Changing Climate: What Could The Infrastructure Bill Mean For PA?

PENNSYLVANIA — After a summer marked by tornadoes, flash floods, and disaster declarations, a piece of new federal legislation could help facilitate a Pennsylvania better-equipped to cope with climate change.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 passed in the U.S. Senate in a 69-30 vote in August. Now, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on the $1.2 trillion bipartisan package as early as Monday.

The bill, crafted by five Democrats and five Republicans, focuses primarily on repairing and increasing the resilience of transportation infrastructure in the face of climate change. The five-year, $550 billion spending plan includes $110 billion for roads, bridges, and major projects; $66 billion for passenger and freight rail; $39.2 billion for public transit; and $55 billion for water infrastructure — among many other provisions.

“Let’s think about … being able to build back in a way that, the next time we do have a 500-year or 100-year flood event, that infrastructure is not damaged again,” Sarah Murdock, director of U.S. Climate Resilience and Water Policy with the Nature Conservancy, said.

She told Patch that the bill offers an opportunity to “build back better.” She, and other Nature Conservancy officials, have been advising legislators and advocating for the country’s infrastructure needs for the past year to produce this bill.

John Hallas, the director of Pennsylvania Conservation and Natural Resources Bureau of State Parks, said the commonwealth's 121 state parks have about $1.4 billion in need when it comes to infrastructure.

“These projects need to be designed and constructed with a focus through the lens of climate change,” he explained. “Mitigation and adaptation measures need to be built into the mix for every one of our projects."

The Delaware Canal State Park alone, which stretches for 60 miles through Bucks and Northampton counties, has infrastructure needs in excess of $100 million. Hurricane Ida's aftermath this summer accounts for $15 million of that damage, Hallas said.

Climate disaster is “a story that’s repeating itself across the state and across the country,” in the words of Evan Endres, Pennsylvania climate and energy manager for the Nature Conservancy.

Endres said that the infrastructure bill includes provisions that would address other commonwealth issues, too, such as orphaned and abandoned wells throughout the state and the need for more comprehensive broadband (budgeted at $65 billion in the package).

“The needs aren’t going away," Murdock said.

According to CNN, some progressive Democrats in the House have said they will vote down the infrastructure bill if a $3.5 trillion spending package — including a 10-year budget plan broadening the nation’s social safety net on issues of education, healthcare, climate, and infrastructure — doesn’t also pass.

That package will not be ready for a vote by Monday, leading to questions on whether the infrastructure bill vote will take place. Both bills evolved from one spending plan released in March, which Biden opted to split in two after Republicans said some provisions could not be called infrastructure. (This led healthcare, elder care, and other provisions to end up in the $3.5 trillion spending package).

House GOP leaders say linking the two plans throws into question the bipartisan nature of the infrastructure bill and have now encouraged opposition, CNN reported Thursday.

Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, a Republican who represents Pennsylvania's 1st district, voiced support for the bill in a written statement to Patch on Friday.

“The Bipartisan Infrastructure bill is a historic package that invests in our nation's physical infrastructure needs,” he said. “This legislation will create jobs, enhance economic growth and competitiveness, improve the health and safety of the American people, and modernize our infrastructure for the 21st century, without raising taxes.”

President Biden’s vocal support for the bill suggests that, with House approval, it will become law.

“The Senate did its job,” Fitzpatrick said. “Now it's time for the House to finally take up the infrastructure bill with a stand-alone bipartisan vote. This will deliver a win for every American and show the nation, and world, that we have members in both parties who are united in working together to solve problems in Washington."

While the bill could add to national debt, built-in revenue raisers are designed to eliminate any tax-payer burden. Murdock also hopes that the plan would be economically beneficial beyond the need for long-term investment in climate readiness.

“Generally, when we make these investments they generate jobs and revenue,” she said.

Government funding expires on Thursday — which could trigger a potential government shutdown, according to reports. The vote on the infrastructure bill is currently scheduled for Monday.

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