» Clean Water Current Archive

February 11, 2011

NACWA Holds Capitol Hill Briefing for New Members of Congress

NACWA this week held a briefing on the Clean Water Act (CWA) for new and returning Members of Congress' staff.  The briefing focused on the history of the Clean Water Act, how it is implemented and provided a regulatory and financial outlook for the Nation’s clean water agencies.  Ken Kirk, NACWA’s Executive Director, moderated the event which drew over 30 legislative staff from the House and Senate.  Panelists included NACWA President Jeff Theerman, Executive Director of the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District, who spoke on EPA’s expansive regulatory regime and highlighted the Association’s Money Matters — Smarter Investment to Advance Clean Water campaign.  Also presenting was NACWA’s Legal Affairs Committee Chair Lisa Hollander from the Northeast Ohio Sewerage District.  Lisa provided an overview of wet weather regulatory issues affecting clean water agencies including sewer overflows and stormwater management challenges.  Nathan Gardner-Andrews, NACWA’s General Counsel, provided an overview of the Clean Water Act’s structure from a legal perspective and Ken Rubin, Managing Director at Rubin Mallows Worldwide, provided an economist’s perspective on the trends in CWA investment and disinvestment as well as the corresponding connection to water quality improvement and decline. 

The presentations were followed by a number of excellent questions on issues ranging from the costs of EPA’s numeric nutrient criteria in Florida, CWA statutory issues related to cost-benefit analysis, and the capability of clean water agencies to recover value products from their waste stream and treatment processes, such as phosphorus and energy.      

The PowerPoint presentation used at the briefing can be found on NACWA’s website .  NACWA encourages its members to download the presentation and share it with your key elected and appointed officials.

NACWA Urges Action on Key Clean Water Priorities with EPA’s Acting Water Chief

NACWA and several public agency members met with Nancy Stoner, the incoming Acting Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Water (OW) and approximately ten OW policy personnel to discuss the range of NACWA’s priority advocacy issues.  Stoner expressed a desire to work closely with NACWA in a variety of areas.  On the issue of sanitary sewer/collection system policy, including peak excess flow blending, Stoner indicated that much work had already been done in this area and suggested an approach that would keep the 2001 policy proposal as a starting point and add a potential second track for those communities who want to prepare and implement an integrated wet weather plan.  It was unclear exactly what was meant by an integrated wet weather plan but it will be the fodder for future discussions with EPA and key stakeholder groups and could be in line with the direction of NACWA’s Money Matters campaign.   NACWA also asked whether it would help the process to file a rulemaking petition for a comprehensive sanitary sewer/collection system rulemaking and the response was a cool one with a comment that NACWA would have to make such a decision on its own.  In discussing work toward a rulemaking, EPA also noted that they had many other complex issues already underway, including a stormwater rule, and that the Agency’s resources were limited in terms of beginning from scratch on a new rule.

EPA and NACWA also revisited the appropriate interpretation of a November 2010 EPA memo that encourages permit writers to consider numeric limits in municipal stormwater permits — in NACWA’s view a  major policy shift from EPA’s previous position.  NACWA responded to this memo  with a strong letter  to EPA on January 28 challenging both the content of the letter and the process that resulted in this policy shift as inconsistent with existing statutory and legal requirements for municipal stormwater control.   While EPA felt NACWA had misread the memo, there was some agreement that it would benefit from additional Agency clarification.  NACWA and EPA agreed to have a further discussion with the American Public Works Association (APWA) and the National Association of Flood and Stormwater Management Agencies (NAFSMA), who also signed onto the January 28 letter alongside NACWA. 

Stoner also sought NACWA’s input and support for a CWA jurisdiction guidance that EPA has drafted that is now undergoing Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review.  Because of its draft status, EPA was unable to share details regarding the guidance, but clearly its objective is to help clarify a split Supreme Court decision on the jurisdictional reach of the CWA over certain waterbodies.  NACWA and EPA agreed to meet to discuss this issue further once details regarding the memo could be shared.

NACWA also updated EPA on its Farm Bill efforts as well as on its advocacy on sewage sludge incineration, seeking the Agency’s support for both of these key initiatives.     

NACWA Responds Strongly to House’s FY 2011 Budget Proposal to Slash EPA Funding and Cut the CWSRF by $700 Million

NACWA took a leading role in opposing the House Appropriations Committee’s proposed budget cuts to EPA’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 budget and to a proposed $700 million cut to the clean water state revolving loan fund (CWSRF). NACWA has been working aggressively with a focus on the Senate to seek the highest possible funding level and was quoted in the press as saying that this cut is the wrong move for both the Nation’s fragile economy and the environment.  On Feb. 9, the House Appropriations Committee released partial details of its plan to make steep cuts in federal funding for the rest of FY 2011.  The committee said it would trim EPA's $10.02 billion request by at least $2.64 billion, leaving the agency's budget at about $7.38 billion, approximately 28 percent below the $10.3 billion spending level approved for EPA in FY 2010.

EPA and other government agencies have been operating on a continuing resolution (CR) at FY 2010 levels. The current temporary spending resolution (H.R. 3082), approved by Congress Dec. 21, expires on March 4.  The CWSRF would be hit the hardest — the proposed $700 million cut would leave the program at about $1.3 billion.  EPA received $2.1 billion in FY 2010 for the CWSRF.  The committee also would cut $250 million from the drinking water state revolving loan fund (DWSRF) request of $1.3 billion, resulting in an FY 2011 budget of $1.05 billion. Funding for this program was $1.4 billion in FY 2010.  NACWA encourages its members to contact their Senators and Representatives and urge them to keep the SRF funding at the FY 2010 levels.

NACWA Meets with New Chairman of the House Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee to Discuss Priority Issues

NACWA this week met with Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio), the new chairman of the House Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee, to discuss issues of importance to NACWA members and the clean water community.  Although still developing his subcommittee’s agenda for the 112th Congress, Gibbs expressed that his agenda would be in line with the three overarching principles that he campaigned on: deficit reduction, no tax increases, and regulatory reform.  NACWA focused its discussion with the Chairman on the need for his support for an appropriate outcome on EPA’s regulatory efforts on sewage sludge incinerators (SSIs) (see article below) and for the Association’s Money Matters campaign, emphasizing that this campaign was in line with the need for regulatory reform in terms of prioritizing a growing list of costly mandates under the Clean Water Act. Gibbs, a former farmer and President of the Ohio Farm Bureau noted that the farming community wanted to do what was right for the environment but that the current economic downturn makes it difficult to do this type of work. NACWA indicated that the Nation’s ratepayers and utilities were similarly struggling with the impacts of the economic downturn and noted the two communities should work more closely together going forward.  NACWA looks forward to productive working relationship with Chairman Gibbs in moving forward the Association’s agenda in the U.S. House of Representatives over the course of the next two years.

NACWA Highlights Flaws in Incinerator MACT Proposal for White House, EPA Signals Intent to Reconsider Rule

NACWA met with staff from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) this week to discuss EPA’s work to develop Clean Air Act (CAA) maximum achievable control technology (MACT) standards for sewage sludge incinerators (SSIs).  OMB’s regulatory affairs office is currently reviewing the final MACT standards for SSIs that EPA must sign by the court-ordered deadline of February 21.  During the meeting, NACWA focused on the major technical flaws in EPA’s proposed standards that resulted in an underestimation of the cost to comply with the regulation.  EPA’s anticipated total capital cost for the rule nationwide was approximately $200 million, while NACWA is estimating that the mercury control costs alone could exceed $1.5 billion.  NACWA outlined how EPA made erroneous assumptions about mercury control technology, existing emissions levels, and the operational practices of utilities that operate SSIs.  EPA also dramatically underestimated the cost to landfill sludge in lieu of incineration – assuming that sludge shipped to a landfill would be 100 percent dry solids – leading the Agency to significantly underestimate the cost of alternatives to incineration.  EPA has acknowledged many of these errors, but NACWA remains concerned that the Agency did not have sufficient time following the close of the comment period on November 29, 2010 to make major changes to the proposed standards.

Though NACWA does not expect EPA or the Administration to stop finalization of the SSI rule, NACWA encouraged OMB to push for reconsideration of the entire rule once it is finalized.  Rule reconsideration is a process unique to the CAA program that allows stakeholders to petition EPA to consider making revisions once a rule is final, but before its requirements go into effect.  EPA has indicated that it will likely reconsider the SSI rule, along with a series of other rules for incinerators and boilers, and will announce this decision to reconsider as soon as it finalizes the rules.  As NACWA reported last week, the Association’s Board of Directors, at its meeting on February 1, voted to file both an administrative challenge and a legal challenge to the rule depending on the content of the final publication.  Should EPA reconsider the SSI rule, NACWA will evaluate the scope of the reconsideration planned by Agency and determine if an additional administrative reconsideration request from NACWA is necessary to broaden the scope of the review.  NACWA will also evaluate the need for a separate legal challenge to the rule, which will likely still be necessary.  Developments on this issue are occurring on a nearly daily basis and NACWA is convening a conference call with its incinerator members on Thursday, February 17 to discuss recent developments and NACWA’s next steps.  Contact Chris Hornback at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information about the February 17 call.  NACWA anticipates receiving a copy of the final standards shortly after the February 21 signature deadline and will alert the membership as soon as it receives any new information.

Make Your Voices Heard in Washington; Tell Your Agency’s Story at NACWA’s March 1-2 Money Matters Summit and Fly-In

Join us in Washington, D.C. for an unprecedented opportunity to bring the Money Matters message to those who can truly make a difference.  On March 1, clean water agency leaders, key stakeholders and experts, as well as EPA and congressional policymakers will come together to discuss real-world financial and affordability challenges – and plan a course for the future. The day-and-a-half Summit includes compelling dialogue on this critical issue – as well as NACWA member meetings with their congressional delegations as part of the afternoon of March 1, which is set aside for Hill visits.  The following policy-makers will be providing remarks at the Summit and will help to frame the issue and identify options:

• Representative Steven LaTourette (R-OH)
• Representative Donna Edwards (D-MD)
• Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)
• James Hanlon, Director, Office of Wastewater Management, EPA
• Loren Denton, Acting Chief for the Municipal Enforcement Branch at EPA

Online Registration Still Available; Hotel Deadline Extended to Feb. 14!

To make sure you are included on the Money Matters Summit & Fly-In participants' list, NACWA must receive your registration by Friday, February 18, 2011.  Registration is free for NACWA public agency members. To register, click here for the online registration form, or here  for a PDF version of the form. Visit NACWA's website today for a detailed agenda and additional information on the Money Matters Summit & Fly-In.   Also, be sure to reserve your hotel accommodations by the Monday, February 14th deadline! Make your reservation by calling The Fairmont Hotel at 202.429.2400.  Be sure to indicate that you are a registrant for the "NACWA Money Matters Summit" to reserve your room at the special rate of $264 per night for a single/double.  After the February 14 reservation deadline, NACWA must release all unreserved rooms, and reservations will be accepted only if space is available.