Review - HR 4597 Introduced - Clean Water SRF Parity

Back in July, Rep Garamendi (D,CA) introduced HR 4597, the Clean Water SRF Parity Act. The bill amends 33 USC 1383 to expand the potential use of funds by qualified non-profit entities and to allow funds from the State water pollution control revolving fund to be used for privately owned treatment works. No additional funds are authorized by this bill.

Both Garamendi and his sole cosponsor {Rep Bost (R,IL)} are members of the Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure to which this bill was assigned for consideration. This means that there may be enough influence available to see this bill considered in both the Subcommittee and Committee. I do not see anything in this bill that would draw any organized opposition to the bill. I suspect that the bill would receive significant bipartisan support if it were considered. That should mean that the House could take up the bill under the suspension of the rules process.

While ‘cybersecurity’ is generally included in the broader term ‘security’, this bill would have been a perfect time to amend §1383(c)(10) to read:

“(10) for measures to increase the security or cybersecurity of publicly owned treatment works;”

For additional details about the provisions in this bill, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-4597-introduced - subscription required. 

CFATS Knowledge Center Update – 08-02-13

Today the folks at ISCD updated their CFATS Knowledge Center web site. The added a link to the August 2013 CFATS Update to the Documentation section, updated the response to FAQ 1407 and add a new FAQ and response, FAQ 1732.

FAQ 1407

You have to look really close to find the change in the response to FAQ 1407. The first link in the answer (https://csat.dhs.gov/csat) was actually the URL” http://click.csat.ornl.gov/csat”. That link probably hasn't worked in some time. The new version has changed the actual URL to what is shown on the page.

BTW: This revised FAQ is not mentioned in the ‘Latest News’ section of the CFATS Knowledge Center. I suppose that it really isn’t necessary since this is a change in links not procedure. This makes the change very transparent (it took me some time to track it down). The new FAQ below is appropriately advertised in the ‘Latest News’ section.

FAQ 1732

This new FAQ is:

“How can I determine if my facility’s wastewater treatment operation meets the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) exemption under 6 CFR 27.110(b) for the Federal Water Pollution Control Act?”

The authorizing language for the CFATS program (the infamous §550 of the Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2007 Public Law 109-295) exempts “Treatment Works as defined in section 212 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, Public Law 92-500, as amended”. To meet this exemption {codified in 6 CFR §27.110(b)} a treatment works must be permitted under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES).

This FAQ response explains this exemption and provides a link to an EPA site that provides more information on the NPDES (along with an explanation of the application process). It also goes on to explain that:

“A copy of the facility’s most recent active NPDES permit should be submitted to DHS as proof that the wastewater treatment portion of the facility should be exempt from CFATS.”