Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

EPA Sets Lower Standards For ‘Forever Chemicals’ In Drinking Water

The EPA’s goal for public exposure to PFAS from drinking water is zero, although it will not be enforceable.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has set maximum levels for “forever chemicals” in drinking water.

The EPA’s goal for public exposure to PFAS from drinking water is zero, although it will not be enforceable.

Rather, the agency wants to limit such chemicals to between 4 to 10 parts per trillion, depending on what category they belong to.

In contrast, the EPA’s 2016 guidance allowed PFAS exposure as high as 70 parts per trillion.

The EPA developed the standards based on 120,000 comments it received. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 committed $9 billion toward reducing PFAS contamination in drinking water systems.

Last year, the U.S. Geological Survey found PFAS levels above the proposed EPA standards in 19 of the state’s water systems.

Exposure to PFAS is known to cause cancer and other illnesses, and complications during pregnancy.

Federal Grant Aims To Decarbonize Ravenswood Aluminum Plant

The Energy Department will make as much as $75 million available to Constellium to produce aluminum with low or no carbon.

A U.S. Department of Energy grant will take the carbon dioxide emissions out of an aluminum plant in Jackson County.

The Energy Department will make as much as $75 million available to Constellium to produce aluminum with low or no carbon.

The Ravenswood plant produces aluminum products for aerospace, defense, marine and transportation sectors.

Among other improvements, its furnaces would be able to burn clean hydrogen, which generates no carbon emissions.

Constellium would be among five aluminum facilities nationwide to receive investment.

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin said the plant will receive another $23 million from the spending bill Congress passed on Friday.

“More investments have come to our state than ever before in our history at one time,” he said. “We’ve got more people interested in coming to West Virginia.”

The Energy Department also plans to locate a new aluminum smelter in Kentucky. It would be the nation’s first in 45 years.

The $75 million comes from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

Manchin had a pivotal role in getting both bills through a divided Congress, though he has criticized the White House about some of its implementation of their provisions.

Federal Funds Will Help Redesign Monongalia Highway Interchange

A transportation project in Monongalia County will receive millions of dollars in federal funds.

The Monongalia County Commission will receive more than $50 million to redesign Exit 155 on Interstate 79. The project has multiple components including replacing I-79 bridges over Chaplin Hill Road, reconstructing the exit 155 interchange, west bound I-79 flyover reconstruction, and a pedestrian and bicycle connection between the Star City bridge and the regional rail-to-trail network.

The redesign hopes to address several issues including the intersection’s higher than average crash rate, addressing a freight bottleneck, improving access to a job training center for individuals with disabilities, and reconnecting communities separated by I-79 just outside of Morgantown.

The project will also provide a new connection to the 48-mile rail-to-trail network that serves the region.

Under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the National Infrastructure Project Assistance (Mega) Program provides funding for large, complex projects that are difficult to fund by other means and likely to generate national or regional economic, mobility or safety benefits.

*Source: U.S. Department of Transportation*

No Funds To Repair, Replace Closed Ohio River Bridge

On Dec. 21, the department shut down the Market Street Bridge, which crosses the Ohio River from Brooke County to Steubenville, Ohio.

State transportation officials closed a bridge in the Northern Panhandle last month, and the funds are not there to fix or replace it.

State Transportation Secretary Jimmy Wriston told lawmakers Tuesday that none of the nearly 7,000 bridges in West Virginia would be open if they were not safe.

On Dec. 21, his department shut down the Market Street Bridge, which crosses the Ohio River from Brooke County to Steubenville, Ohio.

The closure of the bridge, built in 1905, angered local officials. But Wriston estimated the bridge would cost tens of millions of dollars to fix – funds he doesn’t have.

“If we were fortunate enough to get an earmark, one of our senators sent me a $60 million down here today and said, ‘Have at it.’ Oh, we’ll start the process today,” Wriston said Tuesday. “But I don’t have Market Street in our six-year plan. It’s not there.”

Federal funds have been made available under the 2021 infrastructure law to fix bridges.

The Division of Highways plans to inspect the 1,800-foot bridge later in the month without a live load. It said the steel strands inside the bridge’s support cables have been rapidly deteriorating.

GreenPower Gets Grant To Build 47 Electric School Buses

GreenPower will get $18.5 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to build 47 electric school buses at its South Charleston plant.

GreenPower Motor Company will receive a federal grant to build electric school buses for nine West Virginia districts.

GreenPower will get $18.5 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to build 47 electric school buses at its South Charleston plant.

The award is part of nearly $1 billion in nationwide investment in clean school buses under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021.

GreenPower recently delivered its first electric buses to four West Virginia counties.

The 47 buses will go to Kanawha, Lewis, Calhoun, Clay, Grant, Harrison, Monongalia, Cabell and Mineral counties.

More funds are available for schools to replace diesel-powered buses. The EPA is accepting applications for its 2023 Clean School Bus Rebate program until Jan. 31.

Boston Metal To Receive Grant To Build Chromium Plant In Weirton

The factory, which will employ 200 workers, will produce ultra-pure chromium and high-temperature alloys needed across various clean energy technologies.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of the company.

A federal grant will support a high-tech manufacturing facility and bring jobs to the Northern Panhandle.

The U.S. Department of Energy awarded Boston Metal a $50 million grant to build a chromium plant in Weirton, one of seven sites nationwide selected as part of the Advanced Energy Manufacturing and Recycling Program.

The factory, which will employ 200 workers, will produce ultra-pure chromium and high-temperature alloys needed across various clean energy technologies.

The department awarded a total of $275 million to West Virginia and six other states.

The investment is part of the $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a 2021 law pushed by U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito.

President Joe Biden signed the bill into law two years ago this month.