October 17, 1963
PAGE 19758
WATER POLLUTION CONTROL ACT AMENDMENTS OF 1963
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, subsequent to the debate on S. 649, yesterday, I received three letters from Federal officials commenting on the merits of the legislation. I believe it is important to place these communications in the RECORD to round out the publicly expressed opinion of the administration on this water pollution control legislation.
I ask unanimous consent that the letters from Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall, Secretary of Labor Willard Wirtz, and General Services Administrator Bernard Boutin be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the letters were ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR.
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY,
Washington, D.C.,
October 16, 1963.
Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE.
Chairman, Special Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution Committee on Public Works,
U.S. Senate,
Washington, D.C.
DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: This responds to your recent request for this Department's comments on S. 649, a bill to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act as amended, to establish the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration, to increase grants for construction of municipal sewage treatment works, to provide financial assistance to municipalities and others for the separation of combined sewers, to authorize the issuance of regulations to aid in preventing, controlling, and abating pollution of interstate or navigable waters, and for other purpose, as recently reported out of the Committee on Public Works.
Since our report in June of this year, your committee has substantially revised the bill. We now believe that the bill will overcome most of the problems that we had anticipated at the time of our earlier report, subject possibly to some technical amendments that we are still considering.
Accordingly, we recommend the enactment of legislation along the lines of this bill.
The Bureau of the Budget has advised that there is no objection to the presentation of this report from the standpoint of the administration's program.
Sincerely yours, STEWART L. UDALL,
Secretary of the Interior.
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR,
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY,
Washington, D.C.,
October 15,1963.
Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE,
Chairman, Special Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution Control, Committee on public Works,
U.S. Senate,
Washington, D.C.
DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This is in reply to your recent letter regarding S. 649 -- amending the Water Pollution Control Act -- as reported by the Senate Committee on Public Works October 4,1963.
As pointed out in your letter, section 4(c) of the bill now refers to certain labor standards provisions not presently contained in the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. These additional provisions, which were recommended in our report to the committee on this bill, relate to Reorganization Plan No. 14 of 1950, and section 2 of the Copeland Act, as amended. They carry out our recommendation and we appreciate the committee's favorable action in this regard.
Yours sincerely,
W. WILLARD WIRTZ,
Secretary of Labor.
GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION,
Washington, D.C.,
October 16,1963.
Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE,
Chairman, Special Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution Control, Committee on Public Works,
U.S. Senate,
Washington, D.C.
DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: Your letter of October 8, 1963, requested the comments of the General Services Administration on S. 649, 88th Congress, as amended and reported by the Senate Committee on Public Works, entitled "A bill to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended, to establish the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration, to provide grants for research and development, to increase grants for construction of municipal sewage treatment works, to authorize the issuance of regulations to aid in preventing, controlling, and abating pollution of interstate waters, and for other purposes."
The purpose of the proposed legislation is stated in the title.
GSA is particularly interested in section 6 of the amended bill which would require Federal agencies in control of buildings, installations, and other facilities discharging any matter into the waters of the United States to obtain a license therefor from the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, and would authorize the Secretary to revoke such licenses if he found pollution was endangering the health and welfare of any persons or was otherwise violating standards of water quality established in accordance with the bill.
Under the Public Buildings Act of 1959, as amended, GSA is responsible for the construction and alteration, including repair and improvement, of public buildings. Such buildings include Federal office buildings, post offices, courthouses, customhouses, appraisers stores, border inspection facilities, warehouses, records centers, relocation facilities and similar Federal facilities. In addition, GSA has the function of acquiring space by lease, with certain exceptions, for the housing of Federal agencies.
In carrying out its cooperative responsibility under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, GSA, pursuant to a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, compiled an inventory of waste water disposal practices at Federal installations owned by or leased to the United States as of December 31, 1960. Reports received from the various agencies were forwarded to the Division of Water Supply and Pollution Control of the Public Health Service, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. GSA's report indicates that there are some facilities under our management or repair and improvement responsibilities which may require the expenditure of funds to meet the standards to be established for licensing under section 6 of this proposed measure.
The General Services Administration would favor the enactment of legislation along the lines of S. 649 as amended and reported by the Senate Committee on Public Works.
The effect of the enactment of this measure on the budgetary requirements of GSA cannot be estimated at this time.
The Bureau of the Budget has advised that, from the standpoint of the administration's program, there is no objection to the submission of this report to your committee.
Sincerely yours,
BERNARD L. BOUTIN,
Administrator.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I have expressed my appreciation for the splendid cooperation given by all the members of the Special Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution, and by the chairman of the Public Works Committee, the senior Senator from Michigan [Mr. McNAMARA]. I want to repeat that expression taking particular note of the contributions made by the senior Republican member of the subcommittee, the Senator from Delaware [Mr. BOGGS].
Finally, Mr. President, I wish to pay tribute to the hard work and devoted efforts of the members of the staff of the Public Works Committee and the staffs of the members of the committee, who contributed so much to the Improvement of S. 649 and to the language of the committee report. The staff included Public Works Committee Staff Director Ron M. Linton and his associates; Richard E. Garrish, John L. Mutz, and Richard B. Royce.
The staff from the offices of the committee members included William F. Hildenbrand, legislative assistant to Senator BOGGS; Alyce M. Thompson, research assistant to Senator FONG; Allen E. Pritchard, Jr., administrative assistant to Senator PEARSON; and Donald E. Nicoll, my administrative assistant.