Norton Introduces Bill to Compel Feds to Pay Same Anti-pollution Water Runoff Fees as D.C. Residents
Norton Introduces Bill to Compel Feds to Pay Same Anti-pollution Water Runoff Fees as D.C. Residents
WASHINGTON, DC - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) introduced a bill today 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 would overturn Government Accountability Office letters to federal agencies in the District of Columbia and elsewhere instructing the federal agencies not to pay the District of Columbia's Water and Sewer Authority's (D.C. Water) Impervious Area Charge. The Impervious Area Charge is a federally mandated charge assessed by D.C. Water to maintain storm sewers and protect local waterways like the Anacostia and Potomac rivers, which are heavily polluted because of stormwater runoff from impervious surface areas such as roofs, parking lots, and sidewalks. The fee helps to reduce pollutants from stormwater and improve water quality. However, the federal government stopped paying its bills, claiming it was a tax, which will ultimately pass the cost onto District residents.
"Oh no you don't," said Norton. "All rate payers are equal. It is simply unfair for the federal government to require all city residents and companies to pay a pollution management fee that is included in our water bills, then in-turn, exempt the federal government, also a D.C. Water customer, from paying the very fee it mandated. In a city such as this one, where almost a quarter of the land belongs to the federal government, federal exemption on what is regarded as a fee, not a tax, throughout the United States, will impose a burdensome cost on ordinary citizens. Importantly, my bill simply would require the federal government to continue paying the stormwater fees it incurs not only in the District, but in other jurisdictions as well."
Norton previously passed a bill as part of the Water Resources Development Act of 2007 to secure funding for the cleanup of the Anacostia River. She said that she does not intend to allow the federal government to apply its exemption from taxes to a fee it is obligated to pay as a D.C. Water customer.