Separate bills offered on Capitol Hill this month would reinstate the expired Superfund tax to finance hazardous waste cleanup efforts and establish a new infrastructure bank program to offer financing to a wide range of major capital projects across the country.
The first bill, introduced by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) as the “Superfund Reinvestment Act” (H.R. 2768), would reinstate an excise tax on polluting industries that, until expiring in 1995, sent money to the Superfund Trust Fund to support cleanup efforts at abandoned sites contaminated with dangerous pollutants – some of which put drinking water sources at risk. The bill would reestablish the tax, index it for inflation and make proceeds available for use by EPA to cleanup more than 1,100 Superfund sites across the country – including many that threaten nearby water supplies.
The legislation could aid communities by offering additional funding that covers necessary toxic waste removal and remediation efforts, but Congress has failed to act on previous versions of the bill sponsored by Rep. Blumenauer.
Another new bill on Capitol Hill this month would establish a federal Infrastructure Financing Authority tasked with helping state and local governments pay for qualifying large-scale projects.
Introduced by Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the “Building and Renewing Infrastructure for Development and Growth in Employment (BRIDGE) Act” (S. 1589), would establish an independent, nonpartisan financing authority to complement existing infrastructure programs. The authority would provide loans and loan guarantees to help states and localities fund a wide range of viable projects, including those that improve the nation’s water, sewer, dam, road, bridge, rail, port and energy projects. The bill would authorize initial seed funding of up to $10 billion, with the authority structured to be self-sustaining over time without requiring additional federal appropriations.
A qualifying project would have to cost at least $50 million, except for rural projects, which would only have to cost a minimum of $10 million. Financing Authority members would select specific projects for assistance, and these would receive aid (such as low-interest loans and loan guarantees) in amounts up to 49 percent of the project’s total cost.
The BRIDGE Act bears many similarities to the WIFIA low interest loan program Congress approved last year. But while WIFIA is targeted specifically at water and wastewater projects, the proposed Infrastructure Financing Authority would deliver aid to a wide range of infrastructure projects – possibly making it more difficult for water and wastewater systems to compete for funds.
The BRIDGE Act has drawn support from both Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, but so far there are no indications it could begin to move through the chamber in the foreseeable future.