H.R. 6091 as approved by the House Appropriations Committee this month did not alter a controversial policy rider that would block EPA from implementing a guidance to redefine the scope of the Clean Water Act, and another that would require the federal government to detail all of its climate change related spending. But the committee’s report language did include a surprising recognition that global climate change is actually occurring.
Section 434 of the draft bill (available online at http://amwa.net/FY13EPA) would bar EPA from using any FY13 funds “to develop, adopt, implement, administer, or enforce” its guidance “pertaining to the definition of waters under the jurisdiction” of the federal Clean Water Act. Blocking the guidance has been a top priority of congressional Republicans, who fear it could dramatically expand the waters subject to federal oversight.
Section 419 of the bill would require the administration to provide a detailed report to Congress on all federal spending on climate change-related programs and activities in FY12. However, the committee report accompanying the bill explains that the provision is only intended to identify potentially duplicative spending, and goes on to note, “That the climate is changing is not in dispute.”
This acknowledgement that climate change is actually happening is not expected to lead to any immediate changes in the GOP’s approach to climate-related legislation, but it does mark a departure from some previous position statements that had questioned the science behind the issue. Over the long-term, widespread agreement on Capitol Hill that that climate is changing (regardless of the cause) could provide a boost to AMWA-backed legislation that would help water and wastewater utilities adapt their infrastructure to these changing conditions.
In addition to the binding policy riders in the text of H.R. 6091, the committee also made several nonbinding requests of EPA in the committee report, including:
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Asking the agency to submit a report to Congress on its efforts to research and adequately address the effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals;
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Asking EPA to document how it is implementing National Academy of Sciences’ recommendations for improving the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) process into draft and final risk assessments for FY13; and
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Directing EPA to eliminate an environmental justice review from a congressionally mandated study on the impacts of hydraulic fracturing activities on drinking water sources.