A bill requiring the federal government to pay its share of local stormwater fees has hit President Obama’s desk and, once signed into law, will add millions of dollars to the District’s coffers to help reduce how much of the city’s pollutants reach the Chesapeake Bay. The bill holds the federal government responsible for paying local stormwater fees, including the fee assessed by the District’s Department of the Environment. Federal agencies have been declaring themselves exempt from paying the fees, arguing that the levies are actually taxes from which the government is exempt.
Once signed into law, the bill would prevent federal agencies from classifying the fees as taxes and “remove all ambiguity about the responsibility of the federal government to pay these normal and customary stormwater fees,” said Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., who co-sponsored the bill in the Senate.
Assessing the fee against federal property will generate $13.4 million a year in revenue for the District, according to Christophe Tulou, director of the District Department of the Environment. About 20 percent of all property in the District, exempted because it is owned by the federal government, will now be affected by the stormwater fee.
The fee is charged based on the amount of impervious surface area, such as rooftops or parking lots, is located on a property. Rainwater running off these surfaces enters the District’s sewer system and contributes to pollution in local rivers and streams, according to officials.
The bill is also vital to covering the cost of the District’s plans to reduce pollution in the Chesapeake Bay, according to Doug Siglin, legislative director for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. District officials submitted that plan to the Environmental Protection Agency in November. It relies on the stormwater fees to help defray the cost of new environmental measures.
“As these watershed implementation plans are finalized, this is a technique that localities are going to be using more often,” Siglin said. “If they have federal property, they can count on that revenue as well.”
