Policy Positions for the Jurisdiction of the Environment Committee

Air Policy Directive 

The Clean Air Act Implementation

The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) fully supports the goals embodied in the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAAA) and urges the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to proceed diligently with full implementation of the law to achieve clean air for our citizens. It is essential that Congress and the EPA fulfill their responsibilities to facilitate implementation by the states.
NCSL makes the following recommendations:

• Implementation of the CAAA is the responsibility of the states. NCSL encourages Congress and the EPA to pay particular attention to the voices of that state expertise and experience.
• Communication with state legislators is of utmost importance because only state legislators can enact enabling legislation for state programs and appropriate state funds. Congress and the EPA should regularly and directly work with state legislators during federal action on air quality issues.
• EPA should work closely with states to assist them in developing all regulations, technical assistance and funding necessary for compliance. Furthermore, EPA should support any state regulation that enables that state to meet or exceed the CAAA standards.
• grants authorized under the CAAA provide financial resources to the states for development and implementation of air quality programs and other clean air responsibilities. Congress and the EPA must ensure that states continue to receive adequate funding to cover all costs of program management including monitoring.
• Because the states have existing air pollution control programs to administer with current federal funding, any new air quality programs or responsibilities mandated by Congress or EPA should be accompanied by additional federal funding.
• NCSL urges EPA to provide as much administrative flexibility as the law allows in order to achieve clean air goals in the most cost effective and efficient manner.
• Cost-effectiveness should be permitted as a factor in state selection of transportation control measures and emissions control strategies.
• NCSL urges EPA to meet all deadlines for publication of documents required under the CAAA. NCSL urges Congress to amend the law to replace statutory deadlines for state action with language that provides a specific time period for state compliance after document publication.
• NCSL urges EPA to act expeditiously to enact the required regulations necessary to reduce emissions from federally preempted sources. Failure to act to require emission reductions from federally preempted sources can impede a state’s ability to achieve attainment in some areas despite any and all actions available to a state in development of their state implementation plans.
• NCSL urges Congress to develop and implement sustainable management policies which will reduce fuel loadings on federal lands, thereby reducing emissions from catastrophic wildfires and improving carbon sequestration on those lands.
• EPA should provide training opportunities for states to help develop the skills and understanding needed to properly implement the CAAA. In addition, EPA should provide informational resources to help the public understand its role in achieving CAAA goals.
• Congress and EPA should take maximum advantage of tools and strategies to reduce emissions from mobile sources including but not limited to promoting alternative fuels and encouraging strict exhaust standards for light duty vehicles.
• Federal highway legislation should be made consistent with CAAA objectives. The EPA and the Department of Transportation (DOT) should work together to ensure coordination of federal policy.
• NCSL urges the adoption of national energy, transportation and other policy that emphasizes energy conservation in order to help achieve the goals of the CAAA. This should include strengthening of emission standards for automobiles as technologies improve, more energy-efficient lighting, buildings, and transportation, and more research and use of alternative forms of energy.
• NCSL urges the federal government to expeditiously apply the same CAAA requirements to federal facilities and motor vehicle fleets that are required for state facilities and fleets.

Multi-Pollutant Legislation
NCSL further believes that national efforts to fully implement the CAAA, to maintain and enhance air quality at the local, state and national level requires Congressional action on multi-pollutant legislation.

NCSL urges Congress to act expeditiously on multi-pollutant legislation to provide certainty in a time of limited federal and state resources and to enhance the impact of this federal program which is implemented at the state level. New legislation enacted by Congress should ensure the ability of all stakeholders to move forward with air pollutant emission reductions, enhance the environment and protect public health while providing a stable planning environment for energy providers and consumers.

NCSL recommends that:

• New federal standards should maintain and renew the commitment to statutory authority for states to enact state environmental standards that are more stringent than their minimum federal counterparts.
• New federal standards should acknowledge the existence of state programs and agreements in accord with these standards and should not preempt their continued implementation.
• New federal standards should be accompanied by adequate federal funding and technical assistance that are essential to state efforts to implement complete and adequate state programs that fully comply with these standards.
• New federal standards should provide states with maximum flexibility to apply the law effectively to all sources of emissions and ensure achievement of clean air goals in the most cost effective, timely and efficient manner for each state.
• New federal standards should allow states to maintain all of the enforcement tools available to states under the CAA to ensure compliance with state implementation of federal regulations.
• New federal standards should permit states to allow sources to trade emissions reductions and protect state authority to restrict which emissions may or may not be traded within a state's borders.
• New federal standards should allow for regional air planning coordination among states whenever they agree to address and act on issues with regional air quality implications.

Sanctions

• States should not be sanctioned for non-compliance if state's failure to comply was the result of EPA's failure to adhere to CAAA deadlines for promulgation of regulations or technical guidance that provide details and requirements of state programs.
• EPA should have the authority to waive sanctions on states that EPA determines are making reasonable good faith efforts to comply with CAAA requirements and deadlines. 
  New Source Review Program
  
  NCSL urges the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reform the NSR program to achieve improvements that enhance the environment and increase production capacity, while encouraging efficiency, fuel diversity and the use of resources without weakening the requirements intended to reduce emissions from new or modified sources of air pollution. Routine maintenance, repair or replacement activities which are not major modifications should not trigger NSR requirements.
   
  Motor Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance
  
  NCSL believes that:



• States should be granted flexibility to design inspection and maintenance (I/M) programs that achieve air quality targets and should receive full credit for emissions reductions those programs achieve.
• Congress and EPA should not require the states to use specific I/M technologies. Such rigid federal requirements may fail to account for technological advances in emissions testing programs and equipment.

Alternative Fuels and Alternatively Fueled Vehicles

NCSL urges the federal government to encourage an increase in the research, development and promotion of alternative fuels derived from domestic sources and alternatively fueled vehicles, including their commercial production and use, and to devote federal funds to evaluate the environmental and economic impacts of alternative fuels and alternatively fueled vehicles.  The primary purpose of these efforts should be reducing the level of air pollutants and other emissions, reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil, and providing a low cost, reliable energy source. NCSL further urges Congress to develop policies to encourage domestic manufacture of the infrastructure and equipment necessary to produce alternative fuels.

NCSL recommends the exploration and evaluation of all forms of alternative domestic fuels and alternatively fueled vehicles in order to reduce the incidence of toxic air emissions. NCSL recommends caution in promoting the replacement of traditional fuels with alternative fuels that could result in other pollution problems.
 
NCSL supports a federal Clean Alternative Fuels program that includes but is not necessarily limited to methanol, ethanol, or other alcohols, reformulated gasoline, ultra-low sulfur diesel, biodiesel, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, and hydrogen or other power source (including electricity). However, NCSL recommends that this program take into account other uses of source products, i.e. grains, when making recommendations for fuel usage or setting new national standards. Furthermore, NCSL urges Congress to improve the availability of source materials from our federal lands in accordance with multiple use mandates.
 
NCSL is concerned that the further development of alternative domestic fuels, alternatively fueled vehicles and conservation devices will depend, at least in the near future, upon the continued availability of tax credits designed to encourage investment in these technologies.
 
While tax credits and exemptions are important to the creation of an alternative fuels market, NCSL recognizes their negative fiscal impact on the overall federal budget, as well as inequities in the Highway Trust Fund. Consequently, NCSL urges Congress to:

• Encourage the use of alternative fuels through incentives that will increase the production and development of new vehicles with alternative fuels capability and vehicle conversion, in lieu of alternative fuels tax exemptions.
• Make federal tax credits available to alternative fuel production facilities should be extended for a limited time.
• Phase out the tax credits for the research and development of alternative domestic fuels and alternatively fueled vehicles when the technology or changing policies relating to petroleum-based fuels makes the product competitive in the market place.
• Retain state taxing authority to ensure that alternative fuels are competitively priced in an effort to mitigate the state-specific impact of these and other federal policy changes.

NCSL believes that there should be no warranty invalidation incurred by a provider if ASTM standards are met for the fuel and the vehicle is approved for that fuel.

In areas required under CAAA to utilize reformulated gas (RFG) or oxygenated fuels, selection of alternative fuel additives should be left to the discretion of the affected state, where costs, safety, and economic and environmental impacts can be considered.
 
With regards to fuel additives, NCSL recommends the following:

• Prior to approval of fuel additives, U.S. EPA should examine public health benefits and cross-media implications.
• Any fuel requirements should be in the form of performance-based goals. No specific chemicals or other additives should be prescribed in order to maximize state flexibility to achieve the goals.
• Any fuel requirement should be based on anticipated air quality benefits.

Low Emission Vehicles and Zero Emission Vehicles
 

NCSL believes that:

• EPA should maintain national Low Emission Vehicle (LEV) standards, referred to as the 49-state car, that are stricter than the law requires. States should be allowed, but not required, to adopt Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEV) requirements.

Clean Diesel

The NCSL supports the priority given to diesel retrofit projects under the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program.  NCSL believes that, due to the cost-effectiveness of diesel retrofit projects, funding should be substantially increased and provided for the Diesel Emissions Reduction Program administered by the EPA and that this funding should not jeopardize the availability of retrofit funding through federal supplemental environmental projects.   NCSL further believes that the EPA should maximize efforts to ensure that diesel-fueled vehicles entering the United States from bordering and other foreign countries should meet or exceed U.S. and state environmental standards.
 
Transportation Conformity with State Air Quality Plans
NCSL supports the principles underlying transportation conformity provisions of the Clean Air Act that requires new or revised state transportation implementation plans (TIPs) to conform to the purpose of state air quality plans, also referred to as state implementation plans (SIPs).
 
Furthermore, NCSL believes that:

• Adequate funding should be made available to cover the cost of the resource-intensive requirements for development, revision and implementation of conforming TIPs.
• In evaluating the emissions budgets submitted by states, EPA should ensure state flexibility in balancing the burden of reduction among all air pollution sources.

Conformity requirements should be limited to nonattainment areas and areas at risk of becoming nonattainment.

Environmental Federalism

The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) urges the federal government to renew its commitment to the state-federal partnership for environmental protection.
 
State governments, acting in partnership with the federal government, play an indispensable role in our mutual effort to protect natural resources and combat environmental degradation and pollution. State implementation of federal law is the cornerstone of our current system of environmental protection. States are particularly dependent upon federal pollution control laws to address the interstate migration and affects of pollutants. Given the increasing trend of delegating more authority to the states, it is essential that the federal government not abandon its commitment to uniform minimum federal standards, the state-federal partnership and the very laws and agencies that guarantee the success of our partnership.
 
In furtherance of the above, the following principles should guide NCSL's federal lobbying efforts with respect to the state-federal environmental partnership: 

• NCSL supports the prevention of pollution at its source and believes that federal legislation and regulation, through delegated authority to the states, should encourage the implementation of activities designed to minimize the generation of hazardous pollution by regulated entities.

• NCSL further supports federal funding of pollution prevention research and development, training, technical assistance, and regulatory guidance for states.

• The present level of commitment and funding for natural resource and environmental protection efforts should be enhanced; specifically, the federal government should prevent efforts to further erode its commitment to provide technical support, research and financial assistance to states and avoid further cost shifts to the states.

• The federal government should provide funding to the states in the form of block grants that provide for maximum state flexibility to use federal monies in the manner which they deem proper and in a manner which is consistent with their intended purpose.

• Environmental protection should be based on a holistic comprehensive, flexible and integrated program that addresses environmental issues, the nation’s broader economic prosperity, and policies that ensure long-term energy affordability & reliability.

• Uniform minimum federal standards for environmental protection should be preserved and strengthened.

• Statutory authority for states to enact state environmental standards that are more stringent than their minimum federal counterparts should be maintained and renewed.

• Within the framework of uniform minimum federal standards, states should have maximum flexibility in devising approaches and methods for obtaining compliance with such standards. The federal government should adopt performance-based standards which prescribe the end to be accomplished and leave the means of obtaining the end up to individual states. In return for this new level of autonomy, the federal government should adopt a system of performance audits and objectively quantifiable benchmarks that would allow the federal government to certify state performance results in meeting uniform minimum federal standards.

• Implementation schedules established under the framework of uniform minimal federal standards should ensure that the time to deploy emissions control technology reflects normal construction industry experience, technology availability and practices that maximize order and efficiency to avoid wasteful financial expenditures and any risks to energy reliability.

• Within this framework, states should have the flexibility to work with utilities to coordinate the closure and retrofitting of existing power generation stations in a manner that will ensure the continued supply of electricity and that will allow power generators to upgrade their facilities in a manner that provides reasonable cost while attaining environmental compliance.  State flexibility should allow for regulatory options for units that are necessary for grid reliability, that commit to retire or repower and establishing interim progress standards that ensure generation units meet EPA regulations in an orderly, cost-effective manner.

• There should be consistent, uniform and vigorous federal enforcement of environmental laws to deter non-compliant behavior and to reward those who are acting in compliance with such laws. The federal government should continue its present role of overseeing the efficacy of state efforts to enforce uniform minimal federal environmental protection standards.

• In light of the Supreme Court rulings in Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida and Alden v. Maine, which suggest that citizens will no longer be able to sue states in federal court for violations of federal environmental protection laws, the federal government needs to allocate adequate resources to ensure compliance among the states.

• Cost-benefit analysis should be performed in environmental decision making. Sound public policy decision making demands that benefits should be proportionate to costs, after factoring in the totality of the circumstances. However, cost-benefit analysis should not be the only determinative factor in any environmental decision making process. Rather, such an analysis should be one of the many tools that inform decision makers in formulating sound public policy. In the face of uncertainty in devising analytical methods, any default assumptions that are employed should favor enhanced environmental protection.

• In order to finance environmental protection efforts, Congress should create funding mechanisms that consistently generate revenue solely for such uses. All monies from such funds should be fully appropriated for their intended uses.

• NCSL supports a citizen's right to access public information.  NCSL supports "right-to-know" laws and other statutory and regulatory mechanisms that readily provide public access to public information while acknowledging the need to balance this right with security concerns relating to the distribution of sensitive material such as water security information regarding water infrastructure and sources of supply.

• NCSL supports the preservation of state authority to enforce chemical security standards that are more stringent than those established by the federal government; finally.

• NCSL opposes any attempt to preempt or circumvent the authority of state courts and local administrative bodies. Proposed federal legislation that would centralize decision-making in the Federal courts for compensation for land use and other regulatory actions represents a major threat to our Constitutional system of federalism. Improving the efficiency of the state and local judicial process is an issue for state legislatures, not Congress. Land use and regulatory policy must remain a primary responsibility of the states. The authority of state courts must be preserved.

• In acknowledgement of the unique needs and concerns of the arctic ecosystem that is undergoing rapid environmental change and extensive exploration for natural resources, the NCSL urges ratification of the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Law of the Sea, negotiated in 1982, and of the Treaty on Persistent Organic Pollutants, adopted by the U.S. in 2001 but never ratified.

• NCSL believes federal environmental health regulations require more and better data about the unique exposure patterns and sensitivities of children who are uniquely vulnerable to environmental exposures because they are in a dynamic state of growth, with many vital systems not fully developed upon birth.

• NCSL supports consideration of the sensitivity of children to environmental contamination in all federal environmental policy, legislation, and regulation.

• NCSL supports federal funding for health research on the effects of exposure of children to environmental toxicants, and consistent reporting and tracking of birth defects, cancer, and other relevant diseases in children.

Federal Chemical Policy Reform

 

 The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) of 1976 provides the US EPA with authority to require reporting, record-keeping and safety testing of chemical substances and/or mixtures. TSCA also gives EPA the power to restrict the use of chemicals. Certain substances are generally excluded from TSCA, including food, drugs, cosmetics and pesticides.

Since its enactment, increasing evidence linking toxic chemicals to adverse human health effects has eroded the public’s confidence in the safety of consumer products containing toxic chemicals, prompting many state legislatures to act. In the absence of Federal action, states have passed legislation to regulate individual chemicals. States have also begun to develop comprehensive state chemical policies that aim to establish broad and permanent frameworks to systematically prioritize chemicals of concern, close data gaps on those chemicals and restrict their uses in those states. Appropriate modifications to federal law will help enhance public confidence and the efforts of the state governments.
 
Current federal chemical policy has not kept up with modern science. The science of testing chemicals and understanding their health or environmental effects has improved considerably since TSCA was enacted. NCSL believes TSCA should be updated to reflect the advances in science and technology to better evaluate and regulate chemicals.
 
TSCA’s failures have caused the United States to fall behind our trading partners in the quality of our public health and environmental standards, and these failures now threaten the competitiveness of our manufactured products in a world market that increasingly demands safer chemicals and products.
 
Modernizing TSCA can help assure that we protect the nation’s interest in a strong American business of chemistry – and assure that the United States produces products that save lives, protect our children, make our economy more energy efficient, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.


Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Reform
NCSL encourages Congress to reform and modernize The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) of 1976. At a minimum, NCSL believes proposed TSCA reform legislation should embody these policy elements:
 
Act on the Harmful Chemicals First and Promote Safer Alternatives
Persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic chemicals (PBTs) are uniquely dangerous and should be phased out of commerce except for critical uses that lack viable alternatives. Exposure to other toxic chemicals, like formaldehyde, that have already been extensively studied should be reduced to the maximum extent feasible. Research into chemicals and chemical processes designed to reduce or eliminate negative environmental impacts of chemicals should be expanded, and safer chemicals favored over those with known health hazards.

Ensure Broad Access to Mandatory Safety Data on All Chemicals
Chemical manufacturers should bear the burden of proof of safety of their products, and should be required to provide full information on the health hazards associated with their chemicals, how they are used, and the ways that the public or workers could be exposed. The public, workers, and businesses should have full access to such information.

Protect All People, and Vulnerable Groups, Using the Best Science
All chemicals should be assessed against a health standard that protects all people and the environment, especially the most vulnerable subpopulations, including children, low-income people, racial and ethnic minorities, workers, and pregnant women. EPA should adopt the recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences for reforming risk assessment. Biomonitoring by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should be significantly expanded and used by EPA to assess the effects of pollution on people.

States Rights
State governments play a critical role in environmental regulation. For nearly all federal environmental statutes, there are provisions to extend the reach of the federal government by delegation of program authority and/or provision of federal grants to support state implementation of environmental requirements in lieu of or in addition to the federal requirements. Any reform of TSCA should preserve state rights to manage chemicals, and resources should be provided for state level implementation.
 
Toxics Release Inventory Reform
NCSL urges the EPA to continue to provide appropriate contextual materials to affected communities to accompany Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) reports to assure particularly that emergency response agencies will understand and be able to respond safely to chemical releases to protect the people who live in the vicinity of facilities required to file TRI reports.
 
The EPA and the reporting industries should continue working to ensure that the reported TRI data are communicated to the public in an understandable manner that includes a description of the risk of release specific chemicals posed to the public and emergency response teams, how these materials are managed to control release, and an assessment of the risk to public health and welfare in the event of regulated or accidental releases.
 

Waste Management

 

The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) believes that the following principles should be followed during the reauthorization and subsequent amendments of waste management programs and policy to minimize the present and future threat to human health and the environment:
 
Superfund Reform
To assure the timely and effective clean-up of contaminated sites, NCSL recommends that the following principles should be followed during reauthorization of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly referred to as "Superfund:"
 
State Roles

• The federal government should grant states a greater role in all aspects of Superfund decision making.
• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should be allowed to delegate federal program responsibilities to states. EPA should be expected to authorize states to operate a state Superfund program in lieu of the federal program. Reasonable costs of state operation of the program should be reimbursed from the federal Superfund Trust or other federal sources should the Trust’s funds be depleted or exhausted. State delegation and state authorization should be allowed at both federal and non-federal sites.
• States should be authorized to participate in decision making and remedy selection at federal facilities that are Superfund sites.
• EPA should retain authority to engage in emergency response actions at any location it deems necessary but only after appropriate consultation with the state concerned.
• Congress should be mindful that the forced allocation of state resources to National Priority List (NPL) sites comes at the expense of state efforts to remediate non-NPL sites and should limit the state "cost-share" at Superfund sites to 10% of remedial action costs and 10% of total operation and maintenance costs. States should be reimbursed for the state cost share to the extent the federal government receives reimbursement for Superfund site cleanup.

Remedy Selection

• Risk assessment and cost\benefit analysis should be considered during the remedy selection process while also fully factoring in risks posed to sensitive subpopulations. Cleanup decision and remedy selection should be determined on the basis of public health and environmental protection and should not be pre-determined by requirements that mandate the selection of "lowest cost" cleanup options.
• Permanent solutions to improperly disposed of hazardous waste should be accorded preference over attempts to control access or exposure to such waste.
• Codification of EPA's administrative policy to establish presumptive, standardized cleanup remedies for sites that have common characteristics.  Cleanup standards based on end use must specify “how clean is clean” to streamline the remedy selection process.

Review of Remedy Selection

• Any legislation should assume that final remedy selections, including a record of decision (RODs), consent agreements and allocations of costs will not be reopened unless essential to protect the health and safety of the public.

Compliance with State Laws, Regulations, and Standards

• No state laws or regulations should be preempted. States should continue to be allowed to impose stricter state cleanup standards at sites. Compliance with state laws and regulations should continue to be required and should never be conditioned upon state governments paying the costs of such compliance.

Liability

• The current retroactive, strict, joint and several liability scheme should be maintained unless a fairer and more cost-effective alternative can be developed. Any new liability scheme should maintain the "polluter pays" principle and provide, at a minimum, the existing level of private sector resources for cleanups. The private sector should remain the primary funding source for site cleanups. There should be no increase in the public share of funding for site cleanups.
• Any review of the current liability scheme should recognize the fact that 23 states have liability schemes that closely reflect or mimic CERCLA's "polluter pays" approach to site remediation financing.
• Non-responsible landowners, including state and local governments, renters, or lessees, and institutions or persons financing cleanup activities at a site previously contaminated by hazardous waste or petroleum products should be provided with liability protection. Protection should not be provided to entities for hazardous waste releases that occur on the property during their involvement.
• Final liability settlements should not be reopened.

Site Listings

• Congress should not limit or cap additions to the National Priority List (NPL) except to codify EPA's current policy of obtaining state concurrence to add new sites to the NPL.

Financing Superfund

• The Superfund taxes on industry that finance the Superfund Trust Fund should be reauthorized. The aggregate tax should be least equivalent to that allowed under the original taxing authority.

Fund Financed Emergency Response Actions

• The current limit on Fund financed emergency response actions should be raised from one year or $2 million to two years or $4 million.

Voluntary Response Programs

• Congress should create incentives for responsible parties to engage in voluntary cleanup efforts.

Natural Resource Damages

• States should be given the opportunity to assume primary management and enforcement responsibility for natural resource damage programs.
• States should be allowed to use Superfund Trust monies to assess natural resource damages to address discharges and releases pursuant to CERCLA and to remedy such damages.
• Congress should remain mindful that states are heavily dependent upon their groundwater reserves.  In the absence of State or Federal standards for contaminants, groundwater cleanup remedies under Superfund should be consistent with the applicable use of that water.
• States should be given the opportunity to recover all costs, including administrative costs, associated with a claim for natural resource damages against those parties responsible for the damage. Trustees should be allowed to recover non-use and lost use costs.
• Funding should be made available to states from Superfund for natural resource damage assessment and restoration.
• Congress should not federally mandate a statute of limitation period for natural resource damages. In addition, Congress should not place arbitrary liability "caps" on restoration budgets or damages resulting from the destruction or impairment of natural resources.
• The federal government should be subject to all state laws governing the cleanup of waste materials and be held responsible for payment of natural resource damages to states for Federally caused damages. Payment by federal facilities for state natural resource damages should not come from the Superfund. 

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Reform

Recognizing the need to manage solid waste in an environmentally, economically, and politically acceptable manner, the importance of a state-federal partnership and in support of the objectives of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), NCSL recommends:

• That the federal government should significantly increase technical assistance to state and local governments in developing comprehensive source reduction, source separation, reuse and recycling plans while fully recognizing the primacy of state and local governments in solid waste management. Due to this primacy, the federal government should restrict its role to reviewing these plans by setting performance standards.
• The revision of regulation, tariffs and transportation policies to remove artificial price supports in order to create regulatory parity between recyclable and reusable material and virgin material.
• Full implementation of the provisions of RCRA requiring the federal government to promulgate regulations for federal procurement of recycled products. The federal government should give priority consideration to the purchase of reusable and recycled products and allow a temporary price differential, where applicable, for goods made from recycled materials.
• Congress should provide for a limited waiver of the Commerce Clause to provide states with the greatest authority possible to manage solid waste. Such a waiver should allow states to restrict imported waste and to allow restrictions on the exportation of waste, including the imposition of differential fees.
• That funds received from any permits authorized by federal law and issued by states for purposes of management of solid waste shall be expended as determined by state legislatures.
• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) should be required to adopt policies that encourage both the hazardous waste content of products and industrial hazardous waste by-products be kept to a minimum, and that hazardous waste materials be reused, recycled or made non-hazardous whenever possible.
• The work of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) should be supported and expanded. Such studies and work should be funded through disbursements from the Superfund Trust Fund or through appropriations from the general revenue fund. Any information gathered from either federal or private sources should be subject to peer review and made available as needed.
• The federal government should be required to adopt hazardous waste reduction policies applicable to federal activities and facilities to reduce waste and develop new and improved waste elimination technologies. Such policies should include federal procurement guidelines that permit suppliers to modify their manufacturing processes to accommodate pollution prevention practices.
• Congress should adopt policies that promote the availability of affordable environmental liability insurance, including economic incentives for industry to establish its own voluntary insurance pool or insurance fund.
• States should be allowed flexibility in devising their hazardous waste management plans and regulations, including the setting of priorities.
• The importation of hazardous waste from foreign countries should be controlled through treaties and other agreements.
• Federal policies and agreements that decrease the dumping of hazardous waste in developing countries should be established.
• Health effects studies conducted by the federal government should be comprehensive and based on established exposure standards and measurements and monitoring methodology to be admissible as evidence in victims' compensation court cases.
• The disincentives for reuse and recycling of electronics scrap or e-scrap must be examined and mitigated by all relevant stakeholders.
• NCSL encourages the full cooperation and assistance of the federal government in state efforts to promote responsible product stewardship and encourage the development of an infrastructure necessary to support the widespread recovery of a broad range of electronic equipment. Any legislative or regulatory action taken at the federal level must recognize the importance of a state-federal partnership in managing the current stream of end-of-life electronics and promote future product stewardship of electronic equipment.

Oil Pollution Act of 1990 Reform
To assure the avoidance of oil spills and ensure the timely, effective containment and clean-up of said spills to minimize environmental damage, NCSL recommends:

• Continued efforts toward full implementation of all provisions of the Oil Pollution Act, particularly provisions dealing with spill prevention including, but not limited to, staffing standards, vessel traffic service systems, alcohol and drug policy, double hulls, equipping and inspection of vessels, pilotage requirements, and provisions for navigational safety.
• Adequate funding of the U.S. Coast Guard to assure full implementation of their responsibility under the Act such as periodic inspections of vessels and implementation of the national planning and response system, including, but not limited to, contingency plans, response units and local area communities.
• Full implementation of the preparation of response plans by tank vessels and onshore and offshore facilities, and also of the requirement for bulk vessels to carry clean-up equipment.
• Full implementation of the research and development provisions of the Act including the Coast Guard's conduct of oil pollution minimization projects. To prevent duplication, NCSL calls on the federal agencies with research funding to coordinate research projects with the states.
• Continued preservation of states' authority to impose additional liability or other requirements with respect to oil spills and removal activities and to establish state oil spill funds and penalties.
• Safety and operational requirements for vessels apply, where appropriate, to barges as well.
• Support for the federal responder immunity standard.
• Clarification of jurisdiction of federal and state natural resources trustees in areas pertaining to oil spill prevention, response and cleanup.
• The Federal Government streamline authorization of states’ plans and to expedite state action to prevent and clean up spilled oil during times of crisis.
• The Federal liability limit for damages resulting from oil spills should be removed.

Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund Reform
NCSL urges Congress to appropriate the entire amount of money annually deposited in the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund. NCSL also urges Congress to expand the program to include hard rock mines, incorporate funding from all mining activity and require the U.S. Department of Energy to clean up abandoned uranium mines used for defense purposes. 

Land Management
 

Federal Land Policy Management Act (FLPMA)

The Federal Land Policy Management Act (FLPMA) provides for perpetual federal retention of publics lands unless it is in the national interest to dispose of a particular parcel.
 
Ninety-three percent of all lands under federal jurisdiction in the United States are located in the West, and over sixty-three percent of the land area in the twelve western states is federally controlled. Further, many federal and non-federal lands are intermingled. This limits the western states' prerogatives in managing the uses of their own land and further limits the potential base of the states' economies. Units of governments whose property tax revenue bases have been reduced by large federal land holdings also require adequate funds to help make up the shortfall. With perpetual federal retention, Congress must assure state payments in lieu of taxes in perpetuity.
 
Federal-state relations regarding federal agency land planning vary widely and suffer from a lack of specificity on how and when cooperation should take place. No meaningful mechanism currently exists in the wilderness review process for the involvement of legislatures as the state policymaking bodies.
 
The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) urges all federal agencies involved in the management of public lands to incorporate within their policies and regulations provisions for a continuous and cooperative involvement of state governments in public lands policy and public lands management. Furthermore, NCSL supports remedial legislation which will guarantee a state and tribal role in public lands management and establish procedures for designations, disposition, or use of certain public lands found to be excess property.
 
Federal agencies managing federal land should assure that uses, both on-site and off-site, do not cause adverse environmental impacts on the federal land or other adjacent lands or waters and provide special protection for wetland resources in light of the goal of no loss of wetlands.
 
As Congress considers funding for federal agencies with public land management responsibilities, NCSL recommends that Congress assure appropriations sufficient for the full and proper execution of the agencies' legislative mandates to process lease applications properly and expeditiously and protect the environment during increased energy development.
 
If a federal wilderness designation occurs, state and/or tribal "inholdings" in wilderness areas should be purchased, or exchanged with lands of equal or greater value outside of these areas as designated by FLPMA.
 
NCSL also urges the establishment of an interagency coordinator or coordination program to facilitate tribal governments, state agencies and communities to address all relevant agencies in a "one stop" manner.
 
 
Takings and Land Use Authority
NCSL strongly opposes any federal legislation or regulation that would: 1) attempt to define or categorize compensable "takings" under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution; (2) interfere with a state's or tribe’s ability to define and categorize regulatory takings requiring state or tribal compensation; (3) preempt state or tribal eminent domain constitutional provisions or statutes; or (4) infringe on state or tribal sovereignty under the Eleventh Amendment. NCSL supports collaborative examinations of state, tribal and federal use of eminent domain authority. 
 

Conservation Easements 

NCSL urges Congress to enact legislation to make permanent the tax deduction for charitable contributions by individuals and corporations of real property interests for conservation purposes through conservation easements.
 
Readiness and Environmental Protection Initiative 

The Department of Defense (DOD) Readiness and Environmental Protection Initiative (REPI) enables DOD to work with partners to protect valuable habitat and avoid land use conflicts in the vicinity of priority installations. Maintaining availability, accessibility and capability for realistic training, live fire testing and other operations is crucial to ensuring a trained and ready force to support the DOD mission to fight and win the nation's wars.
 
REPI provide significant and long term benefits to the people and the landscape in communities surrounding military installations. It enhances military readiness; protects high value habitat; strengthens military/community relations; and provides the opportunity for partnerships among key stakeholders, such as state, tribal and local governments and the military. NCSL supports REPI and believes there is a limited window of opportunity for REPI partnerships to protect land and habitat in support of military training and testing. In addition, the increasing numbers of willing sellers in the existing real estate market present significant near-term opportunities to leverage REPI funding with state, tribal and local partners.
 
NCSL applauds the United States Congress for recognizing the critical need to protect DoD bases and the limited window of opportunity to do so, and for continuing its strong bipartisan support for REPI.
 
State-Federal Partnerships In Land Management Around Federal Facilities
The NCSL calls on Congress and the Administration to enable and encourage federal agencies to enter into formal partnerships with state or tribal governments to enable the better management of land in and around military and other federal facilities. Such partnerships will enable states, federally recognized tribes, local communities and the federal facilities, ranges, and training air/sea/land space they serve to work jointly on matters of importance to all stakeholders. The adoption of memorandums of understanding or other agreements between federal agencies, tribal governments, and/or state wildlife, parks, and environment agencies will establish a mechanism for the federal agencies to:

• assist tribal governments and state agencies to acquire landowner agreements around military facilities;
• assist tribal governments, communities and states to be better prepared for the next BRAC round by ensuring mission capabilities at military facilities; and
• identify within the federal agency the person or office to whom tribal governments, state agencies and communities may contact for assistance in coordinating conservation easement/contracts or other appropriate negotiated transaction.

In partnering with such agencies as the Department of Defense (DOD), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Department of Interior (Interior), and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) states, tribal governments and local communities will be able to:

• protect water resources benefiting tribal governments and local communities and federal facilities ranges, and training air/sea/land space;
• improve wildlife habitat around federal facilities, ranges, and training air/sea/land space and throughout the state;
• expand public understanding of how critical tribal and state land conservation actions are to protect the mission and economic welfare of federal entities;
• expand public support for federal assistance of state efforts to acquire permanent conservation easements, contracts or other appropriate negotiated transactions and long term leases with landowners to protect federal installations from civilian encroachment that will adversely impact mission capabilities and economic benefits to communities, and increase land for contract training;
• expand state agency, private landowners, and DoD facilities' ability to develop longitudinal training capabilities through partnerships that expand training opportunities in combination with preserving agricultural lands; and that permit federal and national guard training areas to be linked for expanded joint training; and
• encourage tourism to the conservation lands acquired by state agencies.

Climate Change Policy Resolution

 NCSL urges the federal government to consult with state elected officials, their national representative organizations and existing interstate partnerships in developing a federal program. As Congress and the administration examine proposals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the National Conference of State Legislatures encourages the federal government to always take the following principles into account:

• Federal action should be flexible, allowing for a range of complementary strategies at the state and federal level maintaining a strong role for state, local and tribal government in any federal action.
• Federal legislation should provide states the authority and flexibility to work within a overall framework; to apply the law effectively to all sources of emissions and ensure achievement of climate change goals in the most cost effective, timely and efficient manner for each state.
• Federal legislation should not preempt state or local governments from enacting policy options that differ from federal choices or from enacting stricter or stronger measures within their jurisdiction.
• Federal legislation should afford states the flexibility to form regional cooperatives and implement innovative policies that advance federal efforts to reduce the effects of climate change.
• Congress must authorize and appropriate sufficient funds for federal, state and local governments to implement any federal legislation. These funds should be newly authorized appropriations, not reprogrammed resources.
• Federal legislation should ensure state legislative authority in any federal climate change legislation and affirm the active role played by state legislatures in both fiscal and substantive aspects of state policymaking.
• Federal legislation providing for the allocation of greenhouse gas reduction programs to states should include language making decisions related to such allowances subject to state legislative approval.

 
NCSL urges the federal government, should it choose to act on this issue, to take into account the following principles regarding program design components:

• Any national system must include short, medium and long-term goals and incorporate a rigorous oversight program that provide for ongoing study and analysis of the system to ensure it is achieving intended goals.
• A new national program should serve to address uncertainties that are hampering investment in generation, transmission and distribution and enhance the likelihood that appropriate technologies will be developed and other solutions implemented so as to achieve the desired reductions in GHG emissions in the most economical manner possible.
• Federal legislation should be designed appropriately to balance competing criteria, including, but not limited to, equity, economic efficiency and ease of administration.
• Revenue derived from a greenhouse gas reduction program should be directed to complimentary policies focused on mitigating climate change consumer costs including but not limited to energy research & development, weatherization, conservation and energy efficiency activities.
• A national program to reduce GHG emissions must also address adaptation issues.
• Auctioning of allowances may be the most economically efficient mechanism for achieving a GHG emissions reductions goal. However, the allocation of emissions allowances at no cost can serve as an appropriate transition measure necessary to ensure continued reliability, minimize economic dislocation resulting from the carbon intensity of the existing infrastructure, and allow for development and deployment of needed new technologies and measures to reduce emissions.
• Priority distribution of allowances at no cost should be to those entities in affected sectors where existing regulatory structure provides the necessary oversight to ensure that the value of such allowances is accounted for in establishing price rates for consumers.
• The allocation of greenhouse gas reduction program to states under a federal greenhouse gas reduction program should include language making decisions related to such allowances subject to state legislative approval.
• The establishment of any new federal program should include provisions for transparent reporting and accountability and incorporate the use of third party verification to ensure reported outcomes are verifiable.  

Unintended Consequences
NCSL believes that federal legislation regarding the reduction of greenhouse gases should take into account the implications of actions and/or inactions on economic development, energy security, and those most vulnerable citizens. Evaluation should include the life cycle impacts of policy options including ancillary impacts.
 
NCSL believes that federal legislation should require continuing assessments of the potential impacts to the United States of climate change, by state or region including effects on water resources, agriculture, infrastructure, natural systems, environmental quality, public health, biodiversity and the cultures of our native peoples. Such an assessment will support the development of domestic and international adaptation-mitigation strategies. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should provide funding and assist states in developing assessments and adaptation plans at the state and regional level.
 
NCSL also urges the federal government to fully consider how legislation will affect low-income households that already struggle to balance needs and expenses. NCSL encourages the federal government to expand and enhance long-term funding for the Department of Energy's Weatherization Assistance Program and to ensure that any new federal program does not undermine existing federal, state and private sector energy assistance and outreach programs that assist our most vulnerable citizens. 
 
Research and Development
NCSL strongly urges the federal government to authorize and appropriate funding and provide other incentives to spur expanded research and development (R&D), as well as advance the demonstration and deployment of new and existing technologies to improve energy efficiency, advance mitigation strategies and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
 
NCSL urges the federal government:

• To ensure that legislation not limit the diversity of technologies supported, as future advancements cannot be predicted.
• To take into account state and regional differences, and not limit or specify the technologies used in each state and ensure sufficient flexibility for each State to determine how to best achieve nationally-set goals.
• To promote current and future innovations and expand the use of such technology through R&D transfer agreements with other countries.

Radioactive Waste Management (Joint with Energy, Transportation and Agriculture Committee)

Low-Level Waste NCSL maintains that states are best prepared to license and regulate low-level waste disposal facilities that operate within their borders in order to protect the health, safety and welfare of their citizens. NCSL urges the federal government to continue to provide states both with support and flexibility in their efforts to dispose of low-level radioactive waste.  States and state compacts should have authority to limit/allow the import and export of waste to and from their state or region.  The federal government should adopt policies that clarify the responsibility of the federal government for federal waste, identify any federal waste that might be disposed at compact facilities, and ensure that any federal waste disposed of at compact or unaffiliated state facilities is subject to negotiation and the same laws, regulations, fees and requirements as nonfederal waste.  The federal government should adopt clear policies with regard to  naturally occurring and accelerator produced radioactive material waste and mixed wastes that respect states’ authority to protect the health, safety and welfare of their citizens.  NCSL encourages the federal government to work with NCSL toward these ends. 

High-Level Waste and Used Fuel Management
NCSL urges the federal government to expeditiously research, develop and license a high-level waste/used nuclear fuel disposal and consolidated interim storage facilities at technically and scientifically suitable sites.  NCSL favors the creation of a public-private partnership to manage the back end of the nuclear cycle.  The federal government should consult with states at each step of the process to ensure they play an integral role in the development of high-level waste/used nuclear fuel storage and disposal policies and obtain state, local and tribal government informed consent before locating permanent disposal or consolidated interim storage facilities.  The federal government should provide fair and equitable compensation to state and local governments of host states. This should include funding of independent oversight activities by state executive and legislative branches so that the host state may participate in and conduct its own assessments of a proposed waste repository site and disposal technology. The federal government should comply with state laws and regulations during the process of site selection and characterization, and the construction, operation and decommissioning of permanent disposal or consolidated interim storage facilities.
 
Consolidated interim storage facilities should be licensed for a specific, limited period of time not to exceed 25 years.  High-level waste/used nuclear fuel recycling should be a priority waste management strategy.
 
Annual funding from the Nuclear Waste Fund should be used for nuclear waste management and not subject to non-related federal discretionary spending.  These funds should be isolated for developing permanent disposal and consolidated interim storage facilities. 

Transportation of Radioactive Waste and Used Nuclear Fuel 
NCSL urges the federal government to ensure safe and reliable modes of transportation of radioactive wastes.  DOE should seek to enter into a memorandum of understanding with each corridor state to spell out responsibilities, liability, compensation, response time, cleanup, shipping, planning and other duties connected with emergency situations. State, local and tribal governments should be given funding and technical assistance for ongoing emergency preparedness, independent safety inspections of drivers, vehicles and shipping containers, training of state and local public safety officials along radioactive waste transportation routes, and state emergency management communications centers.  State, local and tribal governments should be involved in a meaningful manner with regard to radiation emissions standards, cask designs, support facilities, transportation equipment and other elements of the transportation system.  The federal government should respect state and tribal authority to assess reasonable fees which fund activities connected to the safe routine transportation of high-level waste/used nuclear fuel shipments.  The federal government should assure transportation accident prevention through the use of superior drivers; carrier compliance with shipping contracts and all applicable federal, state and local regulations; independent safety inspections of drivers, vehicles and shipping containers; designation of safe parking areas during abnormal conditions; advance notice to the appropriate state and local agencies regarding shipments; and state access to information on shipments' status (i.e. real-time shipment tracking information where appropriate). Special criteria should be applied to the shipment of high-level waste/used nuclear fuel, including the development of guidelines for routing when shipping by rail, the use of dedicated trains moving at safe speeds for rail shipments, safety inspections at origin and enroute, and full-scale testing of casks used for used fuel transport.
 
Defense-Generated Transuranic (TRU) Waste
NCSL urges the federal government to appropriate adequate funds and expedite its responsibilities with regard to disposal of defense-generated transuranic (TRU) waste.
The federal government should implement a compensation program that recognizes equity considerations for state and local governments hosting a TRU waste repository and the federal government's obligation to provide such compensation.  Host communities should be given assistance to subsidize and maintain an independent environmental monitoring and analytical laboratory to assure the character of the waste and ensure public confidence and safety.
 
Federal Facilities Cleanup
The states insist that the cleanup and disposal programs at the federal government’s network of nuclear weapons production facilities and national research labs advance in a safe, cost-effective and expeditious manner.  The U.S. Department of Energy, the Department of Defense and any future owners should be subject to all state laws governing the cleanup of hazardous and radioactive waste materials.  States are also committed to the cleanup and conversion of closed military and other federal facilities containing hazardous and radioactive waste materials to other beneficial uses as soon as possible. NCSL encourages the Department of Defense to lessen the impacts of closing these facilities by entering into partnerships with business and other private interests in order to turn them into sites of commerce and development.
 
All federal cleanup efforts must be conducted in full consultation with the affected state, tribal and local governments. An ongoing dialogue with the states should be maintained to ensure effective state involvement in critical cleanup related decisions.  Cleanup work must be accomplished in strict compliance with federal facility agreements and federal and state laws governing the cleanup of hazardous and radioactive waste materials.  The federal government should give state and federal regulators complete enforcement authority necessary to ensure such compliance.
 
The federal government should continue to use the contract review process to provide effective oversight and to evaluate integrated contracts for cost accountability.  Cost-effective solutions must be developed and implemented by federal agencies to meet cleanup standards that protect human health and the environment.  State, tribal and local governments must have a continuing, substantive role in the planning and oversight activities of the waste-management effort. The Department of Energy must recognize that cultural resources and artifacts may be present on DOE sites, and must partner with affected Indian tribes to identify and mitigate impacts to those resources.
 
Pollution prevention practices should be followed and whenever possible recovered materials should be recycled or reused.  Action should be taken to manage federal radioactive, hazardous, and mixed waste sites as soon as possible, but safety and quality cleanup must remain the priority.  Federal cleanup efforts should enforce priorities and meet milestones set forth in federal-state consent orders regarding the cleanup of specific sites.  A fully funded and comprehensive long-term stewardship program for all of the federal facilities must be developed to ensure that communities are protected in perpetuity.

Water Policy

Jurisdiction for federal water projects is scattered throughout agencies of the federal government and committees of Congress. The National Conference of State Legislatures sees a need for clearer, more coordinated and more consistent federal policies. These policies, however, should recognize and build upon the constitutions, statutes, policies and programs of the states as the fundamental basis for a truly national effort toward better water resources management. The federal government should recognize that water resources policy can and must be developed at the state level. The appropriate role for the federal government should be to provide technical, research and financial assistance to the states at their request.

• Primary authority and responsibility for water resources management functions, including planning, development and regulation, rest with the states and their delegated interstate agencies. Water resources management, wetland protection, coastal zone management, and soil conservation projects should be clearly delineated by Congress as the primary responsibility of the states and their delegated interstate agencies, with federal oversight.

• A national water conservation initiative should be undertaken to encourage water conservation at the federal, state and local levels. Functions, such as navigation and flood control and other issues at the prerogative of the state, should continue to be shared with the federal government to the degree appropriate. Federal policy must recognize and respect the rights of the states to administer their individual water laws and to manage their water resources.

• The role of the federal government is four-fold: (1) to establish a framework of national objectives developed in cooperation with the states; (2) to provide assistance to the states in the development of programs to meet state needs within such a framework; (3) to be consistent with such state programs to the maximum extent possible when undertaking direct federal actions pursuant to the national interest; and (4) to coordinate agency activities through a national coordinating entity reporting directly to the President and with provision for adequate state and public input.

• The responsibility of the federal government is to establish, in full cooperation with states and other appropriate interests, national objectives for the protection, management, restoration, development, and use of water and related resources to meet national economic, environmental and social objectives and to assist in implementing such policies in federal actions and through assistance and support for state actions.

• The essential steps toward orderly, efficient and balanced water resources management are to recognize the primary responsibility of the state and to put each state in the position to secure, in cooperation with local governments, coherent water management strategies.

• Realistic and dependable financial support to integrate management activities through expansion of provisions for state assistance;
• Full funding of authorized programs consistent with congressional intent;
• A common platform for compiling and accessing data across programs and agencies that is available to local, state, interstate and federal stakeholders; and
• Assurance that direct federal actions will be consistent with state programs, responsive to national policy, and carefully evaluated against mutually agreed upon standards.
• Federal actions, projects and programs must be consistent with adopted state and interstate water and related resources plans and programs.
• Greater flexibility in the entire federal support system for water resource planning and management.
• Federal project evaluation, planning, financing, cost sharing, and cost recovery policies should be reviewed and simplified.
• Project evaluation should promote equal consideration of both structural and non-structural solutions.

• Cost-sharing policies should be consistent among alternative means for achieving the same purpose.
• Cost sharing policies should be consistent among federal agencies for the same purposes. There should be no financial grounds for non-federal participants to "shop around" for the best deal.
• The public participation requirements of project planning and evaluation criteria should be aggressively carried out.

Water Conservation

• A national water conservation initiative implemented by the states as a part of their total water management programs with federal financial and technical assistance including a component for evaluation of the true benefits and costs of conservation;
• Encouraging comprehensive management of intermittently available freshwater resources to maximize the availability of surface and groundwater supplies;
• Closely examining the incentives and disincentives for encouraging conservation, recycling and reuse of water;
• Examining and promoting where feasible the practices of conjunctive use of water supplies; and
• Congress fund research into the use of saltwater or grey water sources as an alternative to the continued use of scarce freshwater resources.

• The research agenda of both the federal agencies and the federally-supported water resources research centers be developed in conjunction with the expressed research needs of the state.
• Congress should recognize state primacy over all water rights within each state's boundaries and bring to closure the debate on the Federal Reserve Water Rights Policy.
• Congress should respect and encourage state compacts for sharing and managing water resources.

Wetlands

• Reaffirm the national goal of eliminating the net loss of both wetlands acreage and wetlands habitat values, as a result of any activities, and of increasing both wetlands acreage and wetlands habitat values;

• Designate a single federal agency to be the lead agency responsible for the overall development, implementation, and enforcement of a national wetlands policy in partnership with the states;

• Facilitate the delegation of wetlands protection programs to the states and provide technical and financial resources to assist states in developing and operating their programs;

• Establish a clear preferred sequence of mitigation options that begins with avoidance of adverse effects on wetlands followed by a reduction of unavoidable adverse effects, and allowing compensation by creating, replacing or restoring within the same ecosystem; and

• Recognize that private landowners have an economic stake in wetlands resources and establish a strong program of economic incentives that encourages and assists the private sector to exercise its management responsibilities in a way that will protect the public values wetlands provide while contributing to a reasonable return on investment.

Federal agencies, in conjunction with states, the private sector, and nonprofit groups should expand their educational outreach programs.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the EPA should agree on strategies for effectively and expeditiously monitoring, verifying, and enforcing permits authorizing activities in wetlands. In addition Congress and other regulatory authorities should take any necessary action, including amending existing laws to prevent the willful alteration of wetlands characteristics to circumvent regulatory jurisdictions.

Aquatic Nuisance Species

• Reauthorize the Non-indigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act of 1990;
• Provide for improved means for preventing the introduction of aquatic nuisance species;
• Increase the support for international, national, and state efforts to control and manage aquatic nuisance species; and
• Increase research and technical assistance resources available to federal, state, and local officials.  

Water Pollution Control

• Congress fully fund the Sewer Overflow Control State Grants Program;
• Congress separately appropriate full funding for non-point source pollution and ensure the effectiveness of the provisions of this program to restore and protect our nation's waters;
• Congress initiate an incentive program to encourage water conservation in the states;
• Congress authorize and fully fund new grant programs for wastewater and drinking water infrastructure developments;
• EPA strengthen pretreatment pollution prevention requirements to reduce the amount of hazardous waste flowing to waters from wastewater treatment plants and from contaminated sludge; and that
• Uniform national wastewater monitoring standards and protocols should be required to assure achievement of water quality objectives, fair and uniform enforcement, and full disclosure of contamination.

Drinking Water

NCSL urges Congress and the Administration to increase federal appropriations for safe drinking water programs to necessary levels. A special consideration for financial assistance should be given to those states that have communities and water systems that have limited resources to deal with the requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). States should receive additional federal financial assistance in order to develop and maintain the administrative and technical capacity needed to implement the program's mandated objectives.

• States should have the authority to prioritize activities based on state public health needs.
• States should be able to use federal drinking water funds to consolidate public water systems when it is economically or environmentally beneficial, and/or in the best interest of the public health.
• Congress should direct EPA to base its standards on scientifically sound principles for protection of human health. The ability of EPA to require water systems to test for additional contaminants must take into account the human health risk posed by the contaminant. Congress should adequately fund EPA's research efforts to develop scientifically sound standards which will assure safe drinking water.
• EPA should be directed to work closely with primacy states in establishing a comprehensive program of water testing which recognizes the potential of contaminants based upon source, storage and delivery of water. Human health protection should be the basis for establishing any contaminant management program.

Disapproval or withdrawal of primacy should not result in a decreased level of public health protection in that state.

State Revolving Funds (SRFs)

• Reauthorization of the CWSRF and DWSRF at levels commensurate with state needs.
• States should be able to extend the life of SRF loans as necessary to accommodate low-income communities provided the loan repayment period does not exceed the useful life of the project.
• States should be able to use the interest earnings from the SRF monies for grant assistance to low-income communities, or for other related projects as determined by the individual state.
• States should be allowed to use at least 6-8% of SRF funds for administrative costs.
• States should be able to use SRF funds to consolidate public water systems when it is economically or environmentally beneficial, and/or in the best interest of the public health.
• In years when federal funds increase by more than 20%, states may request a waiver of the increased match required, with current state funds used for state drinking water purposes qualifying as the match for that year.
• Any new requirements applied to the CWSRF or the DWSRF should not be applied retroactively to funding already in the SRF or projects currently in progress.

Stormwater Management

• Commit to and provide full funding and resources for combined sewer overflows (CSOs), sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) and storm water wet weather discharges.
• Include a federal cost share of at least 50 percent of the cost of remediation.
• Establish a zero-interest, or low interest, loan program for homeowners and businesses required to implement storm water management programs.
• Wet weather management funding should be in addition to, and not replace, other Federal funding programs.

• Authorize state environmental agencies to grant waivers for both municipal and private sector implementation based on economic hardship.
• Direct the EPA to encourage evidence-based abatement methods and promote compliance using alternative methods of abatement that are least costly to implement.

Groundwater

• State primacy must be assured in the development of groundwater legislation.
• There needs to be federal assistance available to states in protecting wellhead/recharge areas from contamination.
• A survey of state data collection and research needs should be completed to assess future needs for financial and technical assistance with respect to aquifer mapping, monitoring and classification.
• Any policy should recognize the diversity of hydrologic, climatic, economic, legal, and social factors within various states and regions.
• States' primacy in devising appropriate financing mechanisms for groundwater programs should be continued.
• Where necessary groundwater conservation programs with appropriate financing should be developed jointly by the federal, state and local governments, but implemented by state and local governments.
• A comprehensive review of groundwater contamination from pesticides should be undertaken and recommendations based on this review should be implemented.

Publicly Owned Treatment Works

NCSL urges Congress to cooperate with states to eliminate barriers to local government's ability to restructure assets or raise the capital necessary for costly improvements to Public Owned Treatment Works (POTWs).  While NCSL takes no position with respect to whether any particular POTW should pursue a public-private partnership, the decision to enter such a partnership should be made by the local unit of government pursuant to state law and local ordinance.