Volume 146, No. 91 covering the 2nd Session of the 106th Congress (1999 - 2000) was published by the Congressional Record.
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“IN SUPPORT OF THE EPA RULE CONCERNING TOTAL MAXIMUM DAILY LOADS” mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1249 on July 14, 2000.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
IN SUPPORT OF THE EPA RULE CONCERNING TOTAL MAXIMUM DAILY LOADS
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HON. JAMES L. OBERSTAR
of minnesota
in the house of representatives
Thursday, July 13, 2000
Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, the Environmental Protection Agency has taken a bold and necessary step toward fulfilling the promise of fishable, swimmable waters that the Congress made to the American people in the Clean Water Act nearly 30 years ago.
EPA has finalized the rule on Total Maximum Daily Loads. This will address the last frontier of the Clean Water Act--discharges from open spaces, runoff from land that gets into our waters through creeks and streams, into rivers, lakes, and estuaries.
EPA proceeded in all proper fashion in developing this rule. It provided for an extended comment period, which was further extended by Congress for a full 5 months. EPA subsequently received and responded to over 30,000 comments. The agency made changes in the rule to make it more flexible, more responsive, and more effective in addressing water quality needs. EPA even went as far as to withdraw the proposal for forestry, choosing to focus efforts on comprehensively, effectively, and thoroughly addressing the fundamental issue of runoff from nonpoint sources.
Notwithstanding this monumental effort, Congress responded with a direct assault on TMDL rule and the Clean Water Act.
Regrettably, it seems as though we go down this road every year--EPA seeking to advance protection of human health and the environment, and the Congress pushing anti-environmental riders in appropriations bills.
Just a few short weeks ago, the majority, with much fanfare, claimed to have adopted a policy of no anti-environmental riders in appropriations bills. Unfortunately, that policy lasted only until the first vote on a conference report, when the majority inserted language to prevent EPA from improving the quality of the Nation's waters. The majority's rider would prevent EPA from proceeding with the TMDL rule by prohibiting the agency from spending any money to advance the process of developing and implementing the program.
The opposition to the TMDL rule is badly misguided and fueled by an unwillingness to achieve water quality in a fair and timely manner. The TMDL process is an effective, rational, and defensible process by which to achieve the water quality goals of the Clean Water Act.
The EPA estimates that some 20,000 rivers, lakes, streams and other bodies of water in this country are polluted to the point of endangering public health. The TMDL rule would help states address this problem by setting a daily limit on the amount of polluting substances entering these waters, in effect, creating a ``pollution budget'' for them.
This is how the process works: First, states identify those waters where the state's water quality standards are not being met.
Second, states identify the pollutants that are causing the water quality impairment.
Third, states identify the sources of those pollutants.
Finally, states assign responsibility for reducing those pollutants so that the waters can meet the uses that the states have established.
We have made great improvements in water quality through the treatment of municipal waste and industrial discharges. Thanks to billions of dollars invested by industries and municipalities, these point sources are no longer the greatest source of water quality impairment. Nationally, the greatest remaining problem is nonpoint sources--not pollution from a single, easily identifiable source such as discharge from a sewer pipe, but from a wider area, such as runoff from a farm field or parking lot. Now, nearly 30 years after the Clean Water Act, it is time for the states to get all sources of pollution--
including nonpoint sources--to be part of the solution.
I have heard the arguments that the TMDL rule is not based on science. In my considered judgment, the TMDL rule is not only based on science, it is based upon the facts.
Just this June, EPA published its biennial report entitled National Water Quality. This report provides Congress with information developed by the states, and the states tell us that there are still major water quality problems to be addressed. Further, the states tell Congress that for rivers, streams, lakes, reservoirs and ponds, the leading source of water quality impairment, by far, is runoff from urban lands under development and from those agricultural lands that are not properly managed to contain runoff.
The TMDL process is the most fair and efficient way to finish cleaning up the Nation's waters. The TMDL rule is not perfect, and EPA has been responsive in making adjustments to the rule. Many have criticized it, including some in the environmental community, but the TMDL process is the tool the states need to achieve water quality.
EPA has changed the TMDL rule to make it clearer and more responsive to the concerns of the agriculture community. EPA has also withdrawn in its entirety the rule relating to forestry, and has promised to work with stakeholders to develop a new rule sometime next year.
Now, the vast majority of the environmental community supports going forward. The Department of Agriculture supports going forward.
I applaud EPA for going forward, and will work to allow EPA to fully implement the rule and achieve the water quality goals of the landmark Clean Water Act of 1972.
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