Obama, Congress Put Water on Stimulus List

PHILADELPHIA — The benefits of President Obama’s proposed economic stimulus plan, now winding its way through Congress, won’t impact infrastructure-related companies, including those involved in water projects, until the second half of 2009 when stimulus effects begin to be felt, according to a January 26 report by the Philadelphia-based investment firm Janney Montgomery Scott (JMS).

While negotiations about the stimulus bill’s details are continuing, the JMS report outlined some key water-related items to be found in different versions of the bill now under consideration by the House and Senate. Those items, and the amounts each house in Congress is proposing to spend so far, include, according to the analysts:

● EPA revolving loan funds for use by states in financing new public drinking water and wastewater projects: House is proposing $8 billion, Senate is proposing $6 billion.

● Rural water projects: House, $1.5 billion; Senate, $1.4 billion.

● US Army Corps of Engineers water resources projects: House, $4.5 billion; Senate, $4.6 billion.

● Water supply projects in western US: House, $500 million; Senate, $1.4 billion. The House bill also includes $400 million for conservation/watershed programs that are not mentioned in the Senate bill.

● Cleanup of US Department of Energy nuclear weapons production sites: House, $500 million; Senate, $6.4 billion. The House also includes $300 million for cleanup of closed military bases and $400 million for habitat restoration projects not mentioned in the Senate version.

● EPA environmental cleanup programs, including Superfund: House, $1.1 billion; Senate, $1.4 billion.

The JMS analysts so far see more water spending proposed by the House than by the Senate in the stimulus bill, but the analysts note that the bill is still subject to change and that negotiations between the two houses of Congress and among the Obama administration, Democrats and Republicans are continuing.

Meanwhile, over the weekend of January 24-25, the Obama administration released some additional detail about proposed water spending. According to the JMS report, the administration’s “21st Century Infrastructure” portion of the stimulus bill would include 1,300 new wastewater projects, 380 new drinking water projects, and 1,000 rural water and sewer systems, providing new or improved water/wastewater service for 1.5 million people.

Other infrastructure portions of the stimulus bill include new spending on clean energy technology, energy transmission, energy efficiency, computerization of health records, and the upgrading of 10,000 schools.

The JMS analysts note that lobbying and governmental groups in recent weeks have been compiling “long lists of ‘shovel-ready’ projects” that could benefit from the stimulus package. However, they also say the manner in which stimulus-bill funds will be administered for specific projects “is still somewhat murky.”

One criticism of the bill has been that allocation and spending of money for infrastructure projects like new water systems will take too long to have a beneficial effect. Administration officials have responded by saying that 75 percent of the bill’s money will be spent within 18 months of enactment, and that, in any case, the recession is expected to last long enough to require longer-term as well as nearer-term stimulus spending.

The administration and its congressional allies are pushing to have the $825 billion stimulus bill approved by both houses of Congress and ready for Obama’s signature by mid-February.

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Source:  Water Technology Online