Introduction of A Bill to Amend the Save Our Seas Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, today, I introduce a bill that would make the District of Columbia and the territories expressly eligible for the wastewater infrastructure and trash-free water grants established by section 302 of the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act. These grants, respectively, fund the construction of improvements to reduce and remove plastic waste and post-consumer materials from wastewater, and support projects to reduce the quantity of solid waste in bodies of water.

The Save Our Seas 2.0 Act makes local governments expressly eligible for these two grants, but it does not make D.C. and the territories expressly eligible for them, even though D.C. and the territories, like local governments, conduct the activities contemplated by these grants.

In 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) held that D.C. was not a local government for purposes of the post-consumer materials management infrastructure grants established by section 302 of the Save Our Seas Act 2.0. I am concerned that the EPA will hold that D.C. and the territories are not local governments for purposes of the wastewater infrastructure and trash-free water grants established by section 302 of the Save Our Seas Act 2.0. This bill would ensure that D.C. and the territories are expressly eligible for the wastewater infrastructure and trash-free water grants.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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