The largest New Mexico newspapers, the Santa Fe New Mexican and the Albuquerque Journal, published an Op-ed on September 2 and 4, respectively, issued by state elected officials calling for a National Infrastructure Bank.

The Op-ed entitled, “National Infrastructure Bank Will Bring West Much-Needed Water,” was penned by Albuquerque Democrats Sen Bill Tallman, Sen Gerald Ortiz Y Pino, Rep Joy Garratt and Rep Debbie Sarinana.

The text of the Op-ed follows:

The western water crisis and the massive infrastructure and industrial needs of the country are again making headlines. The solution is a bill in congress, in Congress, HR 3339, which would create a National Infrastructure Bank (NIB). The NIB would invest $5 trillion into infrastructure projects and would require no new federal spending and no new federal taxes. 

The NIB would finance everything the Congress has not funded: all the roads and bridges, dams, levees, broadband everywhere, passenger rail, high speed rail, power transmission, seven million units of affordable housing, and more. This bank would complement the recently passed Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). 

The new National Infrastructure Bank is modeled on four previous institutions which helped build our infrastructure in the past. The last one, under President Franklin Roosevelt, built most of the water projects in the West, ended the Great Depression and helped win WWII.

• The bank will address the Western drought! The NIB will invest $400 billion to build new systems and bring water into the West. These could include: water redistribution, water pipelines, desalination, recycling, rainwater capture in local aquifers, irrigation and agricultural conservation, and tapping deep-seated water. This national drought relief plan will be configured to control, utilize, and harness water in an ecologically sound way. 
• A recent article in the California paper Desert Sun outlined a well-designed water pipeline from the Mississippi River to Lake Powell and Lake Mead. It has garnered a million views! The pipeline would be routed near Albuquerque en route to the Colorado River. The NIB could finance that project and more. 
• The National Infrastructure Bank will create millions of new jobs, pay Davis-Bacon wages, and mandate Buy America inputs into the projects. Experts conclude that the NIB will increase GDP 5% annually, and productivity by 3.5% per annum.

Support is mushrooming. Twenty-four state legislatures have introduced or passed resolutions urging Congress to act on HR 3339. Many national organizations are on board, including the National Latino Farmers and Ranchers Trade Association, National Association of Counties, Council of State Governments Eastern Region, National Black Caucus of State Legislators, US High Speed Rail Association, the American Sustainable Business Council. 

Western state legislatures are joining the effort. Resolutions of support were introduced into both houses of the New Mexico legislature and both houses of the Arizona legislature. It passed both houses of the Nevada Legislature and recently passed the California Assembly, unanimously. 

Other organizations in New Mexico which endorsed HR 3339 include: The Central New Mexico Central Labor Council, LULAC New Mexico, AFLEP (New Mexico’s Public Banking organization), Indivisible Albuquerque, and many more. Two New Mexico congresswomen, Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez and Rep. Melanie Stansbury are cosponsors of HR 3339.

We stand ready to help! We can bring in all the water we need, and build a 21^st Century infrastructure platform which will again be the envy of the world. 

Additional Supporters
Other backers of the bank include Sens. Liz Stefanics and Antoinette Sedillo Lopez; Reps. Angelica Rubio, Elizabeth Thomson and Gail Chasey; League of United Latin American Citizens national Treasurer Pablo Martinez; N.M. Democratic Party Treasurer Rayellen Smith and Bernalillo County Treasurer Nancy Bearce.

Link: https://www.abqjournal.com/2529396/national-infrastructure-bank-will-bring-west-muchneeded-water.html