June 2008
Congress Begins Appropriations Process but Outcome Uncertain
After months of speculation, the Senate and House took the first tentative steps to approve a fiscal year 2009 budget. However, most if not all congressional budget leaders agree that final resolution will await the outcome of the presidential election. In early June, Congress agreed on broad spending guidelines when it approved a budget resolution. The resolution provides for overall spending at $3 trillion dollars. Contained within this level is more than $21 billion in additional domestic spending beyond that requested by the White House. Because of this funding increase, the President has signaled his intent to veto any bill that exceeds his budget request submitted in February. For the WateReuse Association, the resolution is good news as it may foreshadow Congress' willingness to address water recycling needs including the continued support of the WateReuse Foundation's research program at the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
While the budget resolution is nonbinding and only serves as guidance to the congressional spending committees, it is important. It provides an agreement between the House and Senate on how large the overall budget will be and thereby minimizes controversy between the House and Senate on the overall spending level when final budgets are compromised later this year or early next year.
According to recent committee announcements, the House Committee on Appropriations will kick start the spending decision process when its various subcommittees markup spending bills during June. Upon completion of the spending blueprints, the full committee is expected to give final approval to the twelve spending bills. The Senate is expected to follow the House in July, approving its version of agency budgets. This is where the action may slow. Because of the ongoing controversy surrounding congressional earmarks and efforts by some of the congressional membership to block consideration of spending bills because of the congressionally directed spending, final House and Senate votes are likely to be set to the side. In lieu of final bills being sent to the President, a continuing resolution, or stop gap spending measure, will likely be enacted to continue federal programs from October until some time in December, January or February. Assuming that this occurs, existing program earmarks would not be funded during this period of time.
Climate Change Legislation Hits Filibuster in Senate
Senate floor debate over legislation to combat greenhouse gas emissions was anything but climatic during the first week of June when the Committee on Environment and Public Works brought to the Senate floor the Lieberman-Warner climate change bill, S. 2259. After more than four days of debate, proponents of the legislation failed to secure adequate votes to limit debate and to vote on amendments and the bill by 48 -36. At least 60 votes are necessary to end debate. As a result, the bill will die during this Congress, but is expected to be resurrected early in the next session when as bill sponsors noted a more friendly Administration will be in place. As the legislative debate commenced, the President issued a veto threat on S. 2259.
Despite the inability to move the Senate bill through the Senate, the bill is expected to serve as a foundation for future measures. For organizations like WateReuse, this is important. Contained in S. 2259 is language directed at addressing the needs of the water recycling specifically and water suppliers in general The most notable elements of the bill's provisions on water involve the commitment of federal research and technology assistance to support efforts to increase water use efficiency, support efforts to stem saltwater intrusion attributable to rising sea levels and infrastructure assistance to deal with adaptive management issues created by climate change including decreased precipitation and snow melt challenges.
Legislation to Provide Increased Funding of Water and Wastewater Introduced
One of the Association's top legislative policy priorities was recently advanced when Representatives Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) and Phil English (R-PA) introduced the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Act (H.R. 6194). H.R. 6194 recognizes the importance of freeing up additional federal assistance to support the construction of water supply facilities. In these times of fiscal austerity, the bill seeks to address the infrastructure need through the innovative use of the tax code. Under the bill's provisions, it acknowledges that the infrastructure needs of water and wastewater facilities are severe and approaching close to $1 trillion. The bill finds that it is vital to the nation's economic well being that investments be made to address this need. Because of the restricted federal budget situation, the bill relies on using tax-exempt bonds, referred to as private activity bonds, to support construction needs. Under the bill, bonds used for water and wastewater construction projects would be exempt from the state volume cap that limits the amount of bonds a state could issue.
The use of this financing tool as a supplement to other traditional forms of assistance has been proven in the past to generate significant project funding. In the late 1980s, a crisis in capacity of the solid waste management facilities led Congress to exempt bonds that financed such facilities from the volume cap. As a result of this decision, more than a billion dollars in additional capital assistance was provided to construct new management facilities.
A hearing into H.R. 6194 may be scheduled in the early summer.
WateReuse Submits Comments on EPA Office of Water Climate Change Strategy
The WateReuse Association's National Legislative Committee recently provided comments on the U.S. EPA's National Water Program Draft Climate Change Strategy. In response to a request from Benjamin Grumbles, the EPA's Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water, the Association outlined how water reuse and desalination technologies can help reduce greenhouse gases and provide barriers to prevent saltwater intrusion that may result from rising sea levels. The letter also made recommendations about research, public education, and partnerships. To read the letter, click here.
Legislation Encouraging Reuse of Produced Water Becomes Law
On May 8, the President signed legislation designed to minimize the quantity of produced water and facilitate its use for irrigation and other purposes. Produced water is groundwater that comes to the surface during the process of extracting energy resources such as oil, natural gas, coalbed methane, and geothermal resources. Most produced water is returned to the subsurface or is otherwise disposed of as waste. The bill aims to augment water supplies and reduce the costs of extracting energy resources, without adversely affecting water quality or the environment.
The bill known as "More Water, More Energy, Less Waste" (P.L. 110-229) directs the Secretary of the Interior to study obstacles to reducing the quantity of produced water; obstacles to increasing the use of produced water; actions to minimize the identified obstacles; and costs and benefits associated with minimizing the identified obstacles. The bill also directs the Secretary to provide grants for the development of facilities, technologies, and processes to demonstrate the feasibility, effectiveness, and safety of projects to reduce the quantity of produced water generated or to recover, clean-up, and apply produced water to beneficial uses.
House Lawmakers Explore Infrastructure Financing Proposals
The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure held a hearing on June 12 to examine methods for financing the nation's growing infrastructure needs. Lawmakers heard testimony on a variety of proposals to address the need for repairing, replacing and improving roads, bridges, public transportation, aviation, ports, waterways and wastewater treatment infrastructure. One such proposal (H.R. 3896) was offered by Rep. Rosa DeLauro would establish the National Infrastructure Development Corporation (NIDC) and its subsidiary, the National Infrastructure Corporation. Under the bill, within five years after enactment, these corporations are intended to transition to self-sustaining, privately controlled government-sponsored enterprises, comparable to Fannie Mae and Ginnie Mae. The NIDC would be appropriated $3 billion for three years to create voting common stock. Thereafter, NIDC would be self-sustaining through revenues generated by income from loan repayments, fees, and charges.
Another proposal that was discussed by lawmakers was the National Infrastructure Bank (S. 1926 and H.R. 3401). The bank would finance publicly-sponsored infrastructure projects of regional and national significance. Eligible projects put forth by public sponsors, including drinking water and wastewater systems, must be in excess of $75 million. The bank would be governed by a board that would evaluate projects on their merits and develop financing packages that may consist of grants, direct loans, loan guarantees, or long-term project-specific bonds. Committee members agreed that relying solely on the federal government to help finance infrastructure projects across the nation will remain inadequate to deal with existing needs. The apparent goal of the hearing was to explore various alternative financing proposals to supplement the existing appropriations process.
Water Conservation Technology Bill Moves through House
House lawmakers are considering legislation designed to address dwindling water supplies through the establishment of an EPA research and development program to promote water use efficiency and conservation. The bill would facilitate research and development targeting technologies that enable the collection, treatment, and reuse of rainwater and greywater. Introduced by Jim Matheson (R-UT), the Water Use Efficiency and Conservation Act (H.R. 3957) would also require EPA to share research findings in order to increase water use and conservation. A subcommittee mark-up was held on the bill on May 6, and the full committee - Committee on Science Technology - has not scheduled a mark-up. The WateReuse Association legislative committee continues to discuss opportunities to highlight water recycling in the bill.