The Senate continues work on a nearly $1 trillion infrastructure bill that will pump billions of dollars into wildfire recovery, water, emissions reductions and other top priorities of the Biden administration. The White House announced a bipartisan agreement on the bill Tuesday.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 funds improvements and repairs to the nation’s highways and bridges, tackles climate change and resilience, and enhances safety and mobility. According to the Center for Responsible Federal Budget, the bill would put $284 billion toward transportation infrastructure and $264 billion for other infrastructure areas such as power, broadband, and water.

The Biden administration claims the bill will result in 2 million new jobs per year over 10 years. The White House, in a fact sheet issued Tuesday, also said the bill will address changes in communities impacted by shifting energy markets, including billions of dollars for advanced energy manufacturing facilities and “clean energy demonstration projects” for communities where coal mines and power plants have been shut down. 

The bill directs $21 billion for environmental remediation, “to create good-paying union jobs in hard-hit energy communities” that would clean up Superfund sites, reclaim abandoned mines and cap orphaned oil and gas wells. Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., told Colorado Politics Thursday that historically, the state could get $40 to $50 million from that provision.

That’s not all the benefits Colorado and western states could see from the infrastructure bill.

The White House, in a fact sheet for Colorado, identified the following areas for funding:

• $3.7 billion for highway programs and $225 million for bridge replacement, both over a five year period
• Colorado can compete for part of a $12.5 billion bridge investment program for “economically significant bridges” and $16 billion for major projects “that would deliver substantial economic benefits” to the state
• $917 million over five years to improve public transportation
• $57 million for an electric vehicle charging network and an opportunity to apply for part of a $2.5 billion grant program for EV charging
• A minimum of $100 million to improve broadband coverage, including providing access to 85,000 Coloradans who lack it. The bill also provides funding, although the White House did not say how much,  for almost 1.3 million low-income Coloradans to  obtain internet access

There’s more, according to Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo.

On Wednesday, Bennet noted the bill would provide $300 million over five years for the Emergency Watershed Protection Program and $225 million over five years to carry out Burned Area Rehabilitation on National Forest System Land. Colorado’s share of that is yet to be determined.

Bennet announced on Thursday that the bill would also extend the U.S. Forest Service’s Secure Rural Schools (SRS) and Self-Determination Program through 2023. The program expired last September and was not reauthorized. Colorado received $10.1 million in its last funding distribution earlier this year.

The program, started in 2000, supports public schools, public roads, forest health projects, emergency services and other essential county services. According to an announcement from Bennet , rural counties that contain tax-exempt public lands have historically relied on a share of timber receipts from these lands to fund education and county services. As timber harvest revenues have fallen, SRS helps to bridge the funding gap for rural counties across the country.

In fiscal year 2020, 37 Colorado counties got $7.3 million in funding from the SRS. The rest of the $10 million went to grassland areas in counties in northeastern Colorado.

Hickenlooper said he is optimistic the infrastructure bill will be through the Senate soon, and Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY, opined that they could be done as soon as Thursday night, although he has raised concerns in the past about the amount of debt the bill would generate.

Hickenlooper said he’s heard nothing but optimism and eagerness among Republicans and Democrats that this bill gets done.

“This is one of those things that everyone was surprised that it got done. There’s momentum,” he said. “People want to take a victory lap, get it voted on, passed and signed. I think it will be sooner rather than later.”

He believes the bill will have at least eight Republican votes and maybe more, stating that they’ve worked on every concern raised by Republicans and Democrats in an effort to keep everyone on board.

As to the specifics of the bill, Hickenlooper said having that kind of money for water — $55 billion in the entire bill — will go a long way toward addressing some of Colorado’s serious water issues.

He also noted there is money in the bill for the federal railroad administration, and some of that, perhaps $3 million, could find its way to the Pueblo Transportation and Technology Center.

Hickenlooper was optimistic that more would come to Colorado through the bill’s $43 billion to address extreme weather events. “We should get more than our share there,” he said Thursday. He also pointed to funding for airports, which could help Colorado’s smaller airports improve runways or hangers.

In a statement Tuesday, Bennet said from supporting wildfire recovery efforts to investing in carbon capture projects, “this legislation is a good initial investment in building the 21st century American infrastructure that this moment demands, and I’m grateful my proposals were included in this bill.

“But with wildfires, mudslides, and flash floods tearing through Colorado, it’s clear there’s a lot more we need to do to protect our communities and fortify against natural disasters that have become more severe as a result of climate change. We need strong policy frameworks that limit climate pollution across the economy. We should advance incentives to accelerate the deployment of existing and emerging clean energy technologies while supporting manufacturing here at home. And we must make even greater investments in our forests and water infrastructure to build resilience and protect our communities and environment. I look forward to working with my colleagues to make additional investments to cut climate pollution, advance clean energy, and build an economy that delivers opportunity for all.”