» Clean Water Current Archive

April 19, 2013

Fifty-five House Members Urge Funding for State Revolving Funds

Fifty-five bi-partisan members of the House of Representatives signed a letter urging the House Appropriators to ensure that the Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) programs receive critical funding as they determine discretionary spending levels for fiscal year (FY) 2014.  The letter, sponsored by Representatives Peter King (R-NY) and Jim McGovern (D-MA), comes in the wake of the President’s FY 2014 budget proposal that would significantly cut the SRF (see Advocacy Alert 13-06).  It states that the SRF programs provide communities with critical resources to help maintain water and wastewater infrastructure that is rapidly aging and in need of investment.  The letter also recognizes the enormous return on investment the SRFs provide in terms of job creation and economic activity – and that for every $1 billion spent of clean water infrastructure, 28,500 new jobs are added, $3.4 billion is added to the Gross Domestic Product, and personal income is boosted by $1.1 billion.  House Appropriators are expected to begin writing their FY 2014 EPA spending package in May.

Key House Members Support Pilot Community Funding under Integrated Planning

A number of key Members of the House of Representatives are requesting a $5 million appropriation in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 EPA budget to provide small grants to communities to help them take advantage of the EPA’s Integrated Planning Framework. The request received support this week by the Chair and Ranking Member of the House Water Resources & Environment Subcommittee, Representative Bob Gibbs (R-OH) and Representative Tim Bishop (D-NY), as well as by the Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee that oversees the EPA budget, Representative Jim Moran (D-VA). Additional Ohio members, who are submitting a request for this funding, include Representatives David Joyce (R-OH), Steve Chabot (R-OH) and Tim Ryan (D-OH). In the Senate, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is leading an effort to identify bi-partisan support for this funding, as well. NACWA will keep members updated on developments as they occur and will be discussing this, and related integrated planning issues, throughout next week’s National Environmental Policy Forum in Washington, DC.

NACWA Issues Comments on National Climate Assessment

NACWA issued its comments on April 12 responding to the draft National Climate Assessment (NCA), a report required by the Global Change Research Act of 1990. A Federal Advisory Committee developed this year’s NCA, under the direction of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, a collaboration of 13 federal science agencies. Chapters in the draft NCA that relate to clean water issues include Water Resources; Urban Systems, Infrastructure, and Vulnerability; Mitigation; and, Adaptation.

In the chapter on Mitigation, the NCA lists the Clean Air Act Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD), and Title V permitting programs, as federal regulations that “target ways to reduce future climate change by decreasing greenhouse gas emissions emitted by human activities.” NACWA pointed out that wastewater utilities are performing a necessary and vital function to protect human health and the environment, and these regulations will not decrease the greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater utilities, but will only increase the regulatory burden. In addition, the regulations will decrease the use of biogas and biosolids as a carbon-neutral, renewable fuel source, if an exemption on biogenic emissions is not made permanent.

NACWA’s comments also emphasized the use of green infrastructure to control stormwater runoff and to improve water quality, and the vulnerability of wastewater treatment plants to sea level rise and storm surges. The Association will continue to advocate for the use of green infrastructure by clean water agencies to meet regulatory requirements – and for the inclusion of wastewater treatment facilities in federal programs for climate adaptation and resiliency.

NACWA Prepares for Oral Arguments in SSI Litigation

NACWA participated in a “moot court” session this week to prepare for May 3 oral arguments in the Association’s legal challenge to EPA’s final Sewage Sludge Incinerator (SSI) rule. The session provided an opportunity to practice the arguments NACWA intends to make during the court session, as well as anticipate potential questions of the panel of judges on the actual argument day. This week’s practice round featured a robust set of questions and follow-up discussion among NACWA staff and attorneys working on the litigation, and helped to further hone and refine the key points NACWA intends to make during its allotted argument time. In particular, NACWA plans to focus on the clear statutory errors committed by EPA in the final SSI rule when the Agency ignored congressional directives in both the Clean Air Act (CAA) and Clean Water Act (CWA) for regulation of SSI emissions and in creating new SSI standards in the rule under the wrong section of the CAA.

Additional background information on the litigation, including copies of all relevant briefs, is available on NACWA’s Litigation Tracking page. NACWA will update the membership on the case after oral arguments are held early next month.

NACWA Members Discuss Needed Investment, Flexibility at Water Infrastructure Summit

On Tuesday, NACWA and other organizations came together under the umbrella of the Water Environment Federation’s (WEF) Water for Jobs campaign to host the National Water Infrastructure Summit in Washington DC. NACWA Executive Director Ken Kirk provided introductory remarks and Association Board Members George Hawkins, General Manager, DC Water; Howard Neukrug, Commissioner, Philadelphia Water Department; and Carter Strickland, Environmental Protection Commissioner, New York Department of Environmental Protection, sat on a panel focused on the economic need for resilient water systems and making water infrastructure a top national priority. Panelists discussed the threat our nation's failing infrastructure poses to public health, the environment, and the economy, and highlighted the jobs and economic growth created by strong infrastructure investment – as well as the need to support increased flexibility and new, innovative approaches to ensuring continued clean water progress.

During the Summit, NACWA had a strong social media presence through Facebook and Twitter. Ken Kirk, George Hawkins, Howard Neukrug and Carter Strickland all became trending names mentioned during the event. For more about the Summit, please visit Twitter and enter #W4JSummit. Also, be sure to follow NACWA on Twitter @NACWA or like us on Facebook.

NACWA expresses thanks and appreciation to WEF for taking the lead in organizing this event. The Association will continue to support the Water for Jobs: Water Puts America to Work campaign going forward. For more information on the campaign or Summit, visit WEF’s Water for Jobs website.

We look forward to seeing many of our Member Agencies and Affiliates in Washington, DC next week for NACWA’s National Environmental Policy Forum – and wish safe travels to all attending.