The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced two Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loans totaling $115 million to Santa Clara Valley Water District in Santa Clara County, California, to improve resiliency of the system’s water infrastructure. The announcement marks the 99th and 100th loansRead More

By John Ryan Stakeholders of the U.S. EPA WIFIA loan program will recall that the program ran into a serious-sounding issue about correct budgeting a few years ago. The issue arises when a WIFIA loan is made to an infrastructure project that has some degreeRead More

By John Ryan The EPA’s WIFIA loan program offers several interest rate management features that are highly beneficial for large-scale infrastructure financings, including a U.S. Treasury-based fixed-rate lock for construction and permanent drawdowns, post-execution rate resets until draw, and no-penalty cancellation and prepayment. All areRead More

By John Ryan U.S. public infrastructure renewal was never going to be easy, but several current trends suggest that it will soon be even more challenging. Federal infrastructure loan programs are a proven policy tool, and their capabilities should be expanded in specific and practicalRead More

By Chad Praul & John Ryan “If you need to go fast, go alone. If you need to go far, go together.” Classic proverbs about everyday life aren’t usually relevant to topics like innovative federal financing for U.S. public infrastructure renewal. But here’s an exception:  the U.S.Read More

Editor’s Note: This article is a follow-up to a piece in the April issue discussing how innovative features of the WIFIA program can help expand SRF loan capacity. By Katy Hansen, Sridhar Vedachalam & John Ryan In 2008, Iowa state lawmakers were determined to financeRead More

The U.S. EPA’s Water Infrastructure Financing and Innovative Act (WIFIA) loan program delivers a lot of financial value to qualified water infrastructure projects. Could some of that value be used beyond the project itself for innovative initiatives that address local water-related issues — water equityRead More

By John Ryan In its 2020 annual report, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loan program describes itself as a “government bank with unique flexibilities.” Can those flexibilities be useful for Clean and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds (SRFs)Read More

By John Ryan The 2020 Annual Report of the EPA’s WIFIA loan program is a good read, and not just because it’s short and largely graphical. It’s a series of positive snapshots, including impressive aggregate stats, highlights from closed loans and summaries of new features.Read More

By John Ryan The WIFIA Loan Program recently announced that it has reset the interest rates on two undrawn loan commitments originally made in mid-2018. The fixed rate on a $135 million loan to Orange County Water District and a $614 million loan to SanRead More