Hearing of the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure - Putting America Back to Work Through Clean Water Infrastructure Investment

Statement

Wastewater infrastructure plays a vital role in maintaining our nation's economic, environmental, and public health. Yet, it is an area that has been sorely neglected over the past decade. This Committee recognized the central role that upgraded wastewater treatment systems and facilities play in keeping the nation's waterways clean when it passed the Clean Water Act in 1972. However, an unwillingness to invest in an aging national infrastructure has left our wastewater systems stressed and broken. Their current state of disrepair threatens to erase the gains made through implementation of the Clean Water Act, and places the public's health at risk.

Today's hearing is about the importance of investment -- continued investment -- in our nation's critical clean water infrastructure and the impact of that investment on jobs. Continued investment in clean water infrastructure will not only ensure protections for public health and the environment, but will also help create and sustain good jobs. For instance, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that, between 1987 and 2005, approximately 600,000 construction jobs and 116,000 additional, or indirect, jobs resulted from Clean Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) funding.

When the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) passed in February 2009, this Committee began tracking the implementation of the bill and the distribution of funds for programs under the Committee's jurisdiction. It was important for this Committee to ensure that these funds were being used appropriately and swiftly to meet the goals of the legislation, that is, to put folks back to work and get our nation's economy back on track. What we have seen is progress, in particular, in putting to work Recovery Act funds for Clean Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) projects. We have documented this progress on a regular basis since the Recovery Act was enacted.

The Recovery Act appropriated $4 billion for clean water infrastructure. These funds were distributed to the states via the existing Clean Water SRF formula. As of May 31, 2010, 100 percent of these funds had been put out to bid for 1,962 projects in the fifty states, four territories, and the District of Columbia. Contracts had been signed for 1,957 projects, and work was underway for 1,884 projects (totaling $3.8 billion). As of this date, 168 projects, totaling $92 million, were complete. Given the state of the economy in 2009, the lack of liquidity in the markets, and the fiscal pressures faced by states and localities across the nation, it is entirely feasible that without these funds none of these important projects would have even been started.

According to information directly submitted to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure by states, during the first year of implementation (February 17, 2009 through February 28, 2010), these projects created or sustained 26,075 direct, on-project CWSRF
jobs. This number reflects only those jobs attributable to Recovery Act funding. So, we can safely assume that there were additional indirect or associated jobs created or sustained as a result of this funding. And that is what is so important about infrastructure spending. Not only do we receive primary job benefits, we also realize significant secondary job increases from entities that produce the equipment needed, and the supplies upon which projects depend. And that is not even to mention the fact that infrastructure provides continued economic benefits for years to come. For example, highways facilitate commerce and wastewater infrastructure prevents disease: both outcomes which are central to national economic success.

With the Recovery Act, we have had the opportunity to track job creation and expenditures on clean water infrastructure projects. This has been useful because it gives us proof that investment in critical infrastructure helps create and sustain jobs that American workers need right now. The transparency and accountability information collected by this Committee speaks for itself: federal agencies, states, and their local partners are putting Americans back to work in family-wage, construction jobs across the nation.

We still have a lot of work to do. I am pleased with the progress that has been made since enactment of the Recovery Act. I look forward to hearing the testimony of today's witnesses and discussing what has been done to ensure that Recovery Act funds created good, family-wage jobs as quickly as possible, while at the same time improving our deteriorating infrastructure and laying the foundation for future growth. This will help underscore the fact that we can't stop now, but we must continue to invest in our infrastructure.

And yet we can do better. The commitment of this Congress and the Obama administration to address the economic downturn presents multiple opportunities to address many of the challenges facing our wastewater infrastructure. Congress, through the Recovery Act, committed to providing a significant increase in resources to resuscitating these vital systems.

We can continue this momentum by committing to invest more funds into the Clean Water SRF program. The House passed the Water Quality Investment Act of 2009 last March. This is the second time in four years that the House has passed this legislation, without result. The central feature of the Water Quality Investment Act is its authorization of $13.8 billion in Federal grants over five years to capitalize Clean Water State Revolving Funds. This legislation also encourages energy- and water-efficiency measures. Further, the Water Quality Investment Act encourages communities to consider alternative and innovative processes, materials, and technologies (including "green infrastructure") that maximize the potential for efficient water use, reuse, and conservation, and energy conservation.

In July of 2009, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee reported similar legislation to the Senate floor. And, just recently, our colleagues on the House Energy and Commerce Committee reported the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund reauthorization to the House floor. I applaud my Energy and Commerce colleagues for this action, and encourage them to move their legislation across the floor presently.

Many of the barriers to reauthorizing the Clean Water SRF bill that have existed in the past, have now been removed. We are, therefore, closer than we've been in many years to a proper reauthorization of the EPA's clean water financing program. I urge my colleague in both the House and the Senate to continue their good works and move forward in putting Americans back to work. We need continued investments in clean water infrastructure and we need these additional jobs.

I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today as we hear about the success of investment in our nation's critical infrastructure and the jobs created by this investment.

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