[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 119 (Monday, July 16, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H6219-H6221]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
INNOVATIVE STORMWATER INFRASTRUCTURE ACT OF 2018
Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and
pass the bill (H.R. 3906) to establish centers of excellence for
innovative stormwater control infrastructure, and for other purposes,
as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 3906
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Innovative Stormwater
Infrastructure Act of 2018''.
SEC. 2. STORMWATER INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDING TASK FORCE.
(a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Environmental
Protection Agency shall establish a stormwater infrastructure
funding task force composed of representatives of Federal,
State, and local governments and private (including
nonprofit) entities to conduct a study on, and develop
recommendations to improve, the availability of public and
private sources of funding for the construction,
rehabilitation, and operation and maintenance of stormwater
infrastructure to meet the requirements of the Federal Water
Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.).
(b) Considerations.--In carrying out subsection (a), the
task force shall--
(1) identify existing Federal, State, and local public
sources and private sources of funding for stormwater
infrastructure; and
(2) consider--
(A) how funding for stormwater infrastructure from such
sources has been made available, and utilized, in each State
to address stormwater infrastructure needs identified
pursuant to section 516(b)(1) of the Federal Water Pollution
Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1375(b)(1));
(B) how the source of funding affects the affordability of
the infrastructure (as determined based on the considerations
used to assess the financial capability of municipalities
under the integrated planning guidelines described in the
Integrated Municipal Stormwater and Wastewater Planning
Approach Framework, issued by the Environmental Protection
Agency on June 5, 2012, and dated May, 2012), including
consideration of the costs associated with financing the
infrastructure; and
(C) whether such sources of funding are sufficient to
support capital expenditures and long-term operation and
maintenance costs necessary to meet the stormwater
infrastructure needs of municipalities.
(c) Report.--Not later than 18 months after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit to
Congress a report that describes the results of the study
conducted, and the recommendations developed, under
subsection (a).
(d) State Defined.--In this section, the term ``State'' has
the meaning given that term in section 502 of the Federal
Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1362).
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Louisiana (Mr. Graves) and the gentlewoman from California (Mrs.
Napolitano) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Louisiana.
General Leave
Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that
all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous on H.R. 3906, as amended.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Louisiana?
There was no objection.
Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the chairman of the Transportation
and Infrastructure Committee, Bill Shuster; the ranking member,
Congressman DeFazio; and my good friend the ranking member of the
subcommittee, Mrs. Napolitano, for their work in progressing this
bipartisan legislation.
Mr. Speaker, as we know, with the additional development that is
occurring in this country, with the additional water and stormwater
systems that are being built, heavy rains end up transiting or
transferring pollutants, heavy metals, trash, bacteria, and many other
things into our water system.
Mr. Speaker, I represent south Louisiana. The watershed that I
represent drains from Montana to two Canadian provinces to New York. It
is one of the largest watersheds in the world. Of course, all of that
stormwater runoff ends up coming down right through my home State and
contributes to one of the largest dead zones in the Nation--in fact,
the largest dead zone in the Nation--which is not very compatible with
us having some of the top commercial and recreational fishing and one
of the largest or most productive estuaries in the United States.
So I want to thank Mr. Heck for introducing this legislation, for
working with Congressman Katko in putting this together in a bipartisan
manner.
What this legislation does is it recognizes that stormwater runoff
does actually transfer, or does contribute to pollutants, in our
waterways, and it recognizes that this is a problem. But it also
recognizes that it is a problem that needs to be solved by local, by
State, and by Federal agencies, by Federal officials.
So this legislation creates a new task force to look at innovative
financing, to look at new funding streams, to look at how we can do a
better job integrating the various funding streams to actually achieve
this objective that we all share on a bipartisan basis to help reduce
the amount of pollutants and trash and other things that get into our
waterways. This is an important step forward.
Mr. Speaker, in a previous life, I managed a large infrastructure
program where we built tens of billions of dollars of infrastructure.
One of the first things I realized is how important it was for us to
look at all the funding streams that are available, and the possible
funding streams that are available, pulling those together to make sure
that they are being used in a complementary manner, not managed in
silos, and certainly not managed in a contradictory or in a conflicting
manner.
The gentleman's legislation helps to address that. It helps look at
the revenue streams that are available today, whether they are Federal,
whether they are State, whether they are local funds, or perhaps even
private or not-for-profit, looking at the different regulatory
structures that are out there, looking at opportunities for us to
achieve this bipartisan goal of reducing pollutants, of helping reduce
trash, of helping reduce the dead zone and other adverse outcomes as a
result of stormwater runoff from heavy rains.
Again, I want to point out that this is bipartisan legislation, that
this passed the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
unanimously, that my good friend from California Mrs. Napolitano worked
with us on changes in the committee. I thank, again, the gentleman from
Washington (Mr. Heck) and Mr. Katko for working together on something
that is an important issue, for coming up with a bipartisan solution,
and looking forward to ensuring that this passes the House and passes
the Senate as well to where we can get it to the President's desk.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mrs. NAPOLITANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume, because I rise in support of H.R. 3906, the Innovative
Stormwater Infrastructure Act of 2018.
This bipartisan bill, as was pointed out, was introduced by our
colleague from Washington, Congressman Heck, aimed at addressing one of
the ongoing concerns facing our communities, an unfunded mandate--very
unfunded: how to address and pay for controlling ongoing sources of
stormwater that empty into our local water bodies.
According to EPA, runoff from urbanized areas is a leading source of
water quality impairments on local water bodies. In urban and suburban
areas, buildings and pavement cover much of the land and prevent rain
and snowmelt from soaking into the ground. Instead, these developed
areas rely on storm drains to carry large amounts of water runoff from
roofs and paved areas to nearby waterways, and with it, as was pointed
out again, high levels of pollution, such as oil, dirt, chemicals, and
lawn fertilizers released directly into local streams and rivers.
Congress needs to do more to help communities come into compliance
with the goals of the Clean Water Act, the unfunded mandate. We need to
encourage the development of new technologies and practices for
addressing stormwater runoff. We need to encourage the implementation
of cost-effective, low-impact development and nature-based
infrastructure alternatives.
[[Page H6220]]
Finally, we need to provide additional Federal assistance to
communities to help address their local water quality challenges. Many
of the communities are small and could not afford them. It will
bankrupt them if they have to follow the letter of the law.
Mr. Speaker, while H.R. 3906, as introduced, would have addressed
some of these challenges, the bill was modified by the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure. This modification removed the
authorization of a new EPA stormwater grant program and replaced it
with a new study on how existing sources of Federal, State, local, and
private funds are being used to address local stormwater challenges.
As amended, H.R. 3906 would direct the EPA administration to partner
with Federal, State, and local agencies and stakeholders in the
creation of a new stormwater infrastructure funding task force. This
new task force will look at funding and affordability issues related to
the construction, rehabilitation, operation and maintenance of the
stormwater infrastructure necessary to meet the goals of the Clean
Water Act.
The task force will be required to inventory the available public and
private sources of funding for stormwater infrastructure and to assess
how the use of these sources of funding might affect the affordability
of the infrastructure to a municipality, which sometimes is
floundering.
While there may be several financing options available to communities
to address local stormwater challenges, the actual cost of these
options to a community may vary greatly.
For example, it is far cheaper for a community to obtain a Federal
grant for water infrastructure than a loan, but it may also be more
affordable for a community to borrow from the Clean Water State
Revolving Fund than to borrow the same amount from the private market.
So the question is not simply about whether funding is available to the
community, but is that funding also affordable to the community.
I expect that the results of the task force will show how the Federal
Government needs to be an active player in financing affordable
stormwater infrastructure. Perhaps this information will guide future
Congresses to take a greater role in financing our water infrastructure
challenges.
Mr. Speaker, while I am disappointed that this legislation does not
provide additional Federal resources so desperately needed to address
our local water infrastructure challenges, the bill is a very good
first step in further refining the scope of the stormwater challenges
facing our Nation.
I am pleased to support the bill, and I heartily urge all my
colleagues to join me in supporting it.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my
time.
Mrs. NAPOLITANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to
the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Heck).
Mr. HECK. Mr. Speaker, pretty simply put, this bill is about
addressing the single largest source of water pollution in America,
which is stormwater runoff.
It is a nationwide issue from D.C., to Los Angeles, to Milwaukee, to
Louisiana. But it is also one that is acutely felt in my home State of
Washington, because there, it really does rain a lot. When that rain
falls, the rain runs off the roofs. The rain runs down the streets. The
rain runs into the storm drainage system. Along the way, it picks up
all sorts of nasty, toxic stuff that has been alluded to earlier, stuff
like fertilizers, metals, oils, and pesticides. That stuff, all that
bad stuff, runs into our lakes and our rivers and, ultimately, in my
region of the country, into Puget Sound, which is the largest estuary,
by water volume, in the United States.
It has been estimated by scientists that stormwater accounts for up
to 80 percent of all water pollution. Gone are the days of the easy-fix
solutions of point-source pollution, where we could just pass a law
saying: You can't do that anymore. Figure it out.
This is a lot more difficult. It is a lot more decentralized. It is a
lot more pervasive. Frankly, it is no less harmful.
And it hurts not just our environment. Let's be clear, this hurts our
businesses as well, especially those that depend on clean water.
In our State, we have a robust shellfish industry that employs
thousands of people. Stormwater can kill a salmon in a matter of hours.
We actually have time-lapse films from underwater showing this, and it
is not very much time that has elapsed. This isn't something where they
ingest the metal, and then months or years later they die. You can
literally watch them die as the stormwater hits the water.
And they are fundamental. Salmon are fundamental to the economy and
the culture of the Pacific Northwest and especially to the Native
people, who have depended on them since time immemorial.
Salmon support, in fact, in our region of the country, a $30 billion
a year economy.
Salmon are also the prey of choice of our beloved southern resident
orcas, which we are precariously close to losing altogether. Frankly,
we can't save the orcas if we don't save the salmon, and we can't save
the salmon if we don't save Puget Sound, and we can't save Puget Sound
if we don't deal with stormwater runoff.
Every region has its own story. The gentleman from Louisiana told his
most eloquently, and I thank him, about how stormwater is punishing our
waterways and, along with it, our way of life and our economy.
That is why State and local governments are implementing green
stormwater infrastructure, like rain gardens and permeable pavement,
and are building new gray stormwater infrastructure to reduce combined
sewer outflows. But that is not enough. It is not enough by a long
shot.
{time} 1715
State and local governments are stretched thin, and that is why we
need the Federal Government to step up and do its partnership role in
this.
Back in my State, we estimate that the stormwater problem could be
solved with $19 billion in investment between now and 2036; and,
frankly, almost all of that is in the Puget Sound region, 98 percent.
That is a lot of money and that is why H.R. 3906 is an important
first step to help the experts and the stakeholders come together and
come up with innovative ways not to be duplicative and to think outside
the box.
Mr. Speaker, I conclude by thanking Chairman Shuster; Ranking Member
DeFazio; along with Subcommittee Chairman Graves; Ranking Member
Napolitano; my colleague and my friend from New York, Congressman
Katko; and their staffs for their work on this bill. I appreciate their
help to bring greater attention to the problem of stormwater runoff.
But let's be clear: We have to do more; we have to do a lot more. I
look forward to continuing to work with the committee to increase the
Federal Government's partnership role in tackling this urgent threat,
which, again, is the number one cause of water pollution in America.
Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of the bill.
Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my
time.
Mrs. NAPOLITANO. Mr. Speaker, just one last word, I think this is a
very important bill. We have been dealing with the stormwater issue for
at least 7 years in my area, and because it is an unfunded mandate, the
cities are crying out for help. I think the two cases set forth by my
colleagues point out the need for Federal help.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote for this bill, and I yield
back the balance of my time.
Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of
my time.
Mr. Speaker, Congressman Heck recently brought up the shellfish
industry. Just this week, the Louisiana Oyster Task Force is coming to
town. We are going to be meeting with them, talking to them about this
and a number of other priority issues because their industry has been
impacted by water quality and many other challenges.
Mr. Speaker, I just want to say that this legislation helps to make
sure that all of the various levels of government, together with our
nongovernment partners in the private sector and the not-for-profit
organizations that are out
[[Page H6221]]
there, that we are all working together; that we are ensuring that the
regulatory structure that is out there is actually complementary to
this effort to help ensure clean water not just now, but for
generations to come; that we are using better technology; that we are
using better mechanisms, such as vegetative plantings and buffers and
other things, to ensure that we are not polluting our waters but that
we are cleaning them; that we have safe drinking water; that we have
safe, productive ecosystems for generations to come.
Mr. Speaker, I again want to thank Congressman Heck, Congressman
Katko, my friend Congresswoman Napolitano, and many others who were
involved in this legislation. This is going to help us to ensure that
the various funding streams that are out there, that we are using them
in a complementary manner, not in a stovepipe manner.
Mr. Speaker, I again urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 3906,
as amended, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Graves) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 3906, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
The title of the bill was amended so as to read: ``A bill to direct
the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a
stormwater infrastructure funding task force, and for other purposes.''
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________