Jan. 12, 2018 — On Jan. 11, WEF and several other water sector organizations sent a letter to U.S. House Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) in support of the the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Reauthorization (WIFIA) Act of 2017 (H.R. 4492), which Mast and a bipartisan group of members introduced in November.
H.R. 4492 reauthorizes the WIFIA program, which is set to expire in 2019, for an additional 5 years. It also authorizes projects under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to be processed through the already established U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) program office. Army Corps will retain decision-making authority and continue to act as the subject matter experts on WIFIA applications under their jurisdiction, while preventing duplication of effort in the EPA financial services process.
H.R. 4492 also would increase the credit assistance to $90 million from the current amount of $45 million. It also would offer financial flexibility to utilities, municipalities, nonprofits, and other eligible entities to construct $5 billion in new water resources infrastructure.
The bill has been referred to both the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Read WEF's letter in support of the bill.
Read Rep. Mast's press release about the bill.
