Water Resources Development Act Passes Senate, Heads to President for Signature
By a vote of 99 to 1, the Senate on Wednesday passed the bipartisan water infrastructure legislation that cleared the House last month by voice vote. The "America's Water Infrastructure Act," S. 3021, or otherwise known as WRDA, authorizes numerous US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) projects and other important water programs. Key provisions of the legislation include:
Authorizes aquatic invasive species research by the USACE that includes research on "Asian carp and zebra mussels."
Authorizes a 5-year harmful algal bloom technology development demonstration by the USACE.
Clarifies the operation and maintenance cost shares for the project at the Brandon Road to be 80 percent federal, 20 percent local, and directs the USACE to consult with the Governor of the state in which the project is constructed.
Authorizes the Great Lakes Coastal Resiliency Study.
Authorizes the construction of a new Soo Lock.
Increases the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund authorization amount to $1.95 billion over three years.
Creates a Stormwater funding task force
Reauthorizes and increases funding for Sewer Overflow Control Grants, while requiring twenty percent of the funds be used for green infrastructure, efficiency improvements, and other innovative activities.
Reauthorizes the WIFIA program.
For more information, please contact Matt McKenna, Director of the Great Lakes Washington Program, at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
New IPCC Report Details the Future for Global Greenhouse Emissions
The U.N Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a coalition of experts from 40 countries under the auspices of the United Nations, authored a
report last week that details the environmental differences between a 1.5°C and a 2°C increase in global temperatures from pre-industrial levels during this century. The Paris Climate Agreement, in which 197 countries signed (and the U.S has pledged to withdraw from, though it is legally stymied from doing so for the time being), aims to keep the temperature threshold below 2°C as countries work toward carbon neutrality and strives for keeping temperatures below a 1.5°C increase.
The IPCC's new report has now found that keeping levels below 2°C is not enough. The difference between an increase of 1.5°C and 2°C could be an additional 4 inches of sea level rise and catastrophic permafrost melting in the Arctic regions, among other cataclysmic outcomes. With an original target year of 2050 to reach carbon neutrality globally, this report calls for countries to start putting pressure on their governments to create plans to lower carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible.
For more information, please contact Eric Heath, Senior Policy Counsel for the Mississippi River Basin Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
This Week in Washington
The House and Senate are currently in recess until after the November midterms.
NEMWI: Strengthening the Region that Sustains the Nation
