Status of the State Revolving Funds – not good…

· The total amount of money going to the SRFs is again on the decline and as the “pie” gets smaller, there will be more scrutiny as to how the money is spent, putting items like the Green Project Reserve at-risk.

· The President’s Budget Request for FY12 is about what the finals were for FY11 so we expect that the appropriations will go down from there.

· Some recent critiques of the Green Project Reserve can be found here in House testimony that will be further developed in a GAO report -http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11642t.pdf

· Subsidization – the “additional subsidization” that could be given as grants will be disappearing in FY12, making it harder for non-profits to accept funds w/o a partnership to be able to pay the loan back.

Action Items to Take:

· Asks for your Member of Congress, especially those “champs” (friendly member of Senate Environment & Public Works and Approps Committees and anyone friendly in the House) include:

o Restore funding to the SRFs. Note that while we did not agree on an exact number here, given the political realities people were leaning to asking for more than the President’s request, but not much more. So ask is for at least $1.55 billion for the Clean Water SRF and at least $965 million for the Drinking Water SRF.

o Continue designated funding for sustainable infrastructure including Green Infrastructure and Water Efficiency (the green project reserve) – since the Recovery Act, Congress has designated 20% of the SRF for sustainable approaches to managing our clean and safe water. Demand for this funding was well above availability of funds and these funds represent a cost-effective investment that should continue.

· Background information:

o Water infrastructure needs (EPA’s Gap report) - http://water.epa.gov/infrastructure/sustain/infrastructuregap.cfm

o Green Project reserve (good examples and overviews) – http://water.epa.gov/aboutow/eparecovery/upload/epa-WEB-ar-arra-May2011.pdf, www.americanrivers.org/greenfunding,http://water.epa.gov/aboutow/eparecovery/upload/GPR_Funding_Status_3-17-2010_Final.pdf

o Response to critiques of green reserve as part of GAO testimony prepared by American Rivers – please email me and I’ll send you a copy.

o Recent EPA memo about use of Green Infrastructure as part of enforcement strategy - http://www.epa.gov/npdes/pubs/gi_memo_protectingwaterquality.pdf

State Work – We had people on the call from many states including CA, MN, PA, AL, NM, WI, TN, MA and OR (and probably a few others I missed). Several states are working on updates to ranking criteria and several CWN members are providing comments. Additionally, some state are looking at other changes including eligibility for nonpoint source projects under CWA section 319 and local governments are increasingly using stormwater utilities as a mechanism by which to pay back loans. We got cut a little short on this discussion, but there is a lot state knowledge on this topic so if you’d either like the contact from a specific state or a follow up in this area, please let us know.

Action items to take:

· Let communities, utilities and clean water groups know that Green Reserve funding is available this year and that we need to get good projects in the funding pipeline – a fact sheet to use on FY11 funding is available here: http://act.americanrivers.org/assets/pdfs/green-infrastructure-docs/GreenReserveFunding2011FactSheetFINAL.PDF

· Collect stories of good use of SRF funds – whether for traditional water infrastructure or more innovative approaches, having these stories is helpful when advocating to keep the funding in place.

If you have further questions or comments, please feel free to contact me (kbaer@americanrivers.org), Gayle Killam (gkillam@rivernetwork.org) or Paul Schwartz (pschwartz@cleanwater.org). Please contact Paul with ideas for future calls that would be useful set-up.