Waters Advocacy Coalition

Edison Electric Institute: Protect the Federal-State Partnership Established under the Clean Water Act

Electric companies fully support the protection of the nation’s waters and the federal-state partnership established under the Clean Water Act that provides that protection. Water is crucial to the generation of electricity, and utilities spend millions of dollars every year to protect and improve water quality, including the restoration of wetlands. Our efforts in this area have not diminished since the Supreme Court in 2006 affirmed the jurisdictional partnership of the states and the federal government under the Act.

Proposed legislation – specifically Senate bill 787 as amended by the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee (EPW) on June 18 — will not restore, but vastly expand jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act. By replacing the term “navigable waters” with the newly defined term “waters of the United States,” the bill will eliminate the traditional basis for Clean Water Act jurisdiction under the Commerce Clause. This change will expand the scope of federal jurisdiction to include, per the new definition, “all interstate and intrastate water.”

The result is that the 37-year-old partnership between federal interests and states in applying the Act would be drawn to a close, with the practical result of federalizing every drop of water in the country, with consequences not yet well examined or understood.

The resulting new water treatment guidelines would require the installation of new systems to make sure water discharged into waste treatment systems meet water quality standards. The cost for such an effort could easily run into excess of tens of billions dollars without a commensurate environmental benefit. The costs for electric utilities could be prohibitive to the point that older plants would have to be closed and the cost of electricity for everyone would increase.

There is still much that we can do to improve our nation’s waters, but extending federal jurisdiction to every drop of water, however small or isolated, is not necessary to accomplish that task. Through updated regulations, the federal government can clarify the scope of federal jurisdiction. Then Congress could consider stepping in to address the protection of essential waters clearly identified as falling in between the protections established by the states and the federal government.