ARCHIVE SITE - Last updated Jan. 19, 2017. Please visit www.NACWA.org for the latest NACWA information.
News & Media
Infrastructure groups eye $20B in jobs bill
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Taryn Luntz, E&E reporter A coalition of clean-water groups is pressing Congress to include $20 billion for sewers and treatment plants in the jobs bill lawmakers may take up this month or early next year. Advocates say they already have won tentative support from Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who along with Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) is tasked with putting together the jobs package. "We had a meeting a few weeks ago with Senator Durbin and his staff, and they were strongly encouraging of us and our proposal," said Pat Sinicropi, legislative director for the National Association of Clean Water Agencies. The water group initiated the meeting to solicit Durbin's support for reauthorizing the Clean Water State Revolving Fund -- the primary financing mechanism for state water projects -- but Durbin's staffers urged them to focus on winning money for the program through the jobs bill instead, Sinicropi said. A Senate aide familiar with the drafting of the bill said Durbin and Dorgan are still engaged in winnowing down more than 120 policy ideas and that it is too soon to say whether clean water projects will be included in the package. On the House side, the water coalition has spoken with the office of Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), a close ally of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). "They certainly are taking a serious look at the proposal and how it would fit into the larger package," Sinicropi said of Miller's staff. The group also is hoping for support from Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), who chairs the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which oversees clean water programs. Oberstar has been a vocal backer of increasing funding for the nation's deteriorating water infrastructure. U.S. EPA has estimated the nation faces a potential funding gap of between $150 billion and $400 billion for clean water infrastructure over the next decade, based on current funding levels. Many cities' sewer systems are more than 50 years old and are falling apart at the same time as population levels are surpassing the system's capacities. The problem is compounded by a dreary economy that is robbing states and localities of money for improvements. "If Oberstar and our committee gets a free hand in writing such a bill -- assuming there will be one -- then yes, it will include rail, aviation, water and all infrastructure under our jurisdiction as there was in the last stimulus," said T&I Committee spokesman Jim Berard. But Berard said House and Senate leadership, the Appropriations Committees and the White House all are likely to play a bigger role than the T&I panel in setting the priorities for the bill. The shovel-ready case NACWA is working to promote the issue in the jobs bill as part of the Water Infrastructure Network -- a coalition of construction, engineering, conservation, labor and manufacturing groups. The two selling points: Water infrastructure is a major job generator and there are tens of billions of dollars worth of projects ready for construction. The group cites a July report sponsored by clean water groups that found that $1 billion of federal investment in water infrastructure generates between 20,000 and 26,000 jobs. There are $35 billion in federally approved, shovel-ready water projects in just eight states, according to the group. Oberstar last month expressed concern that some states were tardy in distributing the clean water funding they received in the stimulus package (E&E Daily, Nov. 18). As of Sept. 30, EPA had awarded more than 99 percent of the $4 billion allotted in the stimulus bill for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, but states had put 48 percent of those funds out to bid for construction. The water group acknowledges the delay, but said with "modest modifications" the states could move $20 billion from the jobs bill within 90 days. The modifications include providing all of the funds in the form of low interest or negative interest loans, and allowing states to use up to 3 percent of the federal funding to hire staff or consultants to help them sort through project applications. |
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