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. . . Western States Water Council Water Quality Committee Washington, DC March 28, 2006 WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS Chairman Paul Frohardt called the meeting to order at 1: 15 pm. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Minutes approved as circulated. DISCUSSION WITH EPA'S OFFICE OF WATER: Brent Fewell, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Water expressed appreciation for this opportunity to talk to their state partners. I'll talk briefly about the Administrator's priorities. Administrator Johnson outlined his action plan last week. Accelerate the pace of environmental protection, based on core principles. Results and Accountability Innovation and Collaboration Cooperative Conservation - conference held recently Best Available Science - assuring the rules have the best available science Within the Office of Water, within the Administrator's action plan, we have focused on: Sustainable infrastructure for ground water and surface water. The programs for SRFs are on the declining level. States and local governments are being challenged with how they will get funding. We want to assure we work closely with the states to address those challenges. Water Efficiency - finding ways to be better stewards of water. We need to explore ways the agency can encourage better stewardship of water use. Restore and Protect America's Watershed and Wetlands - Wetlands Mitigation Rule was just released. It is up on the web site. Comment period is open through the end of May. It reaffirms the agency's sequencing of wetlands impacts, which is avoidance. If you can't avoid them, then minimize them. Beyond that, there is mitigation. Formerly, many of the mitigation projects ended in failure. We are encouraging the wetland mitigation bank community to be involved in the process. A priority is also water quality trading. Opportunity for accelerating improvements to water quality in watersheds. It accommodates the costs or allows more flexibility for improvements to water quality. 3