The Environmental Protection Agency's pending total daily maximum load (TMDL) rule has been drawing stiff opposition in Congress.
EPA expected to issue the rule in early July. It implements Section 303 of the Clean Water Act, which requires states to identify and list bodies of water not meeting certain standards. The states then must allocate loadings of a particular pollutant among the various sources that discharge into the polluted waters.
EPA's proposed TMDL rule of Aug. 23, 1999, would expand that nonpoint pollution program to include some agriculture and forestry sources of pollution.
A House appropriations subcommittee has included language in EPA's fiscal 2001 funding bill that would block the agency from spending money to implement its TMDL rule.
Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.), chairman of the House Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee, urged EPA to withdraw the TMDL rule due to widespread opposition from environmental groups and industry.
He said, "After careful consideration I have come to the reluctant conclusion that these proposed rules are beyond repair. The agency needs to go back to the drawing board.
"TMDLs are a good idea and a useful tool" but EPA needs to work more with interested parties to improve the process, Boehlert said.
He noted that a recent General Accounting Office report has concluded that only six states have enough data even to evaluate their waters.
"States need the resources to collect these data if they are going to develop scientifically and legally defensible TMDLs," he said.
The rule also came under fire at a Senate Environmental and Public Works subcommittee hearing.
Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) urged EPA to repropose the rule for further public comment. Sen. Bob Smith (R-N.H.), the full committee chairman, said 80 percent of the 35,000 comments that EPA has received on the proposal were negative, "a clear signal that something is wrong with the proposed rule."
Crapo and Smith filed a bill requiring a National Academy of Sciences study on key TMDL technical implementation issues before the proposed regulation can be implemented.
Washer Standards
The U.S. Energy Department and the nation's top appliance makers have agreed on standards to improve the energy efficiency of residential clothes washers.
DOE said as a result of the new agreement, consumers nationwide will reduce water use by some 10.5 trillion gallons over a 25-year period. It said the standards will result in a savings of up to 18 gallons of water per wash.
"The standards will save enough electricity to light 16 million U.S. homes for 25 years, while cutting greenhouse gas emissions by an amount equal to that produced by 3 million cars every year," said Energy Secretary Bill Richardson.
The agreement was the latest in a string of deals DOE has reached with the appliance industry to develop and manufacture energy-efficient and cost-effective consumer products.
DOE said water heating and clothes washing combined account for about 15 percent of all household energy consumed in the U.S. and costs consumers approximately $21 billion each year.
Agreement participants include the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, Alliance Laundry Systems, Amana, Asko, Frigidaire, General Electric Appliances, Maytag, Miele, Fisher & Paykel and Whirlpool.
The deal requires manufacturers to sell models that are more efficient by 2004 and achieve even greater efficiency in models sold by 2007. The agreement also makes $30 million in tax incentives available to manufacturers marketing improved models prior to the 2004 deadline.
The American Water Works Association (AWWA) said the new machines are expected to save 6.4 trillion gallons by 2030, and save consumers $13 billion in water rates in the process.
Tony Gregg, Water Conservation Manager for the City of Austin, Tex., represented AWWA in the negotiations.
"As a result of this agreement, consumers will enjoy better clothes washers and smaller water bills while they help to reduce pressure on our national water supply," he said.
Last year an American Water Works Association Research Foundation study reported the average household uses 40 gallons of water per day to wash clothes. The more efficient machines will need only 25 gallons to do the job, saving the household up to a $100 a year in water rates.
MTBE Legislation
Congress has yet to act on the Clinton administration's request that it pass a bill slashing or eliminating use of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) in gasoline.
The additive is used in reformulated gasoline to meet the 1992 Clean Air Act's oxygenate requirements. Gasoline tank leaks have caused MTBE, a possible carcinogen, to contaminate groundwater in several regions.
Carol Browner, EPA administrator, has said that as a backstop, EPA would regulate MTBE under Section 6 of the Toxic Substances Control Act. However, that regulatory process would take many months and oil industry officials believe it could be successfully challenged in court.
Senate Environment Committee staff said negotiations were continuing between environmental and industry groups over a possible bill. Industry favors the MTBE reduction, but strongly opposes EPA's co-proposal that Congress mandate the use of ethanol or other alternative fuels in reformulated gasoline.
Meanwhile, the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) has omitted methyl tertiary butyl ether from its list of known carcinogens. Congress had ordered NIEHS to issue a list of cancer-causing substances.
The Oxygenated Fuels Association said, "The NIEHS report is the latest in a series of studies by cancer experts that declines to list MTBE as a cancer-causing agency. The International Agency for Research on Cancer, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment's Proposition 65 Committee, and the U.S. National Toxicology Panel's board of scientific counselors all have declined to call MTBE a carcinogen, or to state that MTBE is likely to cause cancer."
John Kneiss, OFA's director of product stewardship, said, "Hopefully, this latest report will finally put an end to the continuous misrepresentations that MTBE's detractors have been circulating. Contrary to what you read in the newspaper, MTBE does not cause cancer."
Enforcement Cases
- South Bay Utilities Inc., Sarasota County, Fla., and its president, Paul L. Paver, agreed to plead guilty to discharging inadequately treated sewage into Dryman Bay. The plea agreements call for the defendants to pay a combined fine of $1.75 million.
- Robert J. Marshall, formerly of Kokomo, Ind., has been sentenced to 5 months in prison, 5 months home confinement, a $5,000 fine and 1 year of supervised release for violating the Clean Water Act.
Marshall was CEO and chairman of Master Circuits, Inc., Kokomo, a company that manufactured printed circuit boards.
The Justice Department said in January 1996, the defendant used three illegal bypass lines to discharge wastewater containing high levels of copper around a sampling point and into the Kokomo city sewer system. Marshall also diluted untreated wastewater before discharging it into the sewer.
- Nathan R. Koons of Floyds Knobs, Ind., has pleaded to discharging sewage from a wastewater plant without a permit. Koons was a foreman for Aqua Pro, an industrial services business operating in Western Kentucky.
Justice said he directed his employees to discharge 300,000 to 400,000 gallons of sewage sludge into Downs Creek in Jefferson County, Ky., without a permit from Feb. 16-18, 1999. The sludge came from a wastewater treatment plant that was being decommissioned.
Koons faces a maximum sentence of 3 years in prison and/or a fine up to $250,000.
