Congressional Hearing Considers National Green Infrastructure Policy
U.S. House members and city and private green infrastructure leaders called for greater federal support for local green infrastructure efforts in a Congressional hearing on September 30.
The lead sponsor of the proposed Green Infrastructure for Clean Water Act, Rep. Donna F. Edwards (D-MD), chaired the session and suggested that green infrastructure is more important now than ever, when infrastructure budgets are tight. “These technologies can also realize significant cost savings for municipalities and building owners. In this time of economic uncertainty and tight municipal budgets, it may behoove city planners to look in other directions for ways to deal with impact of solutions to urban stormwater runoff than by solely falling back on traditional, capital intensive infrastructure approaches.”
At the Subcommittee hearing, Impact of Green Infrastructure and Low Impact Development on the Nation’s Water Quality, Economy and Communities, experts described green infrastructure programs being implemented in their communities and described how the federal government could be helpful by providing funding and creating metrics for the wider deployment of green infrastructure.
H.R. 4202 would provide federal financial and technical support for planning, implementation, and research into green infrastructure, including development of regional “portfolio standard” performance measures. The proposed bill defines “green infrastructure” as a stormwater management technique that preserves, restores, enhances, or mimics natural hydrology.
Several of those testifying at the hearing talked about the need for a metric to value the benefits of green infrastructure. Howard Neukrug, Deputy Commissioner of the Philadelphia Water Department spoke about the City’s $2 billion, 25 year plan that seeks to achieve a host of environmental, social and economic benefits, while also meeting their responsibilities toward clean water. “The fundamental connections between reliable and clean sources of water, economic security and opportunity, and quality of life are clear.”
One inherent challenge to valuing the benefits of green infrastructure arises from the fact that many of them are not services that are bought and sold in the marketplace. However, CNT will soon release a guidebook that provides substantial information about those values. The Benefits of Green Infrastructure gives decision makers a step-by-step guide on how to estimate and track green infrastructure’s multiple ecological, economic, and social benefits.
The guide, available later this year, will help users determine the direct and indirect benefits of five green infrastructure methods and assess the magnitude of a particular benefit, such as the number of gallons of stormwater retained on site or kilowatt hours of electricity saved. The guide also explains how to calculate the economic value of these benefits.
To watch the green infrastructure hearing and read the testimonies, click here.
H.R. 4202 can be viewed here (PDF)
For more on green infrastructure, go to http://www.cnt.org/natural-resources/.
