UMRBA Update

 

December 18, 2001

 

 

Washington News

 

States’ Security Spending---Preliminary results from a National Governors Association (NGA) survey indicate that states will spend approximately $4 billion on homeland security in the year following the September 11 terrorist attacks.  According to NGA, “bioterrorism and emergency communications represent $3 billion of the costs with an additional $1 billion for guarding critical infrastructure.”  The critical infrastructure focus includes ports, water supplies, and pipelines.  The states were surveyed in early November, and the initial figures represent extrapolations based on responses from 17 states and one territory.  While NGA emphasizes that its estimates are preliminary and are likely to be revised upward, the Governors are using the numbers as they call for federal assistance to the states in meeting these new demands.  According to Vermont Governor Howard Dean, “we have sent a letter to all of the Congressional leaders that reiterates what the states need in the final [emergency spending] package--$2 billion to strengthen the public health system’s ability to handle a bioterrorism attack and a substantial fund for state discretionary grants to protect vital infrastructure.”  Further information is available from NGA at http://www.nga.org/center/frontAndCenter/1,1188,T_ENVIRONMENT_EMERGENCY^D_2917,00.html. 

 

NPS Pollution and Boating---EPA has released a technical guidance manual designed to help marina operators, boaters, and others reduce the nonpoint source pollution associated with recreational boating.  National Management Measures to Control Nonpoint Source Pollution from Marinas and Recreational Boating addresses a wide range of issues, including shoreline and streambank stabilization, storm water runoff, fueling station design, waste management, facilities management, and boat operations.  The manual is available from EPA at http://www.epa.gov/owow/nps/mmsp/. 

 

 

New Bills

 

H.R. 3480 “Upper Mississippi River Basin Protection Act”---A revised and less extensive version of the “Upper Mississippi River Basin Conservation Act” (H.R. 1800) introduced last May.  Directs the U.S. Geological Survey to establish a sediment and nutrient monitoring network for the Upper Mississippi River Basin and a modeling program to identify significant sources of sediment and nutrients in the Basin. The modeling effort is to relate nutrient loss and sediment loss to landscape, land use, and land management practices and address river channel nutrient transformation processes.  In addition, the bill directs the National Research Council (NRC) to conduct “a comprehensive water resources assessment of the Upper Mississippi River Basin.”  Appropriations of $6.25 million per year are authorized for the USGS and $650,000 for the NRC.  In contrast to the previous bill (H.R. 1800), this version includes no role for the Department of Agriculture and no provision for an Advisory Council or Federal Interagency Working Group.  By limiting the focus to only USGS science-based activities, the sponsors reportedly sought to avoid referral to the House Agriculture Committee, where previous versions of the bill have stalled.  Introduced December 13, 2001 by Ron Kind (D-WI) and 16 others, including Representatives Gutknecht (R-MN), Leach (R-IA), Manzullo (R-IL), Nussle (R-IA), Ramstad (R-MN), Kennedy (R-MN), Costello (D-IL), Petri (R-WI), Baldwin (D-WI), Luther (D-MN), Phelps (D-IL), and Boswell (D-IA). 

 

 

Committee Action

 

Zebra Mussel Research---On December 6, the House Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife and Oceans approved H.R. 3389, reauthorizing the National Sea Grant College Program and authorizing appropriations for specific research efforts.  Authorizes appropriations in FY 04-08 of $5 million per year for competitive grants for university research on zebra mussel biology and control.

 

Water Infrastructure Security---On December 10, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee filed its reports on two water infrastructure security bills, S. 1593 and S. 1608.  The Committee originally approved both bills on November 8.  As reported, S 1593 establishes a new EPA research grant program to assess potential physical and cyber threats to the nation’s water supply system and develop solutions to safeguard water systems against those threats.  S. 1593 authorizes $12 million for grants to research institutions in each of FY 02-07.  The bill also directs EPA to use $20 million of unobligated funds in FY 02 and 03 to provide assistance for small water supply systems to comply with requirements relating to arsenic in drinking water.  The second bill, S. 1608, authorizes EPA grants to drinking water and wastewater facilities to make immediate short-term physical security improvements.  Funding of $50 million in FY 02 would be allocated to states, which would then distribute the grants.

 

 

Floor Action

 

Farm Bill---After several days of maneuvering to clear the way for floor consideration, the full Senate began debating the Senate Agriculture Committee’s Farm Bill (S. 1731) on December 10.  Floor consideration continued on a daily basis through December 14 and resumed briefly yesterday, December 17.  (The December 5, 2001 UMRBA Update details S. 1731 as approved by the Senate Agriculture Committee.)  Numerous controversies surround the bill, including whether the Senate should be considering the measure at all this year.  The Bush Administration and some in Congress have urged the House and Senate to delay Farm Bill action until 2002, when the current authorization expires.  The Administration has also come out against many of the particulars in S. 1731.  In a December 5 statement, the Office of Management and Budget said “the Administration strongly opposes S. 1731, urges the Senate to defeat it, and supports the Cochran-Roberts Amendment as the more responsible, effective approach in helping America’s farmers.”  Among its objections, OMB rejected Senate Agriculture Chair Tom Harkin’s (D-IA)Conservation Security Program as a “new working-lands program that does not necessarily deliver measurable, effective environmental benefits.”  The Cochran-Roberts amendment referenced by OMB has yet to be introduced.

 

Meanwhile, progress with S. 1731 on the Senate floor has been slow.  The Senate has yet to act on a substitute amendment introduced December 11 by Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD), although a cloture vote is scheduled for today, December 18.  The Daschle amendment is a compromise negotiated with Harkin and others.  Among other things, it would add funding to the bill’s conservation title.  The acreage cap for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) would increase to 41 million acres, annual enrollments in the Wetlands Reserve Program would be capped at 250,000 acres, funding for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) would peak at $1.5 billion in 2006, and funding for the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program would peak at $325 million in 2005. 

 

In addition, the Daschle amendment includes a provision to establish an Advisory Council on the Upper Mississippi River Stewardship Initiative.  An outgrowth of legislation that Representative Kind (D-WI) has pursued in the House, the Council would be charged with regional coordination and communication regarding conservation practices, monitoring and modeling needs, strategies for implementing conservation assistance and programs, etc.  The Council would have 10 voting members appointed by the Governors to represent various nongovernmental organizations and 5 voting members from the State Technical Committees.  In addition, each of the five Governors would be able to appoint a nonvoting representative.  A Federal Interagency Working Group including the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior would coordinate federal nutrient and sediment reduction efforts in the basin.  Appropriations would be authorized at $400,000 annually in FY 03-06. 

 

On December 12, Senators rejected an amendment from Senator Christopher Bond (R-MO) that would have authorized the Agriculture Secretary to review proposed federal actions for potential adverse impacts on farmers.  The scope of the review would have extended to both economic and safety issues, and the Agriculture Secretary would have been authorized to recommend options for avoiding the impacts.  If agreement between the federal agencies could not be reached, the President could have rejected the proposed federal action upon the Agriculture Secretary’s recommendation. 

 

On December 14, Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN) introduced an amendment that would disqualify new or expanded large confined animal feeding operations from participating in EQIP.  It would also restrict the use of EQIP funds for CAFOs in floodplains and would increase caps on EQIP payments.  Wellstone’s amendment is pending.  Two pending amendments from Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT) would limit CRP enrollment on an individual farm to 50 percent of that farm’s eligible acreage and would require the CRP to offer higher payments for land that is the least suitable for agricultural production. 

 

Last week’s floor consideration ended with a frustrated Senator Harkin charging that Senators Cochran and Roberts were more interested in scuttling action on the Farm Bill than in offering an alternative legislative approach.  Cochran and Roberts have yet to formally introduce their Administration-backed alternative package, though its basic outline has been widely discussed.  Reportedly, the Cochran-Roberts conservation title includes a peak of $1.6 billion per year for EQIP and a $300 million per year Working Land Environmental Improvement Program as an alternative to Harkin’s Conservation Security Program.  According to OMB’s policy statement, “Cochran-Roberts would enhance conservation in a balanced way by improving existing programs and providing incentives for greater environmental benefits on working lands.”  However, supporters of S. 1731 note that OMB’s criticism of the Conservation Security Program as an unproven approach applies equally to the Working Land Environmental Improvement Program. 

 

Bioterrorism and Drinking Water---On December 12, the House overwhelming passed H.R. 3348, the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Response Act.  The bill went straight to the floor following its introduction on December 11, bypassing all committee action.  Title IV of the bill adds a number of new provisions to the Safe Drinking Water Act, including a requirement that community water systems serving populations over 3,300 assess the vulnerability of their systems to terrorist attack.  Those vulnerability assessments are then to be used to develop emergency response plans.  EPA would be authorized to provide financial assistance for communities to comply with these requirements.  In addition, Title IV directs EPA, in consultation with the Centers for Disease Control, to review “current and future methods to prevent, detect and respond to the intentional introduction of chemical, biological or radiological contaminants into community water systems and source water for community water systems.”  EPA would also be required to review “methods and means by which terrorists or other individuals or groups could disrupt the supply of safe drinking water or take other actions against water collection, pretreatment, treatment, storage and distribution facilities which could render such water significantly less safe for human consumption.” 

 

 

 

 

For more information regarding Congressional action and links to related sites, visit http://thomas.loc.gov/.

 

The UMRBA Update is produced by the staff of the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association, an organization formed by the Governors of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin to represent the states' common water resource interests. Please direct questions and comments to bnaramore@umrba.org. The Update is also available on the UMRBA’s web site at http://www.umrba.org/newsletter.htm.