The House of Representatives has approved a package of 14 bills that includes measures to reauthorize several U.S. Environmental Protection Agency programs to protect and restore critical aquatic ecosystems, expand broadband access, reduce regulatory requirements for airport projects and programs, and reduce costs for federal buildings.
Approved on March 24, the package now moves to the Senate for action by the Committee on Environment and Public Works. The bill has bipartisan support in both chambers.
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.) describes the bills as “common sense” measures that will “strengthen our infrastructure in a number of ways.”
Among the legislative measures is the American Water Stewardship Act, which reauthorizes key EPA regional programs under the federal Water Pollution Control Act to support the protection, restoration, and management of critical U.S. aquatic ecosystems. These include the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Act of 2025 (HR 284) and the BEACH Act (HR 583), both introduced by Representative Dave Joyce (R-Ohio); the ESTUARIES Act (HR 3962), introduced by Rep. Shomari Figures (D-Ala.); HR 1382, introduced by Representative Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) to reauthorize the San Francisco Bay Restoration Program; the Columbia River Cleanup Act (HR 4675), introduced by Rep. Val Hoyle (D-Ore.); and the Long Island Sound Stewardship and Restoration Reauthorization Act of 2025 (HR 288), introduced by Representative Nick LaLota (RN.Y.).
Also included in the package is the Airport Regulatory Relief Act, which allows smaller airports considered “non-primary” to use less stringent state highway construction standards instead of federal aviation standards for airfield pavement projects. The legislation seeks to preserve safety by requiring the US Secretary of Transportation to determine that the use of highway standards would not compromise safe practices. According to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the bill would reduce construction costs by easing regulatory burdens while maintaining safety.
The Expanding Appalachian Broadband Access Act calls for a Government Accountability Office study to assess the region’s ability to use satellite technology to help develop broadband projects. The Smart Space Act directs the US General Services Administration to hold meetings with real estate experts to identify alternative financing solutions for public building projects that reduce costs for the federal government.
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Several of the individual bills that fall under the umbrella of the American Water Stewardship Act were slated to expire after fiscal year 2026. The package allows programs to continue, some with increased funding. The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, first established in 2010 and funded at $368 million annually through FY 2024, was authorized to receive an increase in funding of $500 million through FY 2031. Actual funding levels are determined during the award process and do not always match authorized levels.
According to the EPA, the initiative program is a success story, having funded more than 8,100 projects at a cost of more than $4 billion, with results that included the removal of seven environmentally degraded areas from what the agency considers “areas of concern” and the restoration or protection of about 557,000 acres of coastal wetlands and other habitats.
The initiative “is proof that you can protect the environment and grow the economy. An independent economic study found that every [iniative] dollar spent produces an additional $3.35 of economic activity,” an EPA spokesperson said in an email.
A drop in the bucket
But water infrastructure needs continue to far exceed federal dollars allocated each year. For fiscal year 2026, the administration’s budget request decimated funding for state clean water and drinking water revolving fund loan programs, though federal appropriators restored funding to more typical levels of more than $1 billion for each.
President Donald Trump also called for the elimination of the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which invests in projects to reduce the risks associated with natural disasters before they happen.
Several states challenged the administration’s decision to end the program, and on March 6, a federal judge in New Jersey ordered the agency to have funding available for fiscal 2024 and 2025 projects, following a December court order that reinstated the program.
On March 25, FEMA announced the availability of up to $1 billion for program resiliency projects.
John Sabo, executive director of the Bywater Institute for Climate Adaptation and professor at Tulane University, notes that $1 billion is substantial, but not enough to address the needs. Southeast Louisiana’s storm and hurricane damage reduction system, an extensive system of levees, flood walls and outlets spanning more than 350 miles in five state parishes, worked as it should have during Hurricane Ida, he told ENR, but it also cost $14 billion and still did not prevent about $75 billion in damage. Damages after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 exceeded $185 billion.
Sabo said the $1 billion made available through the FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program could be stretched further if used “strategically” on several smaller projects that use nature-based solutions instead of one big project. For every dollar invested in pre-disaster preparedness, $13 is saved afterward, he added.
“One of the best justifications for proactive disaster preparedness, rather than disaster management … is that the more we invest, the more we save in the long run.” Sabo emphasized.
