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COALVILLE — The budget battle in Washington has blindsided a small Utah town. Now a federal grant Coalville needs in order to move its sewer treatment facility has gone down the drain -- and it's not coming back.
With an October 2014 deadline looming, Coalville Mayor Duane Schmidt is looking for options to pay for the construction of a new sewage treatment plant for this community of 1,400 people.
The 500 households and businesses in Coalville count on this 50-year-old sewer plant, but it's aging.
The 50-year-old treatment plant resides on Bureau of Reclamation land. Since learning the lease on that land will expire in three years, the city has been working with state and federal agencies to secure $9 million in funding to construct a new plant on land owned by the city.
The city also needs to move the facility because it's below the level of the dam on Echo Reservoir. In the event of a catastrophic flood, sewage from this facility could leak into that clean water storage.
Coalville officials believed they had secured nearly half of the needed funding through a competitive grant awarded by the Army Corps of Engineers. The city had also planned to seek funding from the state Water Quality Board.
But the federal funding stream dried up in December when an omnibus budget bill was derailed by filibustering in the Senate that some political observers attributed to tea party politics and stiff opposition to earmarks. The bill failed, which meant that Coalville's grant was not funded.
"We are a casualty of the budget battle," Schmidt said. "I understand what's going on as far as the budget battle is concerned, but it's difficult, especially on a project like this."
Schmidt continued, "Our initial funding package through the Army Corps of Engineers — we felt like we had the right grant and funding package put together. That funding package basically got pulled out from underneath of our feet."
On future federal funding: "There's not a lot we can do right now because we're dealing with issues of government shutdowns and enormous deficits." Lee spokesman Brian Phillips
The city returned to state officials for help. On April 6, the state Water Quality Board awarded a $3.3 million hardship grant and a $1.1 million interest-free loan over 20 years. The city will use sewer fees charged to residents and businesses to repay the loan.
Sen. Mike Lee's office has told Coalville officials that funding for the Army Corps of Engineers' competitive grants will likely not be available for another two years.
While Schmidt understands Lee's opposition to earmarks and the need for a balanced budget, he does not view the sewer treatment plant project as an "earmark."
"There are public works and infrastructure projects that need to still be completed, and funding needs to be available for some of these projects," Schmidt said.
Brian Phillips, Lee's spokesman, said it is true that "there's no appetite for earmarks in Congress right now. It's not just even a tea party thing. The president himself says that he supports an earmark ban."
Lee's office is attempting to help Coalville officials extend the federal lease where the plant is currently located, Phillips said.
As for future federal funding, it's complicated by many factors, Phillips said. "There's not a lot we can do right now because we're dealing with issues of government shutdowns and enormous deficits," he said.
Customarily, Congress passes a budget and moves on to the appropriations process during which appropriation requests are made, followed by a mark-up, a bill and a vote.
"We're not anywhere near that appropriations process, so it's difficult to say exactly what mechanism we might use at the federal level for funding or what would be attached to an appropriations bill at this point," Phillips said. "Frankly, that would be a determination the senator would have to make and we're not at that stage right now."
Coalville officials are seeking yet another government grant, the source of which Schmidt would not identify.
He said he, too, understands Americans' frustrations with runaway government spending.
"But I don’t know that this particular package or this particular project were looking at right here is crazy spending. We did get a 50-year life cycle out of a plant designed to go 25 years," Schmidt said.
"Water quality is everybody's business. It's pretty difficult to expect a community of 1,400 people to foot a bill for $9 million for a sewer plant. That's just not going to happen."
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Story written by Marjorie Cortez with contributions from Jed Boal.
