News
Administration Releases Priorities for Speeding Energy Infrastructure Projects
The Biden administration released a set of priorities related to speeding permitting associated with energy infrastructure projects for Congressional negotiators as they work on permitting reform legislation. The priorities are designed to speed energy infrastructure development and help the country meet its clean energy goals. The Administration sets forth a set of objectives for permitting reforms that include: Accelerate Deployment of Critical Electric Transmission; Accelerate Energy Project Permitting on Federal Lands; Modernize America’s 150-Year-Old Mining Laws and Responsibly Develop Domestic Critical Minerals; Deploy Hydrogen and Carbon Dioxide Infrastructure; and Incentivize Redevelopment for Clean Energy Deployment. The fact sheet also offers up a series of recommendations for permitting reform: Improve Permitting Efficiency and Predictability; Enhance Data Collection Needed for Effective Permitting; Cut Duplicative and Burdensome Analysis and Reviews; Improve Community Engagement; Address Gaps in the Permitting Workforce; Establish Clearer Requirements for Mitigating Environmental Harms; and Incentivize State and Local Permitting Reform and Standardization. The recommendation to incentivize state and local permitting reform and standardization include a recommendation that State and local governments work to improve permitting processes and suggests the federal government could offer states financial incentives to standardize or streamline state permitting processes. States like Georgia and New York have successfully piloted models like the co-location of Federal and state permitting officials or the development of a one-stop shop for all necessary state permits and environmental reviews. According to the Administration, legislation that either standardizes state-level permitting processes or provides financial incentives for states that adopt best practices would significantly accelerate the delivery of public and privately funded projects.
Request Water Technical Assistance
Using the Water Technical Assistance (WaterTA) Request Form, communities can request no-cost direct WaterTA to evaluate their drinking water, wastewater, stormwater infrastructure, and water quality improvement needs.
EPA’s WaterTA programs offer a wide range of services, including:
- Identifying water infrastructure or water quality improvement needs,
- Planning for capital improvements,
- Building technical, managerial, and financial capacity, and
Preparing for and developing application materials for financing a project through the State Revolving Funds (SRFs) or other EPA-supported funding opportunities.
Association Updates
State/EPA Communications SNC NECI Communications Workgroup
ACWA and EPA are looking for a few more state/interstate/territory volunteers to join the SNC NECI Communications and Outreach Workgroup. The goals of this workgroup included: enhancing the national deterrence message as it relates to the SNC (what to communicate and where, how to amplify, etc.); promoting direct engagement with, and the empowerment of, overburdened communities in the context of the SNC (what products make sense, educating communities, etc.); and gathering feedback from states and regions on communication and outreach products and potential outlets (e.g., compliance advisories, resource bulletins, select practices, etc.). The workgroup will meet once a month and will periodically review documents. If you are interested in joining this workgroup, please contact Cezanne Lojeski at lojeski.cezanne@epa.gov.
2023 National Pretreatment Coordinators Workshop
May 15 at 8:00 am – May 16 at 5:00 pm
Boise, ID
This meeting is intended to help support states and EPA to build staff capacity, identify challenges & barriers to pretreatment program implementation, highlight opportunities for program improvement & enhancement, showcase pretreatment program innovations, assist with analysis of training, guidance, tools, and other support material needs, improve administrative efficiencies, clarify roles and responsibilities, build strong linkages to other programs, improve data management, identify program areas where targeted technical assistance would be most beneficial, and attempt to solve some of the most intractable pretreatment program issues.
A final agenda can be found here: 2023 National Pretreatment Coordinators Workshop
ACWA 2023 Annual Meeting – Hotel Reservations Open Now
Venue:
The Grove Hotel
245 S. Capitol Blvd.
Boise, ID 83702
Reserve Your Lodging to the Grove Hotel HERE. Cut-off Date for Guaranteed Room Rate Ends July 14, 2023. For more information regarding the ACWA 2023 Annual Meeting, visit our website here.
ACWA Legal Affairs Committee Quarterly Call
The next ACWA LAC committee call will be held on June 21 from 2-3 PM ET.
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEsd-CsrTwtE9zY3QwbfthFE8fEeMENLceg
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
We will be discussing 2 cases:
South Carolina Coastal Conservation League, et al., v. EPA, et al.
Dakota Finance, LLC, et al. v. Naturaland Trust et al.
Meetings and Webinars
White House Council on Environmental Quality Environmental Justice Briefing
Wednesday, May 17th at 4:00 PM ET | Register Here
You are invited to a White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Environmental Justice Briefing on Wednesday, May 17th at 4:00 PM ET to hear from CEQ officials about recent announcements from the Biden-Harris Administration that will deepen the Administration’s whole-of-government commitment to environmental justice.
Please feel free to share this invitation widely with your colleagues and stakeholders interested in attending.
EPA Biosolids Webinar Series: Updates to “Pathogens and Vector Attraction in Sewage Sludge”
Tuesday May 23, 2023 @ 3pm Eastern, 12pm Pacific | REGISTER HERE
Join the EPA Office of Water Biosolids Program and EPA Office of Research and Development for a webinar on the updated “Pathogens and Vector Attraction in Sewage Sludge” document.
This updated version published in 2023 improves flow, removes redundancies and contains updates to clarify pathogen Alternatives 3 and 4 for Class A sewage sludge. The methods section has been updated to include the U.S. EPA methods for testing sewage sludge for the presence of fecal coliforms and Salmonella. The updated document is available on the EPA website here: https://www.epa.gov/biosolids/control-pathogens-and-vector-attraction-sewage-sludge.
Small Drinking Water Systems Webinar Series: Harmful Algal Blooms
May 30, 2023 from 2-3:30 EST | Register Here
Presenter: Tom Waters, PE, EPA OGWDW
This presentation will provide an overview of technical assistance provided to the Government of El Salvador in 2020 due to a HAB that caused widespread taste and odor complaints. The presentation will demonstrate how lessons-learned from working with U.S. utilities on drinking water treatment optimization for HABs were leveraged to assist international partners.
Presenter: Jorge Santo Domingo, PhD, EPA ORD
This presentation will focus on the detection and quantification of cyanobacterial groups and cyanotoxin genes implicated in HABs. Results of next generation sequence analysis and qPCR/RT-qPCR will be discussed, along with monitoring functional genes to detect cyanobacteria.
Job Opportunities
Field & Laboratory Operations Coordinator (Environmental Analyst IV)
Location: Worcester, MA
Closing Date: Open until filled (first consideration will be given to applications received within 14 days of the May 8th posting date)
Under the supervision of the Water Quality Monitoring Section Chief, the Field & Laboratory Operations Coordinator will oversee all in-house field preparation and laboratory activities for WPP and manage internal and contractor-assisted monitoring projects.
For more information and to apply, click here.
Senior Nonpoint Source Pollution Control Specialist/Team Lead (Environmental Specialist 4)
Location: Lacey, WA
Closing Date: Continuous
You will be the region-wide team lead, responsible for assigning, instructing, checking, evaluating, and correcting the work for the region’s Nonpoint Source Pollution Environmental Specialists. You will work to help the team reach consistent water quality improvement goals.
For more information and to apply, click here.
