The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies has advanced a major appropriations bill by voice vote. The bill included large increases in spending on many water related projects.
The chair of the subcommittee, Rep. McCollum (D-MN) characterized the bill as a rebuke of the Trump administration’s proposed cuts to the EPA and other environmental protection rollbacks. Republicans were critical of the bill saying it put in too many bureaucratic restrictions and was not fiscally responsible. That said, among the criticisms of the bill, the ranking member of the subcommittee, Rep. Joyce (R-OH), praised several provisions that were bipartisan.
The bill includes increases in funding for EPA and several other agencies. Some of the funding will go to PFAS control ($13M), superfund and other emergency infrastructure ($1.35B), Clean Water and Drinking Water SRFs ($10.2B), to name a few. The increased funding for the SRFs is in-line with the funding authorized in HR 2, the infrastructure package the House passed in late June. The FY21 appropriations bill will provide $7.993B for the Clean Water SRF and $4.981B for the Drinking Water SRF . There was also funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative which receive bipartisan praise and a provision about the Lead and Copper Rule that Rep. Lawrence (D-MI) was particularly pleased by.
The Appropriations Committee Chair, Rep. Lowey (D-NY), indicated at the markup that the bill will pass the full committee. No amendments were offered at the markup. It is unlikely that the bill will be approved by the Republican controlled Senate without substantial changes or more likely a conference committee.
WEF and others in both the wastewater and drinking water sectors produced a one-pager in April which details specific asks in FY21. This would include doubling the current funding level of the Clean Water SRF from $1.64 billion to $3.3 billion for FY2021. The one pager also requests that the Drinking Water SRF be funded at an annual level not below its full FY21 authorization of $1.95 billion.
In addition, we are requesting additional funding for the Water Infrastructure Finance & Innovation Act (WIFIA) program. The House’s FY 21 bill doesn’t specifically identify a funding level for WIFIA but says the level will be equal to the amount of unobligated past appropriations at the end of Fiscal Year 2020, which is Sept. 30, 2020. EPA’s FY20 appropriations legislation provided $55 million for WIFIA to leverage into as much as $11.5 billion worth of loans and loan guarantees for major drinking water and wastewater infrastructure projects.
Click here read the one pager detailing these, as well as other, important funding requests.
As a reminder, last week the House passed HR 2 – the INVEST in America Act, a major infrastructure package that addresses infrastructure needs across the board. The $1.5 trillion bill has numerous water infrastructure components of which WEF is interested in and increases authorization levels for Clean Water and Drinking Water SRFs. There was over $100 billion during FY2021-FY2025 for water infrastructure related programs allocated prior to amendments. The bill authorized $40 billion over five years for the Clean Water SRF, meaning $8 billion annually. Additionally, the bill included $1 billion over five years in grants to utilities for treatment technology investments to deal with PFAS and other chemicals of emerging concern in accordance with the Clean Water Act.
