October 3, 2006

Fremen Spence
Chairman
Air Base Acres Improvment and
Service District
604 South Wolcott
Casper, Wyoming 82601

Dear Fremen:

I appreciate knowing your support for increased funding for the Safe Water Drinking Act (SWDA).
Providing the residents of our great state with safe and affordable drinking water can be a difficult
proposition given the litany of federal mandates.  Federal monetary support for our municipalities is
critical for compliance with the SWDA.

Earlier this year, I signed letters to the Senate Agriculture and Interior Appropriations Subcommittees
asking for additional funding to assist rural water initiatives. The first letter asked the Interior
Appropriations Subcommittee to provide $16 million for rural water training and technical assistance
and groundwater protection efforts.  The second letter asked the Agriculture Appropriations
Subcommittee to provide $14 million for Circuit Riders within the Rural Utility Service.  Finally, I asked
for $850 million for USDA Rural Water Grants and Loans to help local communities build and extend
water systems and to allow them to repay the loans over an extended period of time with reasonable
loan rates.

The Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee passed H.R. 5386, the Interior and Environment
Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2007 on June 27, 2006.  The full Appropriations Committee approved
the bill unanimously on June 29, 2006.  Unfortunately, H.R. 5386 has not been considered by the full
Senate to date and it is unlikely that the Senate will consider the bill until after the November elections
because of the limited number of legislative days.  Because of this, Senators Larry Craig (R-ID), Byron
Dorgan (D-ND) and Conrad Burns (R-MT) have not been able to offer their amendment so I have not
been able to review the legislative language.  When the Senate considers H.R. 5386, I will keep your
support in mind for potential amendments to the bill and I will continue to support efforts to assist
Wyoming municipalities comply with the SWDA.
 
Thank you again for contacting me about this important issue.

I want my constituents to have access to a more complete view of Congress and my activities so I
have started a monthly e-newsletter.  It is a brief summary of important issues and happenings.  I
encourage you to sign up on my web page at enzi.senate.gov.  You can unsubscribe at anytime. 

Sincerely,
                       
Michael Enzi, U.S. Senator
Chairman: Health, Education, Labor and Pensions

Washington Update
by U.S. Rep. Barbara Cubin

There’s an old western adage that says “Whiskey is for drinkin,’ but water is for fightin.’” While some
might assert this saying is outdated, folks in our great state would likely agree it still has relevance.

Wyoming and much of the west has battled a severe drought for most of the last seven years.  The
resulting effect has been that our agricultural community and power generators have had to find
creative ways to operate despite the lack of a reliable water supply and Wyoming’s municipalities
have been forced to implement their own conservation strategies.

Wyoming has always been a state that only uses the water it needs, so conservation comes naturally
to most folks.  But taking shorter showers and watering our lawn less often isn’t enough to address
our growing need for this renewable yet increasingly scarce resource.  We must also find ways to use
our water supplies more efficiently, ensure our existing storage facilities are sufficient to capture winter
run-off, and find new ways to reuse waters produced from energy development for other purposes,
such as irrigation.  These results will only be realized through shared efforts at the federal, state,
and local level.

I have been an outspoken advocate for other federal programs vital to our rural water systems.
  Programs such as the USDA’s Rural Drinking Water and Waste Water loan and grant fund and the
rural water Circuit Riders program provide our rural communities with the training, expertise and
hands-on technical assistance to not only better manage the water systems already in place, but work
to expand or improve those systems to meet local needs. 

Despite these successful programs, many Wyoming communities still find it increasingly difficult to
meet the bureaucratic jumble of federal regulations and mandates placed on rural water systems. 
I know that every mayor, city manager, and city council in our state shares my desire to see the safest,
cleanest, and most affordable water provided to Wyoming’s citizens. 

However, even the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has determined that there are a handful
of EPA regulations that unfairly burden our smallest communities.  These communities often require
additional flexibility, time, and resources to meet all applicable federal regulations.  So I support the
efforts of Western lawmakers like Senator Larry Craig (R-ID), who is working on a provision in an
annual appropriations bill to grant a moratorium of civil fines imposed on these smaller localities for
regulations that EPA has found unaffordable in small communities.  I’ll continue to work with my
western colleagues to push common-sense solutions like this one.