Provided by the Water Environment Federation,
Alexandria, VA

Divided Senate Committee Approves Water Infrastructure Bill
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on May 17 approved legislation (S. 1961) authorizing $35 billion in new loan funding for water and wastewater infrastructure. The final vote was 13-6, with the two Republicans most involved in drafting the legislation, Sens. Bob Smith (NH), and Mike Crapo (ID) voting against approval. In a public voting session on May 16, Smith complained that the majority had significantly changed what had started out as a bipartisan bill. Before voting to approve the legislation, the Committee adopted several amendments, including one extending the authorization for a $250 million per year wet weather grants program that was enacted by the last Congress but never funded. Another amendment adds $5 billion to assist communities in complying with new arsenic standards for drinking water.

Several other amendments were rejected in party-line votes. These included amendments offered by Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) that would have eased management and community planning requirements on communities receiving loan assistance. In letters to committee chairman Jim Jeffords (I-VT), the National Governors Association, the Association of State and Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators, and the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators expressed concern that these and other provisions would be burdensome to the administration of the drinking water and wastewater loan programs. The Committee voted along party lines to reject a Voinovich compromise on the issue of Davis-Bacon (prevailing wage) requirements that would have applied the federal wage requirements for only the first round of SRF funding. Instead, the legislation imposes federal prevailing wage requirements on all SRF-funded projects. Republicans said that including Davis-Bacon would be a " deal killer" on the Senate floor, while Democrats pointed out that 31 states have their own prevailing wage statutes.

With regard to allocating Clean Water Act SRF funds among states, the legislation provides for a new formula based on the EPA needs assessment, with some adjustment to allow a funding "floor" of 0.7 percent of the total amount available each year for each state. The Committee rejected an alternative formula offered by Sen. Smith with a 1 percent floor that would provide slightly more money for smaller states like New Hampshire. The Committee leadership, in a redraft of the bill that was the basis for the voting session, softened a provision that would have required communities in "significant noncompliace" with the Clean Water Act to obtain a judicial Consent Decree as a condition of receiving SRF assistance. The bill now requires that states certify that assistance to those communities will allow for correction of compliance problems. The Consent Decree provision, along with the management conditions, were a major source of concern for municipal organizations that were otherwise supportive of efforts to provide new financial assistance.

In addition to Smith and Crapo, Senators voting against S. 1961 in committee were Voinovich, John Warner (R-VA), Christopher Bond (R-MO), and James Inhofe (R-OK). Controversy over the prevailing wage issue, as well as differences over the new allotment formula, could delay consideration by the full Senate. The EPW web site is http://epw.senate.gov/ (TW)

EPA Proposed Water Quality Trading Policy
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a new policy on Water Quality Trading on May 15 (67 FR 34709) and invited the public to submit comments. The policy is intended to signal EPA's support for water quality trading programs and to outline the components that the agency believes are needed for trading programs to be well designed and operated. "We've made a lot of progress controlling pollution from industrial and municipal sources," Whitman stated in an EPA press release. "Now we must look to innovative strategies that complement our current programs." The proposed policy addresses trading to maintain water quality in unimpaired waters, trading in impaired waters before development of a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) and trading to meet TMDLs. While the focus is on nutrients and sediment, the policy also discusses the potential for trading other pollutants under certain circumstances. The proposed policy is available for review at www.epa.gov/owow/watershed/trading.htm. Comments must be received or post-marked by midnight on July 1. (SJH)

EPA Issues Updated Position Statement on EMS
EPA Administrator Christie Whitman on May 15 signed an updated position statement on environmental management systems (EMS) along with an EMS Plan to guide the Agency over the next several years. "Based on the practical experience and knowledge we have gained, it is becoming clear that EMSs, when implemented diligently, can help improve environmental performance and foster other important benefits to organizations, " EPA stated in the position. EPA's overall policy on EMSs, like the EMS approach itself, will be guided by the principle of continual improvement and learning, flexibility, and collaboration. To view the EPA Position Statement on EMS, visit the National Biosolids Partnership's web page at http://www.biosolids.org/. (SJH)

Quote of the Week:
" Everybody identifies with him, lucky for us." - Amy Pascal, chairwoman of Sony's Columbia Pictures, referring to Spider-Man, which made $100 million in its opening weekend (from Time Magazine, May 20, 2002).

This Week in Washington is provided by the Water Environment Federation, Alexandria, VA. To receive This Week in Washington by e-mail, contact Lisa Scott, (703) 684-2400 ext. 7741, lscott@wef.org. For more information on this week's stories, please contact the WEF Government Affairs staff member whose initials appear at the end of the item in which you are interested. TSW -Tim Williams (703) 684-2437, twilliams@wef.org; JKS - Jim Sullivan, (703) 684-2436, jsullivan@wef.org: SRT - Sharon Thomas, (703) 684-2423, sthomas@wef.org; SJH - Sam Hadeed (703) 684-2418, shadeed@wef.org. This Week in Washington is available on-line at www.wef.org/GovtAffairs