By Jubi Headley
July 4, 2011

In addition to adopting twelve policy resolutions, the Environment Standing Committee session, chaired by Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin, featured a presentation on Wilmington (DE) combined sewer overflow program, an update by a Senate staff member on legislative priorities, and a lively discussion on upcoming EPA rulings and their impacts on local governments.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Water Acting Assistant Administrator Nancy Stoner focused on two issues during her presentation:

• EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers have developed a draft guidance for determining whether a waterway, water body, or wetland is protected by the Clean Water Act, in response to interpretations of Supreme Court rulings. Stoner stressed that the guidance is not an expansion per se — EPA is seeking only to extend protection to waters where they were previously protected. However, Mayors expressed significant concerns about ambiguous terminology in the draft guidance, and emphasized the importance of giving these terms ‘operational meaning’ to prevent additional confusion. Mayors also expressed concerns about local responsibility — and costs — for monitoring and treatment. The original 60-day public comment period was set to expire on July 1; however, since the Annual Meeting the public comment period has been extended to July 31, “in response to requests from state and local officials, as well as other stakeholders,” according to the EPA website.

• EPA has also initiated a national rulemaking to make improvements to its stormwater program. According to Stoner, the fundamental goal is to make the watershed more permeable. Stoner noted that this rule will look different from most EPA rules in terms of flexibility — it will allow for standards to vary by region, to consider rainfall geographically, for example. EPA is also considering standards that encourage redevelopment over new (greenfield) development, as well as approaches that encourage brownfields redevelopment and compact development. Stoner characterized the rule as a standard on development and developers, rather than on the stormwater system. Mayors again expressed concerns about definitions, and stressed the importance of clarifying what is classified as redevelopment versus new development. The mayors also underscored the challenges they face at the state level — while cities attempt to apply standards that would make the watershed more permeable, such as pervious pavement, they find that state agencies often don’t support these types of innovations.

Matthew Hite, Counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW), spoke on EPW’s priorities for the 112th Congress — one of which is the Clean Water Act draft guidance previously discussed. Key concerns, according to Hite, include ensuring that the final rule will strike the right balance between “economic viability and environmental protection,” and minimizing potential additional burdens on state and local governments. Other EPW priorities include:

• EPA Rulemaking on Coal Ash. Currently coal ash is regulated at the state rather than the federal level. There are two options for federal regulation — one would treat coal ash as a solid waste, the other as a hazardous waste. The Committee on EPW has a number of concerns, including how to dispose of coal ash, which constitutes a massive waste stream for which there isn’t sufficient landfill capacity. EPW also wants to ensure that there are allowances or options for ‘beneficial reuse’ of coal ash.

• Unfunded mandates. Senators James Inhofe (OK) and Mike Johanns (NE) have introduced the Comprehensive Assessment of Regulations on the Economy (CARE) Act, which would require EPA to determine the total cost of several major rules the agency is preparing to issue (including the coal ash rule discussed above), particularly as they impact local and state governments.

• Brownfields Reauthorization. Key issues include minimizing the delay between the disbursement of dollars to local authorities for assessment and cleanup, and providing special incentives for redevelopment of waterfront properties and projects that include renewable energy initiatives.

Finally, Wilmington (DE) Mayor James Baker and Public Works Commissioner Kash Srinivasan presented their city’s combined sewer overflow control program. Key elements of the program include a real-time control system which allows decisions to be made based on predicted and actual rainfall levels, flows and levels in the sewer network, and separation of the hospital storm sewer system.

The city has also implemented initiatives such as its Downspout Disconnect Project, which works with individual homeowners to develop green solutions to disconnect homeowners’ downspouts from the combined sewer system. The project develops appropriate, individually-designed solutions for each downspout, ranging from disconnecting the downspout to run onto a lawn, to creating rain gardens or green roofs.

• Calling on Congress and the Administration to Provide Funding for the EPA Climate Showcase Grants for Local Governments

• Supporting Full and Dedicated Funding of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants

• Resolution to Promote the Greening of the Retail Community

• Supporting Electric Vehicles

• Closing the Recycling Loop — Affirmative Sustainable Procurement Program

• Endorsing U.S. Water and Energy Wise Industry

• Water Infrastructure Innovative Financing: Enabling Low-Cost Mechanisms to Leverage Funding for Critical Needs

• Reforming the Clean Water Act Sewer Overflow Policy to Achieve Sustainable Long-Term Goals

• Establishing Nutrient Best Management Practices and Policies to Protect Water Quality, Public Health, Economic Development and Job Growth

• Improving EPA’s 8 Hour Ozone Standards

• Supporting the Reinstatement of the Superfund Tax

• Support for a Brownfield Remediation And Economic Development Loan Guarantee Program