Waterways council, inc. (WCI) was invited to attend the Transportation Stakeholder Meetings in Washington, DC, last month, with new Ranking Member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) participating as a guest speaker. He began his discussion about the prospects for surface transportation reau-thorization in the new Congress with a shout-out to the success achieved for the inland waterways industry at the close of the lame duck session. He recounted, for those not familiar with the situation, exactly what happened in mid-December, 2014: On December 16, the Senate passed by a vote of 76-16, H.R. 5571, tax extenders legislation that included a 9-cent increase to the inland waterways diesel user fee. The long-sought increase supported by WCI and its stakeholders will be effective April 1, 2015 and funds-around $40 million from industry levies-will be deposited into the Inland Waterways Trust Fund for the benefit of priority navigation project construction and major rehabilitation.
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