Municipal & Utilities
2012APR
05
05
The long-awaited proposed rule from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) on state damage prevention programs was published on Monday, April 2. The 2006 Pipeline Inspection, Protection, Enforcement, and Safety Act (PIPES Act) requires PHMSA to enforce damage prevention laws where a state damage prevention program is deemed inadequate to do so. This
2012MAR
31
31
Senators Barrasso (R-Wy.), Inhofe (R-Okla.), Heller (R-Nev.) and Sessions (R-Ala.), along with 26 of their colleagues, introduced legislation to stop the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) from implementing its guidance on Clean Water Act jurisdiction.
2012MAR
24
24
This week, the construction industry has been hit with good news on the issue of federal jurisdiction over wetlands in the Clean Water Act. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a unanimous March 21 ruling, said that an Idaho couple could legally challenge an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) compliance order that told them to restore wetlands on their property.
2012MAR
02
02
The Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, chaired by Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio), held a hearing to review innovative approaches for financing community water infrastructure projects. The subcommittee focused on potential financing tools, including many AGC priorities in the water infrastructure sector. The chairman’s opening statement acknowledged the substantial water infrastructure needs and the unfortunate results of deferred investment. Witnesses pointed out that local governments continue to be concerned about the impacts unfunded federal mandates have on their ability to meet compliance obligations, especially given municipalities’ dwindling revenues in the current economic climate.
2012FEB
10
10
During the markup of the Senate Finance Committee’s portion of the Surface Transportation bill, Sen. Menendez (D-NJ) offered a version of the AGC-supported legislation exempting water and wastewater infrastructure from the private activity bond volume cap as an amendment. The amendment was accepted on a voice vote, because it wasn’t controversial enough to require a roll call vote and AGC is hopeful that the bill will pass.
2012JAN
21
21
As AGC reported previously, a company called LightSquared is planning to build a national mobile internet network to compete with the data signal offered by major cell phone companies. Early reports indicated that the spectrum they planned to use was too close to the signal band used by the Global Positioning System, causing signal bleed and interference, particularly for the sensitive GPS receivers aboard agricultural and construction equipment.
2012JAN
03
03
A last minute legislative compromise to avert a government shutdown saw Democrats and Republicans come together on the nine outstanding appropriations bills. Among them is the Interior/Environment appropriations bill, which contains the funding for the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) State Revolving Loan Funds (SRFs). The compromise would fund the Clean Water SRF at $1.469 billion,
2011DEC
17
17
On Dec.13, the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife held a hearing entitled “Our Nation’s Water Infrastructure: Challenges and Opportunities.” The hearing featured testimony from Environmental Protection Agency Jim Hanlon, who is the Director for the Office of Wastewater management – with jurisdiction over the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. Representatives from the engineering community were also there to discuss their latest report on water infrastructure.
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