Resolution #27: Expanding the Brownfields Tax Incentive urges Congress to revise the tax code to either expand or remove the targeting criteria of existing law, in addition to authorizing the program for a longer time period, and urges the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Treasury Department to work with Congress to enact such legislation to further facilitate the remediation and redevelopment of brownfield sites.

Resolution #28: Expanding the Mission of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to Include Greater Site Assessment and Remediation Work in Our Nation’s Cities strongly supports all efforts to create and fund efforts by the Corps of Engineers to conduct site assessments and remediation activities at brownfield sites throughout the country, and indicates that such efforts include, but are not limited to, expanding the Corps role through the reauthorization of the Water Resources and Development bill, inclusion of such provisions in Brownfield legislation or as stand alone legislation to accomplish this important goal.

Resolution #29: Banning the Use of MTBE as a Fuel Additive But Maintaining the Oxygenate Requirement for Gasoline urges Congress to help cities with ozone concerns to improve their air quality and protect their water resources by enacting a ban on the use of MTBE in reformulated fuels but retaining the requirement for other more environmentally friendly oxygenates in fuel, and urges the Administration and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to advance this legislation this year to help avoid further environmental damage from MTBE.

Resolution #30: Supporting Renewable Energy supports federal legislation that promotes renewable energy, such as wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass in its various forms including electricity generated from landfill gas, waste-to-energy, and agricultural and wood waste, and urges federal and state lawmakers to ensure that any restructuring legislation proposals include provisions to preserve and protect existing capacity of renewable energy resources.

Resolution #31: Shared Responsibility for Waste Reduction supports the Conference’s Municipal Waste Management Association’s efforts to establish a Shared Responsibility for Waste Reduction program as an important element of solid waste programs, urges Conference members to engage in dialogue with manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and citizens in their communities and develop voluntary programs regarding Shared Responsibility for Waste Reduction with measurable goals and objectives, encourages Conference members to adopt or expand their current procurement policies which would give preferences to businesses who design products that reflect the commitment to cost-effective, efficient, and environmentally sound municipal waste practices, encourages a collaborative consumer education campaign between the private and public sector with a focus on materials management, including product design, buying recycled, and source reduction, and urges member cities to create voluntary goals and objectives with the business community to reinforce the principles set forth in this resolution prior to taking more prescriptive actions.

Resolution #67: Improving the Total Maximum Daily Load Program under the Clean Water Act urges the U.S. EPA to repropose its TMDL rule or modify the current proposal significantly in an effort to build more consensus for these changes, urges the Agency to give particular attention to local efforts to reclaim brownfields and promote in-fill development to ensure that the final rules do not disproportionately burden parties seeking to reuse such sites, opposes Congressional efforts to supercede the TMDL rules and other proposals to delay contributions to water quality by unregulated sources, calls upon Congress to undertake an examination of state capacity to ensure that state funding shortfalls are not causing local governments holding permits for discharges to absorb additional costs, and encourages U.S. EPA and the states to continue to make every effort to include both point and non-point sources proportionately in the ongoing TMDL processes underway in the states.

Resolution #68: Increasing Funding for Alternative Fuels urges the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to collaborate on a full-scale evaluation of alternative fuel vehicles, acknowledges the importance of alternative fuels, supports a broad agenda to make alternative fuels a priority for the nation, calls upon the Administration to increase funding and incentives for alternative fuels, calls upon several federal agencies to work with the Conference on this agenda, and calls upon Congress to appropriate funds to support alternative fuels programs.

Resolution #69: Investing in Water Infrastructure calls upon the Congress and the Administration to work with the Conference and others to craft a more comprehensive federal response to growing water and wastewater needs, calls for the same to initiate legislation during the 107th Congress that increases the federal share of the financing of these facilities, calls for a package of direct grants and other tools, including tax incentives such as the removal of certain tax-exempt bonds for this purpose from state volume caps, and notes support for increasing federal commitments from surplus general funds until such time as a long-term funding mechanism is developed.

Resolution #70: Improving Clean Air in Communities strongly encourages the Federal government to establish a federal policy that integrates clean air and economic development, emphasizing brownfields, transit and other efforts to encourage development in existing communities, commends U.S. EPA for its Land Use SIP guidance and urges the agency to build upon these efforts by expanding them to transit-oriented development and other alternative transportation strategies, urges the agency to adopt other policies to reward communities with air credits for local initiatives and to establish a program for inter-sector trading, encourages the Federal government and the states using federal funds to focus more resources on investments that improve air quality, and seeks mechanisms and assistance from the Federal government to allow mayors to protect both health of their citizens and the economic viability of their communities.

Resolution #70: Supporting Senate Bipartisan Action on Brownfields Legislation conveys the support of the Conference for the "Brownfields Revitalization and Environmental Restoration Act" and urges the U.S. Senate to move forward promptly on this bipartisan initiative to ensure final Congressional action this year on brownfields reform legislation, and urges Conference members to secure Senate cosponsors for the legislation.

Resolution #72: Reducing Global Warming calls upon Congress and the Administration to work together to make the issue of global warning a priority and to develop and implement policies and programs that work with local communities to reduce domestic sources of greenhouse emissions, and urges Congress to fully fund the Clean Air Partnership Fund to provide assistance to cities and states to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and targeted investments that will accelerate the development and deployment of clean energy technologies.

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