Overview

When President George W. Bush was inaugurated on January 20, 2001 the process of appointing officials to implement his environmental priorities formally began. The U.S. Senate confirmed Christine Todd Whitman on January 30 as the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Whitman previously served as governor of the state of New Jersey and won unanimous Senate approval. During her confirmation hearing in early January, Whitman outlined cooperation with state governments, environmental policy based on sound science, and environmental enforcement as her top priorities. The Senate was more divided in its vote on another key environmental official, though Gale Norton was confirmed as the nation's 48th interior secretary. Norton won confirmation by a margin of 75 to 24. Norton oversees a group of environmentally related agencies that includes the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Minerals Management Service, the Office of Surface Mining, the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Geological Survey. Norton served as attorney general for the state of Colorado for eight years.

In 1994 when the republicans gained control of the House of Representatives for the first time in nearly 50 years, the party voted to limit the terms of its chairmen to six years. 2001 saw the first significant result of this vote as many chairmen rotated off committees to allow less senior members an opportunity to serve. Several committees with jurisdiction over environmental issues were affected. Representative Bud Shuster (R-PA) rotated off as chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and was replaced by Representative Don Young (R-AK). Representative Sherry Boehlert (R-NY) who chaired the Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, assumed the chair of the Science Committee. The Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee has primary jurisdiction over Clean Water Act issues in the House of Representatives and is now chaired by Representative John J. Duncan (R-TN). While it is difficult to predict how these changes will affect clean water legislation in the 107th Congress, both Representative Young and Representative Duncan have stated a top priority for the committee will include water infrastructure financing.

The Senate republicans did not adopt a term limit rule for its chairmen in 1994. Senator Bob Smith (R-NH) continues as chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee and Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) chairs the Fisheries Wildlife and Water subcommittee which has jurisdiction over Clean Water Act issues. While Senator Smith has identified Superfund reform as his top priority, Endangered Species Act reauthorization and water infrastructure financing will also receive attention, according to his staff.

Water Infrastructure Financing
As mentioned above, a top priority for the 107th Congress is to address water and wastewater infrastructure needs. The Water Infrastructure Network (WIN), a non-partisan coalition of municipal, environmental, and engineering groups released a report in February entitled Water Infrastructure Now. The report recommends a series of legislative actions Congress should take to address a $23 billion per year gap between infrastructure needs and current infrastructure spending. This immense infrastructure gap first was identified by WIN in an earlier report, Clean and Safe Water for the 21st Century, released last April. See http://www.wef.org/ for a copy of both reports.

The current report details how the gap should be addressed, calling for a 5-year, $57 billion federal investment in drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure to meet current mandates from clean and safe drinking water regulations. In addition, the report calls on Congress to establish a "formal process" to evaluate a longer-term approach to meet America's water and wastewater infrastructure needs after the initial 5-year investment.

WIN recommends that federal funding for water and wastewater infrastructure gradually be increased to $6 billion in fiscal year 2003, $9 billion in 2004, $12 billion in 2005, and $15 billion in 2006 and 2007. Current federal spending on water and wastewater is about $3 billion a year, including the clean water and safe water state revolving funds (SRFs). Altogether, the 5-year, $57 billion federal investment would cover about half the estimated capital funding shortfall. The remaining funds would be generated through a state matching program and local capital and operations and maintenance investments.

The Congressional appropriation would be restricted to "core infrastructure needs," such as drinking water and domestic wastewater supply systems, and wet weather runoff control systems and management practices, WIN suggests. In addition WIN recommends funding projects that "repair, rehabilitate, or replace treatment, collection, or distribution systems" and those that address public health or environmental emergencies.

Finally WIN suggests that Congress appropriate $400 million annually over the next 5 years for states to use to address program administration and existing Clean and Safe Drinking Water Act implementation costs. In addition, WIN recommends that Congress appropriate $250 million annually over the next 5 years to establish an Institute of Technology and Management Excellence, which would promote technology-based infrastructure improvements.

EPA Budget
As part of his "blueprint" budget release on during a joint session of Congress President Bush requested $7.3 billion from Congress to fund EPA in fiscal 2002. The amount is $56 million more than President Clinton asked for last year, however, EPA's fiscal year 2001 enacted budget is $500 million more than what President Bush requested. Congress will initiate the formal budget process when the House and Senate will pass a budget resolution later in the fall to be presented to the President for his signature. Under the President's proposed budget the clean water state revolving loan fund (SRF) would remain constant from fiscal year 2001 at $1.3 billion. During a meeting with the National Governors' Association the day before the budget proposal, new EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman said she was confident the administration's proposal would be sufficient to "carry out the mission" of EPA.

Another issue relating to the fiscal 2002 EPA budget is whether Congress will appropriate money authorized in 2001 under the Wet Weather Water Quality Act of 2001. As part of a massive year-end appropriations bill the 106th Congress approved and President Clinton signed into law, a bill that authorizez $1.5 billion in federal grant funding over the next two fiscal years to reduce wet weather sewer overflows from municipal sewer systems. In addition the bill authorizes $45 million in demonstration grants for watershed and wet weather demonstration projects and will establish a clearinghouse for technologies to prevent sewer overflows. While authorized, Congress needs to formerly appropriate the money this year in order for it to become available to communities.

Superfund
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed a bill on March 8 that would promote the cleanup and reuse of contaminated industrial sites. S. 350 passed by a 15-3 margin and is supported by EPA as written. The bill would authorized $200 million annually to fund assessment and cleanup activities at Brownfields, an increase from the $90 million to $92 million that has been spent annually over the past few years. Majority Leader Trent Lott has expressed interest in moving narrow superfund legislation this year and is currently working with both republicans and democrats to bring the bill before the full Senate for approval.