Clean Water Current Archive

September 15, 2008

NACWA Meets With Congressional Staff to Discuss Legislative Priorities

NACWA met with senior staff from the Senate Environment & Public Works (EPW) Committee and the House Transportation & Infrastructure (T&I) Committee Sept. 12 to discuss NACWA’s top legislative priorities, including the Sewage Overflow Right-to-Know Act (H.R. 2452, S. 2080), reauthorization of the Beach Protection Act of 2008 (H.R. 2537, S. 2844), and a bill reauthorizing the clean water and drinking water state revolving funds (CWSRF & DWSRF).  Senate staff said they plan to hold a markup on Wednesday, Sept. 17 that will cover all three bills, which have already been passed by the House.

A top priority for NACWA is the Sewage Overflow Right-to-Know Act (S.2080), introduced last year by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, which would establish overflow monitoring, reporting, and notification requirements for sewer overflows.  NACWA worked closely with American Rivers and T&I staff on the version of the bill passed by the House in July.  However, a final version of the House bill was not made available for review until after it was passed.  NACW A raised concerns about specific provisions in a July 17 letter to the Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chair of the Senate EPW Committee.  The highest priority for NACWA, as stated in the letter, is that   the Senate to clarify and limit any potential liability issues for publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) to the monitoring, notification, and reporting requirements outlined in the bill.  The committee staff acknowledged the concerns and agreed to work with NACWA over the coming days to draft language, possibly in the form of a savings clause within the legislation, addressing liability concerns for sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs).  NACWA looks forward to working with EPW and T&I staff on this change and believes it will be a significant improvement in the bill.

Beach Protection Act
NACWA also discussed its concerns with S. 2844, which would reauthorize the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health (BEACH) Act.  In particular, both the House and Senate bills call for the development of rapid test methods for detecting contamination in recreational beach water.  But the rapid test method language in both bills conflicts with the recent settlement agreement among NACWA, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and EPA in a lawsuit over EPA’s failure to meet deadlines under the BEACH Act for establishing recreational water criteria.  Both bills call for EPA to develop rapid testing methods by 2010 based on current recreational water quality criteria, with the House version calling for a six-hour rapid test and the Senate version calling for a two-hour rapid test.  The settlement requires EPA to develop rapid test methods by 2012 based on new recreational water criteria that will be developed over the next four years and calls for the rapid test to deliver results “as soon as practicable” based on available science.

NACWA delivered a letter to the congressional staffers outlining concerns with the rapid testing requirements in S. 2844 and H.R. 2357 and encouraged Congress to ensure that legislation is consistent with the terms of the settlement agreement.  The committee staff indicated that while they were committed to setting a 2010 deadline for developing rapid test methods, they would work with NACWA to develop language clarifying that any rapid test developed by 2010 would be used for beach monitoring purposes only, and that the tests would be replaced in 2012 by the revised methods developed by EPA as a result of the settlement agreement.  NACWA is confident that this agreement will result in rapid testing methods that are consistent with the terms of the litigation settlement in 2012.

SRF Reauthorization Bill
Additionally, a draft of the SRF reauthorization bill, which is also scheduled for mark-up this week, was provided to NACWA.   Committee staff reiterated their commitment to marking up the bill, which is expected to be introduced by Boxer, Sens. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), ranking member of the committee, Lautenberg, and David Vitter (R-La.), chair and ranking member, respectively, of the Subcommittee on Transportation Safety, Infrastructure Security, and Water Quality.  The bill would provide $20 billion over five years for the CWSRF and $2 billion in direct grants over five years to address sewer overflows.  An additional, $50 million annually is included to address “critical water infrastructure projects,” which address watershed restoration.

The House passed its version of the bill in March 2007, which provided $14 billion over four years for the clean water SRF.  Because the Senate EPW has jurisdiction over both clean water and drinking water, the Senate version will include both SRFs. The drinking water SRF would be funded at $15 billion over five years. 

While the Senate EPW expressed its commitment to move forward on these bills, it is unlikely that any of them will become law this year.  Even if the Senate succeeds in passing the bills, they would still have to go back to the House for a vote because the language being considered in the Senate version is slightly different from the House-passed bills.  Both houses of Congress have a full agenda, including an energy bill and appropriations bills, and plan to adjourn Sept. 26.

NACWA is pleased with the results of the meeting and looks forward to working further with the staffs of the Senate EPW and House T&I committees this year and in the next Congress when these important issues are expected to resurface.  Additionally, NACWA believes that the effort to have a serious discussion and find mutually viable solutions that was exemplified in this meeting with the committee staff will benefit the clean water community going into next year. NACWA also encourages its members to continue contacting their congressional representatives regarding these bills as they move through the legislative process.  NACWA will keep members informed about these developments as they move forward.  Please do not hesitate to contact NACWA’s This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it at (202) 833-3280 with any questions or concerns.