WASHINGTON, DC – The House of Representatives today passed the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act, a comprehensive water resources infrastructure bill, in a bipartisan vote of 360-61. The bill is the culmination of work between multiple committees and authorizes port, waterway, and flood protection, and other water resources’ infrastructure across the country. A number of Energy and Commerce Committee priorities are part of the comprehensive bill.

The WIIN Act includes authorizing funds addressing the situation in Flint, Michigan including:

• Authorizing funds to address the drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan.
  • $100 million in Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Capitalization Grants,
  • $20 million for the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act,
  • $17.5 million for lead registry,
  • $2.5 million for the Lead Advisory Council,
  • $15 million for the childhood lead prevention program at the CDC, and;
  • $15 million for the Healthy Start Initiative.
• It also addresses control of coal combustion residuals, long championed by Environment and the Economy Subcommittee Chairman John Shimkus (R-IL) and committee member Rep. David McKinley (R-WV). This section:
  • Provides for the establishment of state and EPA permit programs for coal combustion residuals (coal ash), and;
  • Provides flexibility for states to incorporate the EPA final rule for coal combustion residuals or develop other criteria that are at least as protective as the final rule.
• The WIIN Act also contains public notification similar to provisions in H.R. 4470, which passed the House this passed February with 412 votes and kicked-off our bipartisan legislative response to the drinking water crisis in Flint.

For more information on the WIIN Act, click HERE.

“Folks in Flint are tired of the partisan blame game. They want answers and they want results. That is why we worked to hard to have language included in this bipartisan bill that authorizes funding to help improve the health of the people in Flint, and other communities who have had federal emergencies declared due to unsafe levels of lead in their drinking water,” concluded Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI). “This important legislation also includes a thoughtful solution to coal ash that we have been working on for years. This bill provides for the establishment of state and EPA permit programs and provides states the flexibility needed, all the while maintaining EPA protections.”

 

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