7
A Clear Commitment to America’s Waters
D
avid Williams, NACWA President and Director of
Wastewater, East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD)
in Oakland, testified on February 28 on behalf of NACWA
at the U.S. House of Representative’s Water Resources &
Environment Subcommittee’s
hearing
,
A Review of Innovative Financing
Approaches for Community Water Infrastructure Projects
. The hearing fo-
cused on innovative financing tools, including public or private fund-
ing and investment mechanisms, such as federal loan guarantees, to
better enable communities to help finance often large mandated waste-
water and drinking water projects.
NACWA’s testimony focused on the need for Congress to provide sup-
port for a more far-reaching approach to innovation as part of the
Association’s work on identifying the attributes of the water resources
utility of the future. Williams recommended that, as utilities across
the country engage in programs from energy conservation to resource
recovery and water reuse, increasingly limited federal funding available
should be used to help advance these innovations.
The
testimony
made an economic case for such investments and fea-
tured the food waste to energy recovery program at EBMUD as an
example of the important and innovative work being done at utilities
across the country. The hearing and NACWA’s testimony also explored
potential innovative financing tools, including the Subcommittee’s
draft legislation to create a “Water Infrastructure Finance and
Innovation Authority” modeled after a similar loan guaranty author-
ity in the Federal Highway Program. The draft legislation would also
exempt water and wastewater facilities from the volume cap on private
activity bonds.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) integrated plan-
ning programwas also explored as a flexible approach that, if appro-
priately implemented, could prioritize cost-effective expenditures to
achieve clean-water results. NACWA, however, kept the door open
to a legislative fix if this effort did not sufficiently meet the needs
of the clean water community. Williams received several questions
from Subcommittee members regarding his testimony – as well as
statements fromReps. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and Donna
Edwards (D-Md.), thanking NACWA for its advocacy efforts to ensure
passage of stormwater fee legislation and the introduction of green in-
frastructure legislation.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors, the AmericanWater Works
Association, the Water Environment Federation, the Water
Infrastructure Network and two private sector witnesses also testified
at the hearing.
3
Williams Testifies on Need for Federal Support as
Utilities Take Lead on Innovation
NACWA President, David Williams stands with Chairman
Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio) of the House Water Resources &
Environment Subcommittee after Williams’ testimony before
the Subcommittee on the need for greater support of innovative
projects taking place at utilities across the country.
NACWA Busy in the Courtroom
CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
»
There has been a flurry of activity in recent weeks involving a number
of NACWA’s ongoing legal advocacy efforts. Developments involve
cases on judicial review of administrative orders, stormwater, sewage
sludge incineration, and nutrient regulations. Summaries of these key
litigation matters follow, and additional information is available on
the
Litigation Tracking page
Ñ
of NACWA’s website.
Sackett v.EPA: The U.S.
Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling March 21 in the much-
anticipated case of
Sackett v. EPA
, finding that U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA)-issued administrative orders (AOs) requiring
compliance with the CleanWater Act (CWA) are entitled to pre-en-
forcement judicial review. This ruling is an important legal victory for