» Update Archive

This edition of NACWA’s Legislative Update, current through March 18, 2013, provides information on the activities of the 113^th 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 or visit NACWA’s website.  Please contact NACWA’s Pat Sinicropi at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  or Hannah Mellman at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  with any questions or information on the Update topics.

ISSUE AREAS

Congressional Update

Sequestration Goes into Effect; Clean Water Programs See Cuts

On March 1, automatic spending cuts known as sequestration went into effect as required by the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA). In the absence of an alternative budget from Congress, the BCA mandates automatic cuts of $1.2 trillion to most discretionary and non-discretionary programs over ten years. The Sequestration Order, signed by the President, cuts the overall U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) budget by $472 million to $7.928 billion, 5.1% below Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 spending levels. While it is up to EPA to decide where the $472 million will come from, the President has suggested an across the board cut, decreasing the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) by $74.9 million to $1.393 billion. Sequestration will remain in place unless a deal to reverse or replace the cuts is reached by Congress.

As sequestration takes effect, lawmakers have turned their focus to passing another Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the government funded at FY 2012 levels for the rest of the year. The current CR will expire on March 27. On March 6, the House of Representatives passed a CR to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year. The House proposal would withdraw $10 million in already appropriated but unallocated funding from each of the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds (SRFs). The Senate Appropriations Committee released their proposal on Monday which includes additional cuts to the EPA. The proposed Senate CR would cut a total of $136 million from EPA accounts, in addition to the provisions in the House proposal to withdraw $10 million from both the Clean Water and Drinking Water SRFs. A vote on the Senate CR is expected early next week. NACWA will continue to track developments on the Federal budget and its impacts on the water program as they occur.

NACWA’s Howard Neukrug Testifies at House Appropriations Subcommittee Hearing

On March 13, Howard Neukrug, Water Commissioner of the Philadelphia Water Department and a member of NACWA’s Board of Directors, testified on behalf of NACWA at a House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies oversight hearing examining the financing needs of water and wastewater infrastructure and budgetary needs for the Drinking Water and Wastewater State Revolving Fund Programs. In his testimony, Neukrug advocated for a continued robust federal commitment to providing financial support for meeting obligations under the Clean Water Act. He also discussed policy proposals that can help communities prioritize infrastructure investments to ensure the greatest water quality outcomes. Additional witnesses included representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Government Accountability Office, the U.S. Water Alliance, the American Water Works Association, and the National Association of Water Companies. Neukrug’s testimony is available here.

Wet Weather, Integrated Planning and Affordability

NACWA Discusses Affordability with Members of Congress

With the 113th Congress up and running, NACWA has been holding meetings with key House and Senate offices to garner support for legislative proposals geared toward addressing affordability issues for wastewater utilities. Those proposals include The Clean Water Affordability Act, which was introduced by Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) last Congress. Brown’s bill would: 1) reauthorize the Wet Weather Grants Program to help communities separate combined sewers; 2) codify Integrated Planning and extend EPA permit terms up to 25 years; 3) encourage use of green infrastructure for managing wet weather; and 4) require EPA to revise guidance on determining a community’s financial capability to meet CWA obligations. Representative Bob Latta (R-OH) plans to reintroduce similar legislation by the same name that would also require EPA to revise its financial capability guidance. NACWA has also begun shopping around its own wet weather proposal, The Wet Weather Community Sustainability Act , to grant communities with additional flexibility to better manage peak wet weather flows.

NACWA is also working with Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Ben Cardin (D-MD), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) to secure some funds in the FY14 EPA appropriations bill for municipalities to use to develop integrated plans. NACWA’s proposal would provide pilot funding for three to five communities in each of EPA’s ten regions to help develop integrated plans. Although this pilot program would only last one year, NACWA is hopeful that these pilots will help spur other communities’ participation and ensure broader adoption of integrated planning as a tool.

Rep. Bishop Holds Stakeholder Meeting to Discuss Advancing Water Infrastructure Legislation

Representative Tim Bishop (D-NY), Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Water Resources & the Environment, held a stakeholder meeting to discuss the reintroduction of his bill, The Water Quality Protection and Job Creation Act. This bill would establish and build on several key programs for the long-term financing of wastewater infrastructure, including adding significant investment to the State Revolving Fund (SRF), creating a loan guarantee program, and establishing a clean water trust fund. Together, these initiatives would add $13.8 billion over five years to help meet local wastewater infrastructure needs. NACWA attended this meeting as part of the Water Infrastructure Network (WIN), which voiced its support for the bill and discussed ways it could gain more traction in the Committee.

The bill currently has two Republican cosponsors, Pete King (R-NY) and Don Young (R-AK), and WIN is recommending that Representatives Bill Shuster (R-PA) and Nick Rahall (D-WV), Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and Bob Gibbs (R-OH), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and the Environment join the bill as well. NACWA will provide updates on this bill, and related efforts, as they become available.

Climate Change, Adaptation, and Resiliency

NACWA Offers Recommendations on Addressing Climate Change

NACWA was asked to submit comments to the Congressional Bicameral Task Force on Climate Change, led by Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), on how climate change is impacting the water sector and what actions the federal government could take to help the clean water community more effectively prepare for it. In a letter  to the Task Force, NACWA expressed its support for proposals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including a Clean Electricity Standard (CES) that would credit all energy derived from the wastewater sector as qualifying clean energy sources. NACWA also promoted Congresswoman Lois Capps’ Water Infrastructure Resiliency and Sustainability Act and NACWA’s proposed legislation, The Wet Weather Community Sustainability Act, to help utilities cope with wet weather challenges in a more cost-effective way. The Association will continue to engage with this Task Force and keep members updated with any new developments.

National Environmental Policy Forum

NACWA Recognizes Senator Stabenow for Federal Public Service

NACWA was pleased to present Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) with a 2012 National Environmental Achievement Award for Federal Public Service. Senator Stabenow was honored for her work as Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee to ensure that the Farm Bill contains a strong conservation title that includes provisions to help farmers manage nutrient runoff. She was also recognized for her leadership in helping clean water agencies become more energy independent by including municipally-generated biogas in a legislative proposal establishing a National Renewable Energy Standard in prior Congresses. Photographs from the award presentation can be found on NACWA’s Facebook page.

Meet with your Congressional Delegation

NACWA is gearing up for its National Environmental Policy Forum, held April 21 – 24, 2013 at the Washington Marriot in Washington, D.C. The Policy Forum will feature high level discussions and NACWA committee meetings on the country’s most urgent clean water issues, including integrated planning and affordability, innovative financing for clean water investments, renewable energy generation, and extreme weather resiliency.

NACWA has also set aside time on the agenda for members to meet with their Congres¬sional delegations to raise issues of signifi¬cance to their utility and NACWA mem¬bers as a whole. Policy Forum attendees are encouraged to make time for these critical meetings. Information on how to set up Congressional meetings can be found on NACWA’s Congressional Toolbox webpage. For any questions in the meantime, please contact Hannah Mellman at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

RECENTLY INTRODUCED LEGISLATION

• Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) reintroduced S. 396, The Sewage Overflow Community Right-to-Know Act. This bill would require sewer treatment plant operators to set up monitoring programs and to report all sewer overflows that could impact public health to the appropriate local agencies and ultimately to EPA.
• Representative Lois Capps (D-CA) reintroduced H.R. 765, The Water Infrastructure Resiliency and Sustainability Act. The bill would offer competitive grants to help water and wastewater utilities undertake capital projects to improve utility resiliency during extreme weather events. NACWA has been a strong advocate for this legislation, and submitted a joint letter of support  with 13 other water and conservation groups this week urging broad-based support. Senators Harry Reid (D-NV), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), and Ben Cardin (D-MD) plan to reintroduce counterpart legislation in the Senate this spring.

CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS

• On February 13, Representative Bill Shuster (R-PA), Chairman of the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, held his first hearing of the 113th Congress entitled, The Federal Role in America’s Infrastructure. The hearing focused on the importance of infrastructure to the U.S. economy and examined the role played by the Federal Government in ensuring safe, efficient, and reliable infrastructure. Representative Shuster, along with Representatives Bob Gibbs (R-OH) and Tim Bishop (D-NY), Chair and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Water Resources & the Environment, all addressed the need for a new Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) and other federal investments in the nation's aging water infrastructure assets.
• On February 7, the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee (EPW) held a hearing to discuss the implementation of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers water resources projects and the draft Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) bill which would authorize domestic water resources projects administered primarily by the Corps. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chair of the EPW Committee, also expressed her support for establishing a Water Infrastructure Finance & Innovation Authority (WIFIA) in the WRDA bill. WIFIA would establish a new EPA-run water and wastewater infrastructure financing program to offer low-interest loans in amounts greater than $20 million to regionally significant water infrastructure projects.