Plans for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to mark up a multi-year transportation policy bill in early September have been delayed, the panel’s chairman announced on September 11. The postponement means the water sector will have to wait longer to see progress on efforts to amend the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) to allow communities to finance projects with a combination of WIFIA loans and tax-exempt debt, as well as another effort to ensure rail shipments of water treatment chemicals continue uninterrupted after December 31.
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Penn.) told reporters on September 11 that the release of the panel’s draft transportation bill is now targeted for late September or early October. Shuster had hoped to unveil the massive bill soon after Labor Day, but slow going in negotiations with House Democrats over how to pay for the bill prompted the latest delay. In July Congress approved a short-term transportation funding bill that lasts through October 29, and lawmakers will almost certainly have to approve another short-term extension by that date as there will not be enough time for the House and Senate to finalize a long-term bill before the deadline.
This latest delay carries implications for the water sector, as a long-term transportation bill has emerged as the most promising legislative vehicle to advance the critical WIFIA fix that will allow communities to finance water infrastructure projects by combining WIFIA loans with tax-exempt debt. Because WIFIA currently limits loans to covering a maximum of 49 percent of a project’s total cost, while prohibiting tax-exempt financing (such as municipal bonds) from paying for the remaining 51 percent, may utilities have questioned the usefulness of the program in its present form.
In response to calls from AMWA and others in the water sector, the U.S. Senate included language to strike this restriction from WIFIA within its version of a long-term transportation bill (approved this summer as H.R. 22). AMWA has been urging House lawmakers to add the same WIFIA provision to their long-term transportation bill, but the success of these efforts will not be apparent until the House actually releases and acts on its version of the bill.
Also awaiting a ride on the House transportation bill is a proposal to give freight railroad companies additional time to comply with federal rules mandating the use of anti-crash technology known as “positive train control” (PTC). Federal law currently requires certain freight rail lines carrying passenger trains or trains holding defined amounts of toxic inhalation chemicals (such as gaseous chlorine) to have PTC operational by December 31, 2015, but several railroad companies have said this deadline will be impossible to meet. The Federal Railroad Administration has said it will begin fining non-compliant railroads after the New Year, potentially leading some rail carriers to halt hazardous shipments – a decision that could leave water treatment facilities without access to gaseous chlorine deliveries.
AMWA and other water utility groups wrote to lawmakers on September 23, urging quick action to delay the PTC mandate so water treatment chemical deliveries are not interrupted. The letter noted that a Government Accountability Office study has confirmed that most railroads are unable to meet the current compliance deadline, and that some rail carriers have announced plans to embargo certain chemical shipments as early as Thanksgiving to ensure no trains become stranded on the tracks at year’s end. A coalition of chemical sector and business groups separately wrote to Congress this month to request action on the issue.
Like the WIFIA fix, the Senate also included a three-year delay to the PTC mandate within H.R. 22, but further action is dependent on the House proposing and advancing its own transportation bill with similar provisions. The unlikelihood of Congress giving final approval to a new long-term transportation bill by the end of the year has led some lawmakers to suggest looking at other legislative vehicles to move the PTC provision, such as the next short-term transportation extension or a government spending bill.