In Congress

Balancing Act

The Balancing Act (H.R. 505) has been referred to several committees of the House of Representatives. The bill is intended to delay sequestrations, improve efficiency, reduce tax loopholes, and extend some programs. Some of the infrastructure related highlights of the bill include

-elimination of several tax breaks related to fossil fuels,

-immediate appropriations for air and surface transportation,

-create an infrastructure bank called the American Infrastructure Financing Authority,

-extending certain tax exemptions on bonds.

If Congress would like to put this blogger to work, it should end this ongoing threat of sequestration and agree on a budget.

Congressional Budget Office Releases 4Q2012 Recover Act Report

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report on the economic impact of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) for the last quarter of 2012. During that period, ARRA funded 113,000 full-time-equivalent jobs (FTEs), though this figure does not necessarily correlate to increased jobs in the economy. CBO estimates the economic impacts for the reporting quarter to be

-0.1 to 0.6 percent increase in gross domestic product (GDP),

-0.1 to 0.4 percentage point decrease in unemployment, and

-increased the number of people employed by between 0.1 million and 0.8 million.

Fix It First

President Barack Obama’s Fix-It-First proposal has received some fairly gentile criticism from House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bill Shuster (PA). The plan would provide an additional appropriation of $50 million to transportation projects ($40 million to transportation programs and $10 million to capitalize an infrastructure bank). Rep. Shuster says the proposal fails to address the long-term issue of transportation funding. Current transportation funding sources bring in $35 billion annually, but Congress has approved spending of more than $50 billion annually. You can read more about this issue at The Hill.

Reviewing the Recovery Act

Infrastructure Watch has been following the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) since it was enacted. While infrastructure accounted for a relatively small amount of the total supplementary appropriations provided by ARRA, tens of billions of dollars is noteworthy in any industry. Much of the money that went to infrastructure has been spent and ARRA will begin a slow wind-down from the perspective of infrastructure. It seems like a good time for a review of the program and it effects so far.

INFASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT

ARRA committed only a fraction of its supplementary appropriations to infrastructure. Even so, the $62 billion appropriated to transportation and water infrastructure was significant considering that federal spending in this area had been declining. In 2009, this resulted in a $6 billion increase in federal infrastructure spending, of which $4 billion was directly from ARRA.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that 90 percent of these funds will be spent by 2013. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) had reported that 90 percent of the highway funds had been obligated by February 2010 and about a quarter of that had been paid out to state transportation programs. The clean water and drinking water state revolving fund (SRF) programs had drawn almost 80 percent of the funds by June 2011.

The author and others working in these industries are already looking for what projects or business lines might have the potential to bring in revenues as the ARRA well runs dry in a few years. The prospects aren’t entirely gloomy. Generally, the federal government accounts for only 25 percent of the spending on transportation and water infrastructure. The rest comes almost entirely from state and local governments.

Though federal funding is a minority of the investment in infrastructure, it is a significant portion of the capital investment, with relatively little going to operations and maintenance. This trend continued with ARRA. Smart Growth America criticized ARRA because to much went the construction of new transportation assets and too little to repairing existing infrastructure. They thought the extra appropriation would have been better spent and had a greater economic stimulus if more of it had been spent on the repair of existing infrastructure.

Maintenance of Effort
Though states are already a significant contributor to spending on transportation efforts, ARRA required states to continue funding transportation at the level they would have without the extra funding. Congress wanted to increase spending on transportation infrastructure, not give states a way to shift money to other areas.

The requirement has proven problematic. States are facing losses of revenue that may have forced them to cut transportation spending anyway. In addition, ARRA didn’t require to report what there level of effort would be until several months after they began to use the funds. States may not have, strictly speaking, circumvented the maintenance of effort requirement, but it has become difficult to say they have continued funding as they would have anyway.

JOBS CREATION
ARRA recipients reported more than 580,000 full time equivalent (FTE) jobs in he last quarter of 2010. The way jobs are reported by recipients makes it difficult to determine the exact impact of ARRA on jobs.

ARRA recipients report work-hours that were paid for out of the ARRA funding. In the case of an infrastructure project, these work hours might involve construction trades, construction management, engineering design and oversight, and other services (legal, environmental, and more). The nature of these jobs means that the people may be working part-time on ARRA projects while working part-time on other projects, or temporarily work full time on an ARRA project. It is easy to add up the hours and calculate an FTE. It is difficult to know if any of these jobs were created ARRA, or if they might have ended except of ARRA, or might not have been affected.

This type of reporting has a built-in decline as ARRA money is spent down and projects end. Reported ARRA-related jobs is already declining in the SRF programs. ARRA-related jobs reported from SRF programs peaked in the Spring of 2010 and have declined since. Some foresaw a post-stimulus jobs drop even as it was just getting off the ground.

The author is an example these features of jobs reporting, ARRA work having accounted of about a quarter of an FTE in relation to him over the last 19 months. It’s impossible to say what, if any, other work the author may have done if not involved in ARRA projects; he’s glad to have good projects from wherever they come. When he transfers his effort to other work, hopefully, over the next year or so, his hours reported for ARRA will decline and end.

In addition, only some of the ARRA-funded programs are required to report jobs. Those that report jobs only have to trace them so far, to primary contractors and their subcontracts. It is a practical impossibility to count the jobs created or retained by such a program.

Even so, CBO made a go at estimating it. They estimate that ARRA increased the number of people employed by between 1.3 million and 3.5 million in the last quarter of 2010.

CONSTRUCTION COSTS
In the years before ARRA, construction costs had been rising more rapidly that prices the rest of the economy. Bucking that trend, GAO reported that many ARRA-funded projects were receiving bids that were lower than expected. The author has heard from water utilities and state revolving fund programs that a similar trend is occurring in drinking water and wastewater projects.

The thought is that the recession has made the environment very competitive and more bidders are going after each job. In response, contractors are taking minimal profits in order to get projects and stay afloat until the economy recovers. The Associate General Contractors of America has even suggested that contractors have bid projects at less than cost for that purpose.

This drop in bid prices is a reflection of the economic environment, not a response to ARRA. The touted “bid savings” that have ostensibly allowed the ARRA dollars to stretch farther have provide the same benefit to all the other money spent on construction.

MACROECONOMICS
CBO estimates that ARRA increased the gross domestic products (GDP) by between 1.1 percent and 3.5 percent in the last quarter of 2010.

FEDERAL DEFICIT
CBO estimates that the ARRA will increase budget deficits by $821 billion between 2009 and 2019. They estimated 70 percent of that, approximately $575 billion, was realized by the end of September 2010.

REFERENCES
The following references were used in the preparation of this review of ARRA.

Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Estimated Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Employment and Economic Output from October 2010 Through December 2010. Washington, DC: CBO, 2011.

-----. Public Spending on Transportation and Water Infrastructure. Washington, DC: CBO, 2011.

Cooper, M. Companies pretty up prices to win stimulus projects. New York Times. March 28, 2009.

Farley, R., & Grabell, M. ProPublica and PolitiFact test Obama claims on stimulus. ProPublica. Nov. 10, 2010.

Fields, G. Job cuts loom as stimulus fades. Wall Street Journal. Dec. 1, 2009.

Government Accountability Office (GAO). Recovery Act: Funding Uses for Transportation Infrastructure Projects, but Some Requirements Proved Challenging. Washington, DC: GAO, 2011.

-----. Recovery Act: Funds Supported Many Water Projects, and Federal and State Monitoring Shows Few Compliance Problems. Washington, DC: GAO, 2011.

-----. Recovery Act: One Year Later, States’ and Localities’ Uses of Funds and Opportunities to Strengthen Accountability. Washington, DC: GAO, 2010.

Smart Growth America. Recent Lessons from the Stimulus: Transportation Funding and Jobs Creation. Washington, DC: Smart Growth America, 2011.

The following references are offered for those interested in additional information on ARRA.

Infrastructure Watch (blog). Coverage of infrastructure economic stimulus. May 14, 2009.

-----. Coverage of infrastructure in economic stimulus. Apr. 14, 2009.

-----. Government Accountability Office watches Recovery Act implementation. August 23, 2010.

-----. Infrastructure & recovery news. Oct. 8, 2010.

-----. Infrastructure & stimulus news. June 17, 2010.

-----. Infrastructure economic stimulus in the news. July 1, 2009.

-----. Infrastructure stimulus. Jan. 27, 2011.

-----. Recovery Act and infrastructure in the news. Jan. 26, 2010.

-----. Recovery Act and infrastructure in the news & elsewhere. Aug. 1, 2009.

-----. Recovery Act and infrastructure news. May, 11, 2010.

-----. Recovery & stimulus news. Mar. 25, 2011.

-----. Show me the money: Stimulus & infrastructure news. July 7, 2010.

-----. Summary of transportation stimulus oversight findings. Sept. 27, 2009.

-----. USDOT redirects high-speed rail stimulus away from slow states. Dec. 21, 2010.

McNamar, T. Profiles from the recession. Blueprint America (blog). Sept. 15, 2010.

Congressional Budget Office Presents Testimony on Transportation Spending

Earlier this month, Mr. Robert A. Sunshine, Deputy Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) presented testimony on federal spending on surface transportation infrastructure. This report was prompted by events anticipate for 2007: the expiration of SAFETEA-LU and spending form the Highway Trust Fund outpacing revenues.

Most government spending on surface transportation infrastructure is by state and local governments (about three-fourths). The great majority of federal spending is on capital (92 percent). The majority of state and local spending is on operations and maintenance (64 percent).

The CBO points out that Congress will need to find ways to decrease spending (or at least the growth in spending), increase revenues, or some combination of these. Fully funding the projected spending by raising fuel taxes could result in an increase of 5 cents per gallon.

The CBO suggested alternatives to fuel taxes.
-Mileage fees. Fees based on the number of miles traveled by a vehicle. This would include tolls.
-Weight-distance fees. Annual fees based on the mileage and type of vehicle.
-Congestion fees. Fees based on road choice and travel timing.
State and local governments are using or have experimented with these alternatives. They are advantageous and more economically efficient in that they link particular infrastructure resources to their users and type of use. The present fuel tax system is advantageous in that it is relatively inexpensive to administer and hard to evade.

Congressional Budget Office Releases Infrastructure Investment Report

The Congressional Budget Office released a report entitled Trends in Public Spending on Transportation and Water Infrastructure, 1956 to 2004 early this month. They found that government spending transportation and water infrastructure has increased about 2.3 percent annually. (The report does not account for depreciation of infrastructure, so this does not reflect the net investment). Since the late 1980s, state and local spending has been greater than federal spending on infrastructure. Operations and maintenance spending has been greater than capital spending, with state and local governments spending the great majority.

Recovery Act Review

Economic Impacts of ARRA 

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reports quarterly on the estimated economic impact of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 (ARRA).  In its report for the third quarter of 2012, it estimated that ARRA funded more than 135, 000 jobs (full-time equivalents, or FTEs).  It expects 90 percent of ARRA’s budget impacts will be realized by the end of the year.  It projects that ARRA will increase they budget deficit by $833 billion by 2019, up from its original estimate of $787 billion.

Cleanup Projects

 The Department of Energy (DOE) received $6 billion from ARRA for the cleanup of DOE-managed sites that produced nuclear material.  According to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, ARRA-funded jobs peaked in the fourth quarter of 2010 at about 11,000 FTEs.  They reduced the footprint of managed sites by 70 percent; that is they cleaned up more than 650 square miles.

Beginning with ARRA, DOE implemented a project management approach that broke down projects into more manageable pieces.  GAO found that this practice may have allowed the agency to classify projects in a way that may have allowed them to avoid certain review processes.  In addition, inconsistencies in developing project scope, schedules and targets, along with variability in documentation, makes it difficult to accurately assess and compare project and program performance.

State and Local Management of ARRA

State and local governments had significant responsibilities in managing ARRA funds as recipients.  GAO reported findings related to their review of state and local management.  Some of those findings include:

-The emphasis on obligating ARRA funds resulted in delayed obligation of other funds.

-Recipient expertise effected the management of ARRA funds.  Particularly, state agencies tended to have more success in managing their ARRA projects that local agencies because of greater familiarity with federal requirements.

-Unclear guidance caused problems for various projects.

-Internal controls of some recipients were not adequate, at least at the start, for monitoring compliance with ARRA requirements.

Related posts and articles

American Reinvestment and Recovery Act New (Infrastructure Watch, Dec. 4, 2012)

Coverage of Infrastructure Economic Stimulus (Infrastructure Watch, May 14, 2009)

Economic Stimulus Funds 2000 Transportation Projects (Infrastructure Watch, Apr. 14, 2009)

Government Accountability Office Watches Recovery Act Implementation (Infrastructure Watch, Aug. 23, 2010)

Infrastructure & Stimulus News (Infrastructure Watch, June 17, 2010)

Missouri Top State in Wastewater Stimulus Funding Use (Infrastructure Watch, Mar. 28, 2010)

News about the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (Infrastructure Watch, Sept. 14, 2011)

Recovery Act Infrastructure Criticism (Infrastructure Watch, Sept. 18, 2012)

Recovery and Stimulus News (Infrastructure Watch, Mar. 25, 2011)

Reviewing the Recovery Act (Infrastructure Watch, Aug. 2, 2011)

States Obligate All Highway Stimulus Funds (Infrastructure Watch, Mar. 10, 2010)

Summary of Transportation Stimulus Oversight Findings (Infrastructure Watch, Sept. 27, 2009)

Congressional Budget Estimates Cost of Small Water Systems Program

The Congressional Budget Office recently estimated that it would take $3.1 billion over the years 2009-2013 to fund programs proposed under the Small Community Drinking Water Funding Act (S. 1933). The bill would establish a Small Public Water System Assistance Program in the Environmental Protection Agency that would provide grants to states and Indian tribes for funding, through recipient activity and subgrants, technical and financial assistance for small water systems.

Congressional Activity

BILLS INTRODUCED

S. 3736, introduced by Sen. James Inhofe (OK), would allow states to opt out of the corn ethanol portion of the renewable fuel standards of the Clean Air Act.

The Small-Scale Hydropower Enhancement Act of 2010 (H.R. 5922), introduced by Rep. Adrian Smith (NE), would exempt small hydroelectric projects (1.5 megawatts or less) from the requirements of the Federal Power Act.

BILLS REFERED TO COMMITTEE

A Roadmap for America’s Energy Future (H.R. 5899) was referred to the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment. The bill would set policy related the management of mineral energy resources and investment in other energy resources.

BILLS SCHEDULED FOR DEBATE

The Economic Revitalization and Innovation Act of 2010 (H.R. 5897), makes various revisions to the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965.

The Water Resources Development Act of 2010 (H.R 5892), deals with the authorization for a host of Corp of Engineers projects and studies.

CONGRESSIONAL AGENCIES RELEASE REPORTS

Water Infrastructure Financing: Stakeholder Views on a National Infrastructure Bank and Public-Private Partnerships (Government Accountability Office, GAO-10-728)

Using Biofuel Tax Credits to Achieve Energy and Environmental Policy Goals (Congressional Budget Office)

Government Accountability Office Issues Report on Surface Transportation Programs

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a report (GAO-08-400) on the state of federal surface transportation programs. The report dealt with both the effectiveness of programs and the sustainability of present funding schemes.

GAO found that, as federal involvement in highways has grown since the 1950s, the government has produced a hodge-podge of programs with vague goals and uncertain federal roles that are sometimes contradictory (the agency put it somewhat more gently than that). The result is programs that don’t effectively address current issues like congestion and heavy freight traffic. They recommend that Congress undertake creating more clear definitions of the role of federal transportation agencies, desired results of programs, and outcomes expected from recipients of federal aid.
GAO also addressed projected shortfalls in federal transportation trust funds. Deficits in some of these funds may begin as early as next year for the major federal highway fund. (Last fall, the Congressional Budget Office issued a report on this shortfall.)

Infrastructure & Environment Roudup

Drinking Water Supplies Threatened by Dry Weather

The Associated Press put together a nice, short summary the problem of shrinking water supplies.  You can read it at the NBC News site and see video of a related story.

Earthquake Preparedness: The Great Shakeout

February 7 will be the Great Central U.S. Shakeout.  If you’re a fellow Missourian, find more information at the Missouri Division of Geology.  If you live elsewhere in the central United States, check out the Shakeout Web site (participating states are Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Tennessee).

Highway Trust Fund Out of Money by 2015

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has released projections of funds available in the Highway Trust Fund.  They expect it to have insufficient funds to meet obligations by fiscal year 2015.

The Highway Trust Fund is the primary source of money for the federal-aid highway system.  Revenues to the fund come primarily from the federal gas tax.

You can see the CBO projections here→.

Related posts and articles

Highway Trust Fund Running Out of Money (Infrastructure Watch, Feb. 9, 2012)

Hydropower Bill Reported Out of Committee

The Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act of 2013 (H.R. 267) was reported out of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.  The bill would expand hydropower development.

Mississippi River Affected by Drought

We’ve been following stories about the effects of the prolonged drought on the Mississippi River.  Our posts have mostly related to barge traffic and the effort to keep the river open downstream of St. Louis.

NPR has posted an article about the effects at the mouth of the river.  One of the issues is salt water intrusion, which as the potential to change the water quality in that part of the river and has already reached the intake of one drinking water system in Louisiana.  Of course, barge traffic is an issue for New Orleans, too, because the port there is where goods move from river barges to ocean-going vessels.

Recently, barge traffic has been back up by an oil spill on the river, too.  Cleanup of the spill near Vicksburg, Mississippi, continues.

Related posts and articles

Mississippi River barge backup shrinks, oil cleanup continues (Plume, K., Reuters, Feb. 1, 2013)

Rock clearing on drought-hit Mississippi River nears completion (Plume, K., Reuters, Jan. 29, 2013)

Work to Keep Mississippi River Open Continues (Infrastructure Watch, Jan. 29, 2013)

New Staff Leader Announced for Senate Environment & Public Works Committee

Sen. Barbara Boxer (CA), chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, announced that Jeremy Symons will join the committee staff as Deputy Staff Director. He will focus on environmental issues, including clean water, air quality, wildlife, and climate change.  Symons currently serves as the Senior Vice President for Conservation and Education at the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). Previously, he was Executive Director of NWF's Climate Change Campaign, held positions in the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Air and Radiation, and served in Sen. Ron Wyden's (OR) office.

You can read the original news release here→.

Secretary Chu Leaving Energy

Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced he will be resigning his post.  Other officials who announced their resignation include Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson.

Related posts and articles

Outgoing Energy Secretary Warns Of Dangers Of Climate Change (Shogren, E., NPR, Feb. 1, 2013)

Feed Watch

We find feeds to be a useful way to keep up with what is going on. Feeds are a list of links to updates on a web site. You can access them through a feed reader or aggregator. A popular free reader that we use is Google Reader. You can also have feeds appear on your personal homepage through AOL, Google or Yahoo. It is fairly easy to add content from feeds to personal home pages provided by these companies. In addition to Google Reader, we have a personal home page we use to quickly skim the latest from the sites we watch most closely.

Feeds We Watch
Congressional Budget Office Publications
Federal Emergency Management Agency News Releases
Federal Register Documents on Public Inspection
Government Accountability Office Reports
GovTrack (set up your feed or e-mail notices for the bills, legislators and committees you want to watch)
House of Representatives’ Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
U.S. Fire Administration Critical Infrastructure Protection
Water and Wastewater Blog

Feeds Related to Infrastructure Watch
Infrastructure Watch
Infra Consulting LC
Articles
Shared feeds

Other Feeds

ARRA Still News

Here is a summary of some recent news about the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.

OSHA Activities Under the Recovery Act (Department of Labor, July 16, 2013)

OSHA, State Plans Did Not Use Almost Half Of Allocated Recovery Act Funds, Audit Finds (Rolfsen, B., Bloomberg BNA, July 25, 2013)

Upgraded Palm Springs Airport tower ready for increased business (Descant, S., Desert Sun, July 26, 2013)

Estimated Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Employment and Economic Output from October 2012 Through December 2012 (Congressional Budget Office, Feb. 2013)

In Congress (Infrastructure Watch, Feb. 22, 2013)

In Shovels, a Remedy for Jobs and Growth (Porter, E., New York Times Economic Scene, Feb. 12, 2013)

INSPECTOR GENERAL QUESTIONS $12 MILLION IN SMART GRID RECOVERY-RELATED COSTS (Recovery.gov, Feb. 20, 2013)

Crumbling Pipes and Underground Waste: A Glimpse at Our Ailing Sewer System (PBS News Hour, Jan. 3, 2013)

American Reinvestment and Recovery Act News (Infrastructure Watch, Dec. 4, 2012)

Recovery Act Review (Infrastructure Watch, Dec. 4, 2012)

Waiver From Rescission of Unobligated Funds Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Obama, B., Federal Register 77, 70883, Nov. 27, 2012)

Clean-energy subsidies are vanishing. What should replace them? (Plumer, B., Washington Post Wonkblog, Apr. 18, 2012)

Google

Around America

American Infrastructure Investment Fund Act

Senators Jay Rockefeller (WV) and Frank Lautenburg (NJ) have introduced the American Infrastructure Investment Fund Act. This would create a transportation infrastructure bank. Streets Blog has some more information on the proposal.

Bills Pile Up While the Bills Pile Up

The Highway Trust Fund Reform Act of 2013 (H.R. 711) would eliminate federal prevailing wage requirements for federal-aid highway and public transportation projects. If this passes, expect it to have almost no effect on the cost of highway projects.

The Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 2013 (S. 335) would authorize the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to make loans to entities for the improvement of drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure. Only large projects would be covered, with minimum loans for $20 million.

The Water Infrastructure Resiliency and Sustainability Act of 2013 (H.R. 765) would establish a grant program in EPA to assist water systems (broadly defined) with the protection of water resources.

Georgia Eyes Tennessee River

A bill in the Georgia state legislature could be the first step in the state’s effort to move it’s border with Tennessee to gain access to the Tennessee river. The border is in dispute because the line laid by surveyors is south of the border specified by Congress, though Georgia’s interest lays more in a desire for more water. You can read more about it in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Mississippi River Floods Caused $2.8 Billion in Damages in 2011

In 2012 and  2013, we’ve been following developments of drought impacts in the Mississippi River. Back in 2011, the news was flooding. ABC New reports that flooding caused $2.8 billion in damages in Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee

Sequestration

Do you have questions about the sequestration? A place to start may be the Q&A posted by the Congressional Budget Office.

Texas Rainy Day Fund May Pay for Water Resources Projects

We previously posted about a bill in the Texas Legislature that would provide $2 billion for the construction of projects in the state water plan, and how many mayors are supporting it. The Associated Press has a story on the subject, which you can read in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Highway Trust Fund Running Out of Money

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicts that the Highway Trust Fund will be empty by 2014. Federal gas taxes support the fund and are greatly outpaced by spending. These predictions of the trust fund demise are getting to be a regular thing.

Link to the CBO report

Additional posts and articles
Boxer Files Highway Trust Fund Extension
CBO reports highway trust fund headed for bankruptcy in 2014
Highway Fund in Continued Trouble; Empty by August
Returning to Dust: Our Aging Infrastructure

Water Resources News

Aging Water Infrastructure and Maintenance Act Reported Out of Committee

The Aging Water Infrastructure and Maintenance Act (S. 2842), sponsored by Sen. Harry Reid (Nevada), has been reported out of committed and placed on the Senate calendar. The act would require the Department of Interior to inspect reclamation projects that could threaten public safety if they failed. In some cases it would provide for financing of improvements needed to insure a facility is safe. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the program would cost $189 million over the period of 2009 through 2013.

Cooperative Watershed Management Act of 2008 Reported Out of Committee

The Cooperative Watershed Management Act of 2008 (S. 3085), sponsored by Sen. Jon Tester (Montana), has been reported out of committee and placed on the Senate calendar. The bill would create a grant program, operated through the Department of Interior, to form and expand watershed groups and fund watershed restoration projects by those groups. The bill authorizes appropriations beginning at $2 million annually and rising to $20 million annually in 2012 through 2020. The CBO estimates the program will cost $43 million over the period of 2009-2013.

Here are some other bills we’ve been watching:
Clean Water Affordability Act (S. 3443)
Climate Change Drinking Water Adaptation Research Act (S. 2970)
Drug Free Water Act of 2008(H.R. 6451)
Perchlorate Monitoring and Right-to-Know Act of 2007 (S. 24)
Protecting Pregnant Women and Children from Perchlorate Act of 2007 (S. 150)
Sewage Overflow Right-to-Know Act (S. 2080)—House version passed
Small Community Drinking Water Funding Act (S. 1933) (additional post)
Twenty-First Century Water Commission Act of 2008 (S. 2728) (additional post)
Water Essential Storage To Enhance Regions in Need Act (S. 2873)
Water Security Act of 2007 (S.1968)

Recent water resources posts and articles:
More Attention for 21st Century Water Act

Previous water resources news:
Links to Infrastructure-Related Organizations
McCain’s Comments on Water Policy: Additional Resources
Water Resources News (Aug. 19, 2008)
Water Resources News (Aug. 27, 2008)

Alternative Fuels and Energy Resources Articles and Links

Amended March 3, 2015.

BIODIESEL

National Biodiesel Board

US and EU must change biofuel targets to avert food crisis, says Nestlé chief (Vidal, J., Guardian, Sept.  4, 2012)

Re-use, Recycle, Re-fuel (Scott, D., Earth Island Journal, Winter 2013)

BIOFUELS

Algae could replace 17% of US oil imports, study finds (Science Daily, Apr. 14, 2011)

Biofuel crops transform German farming (Evans, S., BBC, Aug. 31, 2012)

Good News: Lotsa Oil from Algae! Bad News: Lotsa Water Could Be Required! (Aquadoc, Apr. 18, 2011)

The era of cheap food may be over (Elliott, L., The Guardian, Sept. 2, 2012)

The Problem With Biofuels (CBS News, July 12, 2008)


ETHANOL

A Bit More Ethanol in the Gas Tank (Wald, M., New York Times, Oct. 13, 2010)

Analysis: U.S. bankers say, love or hate it, ethanol here to stay (Stebbins, C., Reuters, Sept. 5, 2012)

Biofuels: Challenges to the Transportation, Sale, and Use of Intermediate Ethanol Blends (Government Accountability Office, June 2011)

Biofuels May Push 120 Million into Hunger, Qatar’s Shah Says: “The era of low food prices is over” (Romm, J., Think Progress, October 1, 2011)

Congressional Activity (Infrastructure Watch, Aug. 23, 2010)


Drought? What Drought? EPA Refuses To Waive Ethanol Mandate (Lonely Conservative, Nov. 16, 2012)

Drought Withers U.S. Corn Crop, Heats Debate on Ethanol (Schulte, B., National Geographic, Sept. 6, 2012)

EPA's ethanol decision sparks controversy (Mohan, G., Los Angeles Times, Oct. 13, 2010)

Ethanol content of gasoline can be 15%, up from 10% now (Healey, J., USA Today, Oct. 14, 2010)

EPA refuses to waive ethanol mandate (German, B., The Hill, E2 Wire, Nov. 16, 2012)

Ethanol still a lightening rod (Leslie Reed and Joseph Morton, Omaha World-Herald, Aug. 18, 2008)

Ethanol Update (U.S. Fire Administration, Inforgram 26-08, July 10, 2008)

Ethanol Use Strains Food Aid Budget (Associated Press, April 13, 2009)

Ethanol’s Impacts on Our Water Resources (Cho, R., State of the Planet, March 21, 2011)

Food-Based Fuels Are Helping Drive Up Food Prices (Think Progress, July 22, 2011)

Fuel From Food? The Feast Is Over (CBS, Nov. 24, 2008)

Government report looks at ethanol's use of water (Dayton Daily News, Dec. 9, 2009)

Governors Look Beyond Corn-Based Ethanol (CBS News, July 14, 2008)

Hazardous Materials Final Rules: Miscellaneous Amendments (73 Federal Register 4699-4720)

The Impact Of Ethanol On Water Supplies (Biofuel Daily, Apr. 14, 2009)

In spite of drought, EPA turns down requests to waive corn ethanol mandate (Spierling, C., Washington Examiner, Beltway Confidential, Nov. 16, 2012)

The Man Who Dared to Question Ethanol (New York Times, July 13, 2008)

Markus, F. “Whiter lightning: Cellulosic ethanol arrives to save the tattered reputation of corn-mash hooch.” Motor Trend. Dec. 2008: 41.

Obama’s EPA Continues Handouts for Rich Ethanol Farmers on the Backs of Consumers (Horowitz, D., Red State, Nov. 16, 2012)

Perry draws environmentalist support on ethanol stand (Dallas Morning News, July 21, 2008)

The Problem With Biofuels (CBS News, July 12, 2008)

Rice report weighs biofuels and water resources (Gunter, F., Houston Business Journal, June 12, 2009)

Rice University researchers ask if biofuels will lead to a 'drink or drive' (ScienceBlog)

Scientists Make Underwater Biofuel Breakthrough (RTCC, January 20, 2012)

Study: Algae Biofuels Enviro-Impact Worse Than Corn Ethanol (AlterNet, Jan. 25, 2010)

Study: Biofuel Threatens Water Supplies (Live Science, Yahoo, Apr. 10, 2009)

Study: Corn-based Biofuel Costs 50 Gallons of Water per Mile (EP Online, May 5, 2009)

Unlocking Seaweed’s Nex-Gen Crude: Sugar (Garthwaite, J., Green blog at New York Times, January 23, 2012)

U.S. allows more ethanol in gasoline for newer cars (Gardner, T., & Doggett, T., Reuters, Oct. 14., 2010)

U.S. corn ethanol "was not a good policy"-Gore (Wynn, G., Reuters Africa, Nov. 22, 2010)

US drought could trigger repeat of global food crisis, experts warn (Goldenberg, S., Guardian, July 23, 2012)

US Must Stop Promoting Biofuels to Tackle World Hunger, Says Thinktank (Goldenberg, S., The Guardian, October 11, 2011)

Water worries cloud future for US biofuel (Reuters, Apr. 19, 2009)


METHANOL

Buchanan, N. “First K.I.S.S: Keeping It (Our Refueling Infrastructure) Simple.” Motor Trend Aug. 2008: 37.

SOLAR

Renewable energy won’t die from cheap oil: Bloomberg (Johnston, A., CleanTechnica, Feb. 13, 2015)

Seven reasons cheap oil can’t stop renewables now (Randall T., Bloomberg, Jan. 30, 2015)

Solar is getting cheaper, but how far can it go? (Plumer, B., Washington Post Wonkblog, Nov. 7, 2011)

Solar power: States take a shine to alternative energy (Hughes, T., Delaware Online, July 26, 2013)

Wind, Solar, & Storage Could Power Full Electric Grid Cost Effectively 99.9% Of The Time By 2030: Report (Johnston, A., Clean Technica, Dec. 11, 2012)

WIND

New York Aims To Be The Real Windy City (CBS News, Aug. 20, 2008)

Race to build deep-water wind farms is a long one (Clarke Canfield, Associated Press, Dec. 9, 2008)

The rise and fall of the U.S. wind industry, in one chart (Plumer, B., Washington Post Wonkblog, Nov. 26, 2012)

Uneasiness as renewable energy grows (Smith, R., Albany Times-Union, July 20, 2013)

Wind, Solar, & Storage Could Power Full Electric Grid Cost Effectively 99.9% Of The Time By 2030: Report (Johnston, A., Clean Technica, Dec. 11, 2012)

Science Tracer Bullet: Wind Power (Library of Congress)

Wyoming wind energy project officials aggressively set to-do list (Pelzer, J., Wyoming Star-Tribune, Nov. 10, 2010)


MISCELLANEOUS

Interconnected Infrastructure (Infrastructure Watch, Sept. 13, 2012)