BOSTON (AP) — Lawmakers in Congress on Friday introduced a bill that would pump tens of billions of dollars into fixing and upgrading the country’s dams.
The Twenty-First Century Dams Act, introduced by Democratic U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster of New Hampshire, proposes to spend nearly $26 billion to make the repairs that would enhance safety and increase the power generation capacity of the country’s 90,000 dams. It also calls for removing any dams that have outlived their usefulness.
“We have the opportunity to build stronger, more resilient water infrastructure and hydropower systems in the United States, and the Twenty-First Century Dams Act advances an innovative plan to rehabilitate, retrofit, or remove U.S. dams to bolster clean energy production while taking steps to conserve our waterways for generations to come,” Kuster said in a statement.
The bill, which U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein is expected to introduce in the Senate, comes amid concerns that thousands of dams are at increasing risk of failure, especially as climate change is leading to more frequent and intense storms. State and local officials have long acknowledged the problems but complain they lack the funds to properly inspect, repair and maintain their dams.