The bright side to yesterday’s water main explosion in Bethesda? Surely Montgomery County is bound to leap to the head of the line for new infrastructure spending under President-elect Barack Obama’s economic stimulus spending plan. After yesterday’s dramatic incident, the Bethesda main will serve as a casus belli for those who support infrastructure spending for any number of reasons. The Center for American Progress’s Faiz Shakir, for example, took notice, illustrating the case for new infrastructure spending with yesterday’s torrential accident in this post:
This incident underscores the vital need for including infrastructure funding in the upcoming economic stimulus bill. Maryland, like so many other states, is facing a budget crunch to deal with its much-needed repairs. Gov. Martin O’Malley has been urging President-elect Obama to make an early investment in infrastructure. “Not only would an infusion of funds help keep people employed and create new jobs,” O’Malley said, “it would allow us to deliver infrastructure improvements that will last beyond the immediate economic crisis and benefit generations to come.”
The Montgomery County Council is one step ahead of Shakir, having already released a statement urging the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (which ultimately maintains pipes and sewer mains the likes of which ruptured yesterday) to seek federal funds to replace and upgrade “deteriorating infrastructure”.
The case highlights an interesting question for Obama’s stimulus planners. Will federal funds be given directly to commissions like the WSSC (a joint commission between Montgomery and Prince George counties) that apply for federal funding and demonstrate need? Or will the Obama administration dole out the money to state capitals? By dint of state-legislature politics, state capitals will almost certainly spread infrastructure wealth across urban and rural areas, regardless of need. Recall that after 9/11, homeland security dollars became the new pork.
It may not have created new jobs, but yesterday’s main break certainly provided a lot of work for people: The tasks associated with cleaning up the mess and repairing the pipe sound nightmarish. And the $300 million associated with simply repairing aging pipes is a high enough cost without adding emergency efforts.
Photo by cornflakegirl_
