This Week in Washington is a weekly publication of the Water Environment Federation’s Government Affairs department. It provides updates on the latest legislative and regulatory developments that affect the water and wastewater communities.

July 14, 2006

Provided by the Water Environment Federation, Alexandria, VA

Coalition of Farm Groups and Congressional Republicans Seek to Exempt Manure from Superfund’s Reach
Farm groups have picked up their lobbying efforts to exempt animal manure from some EPA regulation, and GOP lawmakers are looking for an available legislative vehicle. Senators Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) and Larry Craig (R-ID) are interested in introducing legislation stating that manure should not be classified as a hazardous substance under either the Superfund waste cleanup law or EPA toxic reporting requirements under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act.  Last year’s attempt by Senator Craig to pass such legislation by attaching it to the FY06 Agriculture spending bill failed after Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) threatened to block passage of the conference report.  This year, there has been a major lobbying effort to gain co-sponsors for H.R. 4341, a House bill introduced last November by Congressman Ralph Hall (R-TX). The bill has gained 172 co-sponsors but has seen no action. Critics say phosphorous and other hazardous substances seep out of the manure at large animal feeding operations, contaminating drinking water or fouling the air. Phosphorous water contamination prompted the state of Oklahoma to file a lawsuit against Arkansas poultry operations for allegedly polluting the Illinois River that flows into Northeastern Oklahoma. Environmental groups have filed a lawsuit against dairy farms in Idaho for allegedly failing to submit reports of air releases of several hazardous substances, including ammonia and hydrogen sulfide. Local and state officials -- including the U.S. Conference of Mayors, National Association of County and City Health Agencies, and the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies -- wrote lawmakers last month arguing that the Superfund law is the only federal statute that allows drinking water providers to recover the costs of reducing or removing contaminants.  (PS)
 
Senate Appropriations Committee Increases NOAA Funding for FY07
The Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday approved a fiscal year 2007 Science-State-Justice-Commerce spending bill that includes increased funding for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) programs.  The measure would provide $4.4 billion in funding for NOAA programs, which is $536 million more than current spending and approximately $1 billion more than the $3.4 billion provided in the House version of the bill passed on June 29. Under the bill, the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund would get $90 million, with $10 million designated for the Klamath River Basin disaster. The panel criticized and rejected the Bush administration’s attempt to significantly reduce or eliminate funding for some of NOAA’s smaller programs. NOAA operations, research, and facilities (ORF) would get $3.3 billion, an increase of $921 million over the House bill. The ORF funding amount includes $814 million for the National Marine Fisheries Service; the House would provide $539 million for the program. Of the money provided for fisheries programs, $353 million would be provided for fisheries research management, and $181 million for marine mammals, marine turtles, and other marine protected species. Another $234 million would be provided for core fisheries programs. Also within the ORF amount, the National Ocean Service would be provided with $631 million, twice as much as the House would provide and slightly more than the current spending level. Allocated within the National Ocean Service would be $260 million for ocean resources conservation, $167 million for navigation services, $150 million for coastal management and $203 million for ocean management. Oceanic and Atmospheric Research would get $467 million under the committee’s measure, slightly less than current spending and $139 million more than the House would provide. Within the research program, $188 million would be provided for climate research and $180 million would be provided for ocean, coastal and Great Lakes research.  The legislation must now pass the full Senate before it goes to a conference committee for reconciliation with the House-passed measure.   (PS)
 
House Panel Hears Testimony on Good Samaritan Legislation
The House Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources held a hearing on Thursday on an administration proposal to provide incentives for third parties to pay for clean up costs of abandoned hard rock mines.  The legislation, H.R. 5404, would waive potential liability under the Clean Water Act and the superfund law, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), for nonprofit groups and others that voluntarily clean up pollution from abandoned mines.  Companion legislation in the Senate was the subject of a hearing last month. Both pieces of legislation were proposed by the Administration.  Congressman Mark Udall (D-CO) has proposed similar legislation (H.R. 1266) since 1998, and another proposal (S. 1848) was offered by Senators Ken Salazar (D-CO) and Wayne Allard (R-CO) in 2005.  All three proposals are designed to remove obstacles that have halted a number of voluntary proposals to clean up abandoned sites.

Under both the Clean Water Act and CERCLA, the potential assignment of liability occurs even though the party performing remediation activities did not create the pollution problem.  As the new operator of the site, a nonprofit group can be subject to citizens' lawsuits and other potential litigation. In other cases, volunteers have to obtain a Clean Water Act discharge permit and comply with the same stringent effluent limitations that a polluter would have to meet.  The administration’s proposal, introduced by Congressman John Duncan (R-TN) and Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman James Inhofe (R-OK), would establish a voluntary Good Samaritan permit program. Volunteers would be exempt from Clean Water Act or CERCLA liabilities, unless preexisting pollution conditions are exacerbated "as a result of gross negligence or intentional misconduct" during the cleanup effort.  Congressman Udall's most recent proposal (H.R. 1266) would amend the Clean Water Act to allow Good Samaritans to apply for less stringent discharge permits. Rather the meet strict effluent limitations, voluntary efforts would be required to fix water pollution problems to the "maximum extent practicable" in a manner specified in the permit. Environmental groups have expressed preference for Udall's bill over the administration proposal, which only requires that a voluntary project result in environmental improvements at an abandoned mine site.  Despite the Administration’s call for quick action on the issue, no mark-ups have been scheduled in either the House or Senate on Good Samaritan legislation. (PS)
 
Chesapeake Bay Clean-up Program Draws Criticism at House Hearing
A House Appropriations Subcommittee that oversees the budget for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) held a hearing Thursday examining the pace of clean-up efforts for the Chesapeake Bay.  At the hearing, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) told appropriators that the program lacks an integrated strategy with no clear-cut measures to account for progress in cleanup and restoration efforts. Testifying before the subcommittee, Anu Mittal, director of GAO's natural resources and environment division, faulted the Chesapeake Bay Program for proceeding with restoration efforts without a coordinated "unified" strategy and for failing to account for spending billions of dollars in cleanup efforts with little or no progress to report. Mittal also singled out the program for not using an independent peer-review process to vet reports released on the bay's health for objectivity and credibility.  The bay program, established in 1983, is a partnership among EPA and four bay-area governments--Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia. Efforts are spearheaded largely by EPA's Chesapeake Bay Program Office.

The program's primary mission is to implement agreements adopted by the partners, the most recent being the Chesapeake 2000 agreement, which was signed in June 2000 and sets forth five broad goals and 102 commitments that the signatories agreed to accomplish by 2010.  Benjamin Grumbles, EPA's assistant administrator for water, fended off Mittal's criticism by conceding that the status quo for cleanup and restoration was "unacceptable," but he added that some progress has been made in restoring the Chesapeake Bay watershed since cleanup efforts were initiated in 1983. Grumbles said 4,000 miles of stream- and bay-side buffers have been planted in the last decade, along with restoration of 1,800 miles of fish passage reopened in the bay's rivers and streams.  At the same time, Grumbles said restoration of the bay is fraught with challenges. A rise in population, leading to a decline of 100 acres each day in forests and an increase in impervious surfaces in new development projects, is driving more stormwater runoff into streams and rivers. (PS)

NRC Report finds EPA Assessment of Dioxin Understates Health Risk Uncertainty and May Overstate Human Cancer Risk
Although EPA presented a comprehensive review of the scientific literature in its 2003 draft reassessment of the risks of dioxin, the agency did not sufficiently quantify the uncertainties and variabilities associated with the risks, nor did it adequately justify the assumptions used to estimate them, according to a new report issued July 11from the National Academies' National Research Council (NRC).  The committee that wrote the report recommended that EPA re-estimate the risks using several different assumptions and better communicate the uncertainties in those estimates.  The agency also should explain more clearly how it selects both the data upon which the reassessment is based and the methods used to analyze them.

In its 1985 assessment, EPA classified dioxin as a "probable human carcinogen," but the agency's 2003 reassessment says that dioxin is better characterized as "carcinogenic to humans."  Since 2003, however, EPA has issued new guidelines for classifying the carcinogenicity of chemicals.  The NRC committee was split on whether the available evidence met all the criteria for classifying dioxin as "carcinogenic to humans" under the new guidelines, but it was unanimous in agreeing that dioxin should at least be considered "likely to be carcinogenic to humans."

The committee noted that the report would be substantially strengthened if the agency included more quantifiable measures of both the uncertainty and variability in the available scientific data used to estimate dioxin risks to public health.  It recommended that EPA write a more thorough chapter on risk characterization that includes a comprehensive discussion of uncertainties.  The agency also should routinely monitor dioxin-related research and establish criteria for deciding when findings are compelling enough to revise the most recent dioxin risk assessment.  To view the NAS report, visit: http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11688.html. (SJH)

EPA Announces Public Meeting on Designated Uses and Use Attainability Analyses
In the July 10 Federal Register, EPA announced a public meeting to discuss designated uses and use attainability analyses in Seattle , WA. The meeting is co-sponsored with WEF. The primary goals of the meeting are to help educate the public on current water quality standards regulations, guidance and practices related to designated uses and use attainability analyses, and to provide a forum for the public to join in discussions, ask questions, and provide feedback.  The meeting will be held on Monday, July 31 - August 1 and preceded by an optional introductory session on the basics of designated uses as they apply to water quality standards implementation. The meeting will be held at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel (206) 621-9000.  Registration and an agenda are available at http://www.tetratech-ffx.com/stakeholders/.  (SJH)

Quote of the Week: "Life is a succession of lessons, which must be lived to be understood." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

This Week in Washington is provided by the Water Environment Federation, Alexandria, VA. To receive This Week in Washington by e-mail, contact Lisa Jones, (703) 684-2400 ext. 7741, ljones@wef.org. For more information on this week's stories, please contact the WEF staff whose initials appear at the end of the item in which you are interested. TW –Tim Williams (703) 684-2437, twilliams@wef.org; SRT - Sharon Thomas, (703) 684-2423, sthomas@wef.org; SJH - Sam Hadeed (703) 684-2418, shadeed@wef.org; PS-Patricia Sinicropi (703) 684-2416, psinicropi@wef.org. This Week in Washington is available on-line at http://www.wef.org/GovernmentAffairs/TWIW/.