State Revolving Fund Legislation Gains Committee Approval
On May 17, 2002, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved a bill to boost clean water and drinking water state revolving funds (SRF) to more than $41 billion over five years. The legislation, the Water Investment Act of 2002 (S. 1961), was offered by Senators James Jeffords (I-Vt.) and Bob Graham (D-Fla.). The measure would reauthorize the SRFs for the next five years by providing $15 billion for safe drinking water projects, $20 billion for clean water projects, and $5 billion for small drinking water systems to help meet the recently tightened arsenic standard. The bill also includes a provision that would provide $1.2 billion to remedy sewerage overflows. Despite the committee's approval, several senators raised concerns about the legislation's funding restrictions.

Senator George Voinovich (R-Ohio) claimed the language would allow the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to step in and micromanage responsibilities that belong to states and localities. "Considering the SRF contributes only about 10 percent of the total cost of the project, it isn't justified," Senator Voinovich argued. Senator Voinovich offered several amendments that would provide states with more autonomy with the SRF, but many of his amendments were voted down. Another concern was the bill's funding reformulation that some feared could be unfair to small states. Senator Jeffords argued that the formula set in his bill attempts to wean states from the ratio-based formula established in the 1972 Clean Water Act. The new formula, based on a needs assessment recently conducted by the EPA, sets a minimum funding level for small states at .7 percent of the SRF money allocated for each fiscal year. The House has voted its own version out of two committees as of April 17, 2002. A floor vote remains to be scheduled.

Administration Starts Crafting Clear Skies Initiative Legislation
On May 15, 2002, Senator James Jeffords (I-Vt.) and 17 other cosponsors of S. 556 wrote a letter to President Bush asking him to work with them to produce consensus multiemission legislation. As part of this consensus building effort Senator Jeffords delayed the mark-up of the legislation, which would reduce power plant emissions such as carbon dioxide, mercury, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. Environment and Public Works Committee ranking member Senator Bob Smith (R-N.H.) is currently working with the administration to produce a proposal putting the president's proposed Clear Skies Initiative into legislative language. Controls on carbon dioxide and reforms to New Source Review will likely be an issue of controversy.

Yucca Mountain in Final Stage of Approval Process
On May 8, 2002, the House approved H. J. Res. 87 by a vote of 306 to 117, a resolution to authorize the federal government to develop Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste storage facility. The House approval of H. J. Res. 87 is the first step in overriding Nevada Governor Guinn's (R) veto of the Bush administration's approval of the project. The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works plans to consider a similar resolution (S. J. Res. 34) on June 5, 2002. If the committee approves the resolution, a full Senate vote is expected to take place in July. If the Senate adopts S. J. Res. 34, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will begin work on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's license application, which will evaluate DOE's plan to ensure that it meets the requirements of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. The DOE hopes to apply for the license by 2004 and begin shipping nuclear waste to Yucca by 2010. Critics say it is doubtful the DOE will meet either deadline.

Senate Passes Energy Bill; Conferees to Be Selected
Senator Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) says he expects "a lively and spirited conference" when conferees begin to work out the differences between the House and Senate energy bills H.R. 4 and S. 517. The House bill contains an Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) oil drilling provision, new targets for reducing domestic gasoline consumption and a $33 billion package of tax credits and preferences. S. 517 features a watered-down, state friendly electricity industry restructuring provision, a mandatory increase in ethanol use coupled with an MTBE ban, an Alaska natural gas pipeline construction provision, a pipeline safety provision, a doubling of annual Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program authorized funding and a $15 billion tax credit package with an emphasis on renewables and alternative energy sources.

Superfund Tax Proposed in Senate
Senator Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.) has announced plans to introduce a measure that would reinstate the Superfund tax for the next five years. The oil and chemical industries were required to pay a tax used to fund the cleanup of Superfund sites until the legislation expired in 1995. It is estimated that the industry has saved a total of $10 billion since the tax was shelved. Meanwhile the trust fund level has dwindled from $3.8 billion to $427 million and is expected to last only through FY2003. Representatives Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) introduced similar legislation (H.R. 4060) in March 2002, but the legislation has yet to be taken up in committee. The administration is committed to a "polluter pays" principle for cleaning up Superfund sites and does not support reinstating the tax. The administration explains that when companies were paying the Superfund tax, regardless of whether they were polluting, the companies would often pass the expense on to consumers. Environmental groups disapprove of the administration's position, arguing that 30 percent of responsible parties cannot be found or are unable to pay the cleanup cost. Other supporters of reinstating the Superfund tax say the low trust fund levels will slow the pace of Superfund cleanups. Congress expects a fierce partisan battle over the proposal to reinstate the tax.