Dam Safety Bill Introduced in Senate
July 19th, 2012 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
Senators Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), John Boozman (R-AR), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Mike Crapo (R-ID) introduced the Dam Safety Act of 2012 on June 29. The last bill authorizing spending for the national dam safety program expired on September 30, 2011. The National Dam Safety Program is administered by the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Under FEMA’s leadership, the National Dam Safety Program is dedic
ated to protecting the lives of American citizens and their property from the risks associated with the development, operation, and maintenance of America’s dams.
The new Senate bill will reauthorize the National Dam Safety Program for Fiscal Years 2012 through 2016 at $13.9 million per year including:
- $9.2 million per year split among the states, based on the relative number of dams per state, to make improvements in programs identified in the National Dam Safety Program Act;
- $1.45 million per year in research funds to identify more effective techniques to assess, construct, and monitor dams;
- $1 million per year for a nationwide public awareness and outreach program;
- $750,000 per year in training assistance to state engineers; and
- $500,000 per year for the National Inventory of Dams.
ASCE Needs Your Help — Give Us Your “Success Stories”!
July 13th, 2012 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
ASCE is currently developing the 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure and we need your help in identifying “Success Stories” – examples of how public and private organizations have addressed specific infrastructure problems with some creativity and determination. While the 2009 Report Card showed there is much work to be done to raise the grades, we know there are countless examples of projects and programs from across the country that demonstrate progress is being made. It is
Success!
- Increased federal leadership
- Promotion of sustainability and resilience
- Develop federal, regional, and state infrastructure plans
- Address life-cycle costs and ongoing maintenance
- Increase and improve infrastructure investment from all stakeholders
An ASCE Take on the State of the Union
January 24th, 2012 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
The President will be speaking before a Joint session of Congress and the American people tonight to discuss the State of the Union. The first State of the Union was delivered by President George Washington in January 1790 and since then has become a vehicle for a sitting President to outline his legislative agenda for the upcoming year. During last year’s State of the Union address President Obama discussed the nation’s infrastructure crisis and referenced ASCE’s 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure as a reason why action must be taken to repair and maintain our nation’s roads, bridges, ports, water systems, dams, and rail. While it is not likely that the Report Card will be reference two years in a row, ASCE still has a few things that we would like to hear President Obama discuss. ASCE hopes that President Obama calls on Congress to rebuild the infrastructure that once was the envy of the world and spur the innovative imagination that has historically defined this country. It is through a state of the art infrastructure and a growing number of students moving into fields like civil engineering, that America can ensure that the state of the our union will remain strong for years to come. Since last year’s State of the Union address Congress has only been able to extend the surface transportation and FAA programs, instead of pass critical reauthorization bills. Additionally, since last January the National Dam Safety Program has expired and drinking water and wastewater state revolving funds continue to operate off of a 1987 authorization. At a time when the nation needs to create jobs and grow the economy in order to remain competitive, funding the nation’s infrastructure and producing students who excel in math and the sciences can prove to be the key. Therefore, ASCE has defined several legislative priorities. First, we need to rebuild America to compete in the 21st Century. For that reason ASCE calls on President Obama and Congress to:- Pass a multi-year surface transportation bill at level funding.
- Finalize a FAA reauthorization in the next few weeks.
- Reauthorize the National Dam Safety Program for 5 years.
- Begin work on drinking water and wastewater SRF reauthorization bills in 2012.
- Take up a new Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) that includes the creation of a national levee safety program.
- Pass legislation that would reauthorize the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) and the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program.
- Reauthorize the existing Math and Science Partnerships program at the Department of Education.
- Increase funding annual funding for NIST and NSF programs.
Tags: dams, hazards, infrastructure, infrastructure report card, transportation, water infrastructure
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