Congress
Hears Conflicting Testimony Regarding SRF Funding Levels
- WEF notification
March 1, 2002
A bill to substantially raise the
amounts of clean and safe drinking water state revolving loan
funds received varying degrees of support this week as EPA,
states, local elected officials, and other interest groups
testified before and the Senate Environment and Public Works
Committee.
Ben Grumbles, EPA Deputy Assistant
Administrator for Water, said the Administration supports the
goals of S.1961, the Water Investment Act of 2002, but had
concerns on the amount of the funding increase. "The
President clearly defined his priorities in the State of the Union
as defense and homeland security ... the increased spending called
for in this bill is not consistent with those priorities,"
said Grumbles. The bill would authorize $35 billion for water and
wastewater infrastructure over five years through the current SRF
with some additional administrative adjustments to the programs.
Grumbles said the Administration is also concerned about
provisions in the bill that would expand the scope of projects
eligible for SRF funding and that the expansion may have the
effect of taking away resources from core water and wastewater
infrastructure issues. Grumbles did say the Administration
supported other provisions in the bill, including allowing the
transfer of funds between the clean water SRF and the safe
drinking water SRF and vice-versa, and provisions promoting
technology innovation.
The second day of the hearing
focused on testimony from municipal water and wastewater agencies
including Paul Pinault, Executive Director of the Narragansett Bay
Commission. While EPA did not support the levels of funding in the
bill, Pinault said the bill falls short of the $57 billion over
the next five years recommended by the Water Infrastructure
Network to address core infrastructure investments. Pinault,
testifying on behalf of the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage
Agencies, said Congress should recognize the need for grants to
local communities in S. 1961.
The Senate is expected to move
quickly to approve S. 1961 out of committee and on to the floor
for a vote. On the House side, a similar bill by the
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is expected to be
introduced next week with a hearing scheduled for March 13. The
full text of the S.1961 and testimony from both hearings before
the Environment and Public Works Committee is available at:
http://www.senate.gov/~epw/stm1_107.htm
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