ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Continues to Advocate for the Construction Industry’s Priorities
On Nov. 20, select members of the House and Senate—called conferees—gathered to begin work on resolving the discrepancies between the two chambers respective Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) bills in a conference committee. and advocated for the construction industry’s WRDA priorities to all conferees, detailing which provisions and policies in both bills should be included in a final WRDA bill.
In both its letter and continuing lobbying efforts, ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ articulates the need for:
- An adequate and efficient project authorization process;
- Spending harbor maintenance tax revenues on harbor maintenance;
- Addressing the Olmsted Locks and Dam project in a way that allows other necessary inland waterways projects to proceed;
- Environmental streamlining and project delivery acceleration through limiting the time to file lawsuits on projects under the National Environmental Policy Act and setting firm deadlines for pre-construction project studies; and
- Innovative financing methods—including a public private partnership pilot program and Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Authority—that supplement, not replace, traditional government funding for water resources infrastructure.