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ISSUE AREAS

Funding

House Introduces FY 2012 EPA Funding Bill that Cuts SRFs, NACWA Weighs In

Despite the issue of the debt ceiling dominating Capitol Hill discussions, NACWA continues to ensure that the issue of clean water funding is consistently raised with both the House and the Senate.  The House Appropriations Committee approved in July a $27.5 billion fiscal year (FY) 2012 spending bill, including $7.1 billion for EPA.  The measure contains significant cuts to EPA programs, including the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) programs.  The House proposal would reduce the CWSRF program to $689 million for fiscal year (FY) 2012 from $1.5 billion in FY 2011, and provide $849 million to the DWSRF program from an allocation of $990 million in FY 2011.  The measure also contains two provisions that would restrict EPA’s ability to move forward on several policies, including a provision preventing the Agency from spending funds to implement Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction guidance as well as a provision relating to EPA’s work on promulgating a new stormwater rule requiring the Agency to submit to Congress a report outlining program options, and a thorough cost-effectiveness analysis of any proposed rule the Agency may pursue.  NACWA has sent key House and Senate Members correspondence on a regular basis on its own and through the Water Infrastructure Network (WIN) seeking to ensure the highest possible level of funding for the SRFs.

NACWA sent a letter to Chairman Michael Simpson (R-Idaho), Ranking Member James Moran (D-Va.), and to all Members of the House Interior, Environment & Related Agencies Subcommittee urging their support for providing at least $1.5 billion for the CWSRF, in line with the President’s FY 2012 budget request.  In addition, NACWA’s letter stated the importance of continuing to include provisions that ensure States must provide at least 30% of all funds above the $1 billion allocation level in the form of additional subsidization to entities using the CWSRF.  This provision helps ensure access to low or no-cost financing and helps communities in the face of the economic downturn.  In the letter, NACWA expressed the critical need for a continued federal commitment to providing funding for wastewater infrastructure and made a strong case for the economic benefits of water infrastructure investment.

In addition, NACWA, along with 26 other organizations strongly dedicated to protecting water quality, sent a letter to all Members of Congress urging them to provide at least $66.5 million for the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) program; this is the FY 2010 enacted funding level.  The letter stated that funding for this program is a critically important part of the Nation’s effort to protect our water resources and ensure sound science is at the heart of regulatory decision-making.

NACWA will continue its aggressive efforts to safeguard the CWSRF and NAWQA programs as Congress continues to eye environmental programs as part of broader budget-cutting measures.  The Association will continue keep the membership updated on the appropriations process as developments occur.

NACWA, ASIWPCA Urge Senate to Maintain Clean Water Funding Levels

Demonstrating the shared commitment to being able to carry out the goals of the Clean Water Act (CWA), NACWA and the Association of State & Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators (ASIWPCA) sent a joint letter to all members of the Senate Committee on Appropriations urging their support for maintaining FY 2012 funding levels for the CWSRF at the FY 2011 level of $1.5 billion.  The full House is expected to vote and will likely include these spending cuts in its final version, making the Senate the focus of this shared advocacy effort.  The NACWA-ASIWPCA letter focuses on the importance of funding for the CWSRF to the economy, jobs, the environment and public health.

Regulatory Prioritization/Affordability

NACWA Money Matters Regulatory Prioritization Legislation Poised for Capitol Hill

NACWA has finalized a working draft of its regulatory prioritization legislation as a part of its Money Matters . . . Smarter Investment to Advance Clean Water™ campaign.  This legislation is the product of significant work by the Money Matters Task Force and a number of key stakeholder groups.  The legislation sets forth a process under the CWA to prioritize the growing array of regulations.  It takes care to ensure that there can be no backsliding under the CWA and advances an approach that allows municipalities to apply to their State regulatory agency with a compliance schedule priority plan based on one or more changed circumstances set forth in the legislation.  An overview of the legislation, a discussion of next steps, as well as a section-by-section analysis of the bill was made available today to the membership via Advocacy Alert 11-18.

NACWA Members Advance Key Affordability Legislation in Several States

In line with NACWA’s Money Matters™ campaign, several states have made significant progress recently in advancing key affordability legislation in their state legislatures.  This month, Ohio’s Governor, John Kasich, signed SB 22 into law requiring the Director of Ohio’s Department of Environmental Protection to consider key affordability, implementation prioritization, and cost-related issues before issuing NPDES permits, requiring and approving long-term control plans for wet weather discharges, and enforcing provisions of the Clean Water Act as applied to sewerage systems.  Similarly, Missouri also passed critical affordability legislation as part of broader permit-fee related legislation.  Under the Missouri law, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources must make a full affordability finding before issuing any permit or other decision that will impact a sewer system.  Both the Ohio and Missouri legislation are available on NACWA’s Money Matters™ website.  The passage of the Ohio and Missouri legislation follows Kentucky’s successful effort to pass affordability legislation last year.

These State efforts are vital to the national Money Matters™ regulatory prioritization legislative efforts and NACWA encourages its public agencies and their state/regional associations to advance legislation similar to the Ohio, Kentucky and Missouri efforts.  NACWA will also be providing an Advocacy Alert to its members providing details regarding the provisions of these pieces of legislation and a comparative analysis for members to use who are pursuing similar legislation. To the extent your state is considering similar legislation please let NACWA’s Adam Krantz at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it know of these efforts.

Nutrient Issues/ Farm Bill Reauthorization

NACWA Participates in Dialogue on Agriculture-Water Policy Issues, Progress Continues

NACWA continued efforts to advocate for stronger policies to control agricultural run-off of nutrients as we were invited to participate in a stakeholder dialogue hosted by Future 500, an organization that works with private industry to make progress on sustainability and conservation issues.  The forum was sponsored by the Johnson Foundation and held at the Foundation’s conference center in Racine, Wisconsin.  The forum brought together farmers, farm-related businesses such as John Deere, and conservation organizations such as the National Audubon Society and Environmental Defense Fund to discuss ways in which national policy and the private marketplace can be better leveraged to improve agricultural impacts on water-related issues such as water quality and conservation.  In addition, NACWA continued to convene the Healthy Waters Coalition to work on developing policy recommendations for the upcoming Farm Bill.  NACWA anticipates that a set of policy recommendations will be made publicly available in September.

Climate Change

NACWA Signs Letter in Support of Water Infrastructure Resiliency and Sustainability Act

NACWA, along with other key water utility and environmental organizations, signed a joint letter in support of the introduction of the Water Infrastructure Resiliency and Sustainability Act of 2011 (H.R. 2738).  The bill will help communities create jobs and protect the nation’s clean water by addressing a host of challenges such as increased drought, more extreme storms and floods, and rising sea levels – all of which will threaten water quality and quantity.  The legislation will establish a program through EPA which will award the nation’s water supply, wastewater, stormwater and flood management agencies grants to increase resiliency or adaptability of their operations and infrastructure to the previously mentioned hydrologic conditions.  H.R. 2738 has been introduced in the U.S. House by Representatives Lois Capps (D-Calif.) and already has the support of eleven cosponsors.  A companion bill is expected to be introduced in the Senate by Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.) in September, after the August recess.  For more information on H.R. 2738, please view the section-by-section summary .

RECENTLY INTRODUCED CONGRESSIONAL LEGISLATION

• Representative Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.) introduced H.R. 2432 on July 6, 2011 to provide for a feasibility study before carrying out any Federal action relating to the Chicago Area Water System.  The legislation currently has twelve cosponsors.

• Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) introduced the Energy and Water Integration Act of 2011 (S.1343) on July 11, 2011. The bill calls for an analysis of the impact of energy development and production on the water resources of the United States, and for other purposes.  The legislation currently does not have any cosponsors.

• Representative  Andy Harris (R-Md.) introduced the Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia Research and Control Amendments Act of 2011 (H.R.2484) on July 11, 2011 to reauthorize the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 1998 to include a comprehensive and integrated strategy to address harmful algal blooms and hypoxia, to provide for the development and implementation of a comprehensive research plan and action strategy to reduce harmful algal blooms and hypoxia, and for other purposes.  The legislation currently has seven cosponsors.

• Representative Rob Bishop (R-Utah) introduced H.Res.347 on July 12, 2011 to provide consideration of the bill (H.R. 2018) to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to preserve the authority of each State to make determinations relating to the State’s water quality standards, and for other purposes. The legislation currently does not have any cosponsors.

• Senator John Kerry (D- Mass.) introduced the Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals Exposure Elimination Act of 2011 (S. 1361) on July 13, 2011 to facilitate cooperation between the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and EPA, and other regulatory agencies to reduce exposure to chemicals identified as endocrine disruptors.  The legislation currently does not have any cosponsors.

• Representative Jim Moran (D-Va.) introduced the Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals Exposure Elimination Act of 2011 (H.R. 2521) on July 13, 2011— the House version of S. 1361 directly above.  The legislation currently has thirteen cosponsors.

• Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) introduced the Silviculture Regulatory Consistency Act (S.1369) on July 14, 2011 to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to exempt the conduct of silvicultural activities from national pollutant discharge elimination system permitting requirements.  The legislation currently has seven cosponsors.

• Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) introduced the Silviculture Regulatory Consistency Act (H.R. 2541) on July 14, 2011 — the House companion bill to S. 1369 directly above. The legislation currently has nine cosponsors.

KEY CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS

• The House Subcommittee on Conservation, Energy and Forestry held a hearing on July 7, 2011 to examine the farm bill conservation programs.  For more information on this hearing, go to the Subcommittee’s webpage.

• The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure held a hearing on July 13, 2011 to discuss a common-sense approach to regulating ballast water.  For more information on this hearing, go to the Committee’s webpage.

• The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held a hearing on July 19, 2011 to discuss the nomination of Ken Kopocis to be Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water for the EPA and Rebecca Wodder to be Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks for the Department of the Interior.  A vote on their nominations is expected after the August recess.  For more information on this hearing, go to the Committee’s webpage.