Trent Lott: “I rise today to urge action to foster public/private partnerships for wastewater treatment facilities. Today, Federal…”

“I rise today to urge action to foster public/private partnerships for wastewater treatment facilities. Today, Federal regulations and the tax code inhibit the ability of State and local governments to create public/private partnerships. By getting Washington out of the way, local governments can acquire the much needed freedom to better manage competing demands for scarce governmental resources, and to make infrastructure and servicing decisions that are best for their citizens and the environment. What, my colleagues might ask, are public/private partnerships, and why do they make good sense for wastewater treatment? The answer is that public/private partnerships are voluntary, cooperative arrangements between a State or local government and a private sector entity whereby that private sector entity agrees to perform a public purpose service that would otherwise require the government to perform as well as pay for the service. In the wastewater treatment context, for example, it involves a private entity building, improving, maintaining, and operating, under long-term lease or as owner, sewage treatment plants.”