Investing in the American West: What Does the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Mean for Us?

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On November 15, 2021, President Biden signed the “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act” into law (commonly referred to in the media as the “Bi-Partisan Infrastructure Bill”). The provisions in this act dedicate 1.2 trillion dollars of federal funds “for Federal-aid highways, highway safety programs, and transit programs, and for other purposes.” This massive bill will fund upgrades and expansions to roads and bridges, railways, public transportation, and water systems, and will also expand broadband services across the country. Although this legislation will improve infrastructure nationwide, there are several key provisions which could have profound impacts across the West:

Wildfire Risk Reduction:

Wildfires threaten land across the country, but the West has been significantly impacted over the last several years: in 2020, wildfires burned 9.5 million Western acres, compared to less than 1 million acres in the Eastern United States. Much of the fire destruction in the West occurred on Federal land (7.5 million of the 9.5 total), and funding provided by this bill will help to not only restore some of that damaged land, but also to prevent future catastrophic fire events.

Section 40803 of the legislation allocates $3,369,200,000 over the next four years to conduct restoration treatment and improvements on Federal lands and Indian forests or rangelands which have been identified as having a very high potential for wildfire. Of this money, $20 million will be used to establish and maintain a program to quickly detect wildfires using satellite technology, $10 million is dedicated to upgrading radio technology in order to increase interconnectivity between responding agencies, and another $100 million is allocated to fire response workshops and workforce training for “staff, non-Federal firefighters, and Native village fire crews.” An impressive $200 million will be spent on removing or modifying flammable vegetation from Federal lands, and an additional $200 million will be spent on “post-fire restoration activities” which begin within three years of the date of wildfire containment. At least 1,000 seasonal wildland firefighters will be converted to permanent Federal employees, and their yearly salary will increase by $20,000 or 50% of their base pay (whichever is less) if they are in an area where it is difficult to recruit and retain wildland firefighters.

Western Water Infrastructure:

Title IX of the Act is dedicated entirely to Western Water Infrastructure, and appropriates $1.15 billion for water storage, groundwater storage and conveyance projects, as well as an additional $3.2 billion for the Aging Infrastructure Account. Funds from the Aging Infrastructure Account are available for “rehabilitation, reconstruction, or replacement” of dams, rural water projects authorized under the Reclamation Rural Water Supply Act of 2006 (43 U.S.C. 2401), water recycling and reuse projects, water desalination projects and studies, dam safety programs, and grants for improving natural or nature-based features. This provision also allocates $300 million for the Colorado River Drought Contingency Plan, $100 million for watershed management, and $250 million for “design, study, and construction of aquatic ecosystem restoration and protection projects.” Additional money is dedicated to preservation and recovery of endangered species in the Colorado River Basin and for “multi-benefit” projects that will improve watershed management projects. This is much-needed investment in water infrastructure for the drought-stricken West, which is facing historically low water levels in both Lake Powell and Lake Mead, and is in desperate need of relief.

Wildlife Crossings:

Each year, there are approximately one million wildlife-vehicle collisions in America, at cost of $8.3 billion dollars. Nearly 12% of American animals die on roads each year, and the government believes that these accidents result in “tens of thousands of serious injuries and hundreds of fatalities” to humans, as well. These collisions are also a threat to the survival of many species, and several states across the West, including Arizona, Colorado, California, Washington, and Wyoming have already built wildlife crossings to address these concerns. Section 11223 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act recognizes the significant economic and environmental impact of these collisions, and allocates $350 million dollars toward the construction and upkeep of wildlife crossings. These funds will be made available to state highway agencies, metropolitan planning organizations, local governments, regional transportation authorities, Indian tribes, and Federal land management organizations, among others, and will also be used to fund studies related to these crossings and training for employees. One goal of this program is to reduce highway collisions between wildlife and vehicles while improving “habitat connectivity” for animals along the National Highway System.

Healthy Streets Program:

As part of the Climate Change subtitle, the Act contains a provision for states, metropolitan planning organizations, local and Tribal governments, and nonprofit groups working with these organizations, to implement a “Healthy Streets Program.” This program provides $100 million per year over the next four years to install cool pavements and other porous pavements and to expand tree cover. By installing these climate-friendly pavements and surfaces and increasing shade coverage through the planting of trees, the program aims to mitigate urban heat islands, improve air quality, and reduce stormwater runoff. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, cool pavements can also reduce tire noise, enhance safety by increasing traction and may improve nighttime visibility when reflective pavements are used.

Only time will tell how well the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 will actually improve the condition of both national infrastructure and the economy, but the tremendous amount of money invested into the specific programs mentioned above will have a significant impact on life across the West well into the future.

Sources:

Using Cool Pavements to Reduce Heat Islands, United States Environmental Protection Agency, https://www.epa.gov/heatislands/using-cool-pavements-reduce-heat-islands (last visited Nov. 19, 2021).

Wildfire Statistics, Congressional Research Service, (https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/IF10244.pdf) (updated Oct. 4, 2021).

Ben Goldfarb, Animals Need Infrastructure Too, VOX, https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/2021/11/12/22774958/animals-wildlife-crossings-bridges-infrastructure (Nov. 12, 2021).

H.R. 3684, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, 117^th Congress (2021-2022), see full text at https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3684/text (last visited Nov. 19^th, 2021).

Western U.S. Drought: Examining the Status and Management of Drought in the Western United States, U.S. Department of the Interior, https://www.doi.gov/ocl/western-us-drought (Oct. 6, 2021).