TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress that America’s Water Infrastructure Needs Investment

When Congress comes back from its August recess, the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee will likely work on reauthorizing the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA). WRDA authorizes federal investment in and policies for flood control, navigation and environmental restoration projects and has not been reauthorized since 2007, when more than $23 billion was authorized over five years. Contact your representative and senators NOW to tell them it’s time to reauthorize WRDA by clicking here. AGC this week met with congressional staff on the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) and Senate Environmental and Public Works (EPW) Committees to discuss prospects of WRDA reauthorization. The discussions made clear that Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chair of the EPW Committee, would like to take action on a WRDA bill this Congress.  Members of the House T&I Committee are also interested in moving a WRDA bill, but note the limited timeframe before this Congress adjourns in December and the earmark moratorium as potential road blocks. That said, members of Congress need to hear from you—contractors who know the situation on the ground—to help make a WRDA bill possible. Inland waterways help keep the nation's economy flowing, transporting $180 billion of coal, steel, chemicals and other goods each year — a sixth of U.S. freight — across 38 states. However, an archaic system of locks and dams threatens the timely delivery of those goods daily. Additionally, while the U.S. has ports on the West Coast (Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland and Seattle/Tacoma) and East Coast (New York, Baltimore and Hampton Roads) expected to be ready with post-Panamax channels in 2014, there is currently a lack of post-Panamax capacity at U.S. Gulf and South Atlantic ports – the very regions geographically positioned to potentially be most impacted by the expected changes in the world fleet. Tell Congress NOW, it’s time to begin work on WRDA. Click here to send your representative and senators a letter about America’s need for a WRDA bill. For more information, contact Jimmy Christianson at 703-837-5325 or christiansonj@agc.org or Sean O’Neill at 202-547-8892 or oneills@agc.org.