First round of agency guidance provides key interpretations and details on draft waivers -

On January 17, 2014, President Obama signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2014 (the “2014 Appropriations Act”), which requires the use of specific American iron and steel (“AIS”) products in (1) all treatment works projects funded by a Clean Water State Revolving Fund (“CWSRF”) assistance agreement, and (2) all public water system projects funded by a Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (“DWSRF”) assistance agreement.

The 2014 Appropriations Act, itself, provides $2,480,783,000 for infrastructure assistance, including $1,448,887,000 for the CWSRF and $906,896,000 for the DWSRF in Fiscal Year 2014 (“FY 2014”), which ends on September 30, 2014. Pursuant to language in the 2014 Appropriations Act, no funding from either of the above sources may be used for “a project for the construction, alteration, maintenance, or repair of a public water system or treatment works unless all of the iron and steel products used in the project are produced in the United States.”