for Future Advocacy

While the Healthy Waters Coalition focused on developing targeted policy considerations, NACWA’s Farm Bill working group convened to discuss and approve a forthcoming white paper that will set the foundation for the Association’s advocacy efforts.  Kevin Shafer, Executive Director of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, NACWA Past-President, and head of NACWA’s Farm Bill working group led the discussion.  The white paper will provide the urban perspective on nutrient pollution and will highlight the relative nutrient loadings of farming activities and publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) while comparing the economic impacts and cost-effectiveness of implementing nutrient controls on these two source categories.  Expected to be completed this summer, the white paper, which will be funded through a foundation grant, will add to NACWA’s increased advocacy efforts on the Farm Bill.

Florida Congressman Questions EPA on Nutrient Rule for Florida Waters; Florida House of Representatives Passes Bill Prohibiting Nutrient Rule

Representative Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, wrote a letter to EPA asking Administrator Lisa Jackson to provide Congress with additional information on the Agency's final rule to establish numeric nutrient limits for Florida waters.  Specifically, Stearns is seeking a detailed chronological description of all agency actions and decisions related to the rule.  In the letter, Representative Stearns cited concerns regarding the scientific and technical analyses EPA utilized to determine that the imposition of numeric nutrient criteria was needed for Florida to comply with the CWA on the nutrient issue.  Stearns also questioned the environmental benefits that would be achieved and if EPA fully considered the cost to businesses to comply with the rule.  In his letter, Representative Stearns also noted the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) estimate that the rule would cost $21 billion to municipal wastewater treatment and stormwater utilities.  EPA estimated the cost of compliance with the criteria to be $135 to $206 million a year but recently agreed to a National Academy of Sciences independent review of the criteria’s implementation cost.  It is expected that Stearns will hold hearings on the issue in the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee in the near future.

NACWA will continue to be actively involved in this issue and will be meeting with staff of the subcommittee in the near future to convey NACWA’s concerns with the proposed numeric nutrient criteria and the Association’s recommendations on preferred nutrient management activities as indicated in the Association’s Nutrient Summit Outcome and Issues White Paper .

In related news, the Florida House of Representatives approved a bill (H.B. 239) on April 21, by a vote of 90-27, that would prohibit state, regional, or local governments from implementing the rule.  The legislation is to go to Florida’s Senate, where separate bills (S.B. 1490 and S.B. 1090) have not yet moved through Committee.

NACWA has been closely watching all developments on this issue and recently filed a motion in federal court to join the legal fight over EPA’s numeric nutrient limits for Florida.  NACWA will use its Motion for Leave to Participate as Amicus Curiae in the case to not only support a challenge to the Florida criteria, but also to argue that a similar approach in developing criteria should not be used in other parts of the country.  The Association will continue to keep members updated on any developments on this issue.

Climate Change

NACWA Seeks Inclusion of Biogas and Solids in National Clean Energy Standard

During April, NACWA partnered with the California Association of Sanitation Agencies (CASA) to respond to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Clean Energy Standard White Paper.  In our comments, NACWA and CASA urged the committee to include biogas and biosolids produced in the municipal wastewater treatment process as eligible renewable resources included in the definition of biomass under any Clean Energy Standard (CES).  Doing so would broaden new energy creation opportunities for POTWs that are building on the momentum already established by fourteen states that have already included biogas and biomass in their renewable electricity portfolio standard.

In our comments, NACWA and CASA made clear the economic and environmental benefits such a determination would provide for POTWs and the nation’s environment.  The comments explained that this determination would incentivize developments of renewable energy at POTW’s and could provide needed additional revenues and cost savings for utilities struggling to upgrade aging infrastructure and meet increasingly stringent CWA requirements.  NACWA and CASA’s joint comments also highlighted the work of the EPA’s Combined Heat and Power Partnership (CHPP).  In their previous examination, CHPP indicated that nearly 2.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, equivalent to 430,000 personal vehicles, could be offset if wastewater treatment plants employing anaerobic digestion installed energy recovery facilities to capture this critical resource.

In related news, Senators Tom Udall (D- N.M.) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.) also recently introduced legislation that seeks to establish a national renewable electricity energy standard (S.741).  The legislation does not include biogas and solids as an eligible energy source under the definition of biomass.  NACWA informed Senator Tom Udall’s office of this oversight and they pledged to work with us as the legislation advances to include these sources as eligible under the legislation.  NACWA will continue to ensure that POTWs qualify as a renewable energy resource as these discussions progress in the 112th Congress.

House Moves Legislation Repealing EPA Authority over Greenhouse Gas Emissions; Senate Balks on Similar Proposals

Efforts to restrict EPA’s  ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) gained steam this month as The U.S. House of Representatives approved the Energy Tax Protection Act of 2011 (H.R. 910).  If passed, the legislation seeks to nullify a 2009 scientific finding that declared GHG emissions endanger public health.  In nullifying the finding, the legislation would restrict EPA’s ability to regulate GHG emissions from power plants and stationary sources.  The legislation, offered by Congressman Fred Upton (R-Mich.), was approved by a 255-172 margin, which included the support of all Republicans and nineteen Democrats.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) offered a companion version of the legislation which was rejected in a split vote (50-50) a day before the House approved its bill.  Democrats Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) voted for the McConnell proposal.  The Senate also rejected three other proposals that sought to delay or limit the applicability of EPA’s regulatory authority over GHG sources.  Together these proposals did garner enough Democratic votes to potentially signal sufficient support in the Senate to delay EPA’s implementation of GHG regulations.  NACWA will continue to keep our members informed of developments associated with this issue as they arise.

Natural Gas Hydraulic Fracturing

Senate Holds Hearing on Hydraulic Fracking Operations; NACWA Survey Closes

The Senate Environment & Public Works (EPW) Committee and Water & Wildlife Subcommittee held an oversight hearing on natural gas drilling – and the potential public health and environmental impacts that may occur as a result of the practice of hydraulic fracturing or “fracking”.  The hearing included a diverse cross-section of federal and state elected and regulatory officials, as well as representatives from academia and the non-governmental community.

During the hearing, Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Chair of the Water & Wildlife Subcommittee, expressed concern over aspects of deep shale gas recovery that can potentially have negative impacts on the environment, such as the practice of treating produced hydraulic fracturing fluids at POTWs.  Senator Cardin pressed EPA Deputy Administrator Robert Perciasepe on this issue, asking whether the Agency is moving toward limiting POTW acceptance of these fluids because of the lack of national pretreatment standards.  Perciasepe pointed to a recent letter sent by U.S. EPA Region 3 Administrator to Michael Krancer, Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Environment, which asked Krancer to reopen the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits of those POTWs accepting gas drilling wastewater for treatment.

Seven states allow for POTW treatment of these fluids with the practice being used most extensively in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania due to geological conditions that limit the injection of these wastes in Class II Underground Injection Wells.  Just a week after the hearing, PA DEP Secretary Krancer issued an order that would prohibit this practice in Pennsylvania beginning May 19, 2011 due to increased levels of bromide in rivers in the western portion of the state where the majority of natural gas drilling is taking place.  Immediately following the announcement, industry declared they would voluntarily comply with the order.

In related news, NACWA’s hydraulic fracturing member survey closed last month.  Thirty-two public agency members responded with two indicating that they treat wastewater from the fracking process.  While this number may appear small, it is clear that POTW involvement in natural gas extraction will likely grow as the industry expands.  The Association will continue to gather information to guide any potential efforts on this important issue and NACWA thanks its member utilities who responded to the survey.