Infra Insight Blog

During the Use of WIFIA breakout session at the NCPPP P3 Connect conference this week in Denver, Elizabeth Corr, Associate Division Director for the EPA, confirmed that the agency will not need to complete the formal federal rulemaking process to implement the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act.  The Act, or WIFIA, was recently enacted by Congress to make low cost loans and loan guarantees available to public and private sponsors of water projects and is based on the highly successful TIFIA program for transportation projects.  Ms. Corr mentioned that EPA conducted its first listening session and plans several others around the country to hear from interested parties about how to best implement the program.  EPA has also setup a website, wifia@epa.gov, to provide information about the program.  Jordan Dorfman, Attorney-Advisor for EPA, acknowledged that there were unique challenges to implementing the program, including the prohibition on the use of tax exempt financing in conjunction with WIFIA assistance and the need to deal with the so-called springing lien provision.