President Barack Obama touched on a number of issues of importance to the drinking water community during his State of the Union speech last week, including climate change adaptation, infrastructure investment and critical infrastructure cybersecurity.
The president built on a prominent mention of climate change during last month’s inaugural address and urged Congress to “pursue a bipartisan, market-based solution” to the problem. He also pledged to pursue executive actions if Congress does not act. The White House did not offer further details on what these executive actions may include, but the comments appear to open the door to some type of coordinated effort to help communities – and their water systems – adapt to climate change impacts. The Obama Administration could only offer limited assistance without congressional approval, but Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) is planning to spotlight the issue in the coming weeks when she reintroduces her legislation to help water systems adapt to changing hydrological conditions.
On infrastructure investment, President Obama announced a new “Partnership to Rebuild America” that would encourage private investment in infrastructure “to make sure taxpayers don’t shoulder the whole burden.” The president’s remarks did not detail to what extent this program might offer support to water infrastructure projects.
President Obama also used his speech to announce the signing of a long-awaited cybersecurity executive order (see related story). Obama said the order will boost information sharing and produce new security standards, but he also called on Congress to follow his action by passing legislation that would allow the government to impose binding cybersecurity standards on critical infrastructure – something that has been strongly opposed by Capitol Hill Republicans.