Norton Ends the 111th Congress with a Big Win Against the Federal Government and for D.C. Residents
Norton Ends the 111th Congress with a Big Win Against the Federal Government and for D.C. Residents
December 23, 2010
WASHINGTON, DC -- Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) yesterday celebrated a big photo-finish victory for the 111th Congress with passage of her bill to require the federal government to pay fees assessed by D.C. and other local governments around the country for the management of stormwater runoff from federal properties. The bill now goes to the President for his signature. "This is an important win for the pocketbooks of D.C. residents, who would have been stuck with significant increases in next year's water bills had the federal government been allowed to exempt itself from fees for stormwater runoff from federal properties," Norton said. "The federal government is the biggest customer of the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority (DC Water). The effect on D.C. residents would have been particularly onerous because the federal government controls a quarter of the land here." However, Norton found allies for her bill in the House and Senate because federal properties are found in many states.
The bill overturns Government Accountability Office (GAO) letters to federal agencies in the District and elsewhere instructing them to cease paying DC Water's Impervious Area Charge. The federally-mandated charge is passed on to all customers to maintain storm sewers and protect local waterways like the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers, which get runoff from impervious surface areas, such as roofs, parking lots, and sidewalks. The greatest number of sources by far are federal agency roofs and similar property controlled by the federal government, such as the parking lots that surround U.S. Capitol office buildings and parking lots maintained for the federal employees at federal agencies. However, the GAO took the position that the fee was a tax and, of course, states and localities cannot tax the federal government. Norton said that the GAO interpretation circumvented the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and its intent, because that law contains no exemption for the federal government. She was particularly concerned also because of the possible effects non-payment by the federal government would have on the 10-year plan for the cleanup of the Anacostia River, which was mandated by her bill, the Anacostia Watershed Initiative, and was rolled out this past spring.