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Propriety of Army Contribution to Cost of Sewage Treatment Plants

B-199534,B-200086 Oct 02, 1980
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GAO was asked for an advance decision regarding the propriety of the Army making contributions to the City of El Paso, Texas, and the Hampton Roads Sanitation District, Virginia, for the construction of wastewater treatment plants serving Fort Bliss, Texas, and Fort Monroe, Virginia. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) refused to fund parts of grants to El Paso and the Hampton Roads Sanitation District, for wastewater treatment works construction under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, attributed to Fort Bliss and Fort Monroe. Under EPA policy, the Army was required to pay its fair share of the capital cost of the projects. In a previous decision, GAO concluded that Congress has chosen to make up the shortfall in construction grant support of wastewater treatment facilities by specifically appropriating funds to cover the military's share of the costs. Authority for construction and acquisition for Army projects under the 1979 Military Construction Authorization Act was made available for the capital contribution. Therefore, Congress apparently has consented to the Army's contributing funds to the projects, in lieu of some of the funds which EPA ordinarily would have expended on the projects. Accordingly, GAO believed that the Army was authorized to make contributions to the projects in lieu of full EPA funding of 75 percent of the construction costs of the wastewater treatment works, without requiring additional legal consideration.

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