Let's Talk Texas

The temperature bumped right up close to 100°F yesterday in Odessa TX, and it's not going to be any cooler anytime soon.

And then the water crapped out.

Texas Tribune:

More than 165,000 people in Odessa still without water after aging line breaks

Officials haven’t specified what caused the break, but say the broken line is about 60 years old

More than 165,000 residents in Odessa have gone nearly 24 hours without water as a major water line break occurred in the West Texas town — and may need to boil water once service is restored.

The break occurred at 6 p.m. Monday, and Mayor Javier Joven said it was difficult for maintenance crews to isolate the break, leading them to shut down the city’s entire water system.

“Because of the critical nature of the loss in pressure, we were compelled to take the plant offline to begin the repairs that are ongoing,” Joven explained during a press conference Tuesday. “Crews have been on site since 6 p.m. Midland has been a big help. They have sent equipment and crews. We are in contact with the state and we have more water en route.”

Ector County Judge Debi Hays issued a disaster declaration and a boil water notice as a result of the break. The system will be turned back on when the repair is fixed, which is expected to be around 9 p.m. The system will need at least 10-12 hours to fully restart.

There were reports throughout the day about nursing homes needing assistance and surgeries being canceled until the break is resolved.

“We have assisted the hospital with some of their needs. We wanted to make sure we provided that water for them,” said John Alvarez, fire chief for Odessa Fire Rescue. “We have delivered water to the nursing homes that needed it.”

Odessa officials haven’t specified exactly what caused the 24-inch line to break but have pointed to the city’s aging water system as being a problem. The broken line is about 60 years old.

“Aging water systems are common throughout the country,” explained Tom Kerr, the city’s utilities director. “It’s often difficult for municipalities to be able to afford to manage those systems as they age. That’s the situation we find ourselves in.”

To help residents, the City of Odessa set up several water distribution centers around town for residents to pick up one case of water per vehicle until 7 p.m. Tuesday. The city has not said if there will be more offered the following day.

Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management to coordinate and deploy resources in response to the disaster declaration, stating the water line failure is impacting approximately 165,000 Texans in the area.

“The State of Texas is taking swift action to respond to Odessa’s impacted water supply and support the local community in meeting their water needs,” Abbott said. “I urge residents in Odessa to follow guidance from local officials and take the proper precautions to ensure their health and safety as we work together to restore safe tap water in the community.”

It's the infrastructure, stoopid.

Quick reminder: most Republicans voted against the basic package that Pelosi and Schumer got passed, and every Republican voted against the Build Back Better thing that didn't pass.

And while the money allocated for water projects wouldn't have prevented this, don't forget the Dems have been trying to get the GOP up off their asses in order to address exactly the kind of problems that Abbott now has to deal with on a remedial basis, which is going to be far more expensive than the preventative measures Dems have been trying to get in place for years.

Anybody who still sees the GOP as the party of fiscal responsibility is a fuckin' idiot.

Build Back Better

Four years of Qult45 crowing about Infrastructure and we got bupkis. Less than 10 months in, and Biden brings it home, dragging a few unbelievably whiny dog-ass "conservatives" across the yard and up onto the porch. 

2,700 pages of Infrastructure Investments.

Half a dozen Democrats (The Squad) voted against it, along with all but maybe a dozen Republicans, so we get to call it "bi-partisan".

It'll be important to watch who shows up in the photo ops as projects start to roll out, but of course, we probably can't count on the Press Poodles to keep us up to date on much of that.

WaPo:

What’s in the $1.2 trillion infrastructure package

The bipartisan bill includes $550 billion in new investments in roads, bridges, broadband and more. It is widely expected to create a lot of jobs.

The bipartisan infrastructure bill is finally on its way to President Biden’s desk.

After months of intense debate between Democrats’ warring factions, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Friday secured passage of an approximately $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill to upgrade the nation’s roads, bridges, pipes, ports, broadband and other public works.

The Senate approved the measure on a bipartisan basis in early August, but the legislation then languished in the House as liberal lawmakers refused to back the measure without assurances that Biden’s broader social spending package would be approved.

The infrastructure package contains $550 billion in entirely new investments, including money for electric-car charging stations and zero-emission school buses. The spending is mostly paid for — without raising taxes. The bulk of the funding comes from repurposing unspent coronavirus relief money and tightening enforcement on reporting gains from cryptocurrency investments. The bill would add about $256 billion to the deficit, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The plan garnered significant support from Democrats and Republicans.

Total new spending: $550 billion

The bipartisan bill is a lot less than the $2.3 trillion Biden initially asked for in the spring, but it is still a significant amount of funding for the next five years. The senators often like to refer to the bill as a $1.2 trillion package because they are also counting funding that is normally allotted each year for highways and other projects.

The spending is partially paid for with unused coronavirus relief dollars, unused federal unemployment aid, sales of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, increased fees for some Superfund sites and customs, and delaying a Medicare expense for a year. Some money would also come from tighter enforcement to ensure cryptocurrency investors pay taxes once they sell and realize their gains. Budget experts say the bill is likely to add about $350 billion to the deficit over the next decade. On top of the CBO forecast, they say an additional $90 billion must be included since the bill “authorizes” that spending even though it is not technically counted as spent.

How many jobs would it create?

Lawmakers and the White House are touting the huge number of jobs this bill would help generate. Many construction jobs do not require college degrees, though they do require some special skills. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, estimates growth of about 660,000 jobs could result by 2025. Interestingly, construction has been one of the few industries with slow job growth in recent months. The bill includes funding and provisions to get more job training programs going and to get more women into the construction and trucking industries.

What happened with crypto?

The bill was held up for several days over a debate about a provision that would require more-stringent reporting of cryptocurrency gains and losses to the IRS. The goal is to ensure crypto investors are paying taxes properly, but there was concern that the language was so broad that developers who worked on crypto would also face taxation. In the end, the Senate did not change the language in this bill, but the Treasury Department has vowed it will not go after the developers.

What are the other top-line numbers?

Roads and bridges: $110 billion. The biggest-ticket item in the bill is money for building and repairing roads and bridges across the country. Many senators are already touting projects in their home states that will benefit from the funding. Sens. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) were both instrumental in crafting the bipartisan plan, and it is notable that the bill includes specific funding earmarked for Appalachian and Alaskan highways. There is also funding for transportation research at universities, funding for Puerto Rico’s highways and money for “congestion relief” efforts in cities.

Railroads: $66 billion. The U.S. passenger rail system, a favorite of Biden’s, receives a large chunk of funding for upgrades and maintenance. There is substantial funding earmarked for the Northeast Corridor, the heavily traveled route from Boston to D.C. The bill also has money for freight rail safety and calls for stations that average 40 passengers a day to have a station agent on duty. Some were disappointed that the bill does not specifically call for investment in the kind of high-speed-rail seen in other countries.

Democrats release $3.5 trillion budget blueprint

Power grid: $65 billion. The plan has substantial funding for “grid reliability and resiliency,” a fancy way of saying updates to older power lines and cables, and investments in ways to ensure the power grid is not hacked. As part of the bill’s efforts to address climate change, the power grid section also has funding to support the development and adaptation of clean-energy technology.

Broadband: $65 billion. There is a major focus in the bill on expanding broadband in rural areas and low-income communities. This has been a bipartisan priority for years, but the White House estimates that about 30 million Americans still do not have reliable Internet access, which became a major issue for schooling and work during the pandemic. About $14 billion of the funding would go toward making monthly Internet bills more affordable for low-income Americans.

Senate infrastructure bill sets stage for massive effort to make broadband more available and affordable

Water (especially pipes):

$55 billion. After the Flint, Mich., lead contamination crisis, there is a renewed focus on ensuring U.S. water infrastructure gets upgraded. The bill includes $15 billion specifically for lead-pipe replacement. There is also $10 billion to clean up man-made chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. The bill also sets aside money for clean drinking water for tribal communities.

‘Resilience’:

$47 billion. The resiliency funding falls mainly into two categories: cybersecurity and climate change mitigation. There is funding to help protect infrastructure from attacks, along with funding to address droughts, flooding, wildfire mitigation, coastal erosion and other big issues affecting many parts of the nation as weather patterns become more extreme.

Public transit:

$39 billion. Senators and the White House have been citing a Transportation Department estimate that 40 percent of buses and 23 percent of subway and rail cars are in poor shape. The funding would go a long way toward upgrades. There is also money for new bus routes and making public transit more accessible to seniors and Americans with disabilities.

Airports:

$25 billion. Biden famously described New York City’s LaGuardia in 2014 as a “Third World country” airport. The bill contains funding for major upgrades and expansions at U.S. airports. About $5 billion would go specifically toward upgrading air traffic control towers and systems.

For first time, average pay for supermarket and restaurant workers tops $15 an hour

Remediation:

$21 billion. This part of the bill includes funds to clean up brownfield and Superfund sites, abandoned mines, and old oil and gas wells that need to be plugged.

Ports:

$17 billion. There is a significant investment in various port infrastructure. About half the money goes to the Army Corps of Engineers. There is also money for the Coast Guard and for ferry terminals and efforts to reduce truck emissions at ports.

Safety:

$11 billion. The bulk of the funding in this section is for highway safety, but there is also funding for pedestrian safety, pipeline safety and even ways to prevent vehicle incidents involving animals.

Western water infrastructure:

$8 billion. As parts of the West continue to suffer droughts, the bill designates several billions to invest in water treatment, storage and reuse facilities to help mitigate these issues. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) was one of the major negotiators of the package, and her state is one of many in the West that has had drought issues in recent years.

Electric-vehicle charging stations:

$7.5 billion. The United States has about 43,000 charging stations. Biden has set a goal of having half of new cars electric by 2030, which will require significantly more charging stations across the nation.

Electric school buses:

$7.5 billion. The bill makes a major push to replace existing school buses with zero-emissions buses. Specific funding is set aside to help lower-income, rural and tribal communities replace their bus fleets.

What else is in the bill?

There was a major lobbying frenzy for this package, and the result is many small provisions tucked in the bill to aid different groups. For example, there is funding for salmon recovery; requirements that states enforce laws that ban open alcoholic beverages in cars; and a provision allowing states to use some of their funding for recreational trails. There is also money for research on “wildlife crossing safety” and money for a “healthy streets” program to expand tree cover to mitigate urban heat. And, perhaps a favorite of avid train riders such as Biden, there is a line in the bill encouraging more food and beverage services on Amtrak routes, even if revenue does not break even.

The bill also attempts to fast-track permitting for infrastructure projects, an issue the Trump administration attempted to address as well.

Yeesh

Say it with me, America!

We're number 30, we're number 30, we're number 30!!!

On the list of the best airports in the world, there are no American airports in the top 25.  Zero. Zip. Zilch. We got bupkis.

The best we could do is Covington (just over the river from Cincinnati) - the 30th best airport in the world - where you get to climb up and down nice big flights of stairs and ride a bus to get from one concourse to another.  Woohoo.

The airport in Lima Peru ranks 5 places ahead of our best airport.  Lima.  I didn't know airplanes could even fly that high.  Lima-fucking-Peru!?!

There are, however a few "bright spots".  When they break it down by traffic volume (passengers), we show a little better.

Still - just another example of how smart it is to invest in your infrastructure.  Every business plan of every company worth half a shit includes a hard cold look at transportation issues.  If your town can't offer a decent level of easy access - including modes of transport as well as travel routes - then your town isn't a good place for that company to be, and the same goes for the rest of your country too.  It's almost that simple.

Fuck austerity - make the right investments now.

hat tip = Addicting Info