Portman cosponsors effort to stop EPA's dangerous regulation of fire hydrants
U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) has cosponsored bipartisan legislation to bolster fire safety and protect local governments from a dangerous and expensive new mandate.
The bill, introduced by Senators Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and cosponsored by Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), prohibits Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) oversight of fire hydrants.
The need for this bill stems from a recent EPA policy that will require local governments to replace malfunctioning fire hydrants with new independently certified lead-free fire hydrants.
This EPA regulation essentially makes it impossible for local governments to repair fire hydrants or replace them with existing inventory. Additionally, it is uncertain whether fire hydrants that meet the new criteria are actually available for purchase.
“Not only does this onerous, nonsensical regulation do nothing to protect Ohioans from unsafe drinking water, it promotes rampant government waste by forcing communities across Ohio to trash over $1 million of purchased equipment and replacements parts that were paid for on the taxpayers’ dime,” said Portman.
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“Local government budgets are already stretched to the breaking point. Washington must act by January 4th to prevent this burdensome regulation from taking effect. This is yet another example of regulatory overreach and the need for meaningful oversight to reign in excesses of the administrative state.”
“Communities throughout Ohio have paid for inventories of existing water system components that they will not be able to use after January 4, 2014 as the result of the Reduction of Lead in Drinking Water Act.
"Most of these Ohio Communities did not know that the compliance date would include previously purchased fixtures and component inventories,” said Tom Reese, Board Vice President of the Ohio Rural Water Association.
“These inventories are very expensive and the scrapping and subsequent replacement of the same parts would be a real economic hardship in these community systems, many of which are economically disadvantage systems. The use of these inventories would not result in any community violating the EPA lead safety level for drinking water or any risk to public health.”
As a result of this rule, local governments across the country will be forced to leave malfunctioning fire hydrants out-of-service until sufficient numbers of new compliant fire hydrants can be purchased and installed. The cost of purchasing new fire hydrants every time an existing fire hydrant malfunctions will place considerable financial strain on local governments, and place the safety of communities across the country at-risk.
• The city of Cincinnati, Ohio has 185 hydrants in stock, valued at about $250,000. Cincinnati replaced 122 hydrants last year, and is on pace for about the same amount of replacements this year.
• The city of Cleveland, Ohio has 565 hydrants in stock, valued at $653,842. Overall, the city normally purchases between 2,500 and 2,600 new hydrants each year.
• Montgomery County has 22 hydrants in stock, valued at $39,600. The county replaced a total of 55 hydrants over the course of 2012.
Companion legislation was unanimously adopted by the House on Dec. 2.