A bill to refund the mothballed federal dam safety program advanced through the Senate this week by an 83-14 margin. As many as 100 regional dams may be at risk of failure.
A spokesman for the bill”™s author, U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-Cold Spring, cited “huge bipartisan support” in the Senate as cause for optimism the bill will become law. It must still pass the full House of Representatives. After that, it would revert to committee to reconcile the Senate and House versions before a final vote in both chambers.
“We”™re cautiously optimistic,” said Stephanie Formas, spokesperson for Maloney. She said the GOP leadership on the transportation and infrastructure committee, on which Maloney sits, has indicated a favorable attitude toward the effort and could take it up this summer. The bill will likely become a provision of the larger national water resources bill, she said.
“This is a victory for Hudson Valley families and communities,” said Maloney in a prepared statement. “The Dam Safety Act is a strategic investment in our communities that will create jobs and keep our families safe. There”™s no time to waste for the House to pass this bipartisan legislation.”
According to Maloney, there are 403 high-hazard dams in the state and 100 of those are in Westchester, Putnam and Dutchess counties.
The legislation would revive the National Dam Safety Act of 1974, which ran out of funding in 2011. Maloney said the need is critical, given the more than 5,000 dams statewide and 84,000 nationally.
No funding figure has surfaced yet, but under the 1974 act, states received federal assistance for dam failure and dam stability analysis, emergency planning, staff to conduct inspections, dam owner education workshops and other engineering analyses.
