WASHINGTON DC – Yesterday, at an Energy and Commerce Subcommittee Hearing on the Fiscal Year Environmental Protection Agency Budget with Administrator Michael Regan, Representative Scott Peters (CA-50) thanked the Administrator for his attention to the cross-border sewage crisis plaguing San Diego’s South Bay while asking about the agency’s plans to identify new funds to assist with fixing the broken wastewater treatment plant on the U.S. side of the border.

In his remarks, Rep. Peters stated, “San Diego, as you know, continues to endure one of the more significant environmental catastrophes in the Western Hemisphere — the flow of untreated sewage and toxic waste across the border from Mexico, through the Tijuana River Valley Watershed, and into San Diego… I also know you personally have made the trip to see and to smell this issue for yourself, because it is an experience you have to meet to understand, so I wanted to thank you for coming out. In the 2024 appropriations package, we secured a funding increase for the International Boundary and Water Commission’s (IBWC) construction account, along with language to provide additional flexibility for the Commission to repair critical sewage treatment infrastructure at the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant, which is owned and operated by the United States government.”

Rep. Peters then asked Administrator Regan, “Have EPA and related stakeholders identified potential funding sources for IBWC with this new authority? If so, can you provide a list of those agencies to my office and what more is EPA doing to work with IBWC?”

Administrator Regan responded, “Thank you for your leadership on this issue and for securing that $156 million in Fiscal Year 2024 for the South Bay Treatment Plant. I do remember seeing it firsthand and was very struck by it and we have been committed to it ever since… As the contracts come in, we are prepared to provide the remaining funding of $290 million for the expansion needed to safeguard these waters.?This is absolutely a whole of government approach, and so this past January, EPA, and IBWC finalized an Interagency Agreement to transfer the USMCA funds to the IBWC for treatment expansion projects.”

The IBWC is currently reviewing proposals from engineering companies bidding on the contract to fix and expand the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant. The $290 million Administrator Regan referred to in his comments is what is remaining from the funds secured from the USMCA in 2020. This money will be used to fund a portion of this contract which IBWC has said they plan to execute this summer.

Watch Rep. Peters full exchange here.

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