LAWMAKERS
GEAR UP TO SEEK $50B FOR WATER INFRASTRUCTURE
E&E Newsline
The executive report on
national environmental and energy policy
September 19, 2000 Volume II, Issue 95
States and local communities stand to see a lot more money for water
infrastructure in the years ahead if some influential members of Congress
get their way. On Tuesday, House Health and Environment Subcommittee
Chairman Michael Bilirakis (R-Fla.), ranking member Sherrod Brown
(D-Ohio), House Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee Chairman
Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.), ranking member Robert Borski (R-Pa.) and Rep.
Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.) said they hope to secure perhaps $50 billion over
five years to help replace aging wastewater treatment plants and other
water-related facilities across the nation.
The lawmakers, heading up the recently founded Water Infrastructure
Caucus, said their intent is to do for water infrastructure what the
recent Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) did for
highways and airport improvement legislation (AIR-21) did for airports.
TEA-21 authorized some $215 billion in spending over several years, while
AIR-21 called for about $40 billion. The Congressmen indicated the need
for water infrastructure upgrades, the subject of WATER-21, is at least as
great as for the other recently addressed needs.
Bilirakis and Boehlert stressed studies that found communities face an
annual funding gap of $23 billion over the next 20 years, largely because
much of the nation's treatment plants and similar facilities are rusting
and crumbling. Boehlert noted that around Labor Day a 50,000-gallon waste
spill occurred in Oneida, N.Y., and last week a 45-year-old valve broke in
Baltimore and spilled 10 million gallons into a Chesapeake Bay tributary.
Also, most states are already understaffed in terms of people to properly
run treatment plants, and they see no end to the shortage, Bilirakis said.
The caucus is backed by an extensive list of municipal groups,
contractors, environmentalists, labor unions, engineers and others known
as the Water Infrastructure Network. Boehlert and colleagues emphasized
that the water infrastructure issue is a bi- partisan one, with every
congressional district facing problems. In that spirit, the caucus has
grown from four members when it was founded last April to more than 70
from both parties and every region of the country.
Boehlert indicated he is optimistic for quick action on WATER-21.
Congressional staff will continue to meet with interest groups toward
drafting legislation, and budgetary discipline has created a surplus that
can and should be used for such broad, basic needs as safe drinking water,
he said. "This time next year I plan to be discussing how we are
going to move WATER-21 to the House floor," he vowed.
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