After historic drought, lawmakers agree on billion-dollar plan to expand water supplies, fix infrastructure

Following one of the hottest summers on record, lawmakers have set an ambitious target: By 2033, they want to bump up the state’s water supply by an amount equal to three of the largest reservoirs in the state.

Texas lawmakers agreed on a plan to spend a billion dollars on new water projects and repair aging infrastructure to fortify Texas against droughts and keep up with a growing population that has strained the state’s water supplies.

Texas Senate and House negotiators finalized language for Senate Bill 28 and Senate Joint Resolution 75 late Saturday night. Together, the bills would earmark $1 billion to upgrade Texas’ failing water infrastructure and jumpstart massive water supply projects, from marine desalination to treating “produced water” — water that comes up from the ground during the oil fracking process.

“The truth of the matter is, under today’s growth and going forward, we don’t have enough [water],” state Sen. Charles Perry, who has spearheaded water policy, told senators during a budget debate Friday. The money for the water plan will be allocated only if the legislation takes effect.

Perry, R-Lubbock, warned senators that the need is probably far larger than $1 billion: Between fixing water infrastructure and increasing the state’s water supply, he said, “it’s probably a $500 billion price tag.”

“We, as a state, have started down the right path, but I want to remind everybody, it’s a path that has no end,” Perry said. “Our water resources are stretched and will continue to be stretched.”

Senate Bill 28 was approved by the full House in a 134-4 vote and in a unanimous Senate vote on Sunday. The bill now heads to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk. If the bill and SJR 75 clear the governor’s office, the plan will be put before voters in the fall.

As part of an agreement on how to spend part of the state’s historic $32.7 billion cash surplus, lawmakers also allocated $125 million for the state to use to match federal water infrastructure money. The state’s matching funds will unlock more than $750 million from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that could be used for a host of projects, such as replacing lead water pipes and removing water contamination from drinking water systems.

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https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/28/texas-water-supply-bill/

Here's how each U.S. state is benefiting from Biden's $1.2T infrastructure law

President Biden signed the US Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) into law in November 2021.

Since then, the bipartisan legislation has provided state and federal agencies with up to $1.2 trillion in funding to refurbish roads and bridges, improve access to clean water and internet connectivity, and increase the number of clean energy projects.

However, the capacity of each state and local government to channel this funding has varied widely. Funding was divided between the number of infrastructure projects present in each state.

States with higher populations and larger areas such as California ($20 billion), Texas ($15 billion), and New York ($10.9 billion) received the highest amounts of total funding compared to New Hampshire, which received the least ($855 million).

"To some degree, the relative size of expenditure is influenced by readiness of state governments to move quickly," Joseph Schofer, professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering at Northwestern University, told Yahoo Finance. "Those that were better organized — had their priorities lined up and projects ready to go — will show larger expenditures early."

On top of that, he said, "this large tranche of infrastructure money is playing a catch-up role, making up for insufficient past investment in all states but especially in big and getting-bigger states."

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https://finance.yahoo.com/news/heres-how-each-us-state-is-benefiting-from-bidens-12t-infrastructure-law-163433733.html

Debt ceiling deal would speed environmental permitting

President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy struck an agreement to suspend the debt ceiling that includes measures to accelerate environmental permitting.

President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy struck an agreement late Saturday to suspend the debt ceiling for two years. The result of their talks, the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, will cut $136 billion in federal spending and avert a default, and most notably for the nation’s civil contractors, includes measures to accelerate environmental permitting.

Provisions to speed projects such as some highways, bridges and pipelines include designating one lead federal agency to oversee environmental reviews and the use of a single “concise public document” for each project. Environmental reviews would have to be completed in no more than two years.

In addition, the legislation could entice more Americans into the workforce via updates to food stamps and other assistance programs on both the federal and state levels. It raises the age until which most food stamp recipients must seek work from 49 to 54.

Now that negotiators representing the White House and congressional Republicans have struck an accord, both parties must both convince their colleagues to approve it. House lawmakers are expected to vote on the agreement this week, according to the New York Times. Congress must pass the measure before June 5, when Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that the United States will run out of cash.

The Associated General Contractors of America praised the agreement.

“The debt limit deal announced over the weekend includes significant reforms to a federal permitting process that has, until now, been one of the main impediments to progress on many vital infrastructure projects,” AGC CEO Stephen Sandherr said in a statement. “The agreement’s new work requirements for some individuals receiving federal assistance should bring more people back into the workforce.”

The deal does not cut Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act money, but the Sandherr said in the statement, “We will remain vigilant in our efforts to protect that funding.” Heads of public construction companies said in recent earnings calls they were watching the debt ceiling talks to ensure Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding didn’t get cut.

The deal also approves permitting requests for the long-delayed Mountain Valley Pipeline, a $6.6 billion methane gas project in West Virginia championed by West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin. A joint venture composed of Equitrans Midstream, NextEra Energy, Consolidated Edison, AltaGas and RGC Resources is building the controversial 300-mile pipeline.

https://www.constructiondive.com/news/debt-ceiling-deal-speed-environmental-permit-infrastructure/651547/

SISTERS OF PERPETUAL INDULGENCE CONDEMN POPE FRANCIS FOR ‘ANTI-CATHOLIC’ CAMPAIGN AGAINST NUNS (Part 1)

This article was originally published in The Stream.

Sr. Tequila Nastypants, Mother Superior of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, came out swinging at a press event last evening, criticizing Pope Francis for his attacks on conservative religious orders in the Catholic Church:

Yeah, we poke filthy fun at nuns, and prance around in outrageous costumes doing obscene, sacrilegious things. But Pope Francis has sent in henchmen to interrogate sincere, traditional nuns. Then he closed down their communities, seized their facilities, and essentially turned them out on the street to fend for themselves. We'd never do that. It's just plain mean.

"We don't want to wipe out Catholic orders of nuns. We're just a bunch of happy degenerates who want to mainstream sexual perversion," Nastypants averred.

Who's Persecuting Nuns?

Nah, just kidding about Sister Nastypants. He doesn't exist. But I had to point up the irony in the current situation: I see agonized Catholics on social media asking why Pope Francis doesn't speak up about the sickening, blasphemous behavior of the LGBTQMYNAMEISLEGION "Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence," whom the Los Angeles Dodgers are now indulging with a "Pride" award. And I know where my fellow Catholics are coming from.

But I have to ask myself: Did this group of degenerates ever actually persecute groups of nuns? They might detest or mock them, but they've never actually bothered them, have they? (They very well might, if they ever got the power to.) But Pope Francis and his quasi-Marxist, sexual-liberationist henchmen, have actually gone in and ruined such women's lives. Church Militant (no friend of drag queen pseudo-nuns) reports:

An Italian diocese is using paramilitary police to intimidate traditionalist nuns who refuse to submit to Vatican diktats, which include banishing the prioress to a progressive, quasi-Protestant community.

Thirteen nuns from the monastery of Mary Temple of the Holy Spirit have slammed Cdl. Augusto Paolo Lojudice of the Montepulciano–Chiusi–Pienza diocese for the "fake news and distortions" aimed at "defaming" them and "creating a gratuitous and inopportune climate of scandal."

Sources close to the monastery say that the Vatican and the cardinal are seeking to oust the nuns so that they can sell the prime property on the site of the diocese's former seminary and stamp out the Tridentine [ancient Latin] Mass, which the nuns "discovered" in 2020.

Cardinal Lojudice has also refused to allow the sisters to receive Holy Communion on the tongue while kneeling, humiliating them before the whole city by making them stand up and receive the Blessed Sacrament in the hand, Church Militant has learned.

Faithful Catholics have voiced concerns over the closure of several monasteries under the Francis pontificate, including the Dominican Monastery of the Most Holy Annunciation in Marradi, the Monastery of the Visitation in Milan, the Monastery of the Visitation in Pistoia, the Cenacle of Montauto in Anghiari and the Poor Clares convent of Montalto in Marche.

In his recent book Claustrofobia, Vaticanist Aldo Maria Valli has demonstrated how cloistered orders are being targeted by the Vatican because the progressive hierarchy prioritizes social commitment over contemplative life. Observers say that the Vatican is also attempting to seize vast properties owned by the traditionalist orders.

https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/sisters-of-perpetual-indulgence-condemn-pope-francis-for-anti-catholic-campaign-against-nuns

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SISTERS OF PERPETUAL INDULGENCE CONDEMN POPE FRANCIS FOR ‘ANTI-CATHOLIC’ CAMPAIGN AGAINST NUNS (Part 2)

Forbidding Catholic Worship and Allying with Red China

Pope Francis has also scapegoated some of the most vibrant, fast-growing Catholic communities around the world. Why? Because they prefer the more traditional, reverent Latin liturgy to the version concocted in the mid-1960s by progressive theologians, led by Rembert Weakland — who later would be disgraced for using church money to subsidize his male lover. Meanwhile, Francis has replaced faithful, pro-life thinkers at the Vatican-sponsored John Paul II Institute with thinkers tolerant of abortion and homosexuality.

Oh, and Francis sent child-molesting (now ex-cardinal) Ted McCarrick to Red China, to sign an alliance with that regime against the West, selling out local faithful Catholics in favor of the Communist-puppet "Patriotic Church." Pope Francis' right hand man, Bishop Marcelo Sorondo, praised Red China as a better practitioner of Catholic social teaching than Trump's America. He made friendly remarks at a gathering of that regime's organ harvesters, who steal body parts from political prisoners (including Uyghurs in concentration camps).

You Think Your Church Is Safe?

Why, non-Catholic reader, should any of this be of interest to you? Because there's a good chance your church's leaders are acting the exact same way. Are you a United Methodist? Then your local church might soon be performing same-sex weddings. Are you Baptist? Find out if your church is accepting and teaching Marxist "Critical Race Theory," which includes in its agenda empowering "marginalized" groups such as practicing homosexuals.

The worst enemy is always the enemy within. That's true if it's a conscious infiltrator from an openly hostile group. Or if (more commonly) it's some worldly, cowardly nebbish who's afraid of losing congregants, cutting into his bottom line, or attracting hostile attention from the IRS. Christians have always been called to swim upstream against the current of the World, the Flesh, and the Devil.

Right now that current is stronger in the West than it has been in many decades. If you're in a church that's torpid, peaceful, and comfortable, that means just one thing: It is dead, and floating along with the current to be extinguished in the sea.

Remember that the real villain of the Gospels isn't Caiaphas or Pilate, but Judas. The traitor from within. He's literally the only person whom God Himself said would have been better off if he'd never been born.

https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/sisters-of-perpetual-indulgence-condemn-pope-francis-for-anti-catholic-campaign-against-nuns

Employers required to have naloxone kits on construction sites as of June 1

VAUGHAN, ONT. — New legislation requiring employers to have naloxone kits on construction sites will kick in June 1, said the Residential Construction Council of Ontario (RESCON) in a reminder to builders.

Under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, all Ontario employers who know there is a risk of an opioid overdose in their workplace are required to ensure that at all times while there are workers in the workplace, a naloxone kit is made available in good condition, indicates a release.

The naloxone kits have medication that can temporarily reverse the effects of an opioid overdose and allow time for medical help to arrive. Ensuring there are kits on hand will also help to reduce the stigma around opioid use and raise awareness about the risks of accidental overdoses.

According to data, about 2,500 people in Ontario died from opioid-related causes between March 2020 and January 2021. Of the victims who were employed, 30 per cent worked in the construction industry.

Monte McNaughton, minister of labour, immigration, training and skills development, indicated the province is bringing naloxone kits to high-risk settings and making them free because it must do everything possible to save lives.

The ministry’s first approach is education, but under the act, more significant fines can now be imposed on poor performers and repeat offenders.

The province is making the naloxone kits and training available at no cost through Ontario’s Workplace Naloxone Program.

“Most RESCON members are already ahead of the game and have included naloxone kits onsite as part of their health and safety protocols, but we want to make sure everybody is aware of the deadline,” said RESCON vice-president Andrew Pariser, who is chair of the association’s safety committee.

“This is an easy best practice that can save lives.”

For more information visit Naloxone in the workplace | ontario.ca

A reference guide for employers published by the Infrastructure Health and Safety Association can be found at W133.pdf (ihsa.ca).

https://canada.constructconnect.com/dcn/news/ohs/2023/05/employers-required-to-have-naloxone-kits-on-construction-sites-as-of-june-1