Press Releases

Today, Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernández (NM-03), attended the White House signing ceremony of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Leger Fernández advocated for investments towards broadband and water infrastructure, tribal funding and secured $4.7 billion to plug orphaned wells. 

PHOTOS: Congresswoman Leger Fernández attends White House signing ceremony

“Today, we begin the work to ensure our nation’s infrastructure always meets the growing needs of our communities. It was an honor to join President Biden and witness this important bill signed into law,” said Leger Fernández. “I’m proud to have secured key provisions from my Orphaned Wells Cleanup and Jobs Act into this historic legislation to plug orphaned wells and protect our communities. As Chair of the Subcommittee on Indigenous People, I advocated for tribal infrastructure funding and am pleased with the $12 billion in tribal funding. I will work with our governor and the rest of the New Mexico delegation to ensure these investments flow as quickly as possible into projects on the ground for our communities.”

BACKGROUND: The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act contains $550 billion in new federal investments in our roads, bridges, water infrastructure, broadband, and electric grid. Congresswoman Leger Fernández advocated for investments to make broadband accessible and affordable for low-income and rural households, funding for water infrastructure projects, including the Navajo Gallup Water Supply Project, and helped secure investments to plug orphaned wells. The bill includes:

• Provisions from the Congresswoman’s Orphaned Wells Cleanup and Jobs Act: $4.7 billion to plug, remediate, and reclaim orphaned wells on Federal, state, private, and Tribal lands.
• Historic investments towards infrastructure in Indian Country: Approximately $12 billion towards water projects, broadband grant funding to Tribes over 5 years, improvement and construction for Indian Health Service sanitation facilities, and tribal climate resilience. 
• Funding for broadband infrastructure deployment: $65 billion in grants to states for broadband deployment to make broadband access more affordable for low-income families and more accessible in rural communities. 
• Largest investment in clean drinking water in American history: $55 billion in funding to replace lead pipes and service lines, replace lead service lines and the dangerous chemical PFAS. Invests in communities that need it most such as Tribal nations and includes funding for the Navajo Gallup Water Supply Project.
• Repair and rebuild our roads and bridges with a focus on climate change mitigation and safety: $110 billion in funding, including the Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act and Surface Transportation Investment Act to replace and repair bridges, highways, and major roads.  
• Single largest investment in clean energy transmission: $73 billion towards upgrading our power infrastructure, including building thousands of miles of new, resilient transmission lines to facilitate the expansion of renewable energy and creating the new Grid Deployment Authority. 

Fact Sheet on key investments for New Mexico HERE. 

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