AMWA joined the American Water Works Association (AWWA) and the Water Environment Federation (WEF) this month in writing to key House committee leaders in support of legislation to reauthorize EPA’s Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program. The letter also expressed concerns about another bill that would create a new class of WIFIA loans available only to states to pay for projects listed on their Drinking Water or Clean Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) intended use plans.
The March 6 letter reiterated the groups’ previously announced support for H.R. 4492, a bill that would extend the existing WIFIA program for five years while authorizing a total of $690 million to be spent on the program over that timeframe. Conversely, the letter outlined a number of concerns with H.R. 4902 (the SRF WIN Act), another bill that would set up a similar WIFIA program exclusively available for use by states to fund SRF projects. That bill, which is intended to direct additional EPA funding toward small and rural projects, would offer these state applicants more favorable loan terms than would be available to individual projects through the original WIFIA program, even though WIFIA already allows states to compile multiple small projects into a single application. AMWA’s letter warned that these more favorable loan terms for state projects could reduce WIFIA’s ability to leverage substantial funding for major water and wastewater projects.
“[T]he original WIFIA program offers much greater leveraging capabilities than the new proposal, thus allowing appropriations to stretch further and provide taxpayers with the greatest return on their investment,” the groups wrote.
EPA is expected to issue the first WIFIA loans very soon, but the program’s original authorization is set to expire at the end of the 2019 fiscal year. Congress could add an extension to or revision of WIFIA to a larger water resources bill that is expected to be considered later this year.