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.

February 16, 2007

Provided by the Water Environment Federation, Alexandria, VA

EPA Testifies to Congress on President's FY 08 Budget Request
On February 14, Ben Grumbles, U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Assistant Administrator for Water, testified before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on the request for EPA's National Water Program, which is $2.7 billion or 37% of the Agency's overall budget.  "The President's budget will allow us, along with our State, Tribal, and local partners, to make continued progress in ensuring America's waters are clean, safe, and secure," Grumbles said.  EPA testimony highlighted the Agency's focus on sustainable infrastructure, including the Administration's initiative on water enterprise bonds.  Grumbles emphasized the agency's position that localities should utilize private investment and not rely on federal funds to narrow the water infrastructure spending gap that EPA has identified as between $400 and $500 billion.  Grumbles said the water enterprise bond initiative that EPA has included as part of its FY08 budget request is one example of an innovative tool that states and localities can use to leverage federal funds to get more money for wastewater infrastructure projects.  EPA testimony also covered the voluntary water efficiency program, WaterSense, water security, wetlands, and regional collaborations in the Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay, and Puget Sound and along the Mexico border.  EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson was scheduled to testify at a hearing on the EPA budget in front of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on February 15, but the hearing was postponed.  EPA’s full testimony is available at http://www.epa.gov/water/speeches/asstadminspeeches.html.  (SJH)

Senate Sends Fiscal Year 2007 Spending Package to President
The Senate on February 14 overwhelmingly approved the $493.5 billion fiscal year 2007 spending resolution to fund key energy and environmental programs through the end of September.  The measure, which was passed by the House in late January, would provide $7.9 billion for EPA and $18.3 billion for the Department of the Interior and related agencies, including the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management.  The spending package contains $1 billion for the clean water state revolving fund in the EPA budget, an increase of $197.1 million from fiscal 2006.  Several senators voiced frustration over their inability to amend the measure, which was drafted last month by House and Senate Appropriations committee chairmen David Obey (D-WI) and Robert Byrd (D-WV).  The spending resolution sets top-tier program funding limits for domestic federal programs. Individual departments will be responsible for structuring the funding of projects within those top-tier programs and report back to Congress in 30 days.  The main point of substantive debate on the resolution was earmarks. Though Obey and Byrd insisted they had scrubbed the legislation free of earmarks -- taking out 9,300 individual items -- lawmakers had learned since the House approved the measure two weeks ago that individual senators had petitioned the Energy Department to include their pet projects in the final spending reports. (SJH)

House Energy and Commerce Committee Adds EPA Funding to Oversight Agenda
The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold its first oversight hearings in six years on the U.S. EPA budget request.  The last time the House Energy and Commerce Committee held hearings specifically on EPA spending was in March 2000 after President Clinton submitted his fiscal year 2001 budget request.  Environmental groups, state and local officials, industry, and a representative of the EPA inspector general will be invited to the March 1 hearing before the House Environment and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee. The same subcommittee will be joined by members of the House Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee at a March 8 hearing with EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson as the sole witness.  President Bush for fiscal 2008 has proposed $7.2 billion for EPA, a 6.6 percent cut compared with an anticipated funding level in fiscal 2007 of $7.7 billion.  The water-specific portions of the EPA budget were examined on February 14 by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. (SJH)

EPA Issues White Paper on Nanotechnology
On February 15 EPA’s Science Policy Council issued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Nanotechnology White Paper.  The purpose of the white paper is to inform EPA management of the science issues and needs associated with nanotechnology, to support related EPA program office needs, and to communicate these nanotechnology science issues to stakeholders and the public.  The Nanotechnology White Paper provides a basic description of nanotechnology, information on why EPA is interested in nanotechnology, a discussion of responsible development of nanotechnology and the EPA’s statutory mandates, a review of research needs for both environmental applications and implications of nanotechnology, and more.  The white paper and background information on its development are available at http://www.epa.gov/osa/nanotech.htm.  (SRT)

EPA Issues New Stormwater Guide for Evaluating MS4 Programs
The Office of Water published a new Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) Evaluation Guide on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) stormwater website at: http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/munic.cfm.  Available only on the web, the Guide is designed for use by NPDES authorities to evaluate the quality of Phase I and Phase II MS4 programs.  It can be used for comprehensive program evaluations or for certain components of an MS4 program.  The document is in Microsoft Word format so that permit program managers can modify it to meet the unique components of their programs.  On March 7, the Office of Wastewater Management will hold a free web cast to provide an introduction to the Guide. Registration information will be posted by February 23 on the stormwater website at http://cfpub2.epa.gov/npdes/outreach.cfm?program_id=0&otype=1.  (SJH)

WERF Seeking Proposals
The Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) announced on February 12 that it is requesting pre-proposals for a long-term, comprehensive program leading to sustainability and self-sufficiency of wastewater and solids treatment.  WERF is seeking to address the combined challenges of solids volume reduction, resource recovery, and energy management in order to develop and demonstrate economical and environmentally responsible processes that improve wastewater treatment and solids management operations efficiencies and costs by at least 20%. On February 9 WERF also issued a request for proposals (RFP) for research that would provide biosolids managers and facility owners and operators with the information needed to protect groundwater resources in the vicinity of biosolids land application sites.  The research should also provide a compendium of current best management practices for groundwater protection at land application sites.  Additional information on both RFPs can be found at http://www.werf.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Funding/OpenRFPs/default.htm. (SJH)

Quote of the Week:
“The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.”
~Albert Einstein

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 online at http://www.wef.org/GovernmentAffairs/TWIW/.