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7. Require Federal agencies to upgrade their polluted 

 runotr prevention programs. The precipilous declines of 

 salmonid species in the Pacific northwest and the western 

 Intermountain region is due in large measure to polluted runoff and 

 hydromodification and is stark testimony to the need for improved 

 runoff controls on federal lands. We support the Oberstar approach 

 to this task. The Oberstar bill would require the President, on behalf 

 of all federal land management agencies, to promulgate polluted 

 runoff control regulations that would result in full compliance with 

 water quality standards and designated uses within 10 years. 

 Further, the Oberstar bill would require federal agencies to review, 

 and revise as necessary, all permitted activites on federal lands (such 

 as timber sales or mining operations) to ensure that those activites 

 were in compliance with the new regulations. The Senate bill 

 contains provisions similar to these; the Mineta/Boehlert bill does 

 not. 



8. Substantial additional funding is required to 

 implement the new Section 319 program. All interests who 

 are serious about curbing polluted runoff agree that substantial new 

 money must be provided to EPA, the states, USDA and individual 

 landowners to assist with implementation. We support the 

 Oberstar, Senate, and Mineta/Boehlert bills, all of which propose 

 large increase in Section 319. The Oberstar bill proposes increasing 

 the Section 319 funding authorization level to $500 million in FY 

 1995. The Mineta/Boehlert bill proposes boosting funding to up to 

 $500 million over a five year period. The Senate bill proposes $600 

 million by FY 1999, and the Administration proposes $100 million. 

 Further, considerably more funding is required for the Farm Bill 

 conservation programs to help finance the various site level plans 

 and management measures that the revised Section 319 program 

 will require of farmers. 



Critics will call a revised Section 319 program an "unfunded 

 mandate." We believe that if Congress strengthens polluted runoff 

 mandates and raises the priority of solving this problem, then 

 funding will be forthcoming. The Farm Bill conservation programs, 

 such as the WQIP, have withered on the vine because many 

 agriculture groups and Congress have given it a low priority. If the 

 CWA made new polluted runoff requirements of agricultural 

 stakeholders, that funding priority would change. Finally, consider 

 the history of Section 319 funding. In the face of our worst federal 

 budget deficits. Section 319 has risen from zero funding in the late 



