Waters Advocacy Coalition

AF&PA: CWRA Will Impose Costs on Manufacturers with Little Environmental Benefit

Today the American Forest and Paper Association (AF&PA), a member of the Waters Advocacy Coalition, shared their concerns with the Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA):

Papermakers are innovators in water quality and long ago many began treating their wastewater via processes that mimic the natural water-cleansing that occurs when water moves through wetlands. Once treated and in compliance with water quality standards this water is returned to the water cycle. However, this successful process could come to a screeching halt under the proposed changes to the Clean Water Act currently being pushed in Congress, the CWRA.

Water treatment processes utilized by the paper industry have become so sophisticated that their discharged water typically has no effect on downstream aquatic life. This was confirmed by a recently-released study by the independent National Council for Air and Stream Improvement which spent a decade examining water quality and aquatic life in four representative streams around the country with discharges from papermaking facilities. The study found that other point sources or naturally-occurring changes often were the cause of any changes that were detected. The results of this peer-reviewed study represent an important milestone for an industry that has worked hard over the past several decades to successfully implement sustainable practices.

Critical to the ongoing successful improvement in water treatment processes by papermakers is the ability to use water treatment ponds that are kept separate from waterways and streams and in which water purification can occur safely without impacting water quality or aquatic life in those waterways. The CWRA would, ironically, subject these separated water treatment ponds to the same high water quality standards as the waterways the treatment ponds are working to protect. In other words, the water in the water treatment system would have to meet water quality standards, which completely negates the purpose of the treatment system itself.

Instead of embracing the existing process as a key component of water quality protection, the legislation recently passed by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee would expand federal authority rather than actually improving water quality enforcement.

Forest landowners require regulatory certainty for water quality compliance and the CWRA creates ambiguity about which activities require a permit. If all water on private land falls under federal jurisdiction, then normal forestry operations could be greatly encumbered with new regulatory burdens with little or no improvement in the environment. Similarly, requiring permits for ditches, culverts, and log ponds imposes costs on manufacturers with little environmental benefit.

The United States forest products industry is committed to protecting and restoring America’s wetland and water resources and we support constructive measures to achieve these goals. Given the many unintended consequences of this legislation – the possibility of overturning state prerogatives, confusing both the agencies and the regulated community by its broad approach and producing endless litigation – AF&PA does not believe that the CWRA is the solution to achieve these goals.