Alaska State Legislature
News from the House Majority

Jerry Ritter, House Majority Press Secretary
State Capitol
Juneau, AK 99801
Phone: (907) 465-3804
web site: http://www.akrepublicans.org
Actuality line: 1-800-478-6540

Senate Approves Water Quality Bill

Bill Guides State in Development of Regulations

For Immediate Release May 2, 1998 Contact: Rep. Norman Rokeberg at (907) 465-4968.

Juneau -- The Alaska Senate Friday passed House Bill 51, which sets up guidelines for the State to develop and implement water quality regulations. HB 51 passed the Senate 19-1.

"House Bill 51 sets up administrative penalties required by the Environmental Protection Agency that allow Alaska to retain management and control of public drinking water systems under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act," said Representative Norman Rokeberg (R-Anchorage), sponsor of HB 51. "This bill underwent a substantial rewrite in the Senate Finance Committee and now has the support of the Department of Environmental Conservation," Rokeberg said.

The penalties outlined in the bill will be administered and assessed by DEC against public water systems that do not meet the guidelines of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. The original dollar figures requested by the DEC have been amended. Under the rewritten bill, communities of over ten thousand people will be assessed $1000 dollars a day for non-compliance; for communities with between one thousand and ten thousand people, the assessment will be $250 a day; for communities with fewer than a thousand people it will be one hundred dollars.

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Broadcasters note: Comments are available on the House Majority Line at (800) 478-6540.
= Norman Rokeberg, 60 K