WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 (BNA) On Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris will highlight the problems caused by western drought during her visit to Lake Mead in Nevada and raise the issue of the Biden administration’s infrastructure and climate change proposals that have stalled in Congress. The Associated Press (Associated Press) reported.
White House officials said Sunday that the Office of Reclamation will update Harris of the elevation levels in the industrial reservoir that provides drinking water to 25 million people in the American West and Mexico.
After the tour, the vice president will make remarks and meet with officials from the Department of the Interior and other state and federal agencies, including the Southern Nevada Water Authority. She will be joined by Representatives Dina Titus, Susie Lee and Stephen Horsford of Nevada.
Water levels in Lake Mead — which was created in the 1930s by dams on the Colorado River — have fallen to record levels. In August, federal officials announced the first-ever water shortage in the Colorado River. As a result, Arizona, Nevada and Mexico will have less water than usual next year amid a drought sweeping much of the West.
In September, Reclamation released a forecast showing a worse outlook for the river.
Against this backdrop, the vice president is expected to promote the administration’s “Building Back Better” agenda – originally billed as $3.5 trillion – on which Democrats are struggling to win the support of moderates.
This agenda includes climate provisions that the Biden administration said would make the United States more resilient to the effects of climate change. Key elements include new restrictions on emissions through federal clean energy requirements and tax credits for the electric car industry.
White House officials said Harris will also stress that climate change is set to make extreme weather events such as droughts and heat waves more frequent, costly and damaging.
Officials said Harris will discuss the $1 trillion separate public works infrastructure deal that passed the Senate months ago and is awaiting House approval. This package contains nearly $8 billion for Western Water projects.
Some of the ways the plan will combat the effects of drought include investments in desalination technology that makes seawater usable, strengthening rural water infrastructure and building more wastewater recycling technology to help expand existing supplies.
Western states experienced sweltering summers that killed hundreds in the Pacific Northwest and fueled record-breaking wildfires caused by drought.
Officials said Harris will also discuss how water shortages are affecting farmers, the country’s food supply and the economy.
The Biden administration has said its infrastructure spending plans will create millions of jobs in repairing water infrastructure, restoring watersheds and wetlands and increasing water efficiency.
Amid a lack of support from some Democrats, President Joe Biden said on Friday he would prefer to curtail the duration of some programs in the expanded social services and climate change package rather than write off entire sections.
AOQ