Federal Logic - Stormwater In DC

On one hand the EPA, a federal agency, is requiring DC to take actions about stormwater runoff - on the other hand............ sort of a take with one hand, give with another......... definetely an example of the right hand not talking with the left hand............ or maybe the one hand consciously obstructing the other.....

Feds say they won't pay D.C. for stormwater runoff fees

By: Alana Goodman
Examiner Staff Writer
April 28, 2010

Federal government agencies are refusing to pay fees for new federally mandated District environmental regulations, and D.C. officials say that the expense may be passed on to city residents.

The Environmental Protection Agency took control of stormwater regulations in D.C. last spring, in an effort to help restore the Anacostia River and in response to an executive order by President Obama. Under the new system, the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority changed its fee structure for stormwater runoff, charging landowners by square footage instead of by the number of people who utilize the property.

But several federal agencies have balked at the city's new rules, arguing that they should be exempt from the fees under a law that exempts federal buildings from paying property taxes.

"[B]ased upon our preliminary review, the [stormwater] charges adopted by the District appear to be a tax on property owners," an attorney forthe Government Accountability Office wrote in an April 13 letter to WASA. "Accordingly, we are instructing the Department of Treasury not to make a payment to the District from GAO's appropriations."

The Department of Defense also is refusing to pay up and snubbed the fees as an "impermissible tax on the federal government," a top military official wrote in an April 15 letter to WASA.

WASA denies that the new rate structure represents a property tax. "It's a fee, because it's directly related to a service that is rendered by our agency," WASA spokesman Alan Heymann said.

If the federal government doesn't pay, WASA says the approximate $2 million cost might be passed on to local residents. "The money has to come from someplace, and that someplace is our ratepayers," Heymann said.

D.C. Councilwoman Mary Cheh called the situation "extraordinarily concerning to us all."

"If [the federal agencies] don't pay it, the alternative is to spread it out over the other ratepayers of the district," she said.

WASA officials will be meeting with the GAO to attempt to negotiate on the matter. Other options may include another restructuring of the fee system or legal action.

"We don't want to go to court about it," Cheh said. "But, it may be that we might have to go to court about it."

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/Feds-say-they-won_t-pay-D_C_-for-stormwater-runoff-fees-92258154.html