II 109th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 1491 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES July 26, 2005 Mr. Sarbanes (for himself, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Warner, Mr. Allen, and Mr. Santorum) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works A BILL To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to provide assistance for nutrient removal technologies to States in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Nutrient Removal Assistance Act.

2.

Findings and purposes

(a)

Findings

Congress finds that— (1)nutrient pollution from point sources and nonpoint sources continues to be the most significant water quality problem in the Chesapeake Bay watershed; (2)a key commitment of the Chesapeake 2000 agreement, an interstate agreement among the Administrator, the Chesapeake Bay Commission, the District of Columbia, and the States of Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, is to achieve the goal of correcting the nutrient-related problems in the Chesapeake Bay by 2010; (3)by correcting those problems, the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries may be removed from the list of impaired bodies of water designated by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under section 303(d) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1313(d)); (4)more than 300 major sewage treatment plants located in the Chesapeake Bay watershed annually discharge approximately 60,000,000 pounds of nitrogen, or the equivalent of 20 percent of the total nitrogen load, into the Chesapeake Bay; and (5)nutrient removal technology is 1 of the most reliable, cost-effective, and direct methods for reducing the flow of nitrogen from point sources into the Chesapeake Bay. (b)

Purposes

The purposes of this Act are— (1)to authorize the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to provide financial assistance to States and municipalities for use in upgrading publicly-owned wastewater treatment plants in the Chesapeake Bay watershed with nutrient removal technologies; and (2)to further the goal of restoring the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay to conditions that are protective of human health and aquatic living resources.

3.

Sewage control technology grant program

The Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: .