Legislative Policies for the 2005 Legislative Session

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vs. industrial permittees). The State should provide a clear accounting of the basis for any permit fees and of the allocation of fee revenue to permit program activities. The City also believes more attention and resources should be focused d• Rate Review on the current backlog of expired NPDES permits. The City further encourages the State to define the responsibility of non-point sources in the funding strategy The City opposes Public Utility Commission involvement in evaluating local for water quality program support. solid waste collection rate requests. Independent or collaborative efforts among organizations such as the League of Oregon Cities, Department of Environmental Local governments are required to establish fair and equitable user charges, to Quality, Association of Oregon Counties, Association of Oregon Recyclers and .sewerage system customers; a similar level of accountability should be Oregon Refuse and Recycling Association instead could assist counties and cities incorporated into the DEQ's permit fee structure. with rate review and provide other technical assistance. b. Storm Water e• Rec cline User Fees The City is committed to addressing storm water pollution. The City has The City supports exploration of user fees as one possible option to fund developed a comprehensive storm water management plan, and has applied for recycling and resource recovery programs. and received an NPDES permit for municipal storm water discharges. The City believes that additional requirements for storm water control should only be f. Responsible Materials Processine implemented following evaluation and documentation of the effectiveness of the management practices in the existing plan, and of the continuing need for water The City encourages the State to provide greater support to businesses and quality improvements. The City supports the use of resources to coordinate nonprofit agencies that process materials for reuse and recycling, Further, the municipal urban storm water permitting activities between the regions of the City supports incentives and/or requirements for manufactured products to be state, including establishing procedures for storage and analysis of statewide assembled in such a manner that they can be disassembled for reuse and storm water monitoring data. recycling. The City has established a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the DEQ to administer portions of the Deparhnent's obligations under the industrial storm water program within the City limits. Included in the MOU is acost-sharing B• WATER AND ENDANGERED SPECIES formula for the permit fees associated with the program. The City is interested in exploring additional innovative partnership agreements with the state and local 1 • WATER QUALITY agencies for the effective implementation of the storm water regulations. a• DEQ Permit Fees/Water Quality Pro ram Fundine c• Non-Point Sources The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality issues National Pollution National and state water quality monitoring data indicates that non-point sources Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) and Water Pollution .Control Facility contribute most of the remaining pollution to surface waters. The City permits. Permit fees include an application fee and an annual permit contributed to and supports the Willamette River Basin Water Quality Study maintenance fee. which identifies non-point source pollution in the Willamette Basin. The City believes that non-point sources must be considered and included when water The City opposes any effort to increase reliance on fees from local government to quality management plans are developed in the Willamette Basin. The City support statewide programs, believing that statewide water quality programs supports the continued use of State resources to fund comprehensive basin should be funded from the State General Fund. Permit and other fees should be studies of water quality, such as the Willamette River Basin Water Quality Study, based only upon the actual cost of issuing and administering the permits for the and will continue to support related efforts such as the McKenzie River different permittees. The distribution of the costs should not result in one class Watershed Council and the Long Tom Watershed Council. of permittees subsidizing another class (large vs. small permittees or municipal City of Eugene Legislative Policies, 2005 Session 44 City of Eugene Legislative Policies, 2005 Session 4$