WASHINGTON – By voice vote, the House overwhelmingly passed an amendment by Congressmen Bart Stupak (D-MI), E. Clay Shaw, Jr. (R-FL), Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), and Jeff Miller (R-FL) to the Interior Appropriations Bill that would block the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from finalizing their proposal to allow partially treated sewage to be dumped into our waterways. The victory came just hours after the EPA released a statement that they would not move forward in finalizing their proposal.

“The EPA’s sewage blending proposal would have turned back the clock on 30 years of clean water protection,” Stupak said. “I’m pleased to see the work we’ve done in Congress has forced the EPA to withdraw their proposal and finally do their job to protect the environment. I am even more pleased that the passage of our amendment today sent an even stronger message that Congress does not support a policy that would put public health, environment and industry in danger.”

The EPA’s decision to no longer pursue the November 2003 draft guidance that sought to “blend” filtered, but not adequately treated, human waste with fully treated sewage came after nearly two years of pressure from Congress. In that time, Stupak and other Members of Congress introduced two bills, including the most recent Save Our Waters From Sewage Act, and sent several letters to the EPA strongly opposing the proposal. The latest letter sent in February and was signed by 135 bi-partisan Members of Congress.

Benjamin Grumbles, assistant administrator for the Office of Water said in an EPA press release from earlier today, “Blending is not a long-term solution. Our goal is to reduce overflows and increase treatment of wastewater to protect human health and the environment.”

However, the press release also stated that “EPA will continue to review policy and regulatory alternatives to develop the most feasible approaches to treat wastewater and protect communities, upstream and downstream.” Stupak warned that without the vote on the Stupak/Shaw/Pallone/J Miller Amendment, nothing would prevent the EPA from reintroducing a similar guidance in the future.

“The EPA has been mulling over this policy change for nearly two years,” Stupak said. “It’s about time they recognized this policy proposal is bad for public health, bad for the environment and bad for business. Today, Congress sealed the deal by passing our amendment to make sure this misguided proposal is gone for good.”

An actuality is available at 1-800-320-6091. Enter access code 2764.

Visit “Bart’s News Stand” at www.house.gov/stupak for recent releases on the Sewage bill, amendment and testimony.

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