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.

September 22, 2006

Provided by the Water Environment Federation, Alexandria, VA
 
Water and Wastewater Utilities will Not be Included in Chemical Security Agreement
The chairs of the House and Senate Homeland Security committees reached a deal yesterday on chemical plant security legislation that could clear the way for its inclusion in the fiscal 2007 Department of Homeland Security spending bill. House-Senate conferees on the spending bill plan to meet Monday and hope to complete the conference report before Congress heads home at the end of the month. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins (R-ME) and House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King (R-NY) announced the deal last night. The agreement could break a years-long Capitol Hill stalemate over enhancing security at facilities that make and store dangerous chemicals. Congressional leaders huddled all week to come up with a deal that would satisfy the concerns of all parties, including Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), Chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, who was holding firm in his opposition to the proposal unless it excluded water and wastewater facilities.  The agreement does meet Senator Inhofe’s demands by excluding water and wastewater facilities from Department of Homeland Security jurisdiction.  It also does not include provisions that environmentalists fought hard to include which would have required chemical facilities to use “inherently safer technologies” (IST) to reduce security vulnerabilities. An IST provision was not included in the Senate version, but was included in the House version of the legislation.  The deal now must be voted on by the full House and Senate next week, as an amendment to the FY07 Homeland Security Appropriations bill. (PS)
 
Report Highlights Widespread Mercury Contamination in Wildlife
On September 19 the National Wildlife Federation issued a report on mercury levels in mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians living in freshwater, marine, and forest habitats from across the country.  The report, Poisoning Wildlife: The Reality of Mercury Pollution, is a compilation of over 65 published studies finding elevated levels of mercury in a wide range of wildlife species.  While the accumulation of mercury in fish is well documented and understood, scientists have recently discovered that mercury accumulates in forest soils, indicating that wildlife that live and feed outside aquatic habitats are also at risk of exposure to mercury.  “Scientific understanding of the extent of mercury contamination in wildlife has expanded significantly in recent years,” says Dr. David Evers of the Biodiversity Research Institute. “We are finding mercury accumulation in far more species, and at much higher levels, than we previously thought was occurring.”  Although mercury deposition has been reduced in some areas, like the Northeastern U.S., mercury levels in birds and fish are continuing to increasing in other areas, including Alaska.  The report recommended that federal action to reduce mercury emissions from power plants be accelerated and called for states to act where the federal government is not.  It also called for a ban on the sale of mercury-containing items and for the safe disposal of mercury-containing items.  The report is available at http://www.nwf.org/nwfwebadmin/binaryVault/PoisoningWildlifeMercuryPollution1.pdf. (SRT)

East Bay Municipal Utility District Receives NBP EMS Certification
The National Biosolids Partnership (NBP) is pleased to recognize the East Bay Municipal Utility District of Oakland, CA as the thirteenth wastewater agency in the nation to be certified and admitted to the Partnership’s environmental management system (EMS) for biosolids program. The East Bay Municipal Utility District is one of 90 wastewater agencies currently participating in the NBP EMS program.  As the thirteenth wastewater agency certified and admitted into the NBP EMS program, the East Bay Municipal Utility District achievement recognizes that the agency has been independently verified as having an effective biosolids environmental management system. The East Bay Municipal Utility District’s biosolids EMS was independently verified on September 19 to conform to the NBP’s EMS guidance. An additional five to seven NBP wastewater agencies are expected to undergo audits of their biosolids EMS programs in 2006.  Additional information on the East Bay biosolids EMS program is available at http://www.ebmud.com/wastewater/biosolids/eMS/default.htm.  Information on the NBP EMS program, recent certifications, and upcoming details on a celebratory event in Oakland, CA on October 3 is available at http://www.biosolids.org. (SJH)

WEF Utility Manager Please Respond!
WEF is conducting a short survey of its utility manager members to identify their current priorities.  The survey should take five minutes or less to complete and will help WEF better understand the needs of this important group.   Utility managers are invited to access the survey at http://www.zoomerang.com/recipient/survey-intro.zgi?p=WEB225P28A6X5L. 

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/.