Underground Construction - February 2022 - 20

REGULATORY OUTLOOK FROM FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Washington 2022:
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Stephen Barlas | Washington Editor
Th e Biden administration has a schizophrenic attitude towards
underground construction.
On one hand, it proposed - and Congress agreed to - a $1.2-trillion
infrastructure bill. Signed by the president on Nov. 15, 2021,
it will pump out huge sums for sewers, drinking water, broadband,
electric line hardening, highway, and other construction projects
over the next fi ve years, starting in 2022.
At the same time, however, the Biden regulatory agencies are in
the midst of imposing, or have already imposed, a number of new
regulatory constraints on that construction activity.
Th e Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (ILJA) provides,
for example, $1 billion a year over and above what Congress will
otherwise approve for each of the two state revolving funds (SRFs)
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) uses to support state
and local drinking water and clean water (sewer) projects. Th e
total spending over fi ve years will be $43 billion. Nearly half is
available as grants or principal forgiveness loans that remove barriers
to investing in essential water infrastructure in underserved
communities across rural America and in urban centers.
Th e EPA is already pumping out the amounts designated to be
awarded, and presumably spent, in 2022. On Dec. 2, 2021, the
EPA announced it will allocate $7.4 billion to states, tribes and
territories in California for 2022, including over $600 million to
help the state address the high SRF demands that have historically
exceeded available funding. As of February 2021, the state
received applications requesting over $10 billion in funding from
its Clean Water and Drinking Water SRFs.
SRF projects have been the highest-visibility winners in the
ILJA spending boom. But they are far from the only ones, even
as far as the EPA goes. Consider Superfund sites, which have gone
un-remediated and, in many cases, require the digging and replacement
of large amounts of soil.
On Dec. 20, for example, the EPA announced a $1-billion investment
from the ILJA to initiate cleanup and clear the backlog
of 49 previously unfunded Superfund sites and accelerate cleanup
20 FEBRUARY 2022 | UCONonline.com
at dozens of other sites across the country. Th ousands of contaminated
sites exist nationally, due to hazardous waste being
dumped, left out in the open or otherwise improperly managed.
Th ese sites include manufacturing facilities, processing plants,
landfi lls and mining sites.
Broadband
ILJA also included large sums for a cornucopia of broadband projects
- new and existing. Th e biggest chunk of that money goes to
a new State Broadband Deployment grant program to the tune of
$42.45 billion over fi ve years. Each state will get at least $100 million,
with totals dependent on the number of unserved locations
in its jurisdiction.
One of the other new programs is called the Middle Mile
Infrastructure grant program, funded at $1 billion. Broadband
providers and others will compete for grants to construct, improve
and acquire middle-mile infrastructure. Successful applicants will
need to prioritize connecting this infrastructure to last-mile networks
that provide broadband service to households in unserved
areas and off er wholesale broadband service at reasonable rates
on a carrier-neutral basis. Th e program will favor proposals that
leverage existing rights-of-way, assets and infrastructure, and facilitate
the development of interconnection facilities.
In addition to these new programs, IIJA contains appropriations
for existing broadband programs, including $2 billion to
support tribal broadband connectivity and another $2 billion for
loans and grants to construct and improve facilities providing rural
broadband service
ILJA also created a new category of tax-exempt municipal
bonds for " qualifi ed broadband projects. " Th ose will be available
to cities and towns in rural areas, where at least 50 percent of the
residential households do not have access to fi xed service. It's also
for projects designed to provide higher speed broadband services
in areas where no service is provided, or the current service falls
below certain minimum requirements.
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Underground Construction - February 2022

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