Photo Courtesy U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Louisville District
Final bill expected to cut trust fund's share of total aid for Olmsted Locks and Dam on Ohio River, freeing money for other projects.

In a move that brings a major, long-pending infrastructure bill close to the finish line, House and Senate conferees have agreed on a compromise measure that would authorize funds for new Army Corps of Engineers water projects and also is expected to map out changes in Corps project reviews.

迄今为止，立法者几乎没有发布有关《水资源改革与发展法》（WRRDA）的新法案的细节，包括其总资金多少。

但是行业消息人士称，除了项目授权外，最终版本还包括一项新的联邦贷款计划，以帮助资助水项目和支持或重新授权的国家循环贷款（SRF）计划，用于废水处理项目。新利18备用网址

最后的措施相variety of differences between water-resources bills that the Senate and House passed last year, both by wide margins.

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif), House Public Works and Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) and other key conferees announced the deal late on May 8. House and Senate conferees were signing the conference report the following day.

After the signatures are in place and the report is filed, it would go before the House and Senate for floor votes. Those votes could take place as early as the week of May 19. The House is away the week of May 12.

如果两个会议厅清除了这项措施，并且由奥巴马总统签署，那将是自2007年11月以来成为法律的第一项水资源法案。

行业官员赞扬了这一消息。美国工程公司委员会政府事务副总裁史蒂夫·霍尔（Steve Hall）在接受采访时说：“在WRRDA会议报告上达成协议是一项伟大的成就……希望在未来几周内为基础设施方面的更多行动奠定基础。”

美国发言人的一名相关总承包商布莱恩·图尔马尔（Brian Turmail）通过电子邮件说：“鉴于两党的广泛支持，这两个钱伯斯都接受了这项措施，我们希望在不久的将来应成为法律。”

他补充说：“制定这项措施将有助于改善我们的衰老和恶化的水道和水系统。”

众议院大会委员会于11月正式开幕，随后的几周有报道说缺乏进展。舒斯特（Shuster）在4月29日表示，达成交易，“一英寸线”。

John Doyle, special counsel with law and lobbying firm JonesWalker LLP, says an agreement on a new WRRDA is overdue but he adds, “It represents an accomplishment that this Congress is going to list on its short list.”

It was unclear as of late May 9 which projects WRRDA authorizes. But Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) issued a statement May 8 saying that the bill does authorize funds for the Morganza-to-the-Gulf flood control project in her state. The Corps has estimated that project’s total cost at $10.3 billion, including a $6.7-billion federal share.

But Morganza and whichever other projects are authorized also will require annual appropriations for construction to begin. That annual funding has been running far short of what many in industry say is needed.

行业消息人士称，该法案还包括一项参议院规定，该规定启动了针对军团和环境保护局水项目的新联邦贷款计划。新利18备用网址新的水基础设施金融与创新法案（Wifia）被视为拳击手的优先事项之一，并以受欢迎的16岁的蒂菲亚运输贷款计划进行了建模。

In addition, AGC's Turmail says the measure will reauthorize the Clean Water SRF program. That would be the first such reauthorization since 1987.

另一位行业消息人士说，据他了解，该法案具有支持SRF的语言，但“尚不清楚它是否增加了重新授权”。