News and Press Releases :: June 24, 2009

Terry Succeeds in Securing Federal Funding for Omaha's Sewer Project

WASHINGTON- Congressman Lee Terry (R-NE) is pleased to announce the city of Omaha, Nebraska is on track to receive $500,000 in federal funding for the combined sewer overflow project. Congressman Terry fought long and hard to get the city funding for this unfunded mandate by the Environmental Protection Agency.
 
“Omaha faces a burdensome and unfunded mandate by the EPA to fix the city’s sewer infrastructure,” said Congressman Terry.  “This project is greatly needed, but the massive cost of the fix carries a heavy financial toll on the city and its residents.  I am pleased the government has offered to help pay a portion of this important project.  I will continue to be a strong voice on Congress for this critical project.”
 
Federal funding was included in the Interior-Environment Appropriations for FY 2010 that recently passed out of committee.  The legislation is expected to come to the U.S. House floor later this week. Congressman Terry also wrote a letter to President Obama urging him to help fund the astronomical cost of Omaha’s combined sewer separation project.
 

A copy of the letter follows:
 
January 14, 2009
President-Elect Barack Obama
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500
 
 
Dear President Elect Obama:
 
           The Clean Water Act of 1972 requires communities across the country – including Omaha, Nebraska – to undertake one of the largest and most burdensome unfunded federal mandates ever conceived. The admittedly worthwhile goal of this mandate is to make our nations’ waterways swimmable and fishable by separating aging combined sewers.  However, as is often the case, the consequences of providing clean water results in average Americans having to bear significant costs.
 
           The City of Omaha has been required to reduce the number of raw sewage overflows per year to the Missouri River and the Papillion Creek from over fifty down to four.  More importantly, the City has been left with the obligation of paying for this project that is estimated to exceed $1.5 billion.  In Omaha , combined sewers occupy an area of approximately 51 square miles, mostly in older neighborhoods that are populated by middle and lower income families who are living in homes built in the early to mid 1900s.
 
The sewer infrastructure here is old, designed and laid in the 1800s to move wastewater and storm water away from urban areas. In times of wet weather it overflows, often times onto public streets and into private homes.  Beginning in the 1960s the City of Omaha began to take affirmative steps to address this problem, constructing diversionary structures, interceptor sewers and pumping stations to direct sanitary sewage to treatment plants before being discharged into the Missouri River.
 
           In August, 2007 the City of Omaha began taking affirmative steps to address the unfunded mandate placed on it by the federal government.  Current estimates indicate that work will need to continue for the next fifteen to twenty years in order to comply with federal regulations related to sewer overflows.  Total cost estimates for project completion are $1.5 billion and the City anticipates that residential customers could be looking at sewer rates of $50 or more per month. Such a burdensome cost for something as fundamental as water will exact a heavy financial toll on Omaha residents.  The people living in the older and more urban areas of our city are likely to face difficult challenges in the coming years, especially those related to energy costs, food and healthcare.  The economic stimulus bill you are proposing offers a unique opportunity to lessen the impact of federal policy on these families.
 
           As you continue to shape your economic stimulus bill, I urge you to direct significant portions of that money to pay for combined sewer separation projects.
 
The federal government has forced this mandate on at least 772 different communities across the country, requiring a massive expenditure on infrastructure while giving them no means to pay for it. Lessening the burdens of low and middle-income people who are paying for something the federal government imposed on them is the right and fair thing to do.  The proposed stimulus offers a unique opportunity for your new Administration to address ’s infrastructure needs and I urge you to designate a significant portion of that stimulus to address combined sewer separation projects not just in Omaha , but across the country.
 
 
           Sincerely,
 
 
           Lee Terry
           Member of Congress