CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -- SENATE
March 21, 1968
7221
S. 3206 -- INTRODUCTION OF WATER QUALITY IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 1968 -- NOTICE OF HEARINGS
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, today I am introducing, along with Mr. BAYH, Mr. BURDICK, Mr. CLARK, Mr. DODD, Mr. HART, Mr. INOUYE, Mr. JACKSON, Mr. KENNEDY Of Massachusetts, Mr. LAUSCHE, Mr. MAGNUSON, Mr. METCALF, Mr. MONDALE, Mr. MOSS, Mr. NELSON, Mr. RANDOLPH, Mr. RIBICOFF, Mr. TYDINGS, Mr. WILLIAMS Of New Jersey, and Mr. YOUNG of Ohio, the President's proposed Water Quality Improvement Act of 1968.
Primarily this legislation is directed toward making available funds authorized by the Congress for sewage treatment construction grants. As every one of my colleagues is aware, in 1966 the Congress unanimously enacted the Clean Water Restoration Act which authorized $3.4 billion over 4 years for the Federal share of the construction cost of community waste treatment facilities.
Of the $450 million which was authorized for fiscal year 1968, only $203 million was made available. The President's budget for fiscal year 1969 requested only $225 million compared to an authorized amount of $700 million.
The request was sufficiently below the authorization to the extent that the massive water pollution construction backlog is not being diminished. In fact, it is difficult for me to believe that the amount made available for fiscal year 1968 and requested for fiscal year 1969 will even be adequate to keep up with new demand.
The President, Secretary of the Interior Udall, the Bureau of the Budget, and the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration are equally as aware of this critical situation as are the Members of Congress. This awareness is evidenced in the legislation which I am introducing today.
The President is calling for a new approach to extricate the Nation from the financial bind slowing our water pollution fight. Essentially this new approach provides a method whereby the Secretary of the Interior can enter into long-term contract commitments to make principal and interest payments to State and local public bodies to meet the construction cost of waste treatment works. Implicit in this approach is the basic concept of the Federal water pollution control program, that the primary responsibility for control of pollution rests with State and local government.
Under this proposal a local public body will sell bonds in an amount equal to both the Federal and the local share of the cost of a waste treatment plant. The Federal Government will repay, on an annual basis, the principal and interest associated with the Federal share.
There are several unique features of this legislation which I wish to bring to the attention of the Senate:
First. The program is primarily designed to serve standard metropolitan statistical areas or areas of 125,000 people or more.
Second. The appropriate local public body having jurisdiction over the treatment work would be requested to establish a system of revenue producing user charges in order to underwrite the cost of the bonds and assure a systematic method of repayment of principal and interest on those bonds.
Parenthetically, Mr. President, the Secretary would have the authority to waive the requirement if it would not serve to "improve the financial capability and efficiency of the waste treatment system."
Third. Bonds sold by a public body to carry out the purposes of this act would not be tax exempt.
However, the Secretary is authorized to pay to the public body a sum equal to any difference in interest costs associated with the absence of tax exemption.
Fourth. The Federal Government would guarantee the entire cost of the bond issue, and
Fifth. The contractee would be required to meet conditions similar to those set forth in the existing Federal Water Pollution Control Act relating to comprehensive plans, state approval, and water quality standards.
Mr. President, this legislation also includes authorization for appropriation of interest payments which would be in excess of the basic authorization contained in the Clean Water Restoration Act and contains a technical revision of the research section of the act with an extension of the authorization for that section.
The Secretary would be required to request and receive, through the appropriations process, any funds which he intended to commit to this program.
In other words, assuming that $225 million of this year's authorization is available for the regular grant program, $475 million would remain available for the new contract approach.
The Secretary could not obligate or expend any of the remaining $475 million authorized without receiving enactment of an act providing for such obligation and expenditures. If the Congress should determine that the full $475 million authorized for fiscal year 1969 should be made available, the Secretary can then contract with municipalities for construction of sewage treatment works. The Federal share of such work shall not exceed the total amount of $475 million nor shall any State receive more than 10 percent of the available amount in any one year.
The advantage of this program over the existing grant process would be that the Secretary need not spend the entire amount in the given year of appropriation. He would be making principal and interest payments over the 30-year life of the bond issue. Thus, the Federal Government would not have to borrow that $475 million except as funds were required to meet payments on principal.
Mr. President, this proposal merits early consideration by the Congress. It appears to have the basic ingredients which will be required if we are to move ahead with our water pollution control program. Because of the urgency of moving ahead with that program, the Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution will commence its hearings on this legislation on April 9 and continue through April 11.
Members of the Senate are cordially invited to present testimony on this bill on April 9. I would deeply appreciate the counsel of my colleagues on this matter.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The bill will be received and appropriately referred.
The bill (S. 3206) to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended, relating to the construction of waste treatment works, and to the conduct of water pollution control research, and for other purposes, introduced by Mr. MUSKIE (for himself and other Senators), was received, read twice by its title, and referred to the Committee on Public Works.