Senate Appropriators Fund High Hazard Dam Rehab Program
June 22, 2018
This week, the Senate Committee on Appropriations passed its Fiscal Year 2019 Homeland Security Appropriations bill. The $48.334 billion bill, which is an increase of $611 million compared to the FY18 enacted level, includes $250 million for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Flood Hazard Mapping and Risk Analysis, which is a $12.5 million decrease......
Preparing Infrastructure for Autonomous Vehicles
June 14, 2018
On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works held a hearing entitled “Innovation and America’s Infrastructure: Examining the Effects of Emerging Autonomous Technologies on America’s Roads and Bridges.” The hearing explored questions regarding the feasibility and importance of autonomous technologies as it relates to infrastructure. The Senators’ questions were fielded by a......
U.S. Department of Transportation Released Grant Awards
June 13, 2018
Last week, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) attended an invitation only event with U.S. Department of Transportation (US DOT) Secretary Elaine Chao announcing the Department’s release of nearly $1.5 billion in grants to fund the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America or “INFRA” program for freight, highway, and bridge improvements created by the Fixing America’s......
Green Infrastructure Solutions in Urban Spaces
June 12, 2018
This week, the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science of America, and Soil Science Society of America hosted a Capitol Hill briefing entitled “Urban Soil and Water: Geoscience that Underlies our Economic Prosperity” that explored the important role that soil – buried beneath our urban concrete jungles – plays in reducing stormwater runoff and in......
States Wrap Up Legislative Sessions For 2018
June 07, 2018
As state legislatures across the country are wrapping up their sessions for 2018, lawmakers in several states acted this year to make investments to address their states’ infrastructure needs. In Colorado, Governor John Hickenlooper (D) signed a major bill to fund transportation infrastructure projects. The legislation calls for periodic transfers from the state’s general fund......
National Dam Safety Awareness Day Across the Country
June 01, 2018
On May 31, individuals and organizations across the country recognized National Dam Safety Awareness Day. This event is held each year in memory of the May 31, 1889 South Fork Dam failure in Johnstown, PA – the nation’s worst dam failure. Today, many organizations used the day as an opportunity to look back on......
NEHRP Reauthorization: ASCE Members Testify in Huntington Beach
June 01, 2018
Nearly a decade after it’s authorization expired, Congress may finally be getting around to reauthorizing the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). The Senate made the first move last fall with the introduction by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) of the S.1768 – NEHRP Reauthorization Act. The bill would reauthorize the program......
Water Resources Development Acts Move Through House & Senate Committees
May 24, 2018
Both the Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works (EPW) and the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure (T&I) held mark-up hearings this week for its respective WRDA bills. Two weeks ago, ASCE President Kristina Swallow testified at the Senate EPW Committee’s first hearing on the America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018. ASCE sent the......
The Fiscal Year 2019 Appropriations Process Begins
May 17, 2018
The spring weather in our nation’s capital has ushered in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 appropriations season, and it’s warming up quickly here on Capitol Hill (both the weather and the appropriations!). In anticipation of the FY19 appropriations process, ASCE sent funding request letters to several House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees, including the: House and......
ASCE President, Kristina Swallow, Testifies Before Senate EPW Committee
May 10, 2018
On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) held a hearing entitled, “Legislative Hearing on America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018” about the importance of long-term, strategic investment in America’s water resources systems. Kristina Swallow, President of ASCE, testified before the Committee along with four other champions of water infrastructure: Pat......