Water Quality Investment Act of 2009

Floor Speech

WATER QUALITY INVESTMENT ACT OF 2009 -- (House of Representatives - March 12, 2009)

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Mr. MITCHELL. Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of H.R. 1262, the Water Quality Investment Act of 2009.

This is an important bill that will help close the approximately $3.2 to $11.1 billion gap between our nation's wastewater infrastructure needs and our current levels of federal assistance.

This bill is especially important for Arizona, because it will finally begin to address a grossly inequitable funding formula that long plagued our state.

Inexplicably, and unfairly, the formula used to distribute federal assistance to State Clean Water Revolving Funds (SRFs) remains linked to Census data from 1970.

While, obviously, this is not a problem for states that have lost population, or whose population has remained stable, it's a huge problem for states like Arizona, whose population has grown dramatically.

Since 1970, Arizona's population has more than tripled.

As a result, we've been getting massively short-changed.

Arizona ranks 9th in the nation in terms of need, but we rank 37th in receipt of federal funding for SRFs. On a per capita basis, Arizona ranks 53rd. Even the territories do better than we do.

This is a disparity that belies any pretence of fairness, and it needs to change.

If enacted, the Water Quality Investment Act of 2009 will begin that process.

I want to thank Chairman OBERSTAR for his leadership on this issue, and for his continued commitment to fairness.

I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1262, and I look forward to its final passage.

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