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House T&I Committee to look at wastewater financing
Tasha Eichenseher, E&E Daily reporter
How to fill a more than $400 billion gap in funding for wastewater infrastructure upgrades nationwide will be the subject of a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing this week.
The Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment will bring in industry
experts to present different financing options before Subcommittee Chairman John
Duncan (R-Tenn.) drafts or approves legislation this session that would take a
stab at solving the nation's wastewater woes, according to committee staff
members.
"With various estimates of projected infrastructure needs over the next 20 years
in the range of $400-plus billion, and our current funding rate at about half of
that (by all levels of government), there's an obvious and substantial gap that
must be closed," said committee spokesman Justin Harclerode. "A lot of small
communities with many competing priorities and limited funds find it tough to
fund these kinds of projects on their own. This is all compounded by our
infrastructure security concerns and needs post 9/11."
According to the Congressional Budget Office, drinking water and wastewater
infrastructure investment costs over the next 20 years may range from $492
billion to $820 billion. Within EPA's so-called Gap Analysis report, similar
infrastructure costs range from $499 billion to $929 billion. And the Water
Infrastructure Network, a coalition of industry, engineering, professional and
environmental groups, compiled a high-end, $806 billion estimate.
House efforts the previous two sessions to pass a wastewater bill broke down
after the language passed the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
but GOP leaders objected to a pro-labor provision requiring all construction
work funded through the U.S. EPA's water infrastructure accounts to be paid with
prevailing wages under the Davis-Bacon Act. H.R.1560, led by Reps. Don Young
(R-Alaska) and John Duncan (R-Tenn.), was a $25 billion wastewater only bill.
H.R. 3930, introduced in the 107th Congress by Duncan and Peter DeFazio
(D-Ore.), was similar.
The same session, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman James
Jeffords (I-Vt.) advanced a bill, S. 1961, that included $20 billion over five
years for the EPA's Clean Water State Revolving Fund, which provides low
interest loans to states, and $15 billion over five years for a similar drinking
water account (E&E Daily, Dec. 2).
This year, Reps. Ellen Taushcer (D-Calif.) and Sue Kelly (R-N.Y.) are floating a
bill, H.R. 2684, that would authorize $25 million.
This week's hearing is the first of two the subcommittee plans to have on
wastewater infrastructure this month. Discussion will focus on the possibility
of funding repairs through a national trust fund, which the wastewater utility
industry and states have voiced support for, and other financing mechanisms.
Schedule: The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Wednesday, June 8, in 2167
Rayburn.
Witnesses: Frank Luntz, the Luntz Research Companies; Jack Schenendorf, former
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chief of staff on behalf of the
Associated General Contractors of America; Ken Rubin with PA Consulting for the
National Association of Clean Water Agencies; and Susan Neely of the American
Beverage Association.