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6
Stormwater &
Wet Weather
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NACWA secured a major legal
victory when a federal court ruled
in
Cities of Vancouver and Renton v.
United States
that federal government
agencies are responsible for paying
past-due municipal stormwater fees.
The Association submitted a brief
supporting the City of Vancouver,
Wash. in its legal effort to collect
unpaid bills from delinquent federal
facilities. The court embraced many
of NACWA’s arguments in its deci-
sion. This litigation success comple-
ments NACWA’s 2010 legislative
victory on stormwater fees and
paves the ways for stormwater utili-
ties around the nation to collect mil-
lions of dollars in unpaid bills from
federal government agencies.
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NACWA built on its legal suc-
cess regarding federal stormwater
fees by filing a brief in support of
member DeKalb County, Ga. in a
lawsuit seeking payment of unpaid
bills from federal agencies.
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NACWA’s aggressive advocacy with
the U.S. Environmental Protec-
tion Agency (EPA) on the need for
additional regulatory flexibility and
prioritization yielded significant
results in the wet weather enforce-
ment arena, as communities like
Seattle, Philadelphia, and Atlanta
entered new consent decrees, or
modified existing decrees, providing
additional flexibility and significant
cost savings in meeting their Clean
Water Act (CWA) obligations.
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NACWA actively supported the
Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer Dis-
trict, Mo., filing an appellate brief
in a lawsuit defending the utility’s
stormwater fee program from a
legal challenge. Both the District
and Association assert that the use
of impervious surface for storm-
water billing is an appropriate fee
structure and is widely used by other
utilities around the nation.
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NACWA participated in the case
of
Sackett v. EPA
before the U.S.
Supreme Court, helping secure
a significant legal victory when
a unanimous court ruled that
administrative compliance or-
ders issued by EPA are subject to
pre-enforcement juridical review.
This decision will provide clean
water utilities with additional legal
protections when defending wet
weather enforcement actions.
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NACWA engaged with key federal
agencies including EPA and the
White House Office of Management
& Budget on critical issues impacting
municipal stormwater regulation,
including EPA’s efforts to develop
a new national post-construction
stormwater rule. A draft of the
new rule is expected in June 2013.
projects supported by NACWA’s Targeted Action Fund