From E&E Daily May 8

Utilities petition for runoff funding in highway bill

By Katherine Boyle, E&E reporter

A utility group yesterday urged Congress to include funding for stormwater mitigation efforts in the first draft of a massive highway and transit reauthorization bill expected in early June.

More than 30 members of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies signed a letter asking leading members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to include money for setting a policy and creating guidance aimed at mitigating stormwater discharges.

"As professionals involved in the work of restoring and maintaining the nations' waters, we are acutely aware of the need to better manage stormwater runoff from the nation's road network," they wrote. "Many of the nation's nearly one million miles of federal-aid roads were built without any kind of controls and therefore routinely create water quality problems for the nation's waterways."

A recent list of impaired waters included more than 28,000 separate impairments related to highway runoff, the letter notes.

Utilities also described the federal National Environmental Policy Act review process and the use of transportation enhancement funds for stormwater control practices as relatively ineffective in preventing stormwater pollution.
Lawmakers receiving the letter were committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.), ranking member John Mica (R-Fla.), Highways and Transit Subcommittee Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and subcommittee ranking member John Duncan (R-Tenn.).

Oberstar has suggested the highway bill will provide between $400 billion and $450 billion for the nation's transportation infrastructure. It is not clear how much could be set aside for stormwater runoff mitigation, but the issue has drawn increased attention from lawmakers in recent months.

Oberstar's committee held a hearing in March to gather information on green infrastructure and other initiatives that might stem the flow of contaminated stormwater into the nation's rivers and streams.

Click here to view the letter.