Water
Infrastructure Bill Introduced in Senate
-
February 15
Water Environment Federation, Alexandria, VA
Senate leaders introduced legislation
February 15 that would provide additional funding for the clean
water and safe drinking water state revolving loan funds (SRF) and
provide administrative revisions to the funding program. The
"Water Investment Act of 2002" would authorize $35
billion over five years equally split between both SRF programs,
while allowing states the flexibility to transfer funds from the
clean water SRF to the drinking water SRF and vice-versa.
One provision in the bill would
require potential recipients of SRF funds to demonstrate
"technical, managerial, and financial capacity."
Senator Jeffords (I-VT), who chairs
the Environment and Public Works Committee, called the bill the
"next generation" of water infrastructure investment
while ranking republican Senator Bob Smith (R-NH) said the bill
would "provide communities throughout the Nation with
essential resources to defray the costs of federal mandates and
meet their sewage and drinking water needs." Both the chair
and ranking member of the Fisheries, Wildlife, and Water
subcommittee, Senator Bob Graham (D-FL) and Senator Michael Crapo
(R-ID) also co-sponsored the legislation.
Two hearings on the bill are set for
February 26 and February 28. The bill does not contain a grant
component that many organizations, including the Water
Infrastructure Network (WIN) and WEF have advocated, however it
does provide for principal forgiveness, at the option of the
state, for loans that are targeted for disadvantaged systems of
all sizes.
NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17
U.S.C., section 107, some material is provided without permission
from the copyright owner, only for purposes of criticism, comment,
scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions
of federal copyright laws. These materials may not be distributed
further, except for "fair use," without permission of
the copyright owner.
|
