Water Policy Archives

Can Biden Get an Infrastructure Deal Done Despite Capitol Hill Gridlock?

Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama made infrastructure initiatives central goals of their administrations, as President-elect Joe Biden has similarly pledged to do, only to be stymied at delivering on those promises.

Industry watchers, politicians and public works contractors are all wondering if Biden will also hit a wall with his promised infrastructure package. The president-elect said his administration will invest $2 trillion into the economy, creating millions of jobs in infrastructure, housing, building construction and other projects.

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Anxiety Grows Over Scope of Infrastructure Package

Concerns are growing over the fate of a sprawling water infrastructure package, even as staffers in both chambers insist negotiations are fruitful and moving forward.

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Here’s What the Water Sector Wants from Congress and President-Elect Biden

November 24, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Water Finance & Management

In a letter to President-elect Joe Biden last week, the American Water Works Association urged the incoming administration to prioritize COVID-19 relief for water utilities and investment for the overall water infrastructure sector.

The letter, authored by association president Melissa Elliott, cites AWWA research that revenue shortfalls at U.S. drinking water utilities may reduce economic activity by $32.7 billion and cost 75,000 to 90,000 private-sector jobs. Drinking water utilities are expected to see revenues from customer payments drop by nearly $14 billion, according to AWWA estimates. This is the result of the elimination of water shutoffs for non-payment, increased late payments due to high unemployment, reductions in non-residential water demands, and the addition of fewer new customers due to economic stagnation.

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Federal Water Rule Expected to Stay Murky Through Biden Term

November 20, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Bloomberg Lawby Bobby Magill

A Biden administration won’t be able to untangle the legal and regulatory “mess” under part of the Clean Water Act that determines which streams, wetlands and other waters get federal protection, legal scholars and litigators say.

Any move the Biden administration takes to clarify the definition of Waters of the United States, known as WOTUS, will continue the decades-long “merry-go-round” of administrative rule changes and litigation, said Larry Liebesman, a former Justice Department environmental lawyer who is now a senior adviser at the environmental and water permitting firm of Dawson & Associates.

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Opinion: What California Can Learn from Cape Town About Water Policy

November 3, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /San Francisco Chronicle by Robert Hertzberg

Two years ago, Cape Town, South Africa, a city of 4 million people, informed its shocked citizens that the city was just a few months away from running out of water due to drought. It was a wake-up call for all of us to become much better stewards of our own water. Luckily, for Cape Towners, innovative water conservation and efficiency measures, smarter data use, expanded water storage, and help from Mother Nature all combined to help them avoid a major water shutoff.

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Army Corps Banks on Wetland Data EPA Deemed ‘Unreliable’

October 29, 2020/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /E&E Newsby Ariel Wittenberg and Hannah Northey

When the Trump administration finalized a key Clean Water Act rule last year, it slammed media outlets for citing federal data showing it would erase protections for more than half the nation’s wetlands and 18% of streams.

The National Wetlands Inventory, EPA wrote in a press release at the time, was so unreliable that it “doesn’t map wetlands that are there and maps wetlands that are no longer there.”

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California Slammed Over ‘Blank Check’ for Delta Tunnel Project

October 29, 2020/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Courthouse News Serviceby Nick Cahill

Lobbing another hurdle at California’s $16 billion plan to tunnel underneath the West Coast’s largest estuary, environmentalists on Thursday sued to freeze public funding for the megaproject championed by Governor Gavin Newsom.

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California’s Landmark Groundwater Law Falls Short, Advocates Say

October 23, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /CapRadio by Nina Sparling

In the midst of the last drought, California took its first step to regulate how the state uses groundwater. But advocates worry the new rules have favored big agricultural users over small communities, particularly in areas like the San Joaquin Valley.

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FEMA Ends Policy Favoring Flood Walls Over Green Protections

October 19, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /E&E Newsby Thomas Frank

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has taken a dramatic step to encourage communities to use environmentally friendly features such as wetlands for flood protection instead of building sea walls and levees. A new FEMA flood policy released late last month with no public announcement is drawing praise from environmentalists because it will promote mitigation projects that provide environmental benefits in addition to flood protection.

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E.P.A. to Promote Lead Testing Rule as Trump Tries to Burnish His Record

September 28, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /The New York Timesby Lisa Friedman

The Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to overhaul the way communities test their water for lead, a policy change that will be pitched ahead of Election Day as a major environmental achievement for a president not noted for his conservation record.

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