Backers Of New EPA Water Loan Plan Settle For Politically Feasible Pilot

摘要

Unable to resolve their differences with states, municipal water officials are acknowledging that Congress will not create the permanent, low-interest EPA loan program they are seeking to fund large water infrastructure projects and are settling instead for a pilot project that the Senate is slated to consider in early May in legislation authorizing funding for the Army Corps of Engineers. "I think the political reality is, it's going to be a pilot project," says one drinking water sector source. But even the pilot project is facing hurdles as the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently found that the legislation would add to the deficit, creating a procedural hurdle that could require 60 votes to overcome. Groups such as the American Water Works Association (AWWA) are seeking to create a new water infrastructure financing mechanism that would allow EPA to offer low-interest loans from the U.S. Treasury to "regionally significant" water infrastructure projects.