Joe Barton: “I support the clean water bill, H.R. 961. Among its many good provisions, which have already been described and…”

“I support the clean water bill, H.R. 961. Among its many good provisions, which have already been described and extolled, is a commonsense solution to an issue that has unnecessarily burdened cities in my district, as well as many others, regarding separate "Sanitary Systems Overflows" [SSO's]. H.R. 961 instructs the EPA to develop a reasonable, flexible, consistent, and economically feasible approach for controlling discharges from SSO's. It also instructs them to stop, review, and modify enforcement actions for projects required under the old policy. While overinterpreting the Clean Water Act, the EPA has required cities with SSO systems, like Dallas and Fort Worth in my district, to eliminate all overflows. The overflows in question do not present a public health or water quality concern. Yet, to date, the EPA has forced cities in Texas alone to begin hundreds of millions of dollars of work to eliminate all overflows. This bill will correct this situation.”