Weeks of negotiations in the U.S. Senate failed to break a hold on legislation that would provide millions of dollars to Flint, Michigan and other communities across the country to replace lead service lines and address other water infrastructure needs. Further action on the bill will be delayed at least until after senators return from a two-week recess on April 4.
Unveiled in February as a bipartisan proposal to provide quick assistance in response to the Flint water crisis, the “Drinking Water Safety and Infrastructure Act” (S. 2579) stalled after numerous senators placed holds on a related energy policy measure (S. 2012) to which the Flint measure was originally offered as an amendment. A hold allows individual senators to block consideration of legislation, and often is used to gain leverage or secure concessions from bill supporters.
The most consequential hold related to the Flint proposal was imposed by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who initially objected to using federal funds to repair Flint’s water infrastructure while Michigan held a budget surplus. Sen. Lee also objected to a budget offset that supporters intended to use to pay for the new water infrastructure spending, and senators were unable to resolve the issue before departing Washington for the spring recess on March 18.
If enacted, the Flint response legislation would:
- Provide $100 million through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) to repair or replace drinking water infrastructure contributing to lead contamination. The DWSRF funding would be available for use in any city that is the subject of a presidential emergency declaration related to the presence of lead or other contaminants in drinking water, but this effectively directs the funding to Flint. The funding could be used to replace both public and privately owned infrastructure such as lead service lines.
- Appropriate $70 million in credit assistance through the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA). The funding could be used to support any water infrastructure project nationwide eligible for WIFIA, regardless of whether the project relates to the removal of lead infrastructure. According to Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman James Inhofe (R-Okla.) this credit assistance could be leveraged at a ratio of as much as 60 to 1, potentially supporting “loans of up to $4.2 billion to address water and wastewater infrastructure needs across the country.”
- Implement new public notification rules requiring utilities to notify customers within 15 days following a lead action level exceedance “or any other level of lead determined by [EPA] to warrant notice, either on a case-specific or more general basis.” EPA would deliver this notice to customers if a utility failed to do so, and EPA would be given the authority to “provide notice of any result of lead monitoring” conducted by a utility “to any person that is served by the public water system.” These notification provisions closely match legislation that was first introduced in Congress in late January (S. 2466/H.R. 4414), but they differ from a bipartisan bill later approved by the House (H.R. 4470) which made clear that broad public notices would not be required following isolated tests indicating elevated lead levels.
- Provide $50 million for various public health initiatives to address and reduce health impacts related to lead exposure.
The prospects for S. 2579 will remain uncertain even if the Senate approves the measure. The House of Representatives has yet to approve any new water infrastructure funding for Flint, and some Republicans in the chamber have expressed similar concerns about the price tag of such proposals.