With its business suffering from a downturn in the construction market, ductile iron pipe maker ACIPCO, based in Birmingham, is working for legislation that would make it easier for government to finance upgrades to water system infrastructure—lauding both the improvements to water works and the job-creating potential of such legislation.
The legislation that ACIPCO CEO Van Richey is promoting would remove limits on the tax-exempt funding available for such projects.
“We are facing a crisis of loss in the water works sector of our economy, ” Richey told members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, as quoted in the Birmingham News. “It’s a crisis of lost water, lost jobs and the lost opportunity to address our country’s needs.”
The proposed legislation is supported by Democrats and Republicans alike, including Alabama’s Sen. Jeff Sessions.
By Nedra Bloom
