Congress returned to Washington this week from the holidays and the U.S. House, led by its Democratic Majority, is eager to vote on legislation to regulate PFAS.

After two years of negotiations, EPA on December 27 proposed settlement agreements for Massachusetts and New Hampshire’s small municipal separate stormwater sewer system (MS4) permits. NACWA played an instrumental role working with impacted member utilities in these two states to negotiate a favorable settlement.

NACWA submitted comments January 2 on EPA’s recent proposal to alter the administrative appeals process through the Agency’s Environmental Appeal Board (EAB), support efforts to streamline the process but expressing concern over plans to eliminate stakeholder input and increase Agency political influence over the EAB’s deliberations.

In comments filed December 18 on EPA’s September 2019 notice, Water Quality Trading Under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Program (84 Fed. Reg. 49293), NACWA thanked EPA for its continued interest in jumpstarting market-based and other innovative approaches to improving water quality.

Today the Senate passed the 2020 Interior-Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Act which will now be sent to President Trump for his signature.

Before leaving Washington at week’s end for the holidays and the year, Congress is expected to pass a final Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20) omnibus appropriations package that will fund the federal government at increased spending levels for the remainder of the fiscal year and includes several key NACWA and clean water sector priorities.

NACWA submitted comments to EPA December 16 on the draft Water Reuse Action Plan (WRAP) which lays out 46 proposed actions to guide water reuse initiatives across the sector.

EPA is soliciting public comments on a proposal to create a new, time-limited alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process, which would result “in a fundamental change to the Agency's long-held administrative exhaustion requirements” and make significant changes to the appeals process before the Environmental Appeals Board (EAB).

NACWA held a conference call with its State and Regional Partners on December 17 to discuss legislative efforts to address the problem of wipes improperly flushed into sewer systems.