SEEC Co-Chairs urge inclusion of House voices and SEEC priorities in Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal

Washington D.C. – Today,Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC) Co-Chairs Reps. Gerry Connolly, Doris Matsui, and Paul Tonko,sent a letter to House and Senate Leadership congratulating Senate partners on reaching a bipartisan infrastructure deal and encouraging inclusion of House, and especially SEEC Member, voices in the legislation. While applauding shared priorities that were included in the bill, the letter also highlights concerns with the legislation, including inadequate consideration of the climate-smart and equity focused surface transportation policies included in the House-passed INVEST Act; insufficient funding for lead service line replacement, transit, zero emission vehicle charging infrastructure, and pedestrian safety; and inclusion of problematic provisions related to the National Environmental Policy Act.

The letter sent today reads in part:

"We write to both congratulate our Senate partners on reaching a bipartisan infrastructure proposal in their chamber and request your support in ensuring that House voices and perspectives are included in the legislation…The transportation sector is now the largest emitter of carbon pollution in the United States, and our transportation policies in decades-past have contributed to racial and economic inequality. We can no longer afford the pollution and inequity associated with status quo surface transportation policy, nor can we afford to ignore inequitable access to safe drinking water and the importance of reviewing the environmental safety of our infrastructure projects. We must think about what our communities and economies need going forward."

Full text of the letter can be found below, and a signed copy can be found here.

August 12, 2021

Dear Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Schumer, and Majority Leader Hoyer:

We write to both congratulate our Senate partners on reaching a bipartisan infrastructure proposal in their chamber and request your support in ensuring that House voices and perspectives are included in the legislation. The 71 members of the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC) believe firmly that addressing our nation's failing infrastructure and rebuilding with 21^st century needs in mind is critical to the security and prosperity of both our country and our planet. We think it is important for our members' priorities to be a part of the discussion to ensure that our transportation and other infrastructure investments set us on the needed path to decarbonization and pollution-free communities.

In the Senate proposal, we were pleased to see bipartisan support for policies that advance grid reliability and transmission capacity, put Americans to work plugging abandoned oil and gas wells, and spur creation of clean domestic manufacturing jobs through the renewal of the 48C Advanced Energy Manufacturing tax credit. That said, we also have concerns with some provisions in the bill. In particular, we are concerned by:

• Inadequate consideration of the climate-smart and equity focused surface transportation policies included in the House-passed INVEST Act, including but not limited to a greenhouse gas performance measure and a carbon pollution reduction apportionment program with transparency and accountability protections; highway policies that emphasize state of good repair and avoid unneeded expansions; and updates to federal design standards to better support complete streets that keep everyone safe and support more equitable access to affordable transportation.
• Insufficient funding for lead service line replacement, public transit, zero emission vehicle charging infrastructure, and pedestrian safety. Funding for these resources is vital to building back more equitably and more sustainably.
• Inclusion of problematic provisions related to the National Environmental Policy Act. As outlined by SEEC Member and House Natural Resources Chairman Rep. Raúl Grijlava, these provisions could undermine the safety and resilience of our infrastructure projects while curtailing public input and project transparency (letter enclosed).

Like Chairman DeFazio and the members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee,^[1] we too believe that the final package will be strengthened by allowing House Members to weigh in on this critically important legislation. The transportation sector is now the largest emitter of carbon pollution in the United States, and our transportation policies in decades-past have contributed to racial and economic inequality. We can no longer afford the pollution and inequity associated with status quo surface transportation policy, nor can we afford to ignore inequitable access to safe drinking water and the importance of reviewing the environmental safety of our infrastructure projects. We must think about what our communities and economies need going forward.

We thank you for your time and attention to this matter, and we again urge your support for further discussion related to addressing the above concerns and House member priorities.

Sincerely,