WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Senate has passed final legislation that will help ensure safe and reliable water infrastructure for communities in Nebraska and across the country. The bill is known as the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act. It includes a bipartisan provision, negotiated by U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), which would modify exemptions for costly EPA regulations that could negatively affect agriculture producers with on-farm fuel storage. The bill now heads to the president’s desk.

Senator Fischer, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, released the following statement:

“The Senate closed an incredibly productive 114^th Congress by successfully passing a bipartisan water infrastructure bill. The bill includes language I promoted that would alleviate regulatory burdens for Nebraska producers who have on-farm fuel storage. These important exemptions provide relief for Nebraskans as they continue their tireless efforts to feed a hungry world.”

The WIIN Act included language Senator Fischer crafted with her colleagues on the EPW committee that provides agriculture producers with a limited exemption from the EPA’s Spill, Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) rule. These EPA regulations, which were originally designed for major oil refineries, would have required farmers and ranchers who have on-farm fuel storage to make costly structural upgrades to their fuel tanks.

The WIIN Act rolls back these regulations by:

• Fully exempting animal feed storage tanks from the SPCC rule, both in terms of aggregate storage and single-tank storage.
• Providing greater flexibility by exempting up to 2,500 gallons of capacity on remote or separate parcels of land (as long as these tanks are not larger than 1,000 gallons each).

Other important provisions for Nebraska in the legislation include: 

• Providing greater flexibility for local, non-federal stakeholders. For example, Natural Resource Districts will be allowed to receive reimbursement during project construction, instead of waiting until a project is completed.
• Authorizing the EPA to review and approve state permitting programs for coal ash disposal units within 180 days of a state’s submitting a program for approval. This addresses the harmful effects of the EPA’s coal ash rule and will help protect Nebraska utilities from citizen suits.
• Providing relief for Nebraska producers in the Northport Irrigation District near Bridgeport, Nebraska. The bill will allow irrigation district land owners to make payments on their portion of construction contract loans to the Bureau of Reclamation. This releases producers from current acre limitations that prevent producers from expanding farms and growing their businesses.