This Week in Washington

This weekly report is written by the American Society of Civil Engineers' Government Relations staff. If you have questions or comments about any items in this report, please contact Brian Pallasch, Michael Charles, Martin Hight, Austin Fulk, or Liz Hermsen by e-mail or at 202/789-2200.

Inside This Week:

• ASCE Sponsors Congressional Briefing on Hurricane & Tornado Season
• Senate to Vote on Major Education Reform Bill, Math & Science Education Amendment Adopted
• House Science Committee Passes Math & Science Education Bills
• House Appropriations Committee Restores USGS Funding
• House Appropriations Committee Fails to Fund Dam Rehabilitation Program
• Bush Calls for More Climate Change Research, Voluntary Controls
• EPA Adopts Radiation Exposure Standards for Yucca Mountain
• Issues Survey -- In Your Mailbox and On-line

   
1. ASCE Sponsors Congressional Briefing on Hurricane & Tornado Season
The Wind Hazard Reduction Coalition, led by ASCE, sponsored a June 13 congressional briefing on the 2001 hurricane and tornado season to provide information about the threats and vulnerabilities of people and structures, and the need for federal research funding to provide improved mitigation, emergency management, and public education.

2001 has already been a busy year for hurricanes and tornadoes. There have been 9 killer tornadoes with 18 deaths reported. In the past week, tropical storm Allison has been responsible for 31 deaths in Texas, Louisiana, and Florida and more than $1 billion in damage in Houston, TX, and possibly $2 billion in damages overall.

ASCE members Steve Leatherman of Florida International University’s International Hurricane Center, Marc Levitan of Louisiana State University’s Hurricane Center, and Kishor Mehta of Texas Tech University’s Wind Engineering Research Center briefed the participants on economic effects, emergency management, evacuation and sheltering, flood and wind threats, mitigation efforts and future research needs.

   
2. SENATE TO VOTE ON MAJOR EDUCATION REFORM BILL, MATH & SCIENCE EDUCATION AMENDMENT ADOPTED
Education issues continue to dominate the debate on Capitol Hill. The U.S. Senate is expected to take final action on S. 1, the education reform bill, on June 14. The Senate adopted late last week an amendment by Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS) that adds engineering departments of universities as eligible partners in the Math and Science Partnerships section of S. 1. The amount of funding authorized for the Math and Science Partnership program was also increased from $500 million to $900 million. Several attempts by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) to add earmarks for school construction funding were defeated. ASCE’s 2001 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure gave the nation’s schools its lowest grade, a D-. Most of the debate centers around the bill’s two main issues: testing and funding. The legislation is available on the Web at http://thomas.loc.gov by doing a “Bill Number” search on S 1.

   
3. HOUSE SCIENCE COMMITTEE PASSES MATH & SCIENCE EDUCATION BILLS
The U.S. House of Representatives Science Committee has completed work on two bills that deal with math and science education programs at the National Science Foundation (NSF). The first bill, H.R. 1858 would authorize $200 million in grants for institutions of higher learning and appropriate nonprofit organizations to establish math and science education partnerships to improve math and science teaching. The measure would also provide for education research; expand the National Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology Education Digital Library; establish centers for research on education and learning; and create a scholarship program designed to recruit and train math and science teachers. The bill would authorize a total of $260 million in new funding and was introduced by Science Committee Chair Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY).

The second bill, H.R. 100, would authorize $75 million to create a master teachers program at NSF. The legislation would also fund a study to determine best practices for teaching math and science, fund teacher training in the use of information technologies, fund pilot programs on distant learning, and provides scholarships for teachers to participate in research programs. H.R. 100 was introduced by Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-MI), a long-time champion of math and science education.

Copies of all bills are available on the Web at http://thomas.loc.gov by doing a “Bill Number” search.

   
4. HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE RESTORES USGS FUNDING
The House Appropriations Committee voted June 13 to appropriate $900 million for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in Fiscal Year 2002, reversing a $90 million cut in the USGS budget request recommended by President Bush and providing an $18 million increase over FY 2001 for USGS.

ASCE was critical of the proposed cuts in the USGS budget in testimony submitted to the Appropriations Committee in April. "ASCE is deeply distressed by the proposed funding cuts of $43 million (21 percent) in the water resources investigations budget for the USGS from the appropriated level in FY 2001. The proposed [USGS] funding level for water resources of $159 million in FY 2002 simply is not adequate to maintain the vitally necessary programs," ASCE said. ASCE’s testimony is available on the Web at /pdf/usgsfy2002.pdf.

   
5. HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE FAILS TO FUND DAM REHABILITATION PROGRAM
The U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee on June 13 failed to include a provision to fund the small watershed dam rehabilitation program in the Fiscal Year 2002 Agriculture Appropriations bill. The Small Watershed Dam Rehabilitation Program, as authorized in P.L. 106-472 Section 313, would provide a cost-sharing fund for rehabilitating or decommissioning small watershed dams.

Many small watershed dams do not meet minimum state dam safety standards and many counted on for flood protection can no longer provide it due to excessive sedimentation and significant increases in runoff from development within the watershed. The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has estimated the cost of rehabilitating small watershed dams at $542 million. While the average rehabilitation cost per dam is approximately $242,000, local sponsors typically do not have sufficient financial resources to complete these necessary repairs to assure the safety and critical functions of these dams.

ASCE believes that the federal government must recognize the urgent need to provide assistance to maintain or properly decommission these dams. ASCE views funding of dam safety repairs as a critical need. In the recently released Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, dams received a grade of D. Nearly 2,000 unsafe dams have been identified in this country and many of the owners do not have sufficient funding sources for rehabilitation.

In April 11 testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food & Drug Administration and Related Agencies, ASCE urged the committee to approve full funding at the authorized level of $10 million, and an additional $5 million to make up for funding not received in FY 2001. Additionally, ASCE would like to see the rehabilitation funds be made a separate line item in the NRCS budget in an effort to better track the rehabilitation funding approved by Congress. “While this is well short of the demonstrated need of $60 million a year for 10 years, it would be a step in the right direction,” ASCE said.

A complete copy of the ASCE’s testimony is available in PDF format at /pdf/agrify2002.pdf.

   
6. BUSH CALLS FOR MORE CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH, VOLUNTARY CONTROLS
Saying climate change is a global problem, President Bush said on June 11 that more research is needed into the causes of increases in historic temperature patterns.

"Climate change, with its potential to impact every corner of the world, is an issue that must be addressed by the world," the president said. "We do not know how much effect natural fluctuations in climate may have had on warming. We do not know how much our climate could, or will, change in the future. We do not know how fast change will occur, or even how some of our actions could impact it."

Bush said a White House working group on climate change will help the United States "lead the way by advancing the science on climate change, advancing the technology to monitor and reduce greenhouse gases, and creating partnerships within our hemisphere and beyond to monitor and measure and mitigate emissions."

   
7. EPA ADOPTS RADIATION EXPOSURE STANDARDS FOR YUCCA MOUNTAIN
On June 13, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced final public health and environmental protection standards for Yucca Mountain, the proposed repository for spent fuel from the nation's commercial nuclear power plants.

But Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) said in Las Vegas on May 31 that Yucca Mountain would never receive high-level radioactive wastes from commercial nuclear power plants in the United States. "I think the Yucca Mountain issue is dead," said Daschle. "As long as [Democrats are] in the majority, it's dead."

The Yucca Mountain standards address all potential sources of radiation exposure from groundwater, air, and soil. The standards are designed to protect the residents closest to the repository at radiological levels that are within the Agency's acceptable risk range for environmental pollutants. This corresponds to a dose limit of no more than 15 millirem per year from all pathways--about twice the exposure of just living in a brick house for a year.

EPA also announced separate standards to protect groundwater. The proposed repository sits above an aquifer that is a critical source of water for irrigation, dairy cattle farming and drinking water. The standard for Yucca Mountain protects groundwater resources to the 4 millirem per year limit established under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Before the site can open and accept radioactive waste by 2010, the Secretary of Energy must recommend, and the President must approve, Yucca Mountain as a safe repository for nuclear waste. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission must determine that the Department of Energy (DOE) can meet EPA's standards and other licensing requirements. DOE would be responsible for the construction, management and operation of the repository. The earliest date the Yucca Mountain repository could be licensed and approved to accept radioactive waste is at least 2010.

For more information about EPA's final public health and environmental protection standards for Yucca Mountain, go to http://www.epa.gov/radiation/yucca.

   
8. ISSUES SURVEY -- IN YOUR MAILBOX AND ON-LINE
The 2002 Issues Survey you probably already received in your mailbox is also available on the World Wide Web! ASCE’s Government Relations Department is asking you, as an important member of our Key Contact Program, to help us set our compass for 2002 on the most important public policy issues for the civil engineering profession at the federal and state/local levels. Your responses to the survey will be compiled into a report for ASCE’s Committee on Government Affairs and Board of Direction to assist in determining our public policy priorities for the second session of the 107th Congress. Please complete the survey by June 29, 2001. If you have any questions, please contact the Government Relations Department at govwash@asce.org or (202) 789-2200.