Coalition to Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Regarding the Water Quality Financing Act

To: The Honorable James Oberstar

Chairperson

House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

Washington, DC 20515

From: The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition

Dear Chairman Oberstar:

On behalf of the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition, we support your efforts to pass the Water Quality Financing Act of 2009. This legislation will help close the approximately $3.2 billion to $11.1 billion annual gap that exists between wastewater infrastructure needs and current funding. It also protects public health by requiring notification of sewer overflows and invests over $750 million for the Great Lakes Legacy Act, which is needed to accelerate the cleanup of toxic hot spots in the Great Lakes. Even with these provisions, we do have two concerns that we hope can be addressed during the legislative process…