August 24, 1970
Page 29766
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr President, I want to congratulate the senior Senator from Louisiana, Senator ELLENDER, for his excellent effort in bringing this legislation to the Senate.
The Public Works Appropriation bill contains a variety of items of importance to the American people. In recent years, it has received special attention from those of us who are interested in the fight to preserve the Nation’s environment.
The appropriation for water pollution in 1968 and 1969 did not keep pace with the level of funding authorized in 1966; however, because of the strong commitment of the Senator from Louisiana, last year the Senate voted the full $1 billion authorized for fiscal year 1970. The final $800 million figure agreed on by the conference indicated to States and local governments that the Federal Government would keep its commitments to pay part of the cost of construction of needed waste treatment facilities.
Once again this year, the Appropriations Committee in the Senate has acted to fund the water pollution program at a level which will evidence good faith and continue to honor the commitment the Congress made in the Clean Water Restoration Act of 1966.
The $1 billion appropriated for fiscal year 1971 is less than that which I had hoped and is less than that which I understand the chairman of the subcommittee recommended. It may be the maximum that can be effectively spent in the next 12 months. It will stimulate the construction of new waste treatment plants. It will stimulate States which have been slow to inventory their needs and move ahead. It will help honor the Federal promise to reimburse those States which acted in anticipation of full Federal funding, and most importantly it will mean that less sewage is dumped untreated into the Nation’s waterways.
As a result of the formula included in the bill, 20 percent of that $1 billion or $200 million will be available to reimburse States which have pre-financed the Federal share of the cost of projects since 1966. The remaining 80 percent will be allocated on the formula established in the existing law, a formula which is under review by the Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution
Many States, according to the information available, will not utilize their allocation this year.
However, fiscal year 1971 funds not used by some States will be reallocated next June to other States which have greater needs. These two innovations: First, setting aside 20 percent of the appropriation for reimbursement and, second, providing for the reallocation of the 1971 appropriation after 1 year, rather than the statutorily established 18 months, should expedite funding of State and local waste treatment plant construction.
Mr. President, I would like to take this opportunity to make a few comments on the statistical information made available by the administration on the cost of the waste treatment plant construction program. As Members of the Senate will recall, earlier this year the President indicated that there was a $10 billion backlog of needed waste treatment facilities. The President estimated the Federal share of constructing those facilities would be $4 billion and, in his environmental message, recommended funding that $4 billion over a 9-year period with authority to obligate these funds in 4 years
Since that message, additional information has been provided to the Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution, which indicates that the Federal Government intends to fund $3.2 billion of that $10 billion in the next 4 years. The remaining $800 million will be made available at the rate of $200 million a year to fund projects which have been approved for reimbursement and which the States are expected to fund ahead of the availability of Federal grants.
Since the President’s message on the environment, additional information has been provided the Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution which suggests that the pending proposals for Federal. funding are even less adequate than originally suggested. According to a study provided by the National League of Cities-U.S. Conference of Mayors, retirement of the backlog of waste treatment plants will cost an estimated $33 to $37 billion. In other words, the $3.2 billion represents something less than 10 percent of the actual cost.
After Labor Day, the Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution will begin to mark up pending water pollution legislation. These figures, as well as other information available to the Subcommittee, will be the basis for determining the degree of funding to be provided for this program. I only mention these figures now so that my colleagues will be aware of the fact that this program will be expensive and will require a continued massive injection of high priority of Federal funds.
Mr President, I ask unanimous consent to insert at this point in the RECORD a, staff memorandum on this subject.
There being no objection, the memorandum was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
AUGUST 21, 1970
To: Senator EDMUND S, MUSKIE.
Subject: Estimates of Federal Cost for Grants for Waste Treatment Plants
According to information developed by the Administration, there is a backlog of grant requests in excess of funds available for obligation of $132 million. According to the same information, the proposed appropriation of $1 billion together with the $435 million carryover from 1970, will meet or exceed by varying amounts the estimated needs of 41 states, and will fall short of the estimated needs of 13 States.
At such time as the funds, are reallocated from the first 41 states the reallocated amount will be less than the demand of the other states by the above mentioned $132 million. This is due to New York’s demand of $504 million which, in fact, exceeds their eligibility for funds under the Clean Water Restoration Act of 1966.
The Administration now estimates reimbursements to be $197 million. I understand that the new figure is the amount actually advanced by the states for the Federal share of project costs.
It does not include the Federal share that will be advanced for projects approved but not under construction, nor does it include the Federal share of the remaining portion of projects under construction. In other words, it only represents the actual out-of-pocket cost that the Federal Government would have incurred had adequate funds been available to fully fund these projects. The earlier reimbursement figure of $814 million has been deleted from these calculations except for the $197 million actually owed.
These are projects which have been approved and for which the states have allocated a portion of Federal funds for preceding years, but on which construction has not begun, and for which no actual funds have been expended. The Federal obligation for these projects is in excess of $600 million, an amount which should be a part of any calculation of demand for Federal funds. If the amount is included, the total demand would be $2.28 billion.