NELSON: MEASURE LIFTS REGULATORY BURDEN FROM NEBRASKA COMMUNITIES

Nebraska's Senator Co-Sponsors Bill to Ensure Smaller Communities Have the Resources Needed to Comply with Federal Rules

January 16, 2008 - Small communities in Nebraska have suffered trying to find the funds to comply with federal water quality regulations. Nebraska's Senator Nelson today joined Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe in proposing legislation to make it easier for these areas to cope with the burdens of the regulations.

"Everyone believes our water must be of the highest quality. But it doesn’t make sense to ask a small community with a limited tax base to devote millions of dollars on infrastructure improvements that may not be needed," said Nelson. "We need to have balance between what is necessary and what we’re able to accomplish."

Onerous federal regulations can be a burden on small communities. For example, City of Alliance Mayor Dan Kusek points out that, "Studies have disputed the actual level of arsenic that is safe in drinking water. The federal government, however, has placed an unfunded mandate to bring Alliance’s arsenic levels down to levels far below the safe limit proposed by some studies. Even though Alliance’s levels are currently relatively low at 10.5-11.0 ppb, this mandate will cost between $7-15 million to treat the water to get the levels into the government’s acceptable range."

"As an elected official, my number one priority for the citizens of Alliance is their safety and well-being, including providing safe drinking water," said Mayor Kusek. "I applaud Senator Nelson and his colleagues for introducing this legislation that is designed to provide relief for small communities negatively impacted by this rule and the rate payers that would, in the end, bear the cost for treating the water. This bill will provide much needed relief by requiring that the rule is delayed for small communities until such time as there is money available to assist in meeting these new standards."

In Nebraska, 16 communities with populations under 10,000 join Alliance in being negatively impacted by federal water rules.

The Small Systems Assistance Act will help rural areas by ensuring that communities with less than 10,000 residents are not asked to do the impossible when it comes to meeting federal requirements. Among its provisions are those to:

Require the EPA Administrator to convene a working group of representatives from small water systems and treatment manufacturers to identify barriers to meeting federal regulations and develop models to be used to assist communities in complying;
Require that small water systems have been provided sufficient funding to meet the requirements of the regulations before initiating any enforcement action based on a national primary drinking water regulation against small water systems;
Ensure that small communities aren't left with the tab when it comes to complying with federal regulations by prohibiting compliance unless sufficient funds are available through the revolving loan fund to assist each public water system with the regulation;
Reauthorize the existing technical assistance program at $15 million per year for five years to ensure that the funds are available and establish a new research and development program;
Require the administrator to ensure that each water system required to comply with a drinking water standard receives adequate technical assistance and training to meet the requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act before initiating any enforcement action against the small water system; and
Requires the Administrator to convene a panel of experts representing public water systems, state drinking water administrators and the National Academy of Sciences to review studies on the health effects of exposure to arsenic and disinfection byproducts.

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	Press Release	January 16, 2008
NELSON: MEASURE LIFTS REGULATORY BURDEN FROM NEBRASKA COMMUNITIES Nebraska's Senator Co-Sponsors Bill to Ensure Smaller Communities Have the Resources Needed to Comply with Federal Rules January 16, 2008 - Small communities in Nebraska have suffered trying to find the funds to comply with federal water quality regulations. Nebraska's Senator Nelson today joined Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe in proposing legislation to make it easier for these areas to cope with the burdens of the regulations. "Everyone believes our water must be of the highest quality. But it doesn’t make sense to ask a small community with a limited tax base to devote millions of dollars on infrastructure improvements that may not be needed," said Nelson. "We need to have balance between what is necessary and what we’re able to accomplish." Onerous federal regulations can be a burden on small communities. For example, City of Alliance Mayor Dan Kusek points out that, "Studies have disputed the actual level of arsenic that is safe in drinking water. The federal government, however, has placed an unfunded mandate to bring Alliance’s arsenic levels down to levels far below the safe limit proposed by some studies. Even though Alliance’s levels are currently relatively low at 10.5-11.0 ppb, this mandate will cost between $7-15 million to treat the water to get the levels into the government’s acceptable range." "As an elected official, my number one priority for the citizens of Alliance is their safety and well-being, including providing safe drinking water," said Mayor Kusek. "I applaud Senator Nelson and his colleagues for introducing this legislation that is designed to provide relief for small communities negatively impacted by this rule and the rate payers that would, in the end, bear the cost for treating the water. This bill will provide much needed relief by requiring that the rule is delayed for small communities until such time as there is money available to assist in meeting these new standards." In Nebraska, 16 communities with populations under 10,000 join Alliance in being negatively impacted by federal water rules. The Small Systems Assistance Act will help rural areas by ensuring that communities with less than 10,000 residents are not asked to do the impossible when it comes to meeting federal requirements. Among its provisions are those to: Require the EPA Administrator to convene a working group of representatives from small water systems and treatment manufacturers to identify barriers to meeting federal regulations and develop models to be used to assist communities in complying; Require that small water systems have been provided sufficient funding to meet the requirements of the regulations before initiating any enforcement action based on a national primary drinking water regulation against small water systems; Ensure that small communities aren't left with the tab when it comes to complying with federal regulations by prohibiting compliance unless sufficient funds are available through the revolving loan fund to assist each public water system with the regulation; Reauthorize the existing technical assistance program at $15 million per year for five years to ensure that the funds are available and establish a new research and development program; Require the administrator to ensure that each water system required to comply with a drinking water standard receives adequate technical assistance and training to meet the requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act before initiating any enforcement action against the small water system; and Requires the Administrator to convene a panel of experts representing public water systems, state drinking water administrators and the National Academy of Sciences to review studies on the health effects of exposure to arsenic and disinfection byproducts. ###