» Clean Water Current Archive

April 16, 2010

NACWA, Chesapeake Bay Utility Leaders Discuss Key Bill with Sen. Cardin

Several NACWA members located in the Chesapeake Bay watershed met Tuesday with Senator Ben Cardin, Chair of the Water & Wildlife Subcommittee for the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee, and his staff to discuss legislation the senator is sponsoring to reauthorize the Chesapeake Bay program.  Representatives from the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC), the City of Baltimore Department of Public Works, the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority (DCWASA), and the Jefferson County Sanitation District (JCSD) in West Virginia participated in the discussion.   During the meeting, Senator Cardin outlined his plans for introducing the legislation and asked for NACWA’s support.  Specifically, he noted that under his proposal the current framework, within which the states lead the Chesapeake Bay restoration efforts with EPA as a partner, would remain and that he has no intention of circumventing the states’ primary role, a major concern for NACWA members in the region.  He also noted that the legislation is designed to expand the sectors that can be brought into a regulatory framework– notably stormwater and agriculture – so that Chesapeake Bay restoration gains can be accelerated.  Additional requirements on the municipal wastewater treatment sector are not being sought.

NACWA discussed several issues of concern to its members and the Senator pledged to work with the Association to address them.  Some of the issues raised by NACWA’s members include total maximum daily load (TMDL) temporal units; proportionate and equitable distribution among pollution sectors for reduction controls; removing a state requirement to establish water quality criteria; and allowing all funding designated under the bill to be available for disadvantaged communities.  The Senator noted that he intends for the bill to maintain robust trading provisions to enable trades to occur across state boundaries and between sectors.  In addition, the Senator reiterated his commitment to maintain strong requirements for the agricultural sector in his legislation.  He noted that the legislation is gaining broad support from diverse interests including some in the development community, municipal and state governments, and the environmental community.  He added that while some agricultural interests are supporting the legislation, the Farm Bureau and many other agricultural organizations are not.  NACWA has not taken a position on whether to support the legislation.  The Association’s Board of Directors will likely take up this issue once language is available outlining how the legislation would address the issues NACWA’s members have raised.

NACWA Files Brief with Supreme Court Seeking Review of Critical Biosolids Case

NACWA filed a brief this week with the U.S. Supreme Court urging review of a lower court ruling that prevents a number of Southern California clean water agencies from challenging a discriminatory local ban on the land application of biosolids in federal court.  The friend of the court brief, filed in the case of City of Los Angeles v. County of Kern, highlights the important connections between biosolids management programs and interstate commerce and argues that such connections warrant protection under the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution.  NACWA filed its brief in support of a petition to the Supreme Court by NACWA member agencies the City of Los Angeles, the Orange County Sanitation District, and the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County to overturn a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  The Ninth Circuit ruled in September 2009 that the agencies did not have the proper legal standing to bring a federal Commerce Clause claim against a local ordinance enacted by Kern County, Calif. to ban the land application of biosolids.  A more detailed analysis of the lower court’s ruling can be found in Legal Alert 09-03.

NACWA’s brief challenges the Ninth Circuit’s decision and argues that biosolids management programs, and in particular land application programs, have significant connections with interstate commerce.  The brief discusses the many ways in which land application programs affect interstate commence and also outlines the extensive negative financial and commercial impacts that land application bans could have on interstate trade.  NACWA also argues in the brief that the Ninth Circuit’s decision unfairly prevents clean water agencies from challenging discriminatory local land application bans in federal court.  The brief argues that the clear impact of biosolids programs on interstate commerce and the negative effects of local land application bans on national biosolids management efforts is sufficient enough to justify Supreme Court review of the Ninth Circuit ruling.  NACWA was joined on the brief by the Water Environment Federation, the North East Biosolids and Residuals Association, and the Northwest Biosolids Management Association.

A copy of the brief, as well as more information on NACWA’s involvement in this case and copies of previous briefs filed with the Ninth Circuit, will be posted on the Litigation Tracking section of the Association’s website, www.nacwa.org.  Additionally, a number of municipal clean water agencies from around the nation authored a separate brief urging the Supreme Court to review the case, and this brief will also be made available on the NACWA website.

NACWA Urges EPA to Revise Greenhouse Gas Emissions Estimates for Wastewater

NACWA submitted comments  to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week regarding the Agency’s Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2008.  The annual inventory presents estimates of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for various sectors, including wastewater treatment.  The Inventory has historically only been used for information purposes, but was recently cited in EPA’s proposed Prevention of Significant Deterioration and Title V GHG Tailoring Rule (“Tailoring Rule”) as the methodology a facility must use to calculate whether the threshold for regulation of GHG emissions under the Clean Air Act is exceeded.  Given the importance of this Tailoring Rule, which is expected to be finalized by the end of April, and other potential future uses of the Inventory in crafting EPA regulations, NACWA’s comments urged EPA to revise its estimates for nitrous oxide emissions from publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) to more accurately reflect actual emissions from these facilities.  The wastewater treatment category in the Inventory includes centralized municipal wastewater treatment, septic systems, and industrial wastewater treatment systems, and consistently ranks in the top ten sectors for emissions of methane and nitrous oxide.

In comments on previous versions of the Inventory, NACWA has presented the results of a literature review on nitrogen loading values to POTWs, which ultimately determines nitrous oxide emissions from POTWs.  NACWA also verified these literature values with a survey of 48 POTWs throughout the United States.  EPA noted in the draft Inventory that “the dataset previously provided by NACWA was reviewed to determine if it was representative of the larger population of centralized treatment plants for potential inclusion into the inventory.”  NACWA’s comments disagreed with EPA’s conclusion that the dataset was too limited, stating that the Association “believes that the literature – including EPA’s own publications – provides sufficient information to allow changes to be made to the Inventory emissions calculations methods.”  NACWA’s literature review and data should provide EPA with a strong argument to conduct its own study to develop more accurate nitrogen loading rates.  The Association will ask EPA for a direct response to its comments regarding the nitrous oxide emissions estimates and determine what additional work may be needed to ensure EPA revises the Inventory’s GHG emissions estimation methods.

NACWA Participates in Two Key EPA Meetings

NACWA provided input into two significant meetings at EPA this week. The first was the kick-off meeting between municipal water sector associations and Assistant Administrator for Water Pete Silva and other EPA officials.  These meetings are scheduled to take place every two months and were put together in part due to NACWA's urging that municipal water leaders be given the same opportunity for regular meetings with Silva as industry and the NGO community.  The meeting focused on drinking water, wastewater and stormwater issues and EPA again repeated that an upcoming announcement regarding a sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) policy would be made soon.

NACWA also participated in EPA's Coming Together for Clean Water meeting this week - bringing together top leaders in the water sector to discuss three themes: sustainability, watershed initiatives, and nutrient issues. NACWA's President Kevin Shafer, Executive Director of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, and NACWA Executive Director Ken Kirk participated in the discussion session, which featured opening remarks from Administrator Lisa Jackson.  EPA will be issuing a report based on the discussion and NACWA will let members know of how to provide ongoing input on this effort via future Association publications.

NACWA and Stakeholder Groups to Develop Consensus Watershed Principles

NACWA hosted a conference call this week with stakeholder groups to discuss a statement of watershed principles that will lead to a coalition effort supporting legislation to implement a watershed approach.  This group of stakeholders – including the Environmental Law and Policy Center, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and state regulatory agencies – decided to develop the consensus principles during a February 19 meeting on NACWA’s draft 21st Century Watershed Act.  The purpose of the principles is to mirror the objectives of the draft legislation and provide a consensus foundation for the stakeholder groups as they work to pursue agreement on draft legislative language.  Moving forward, the principles will help the groups work together to seek introduction of the draft legislation in Congress and solicit additional support.  During the conference call, the stakeholders reviewed a draft principles document prepared by NACWA, based on the October 2007 report  of the Association’s Strategic Watershed Task Force, along with comments submitted by the stakeholder groups.  The groups found agreement on the basic principles that will guide a watershed approach.  A final statement of principles will be developed to emphasize these areas of agreement.  The Strategic Watershed Task Force will meet next week during NACWA’s National Environmental Policy Forum to review the revised principles and discuss the next steps towards introduction of watershed legislation.

NACWA, Water Infrastructure Network Press for SRF Consideration

NACWA and other members of the Water Infrastructure Network (WIN) met this week with majority staff from the Senate Environment &Public Works Committee (EPW) to develop a strategy to move the Water Infrastructure Financing Act (S.1005), which would reauthorize the Clean and Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) loan programs, to the Senate floor.  During the meeting a general consensus emerged to try to have the four main sponsors of the legislation – Senators Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Chair and Ranking Member respectively of the Senate EPW Committee and Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Chair and Ranking Member respectively of EPW’s Subcommittee on Water & Wildlife circulate a letter to Senate leadership urging them to place the legislation on the calendar for action this year.  NACWA and WIN will work to secure the letter and seek additional signatories to demonstrate the broad bi-partisan support that exists for enacting the legislation this year.   As part of this effort, in the coming weeks NACWA and WIN will seek meetings with Senators Inhofe and Crapo to discuss this strategy and seek their support.   The legislation has stalled in the Senate due to disagreements over SRF state distribution formula and Davis-Bacon prevailing wage provisions.

NACWA looks forward to seeing many of its members in Washington, DC next week for its National Environmental Policy Forum.