Transcript COG Bay Policy Committee Some Recent Developments Karl Berger Dept. of Environmental Programs Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.

COG Bay Policy Committee
Some Recent Developments
Karl Berger
Dept. of Environmental Programs
Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments
2
WRTC Meeting
09/06/13
Outline
• Regional Water Quality Forum
• Joint CBPC – CEEPC meeting
• New Bay Agreement Comments – (covered
separately)
• Participation in National Affordability Dialogue
• Future Developments
3
WRTC Meeting
09/06/13
Regional Water Quality Forum in May
• Attendance
Shawn Garvin, Ellen Gilinsky, Jon Capacasa, EPA Region III Jeff Corbin -- EPA
Diane Davis -- District of Columbia
Doug Domenech -- Virginia
Robert Summers -- Maryland
• Issues
▫ Affordability; need to address aging infrastructure
▫ Flexibility in permitting; allowing for innovation
▫ Need for greater public awareness
• Next Steps
▫ Organize regional dialogue on challenges of water resource
infrastructure
▫ Gather regional fee data on wastewater, drinking water, and stormwater
costs
▫ Develop a regional water quality education effort in partnership with
EPA, states
4
WRTC Meeting
09/06/13
Joint CBPC – CEEPC meeting in July
Highlights
▫ Energy-Water Nexus
 Address trade-off between measures that improve water quality while
increasing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions
 Work to have energy and emission concerns addressed in water
quality permits
▫ Infrastructure Resilience and Disaster Preparedness
 Make infrastructure more resilient to natural disasters
▫ Tree Canopy
 Better document benefits of urban tree canopy on air pollution
reduction, energy savings and water pollution reduction
 Work with bay program to explore credit for urban tree canopy in
watershed model
5
WRTC Meeting
09/06/13
National Affordability Dialogue
• November 2012 presentation to CBPC by U. S.
Conference of Mayors (USCM)
• April dialogue session with EPA
▫ Four COG members attended wearing other hats
 Fairfax County and Frederick County – NACO
 Greenbelt and Gaithersburg – National League of Cities
• Focus on flexible permitting (integrated permits) and
affordability
▫ Use of 2-percent median household income as threshold does not work
6
WRTC Meeting
09/06/13
Upcoming Developments
• Potential legislation
▫ USCM has developed proposed legislation to
amend the Clean Water Act
▫ Codifies how EPA should define technically
achievable and economically affordable
• Discussion at Sept. 20 CBPC meeting
• Another national dialogue session with EPA planned
for October