Congress’ 2,000-plus page omnibus appropriations bill continues the practice of dictating parameters for states’ distribution of State Revolving Fund (SRF) dollars, and also includes a number of so-called “policy riders” that will shape federal activities in the year ahead.
The Drinking Water and Clean Water SRF guidelines included in the bill largely mirror provisions that were also on the books in the 2015 fiscal year. For example, states must continue to reserve at least 10 percent of their CWSRF allotment for “green infrastructure, water or energy efficiency improvements, or other environmentally innovative activities,” while states are under no obligation to devote a set percentage of DWSRF funding for these purposes. However, 10 percent of a state’s CWSRF dollars, and 20 percent of its DWSRF funds, must be reserved for low or negative interest loans or grants to eligible communities – the same percentages required in FY15.
The omnibus bill continues the current requirement that projects funded through the DWSRF use only American-made iron and steel, unless EPA grants a project waiver for a defined reason, such as if the American iron and steel would increase overall project costs by more than 25 percent (Congress separately acted last year to permanently apply American-made iron and steel rules to CWSRF projects, so those projects are not referenced in the omnibus bill).
Other sections of the omnibus bill feature a new mandate for EPA to work with states along the Great Lakes to establish public notice requirements that will detail the timing, volume, and public access impacts associated with combined sewer overflow (CSO) discharges. This provision is based on language first included in the Senate’s FY16 Interior-EPA spending bill that would have broadly prohibited CSO releases into the Great Lakes, along with “immediate” public notice requirements whenever such a release did occur. Wastewater utilities expressed concern with such a broad prohibition, so the final bill drops the ban while removing the word “immediate” from the reporting requirements.
One provision omitted from the final omnibus bill was a rider that would ban EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from implementing the controversial Clean Water Rule. While the rider was popular among Republicans and was part of the Interior-EPA bills earlier approved by the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, it met strong resistance from the White House and was ultimately dropped in the course of omnibus negotiations.