[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 173 (Wednesday, December 22, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11023-S11024]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          STORMWATER POLLUTION

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, today the Congress stands ready to approve 
S. 3481, a bill to clarify Federal responsibility to pay for stormwater 
pollution. This legislation, which will soon become law, requires the 
Federal government to pay localities for reasonable costs associated 
with the control and abatement of pollution that is originating on its 
properties. At stake is a fundamental issue of equity: polluters should 
be financially responsible for the pollution that they cause. That 
includes the Federal Government.
  Annually hundreds of thousands of pounds of pollutants wash off the 
hardened surfaces in urban areas and into local rivers and streams, 
threatening the health of our citizens and causing significant 
environmental degradation.

[[Page S11024]]

A one-acre parking lot produces about 16 times the volume of runoff 
that comes from a one-acre meadow. These pollutants include heavy 
metals, nitrogen and phosphorous, oil and grease, pesticides, bacteria 
(including deadly e. coli), sediment, toxic chemicals, and debris. 
Indeed, stormwater runoff is the largest source sector for many 
imperiled bodies of water across the country. According to the 
Environmental Protection Agency, stormwater pollution affects all types 
of water bodies including in order of severity; ocean shoreline, 
estuaries such as the Chesapeake Bay, Great Lakes shorelines, lakes and 
rivers. Degraded aquatic habitats are found everywhere that stormwater 
enters local waterways.
  We added a provision to the bill in order to rectify a specific 
problem in the District of Columbia, where the Department of Treasury 
has been paying some stormwater fees. The provision simply says that 
agencies and departments should use their annual appropriated funds to 
pay for stormwater fees. This is exactly what they all do today in 
paying for their drinking water and wastewater bills or any other 
utility bill, for that matter. This new language requires that Congress 
make available, in appropriations acts, the funds that could be used 
for this purpose. It does not mean that the appropriations act would 
need to state specifically or expressly that the funds could be used to 
pay these charges. The legislative language doesn't say that, and I 
want to be perfectly clear that such a restrictive reading is not our 
intent.
  I believe that this administration recognizes its responsibility to 
manage the stormwater pollution that comes off Federal properties. But 
that responsibility needs to translate into payments to the local 
governments that are forced to deal with this pollution. Adopting this 
legislation today removes all ambiguity about the responsibility of the 
Federal Government to pay these normal and customary stormwater fees.
  This is a matter of basic equity.

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