Rep. Kelly Supports Bipartisan WIIN Act, Urges Swift Senate Passage

Water resources bill “a win for workers & a win for the Great Lakes”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Representative Mike Kelly (R-PA) – co-chairman of the Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition and a member of the Great Lakes Taskforce – issued the following statement today in support of the House Amendment to S. 612, the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act, which was passed by the House of Representatives this afternoon by a bipartisan vote of 360-61. The legislation is a House-Senate reconciled version of the previously passed H.R. 5303, the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2016. Like WRDA, the WIIN Act authorizes the key missions of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers and addresses the needs of American harbors, locks, dams, flood protection, and other water infrastructure critical to the nation’s economic competitiveness. It accomplishes these tasks in a fiscally responsible way by establishing sunset dates for new authorizations as well as de-authorizing $10 billion in unnecessary projects, which will fully offset the same amount in new authorizations contained in the legislation.

“The WIIN Act is a win for American workers and a win for the Great Lakes. In fact, the WIIN Act represents one of the most important pieces of Great Lakes legislation in generations. Among its vast benefits, this bill will ensure the maintenance of waterway infrastructure essential to the construction of the upcoming ethane cracker facility in Western Pennsylvania and the 6,000 jobs it’s expected to create. For the sake of our economy, workers, and waterways, the Senate must not delay in passing this powerful, bipartisan bill and sending it to the president’s desk.”

Specific Benefits in the WIIN Act for Pennsylvania’s Third District: 

• Makes permanent a 10% set-aside of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) for the upkeep of small harbors such the port of Erie and many others on the Great Lakes that are essential to keeping industry and recreational boating on the Great Lakes Navigation System operational.
• Authorizes the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) for the next five years. It directs a coordinator to work with local state and federal entities to solve Lake Erie’s toxic algal bloom problem. It will clean up environmental “areas of concern” on the Great Lakes, which Presque Ilse Bay was once considered; with the help of GLRI, it was delisted. It will also continue to keep Asian Carp and other invasive species out of the Great Lakes.
• Is essential to keeping both recreational and commercial river traffic moving on the Allegheny, Ohio, and Monongahela Rivers by maintaining locks and dams along these rivers. It authorizes the Upper Ohio Study which allows the Emsworth, Dashields, and Montgomery (EDM) lock project near Pittsburgh to advance, thus ending a 13-year wait on this project, which is essential to the region’s economy and drinking water.
• Will expedite the completion of infrastructure projects crucial to the development of the Third District’s manufacturing and burgeoning energy industries.

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