The Dept. of Energy has announced how it will spend more than $9 billion in federal funds under the recently enacted economic-stimulus measure, with much of the money aimed at construction projects. DOE on March 31 released its plans for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act's $6 billion to accelerate environmental cleanup work at former nuclear-weapons sites across 12 states around the country. Five days earlier, the agency disclosed its breakdown of $3.2 billion for a new Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program that the stimulus statute created. Photo: U.S. Dept. of Energy Funds at Hanford will help reduce
Michael L. Connor, a top Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee staffer, is President Obama’s choice to lead the Dept. of Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation, the White House announced on March 18. Connor has been counsel to the energy committee since May 2001 and has worked on water, Indian-land and energy issues. Connor’s nomination as commissioner of reclamation is subject to Senate confirmation.
Congress is moving to draft legislation that would cap carbon dioxide emissions and create a carbon allowance trading program to help emitting industries comply. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) says he plans to complete a bill by Memorial Day with targets and deadlines for emission reductions. The bill could include energy-efficiency standards and require utilities to generate a specific portion of power with renewable energy sources. A House floor vote could come later this year. In the Senate, Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) says she wants to take a deliberative approach to
The House and Senate approved a six-month extension to the Federal Aviation Administration authorization on March 18. The current authorization would have expired on March 31. The bill provides a total of $3.9 billion for the airport improvement program for fiscal 2009 and also extends the aviation excise taxes, which support the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, through Sept. 30. Lawmakers on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee say they hope the seven-month extension gives them the time they need to work for passage of a new four-year, $70-billion authorization bill for the agency. As a first step, the Transportation
Construction industry groups are hopeful the House’s swift passage of a multiyear authorization for wastewater funding bodes well for final congressional approval this year. The measure, which the House approved on March 5 by a 317-101 vote, would authorize $19.4 billion for wastewater infrastructure over the next five years. Of the total, $13.8 billion would go for Clean Water state revolving funds (SRFs), the principal financing source for wastewater projects. Funding would start at $2.4 billion in fiscal 2010, rise to $2.7 billion in 2011, then climb $100 million a year after that, to $3 billion in 2014. Clean Water
The Environmental Protection Agency on March 12 announced that it will funnel $297 million in stimulus aid to three northwestern states, Alaska and tribal governments for clean water projects. The funds are the first installment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding to come from the EPA. The individual amounts directed to Alaska, Oregon, Washington and tribal governments will be delivered via existing programs: the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, and the Tribal clean Water & Drinking Water Set-Aside programs. Alaska will receive $43 million, Idaho will receive $39 million, Oregon will receive
The House of Representatives on March 5 approved legislation authorizing $19.4 billion to fund wastewater infrastructure over the next five years. The House voted 317 to 101 to approve the measure, which would authorize $13.8 billion over five years for the Clean Water state revolving funds (SRF), the principal source of federal funding for wastewater infrastructure. The bill also would provide more than $2.5 billion over five years in grants to address combined sewer overflows and sanitary sewer overflows and $750 million over five years for remediation of contaminated sediments in the Great Lakes region. Introduced just March 3 by
The White House will have to keep searching for a deputy secretary for the Dept. of Transportation. Jane Garvey, the Federal Aviation Administration chief and acting head of the Federal Highway Administration during the Clinton presidency, was seen as the top choice for the No. 2 DOT post. But Garvey has declined the appointment, says a spokesperson at JPMorgan, which Garvey joined last year.
President Obama has asked the Office of Management and Budget to develop by Sept. 30 more stringent procurement guidelines to limit the use of sole-source and cost-plus contracts on federal projects. In a March 4 memo, Obama said use of sole-source and cost-plus contracts increased dramatically between 2001 and 2008. He contended that reliance on those contracts led to cost overruns and wasteful spending on federal projects during the Bush presidency, particularly in Iraq. The memo also says federal agencies should use sole-source contracts only in limited circumstances and rely more on fixed-price contracts. The White House estimates the changes
President Obama has asked federal agencies to reconsider an eleventh-hour Bush administration rule that allows agencies, in some cases, to let construction projects move forward without consulting scientists about the projects’ impact on endangered species. In a March 3 memo, Obama requested that agencies go back to the previous policy until the Bush administration rule can be reviewed. At issue is a regulation that the Interior and Commerce departments issued on Dec. 11. It gave agencies broader authority to clear projects without checking with federal scientists about how the projects would affect wildlife. The agencies said the change would make