Future of Freight Mobility Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1765 To amend title 23, United States Code, to provide greater flexibility for multimodal freight improvements, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 20, 2021 Mr. INHOFE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works A BILL To amend title 23, United States Code, to provide greater flexibility for multimodal freight improvements, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Future of Freight Mo- 4 bility Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds that— 7 (1) the national movement of freight is critical 8 to the economic growth of the United States, trans- 9 porting $1,240,000,000,000 in goods each year, ac- 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:26 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1765.IS S1765 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1765 IS counting for nearly 6 percent of annual gross domes- 1 tic product in the United States; 2 (2) multimodal movement of freight, via road, 3 air, rail and water, is critical to the national com- 4 petitiveness of the United States, supporting every 5 sector of the United States economy by employing a 6 cohesive network to both distribute goods around the 7 country and deliver exports of the United States to 8 the rest of the world; 9 (3) the United States inland waterways system 10 moves more than 500,000,000,000 tons of water- 11 borne cargo every year, valued at over 12 $130,000,000,000, and sustains over 65,000 jobs; 13 (4) the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Naviga- 14 tion System (referred to in this Act as the 15 ‘‘MKARNS’’) moves more than $4,000,000,000 in 16 critical commodities every year and supports more 17 than 56,000 jobs, driving economic growth and effi- 18 ciency for a 12-State region consisting of Oklahoma, 19 Arkansas, Kansas, Texas, Colorado, Montana, Ne- 20 braska, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, 21 Missouri, and Idaho; 22 (5) Congress authorized the Corps of Engineers 23 to deepen the MKARNS from 9 feet to 12 feet in 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:26 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1765.IS S1765 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1765 IS 2003, and approximately 90 percent of the 1 MKARNS is already 12 feet deep; and 2 (6) in 2015, the Maritime Administration— 3 (A) designated the MKARNS as Marine 4 Highway Corridor M–40; and 5 (B) changed the status of the MKARNS 6 from a moderate to high-use waterway after wa- 7 terborne commerce increased. 8 SEC. 3. FEDERAL-AID HIGHWAY PROGRAM. 9 (a) NATIONALLY SIGNIFICANT FREIGHT AND HIGH- 10 WAY PROJECTS.—Section 117(d)(1)(A) of title 23, United 11 States Code, is amended— 12 (1) in clause (iii)(II), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 13 end; 14 (2) in clause (iv), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end 15 and inserting ‘‘or’’; and 16 (3) by adding at the end the following: 17 ‘‘(v) a project on Marine Highway 18 Corridor M–40 in Arkansas and Oklahoma 19 on the Arkansas, Verdigris, and White Riv- 20 ers, if the Secretary determines that the 21 project— 22 ‘‘(I) is functionally connected to 23 the National Highway Freight Net- 24 work; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:26 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1765.IS S1765 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1765 IS ‘‘(II) is likely to reduce on-road 1 mobile source emissions; and’’. 2 (b) CONGESTION MITIGATION AND AIR QUALITY IM- 3 PROVEMENT PROGRAM.—Section 149(b) of title 23, 4 United States Code, is amended— 5 (1) in paragraph (8)(B), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 6 end; 7 (2) in paragraph (9), by striking the period at 8 the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 9 (3) by adding at the end the following: 10 ‘‘(10) if the project is a project on Marine 11 Highway Corridor M–40 in Arkansas and Oklahoma 12 on the Arkansas, Verdigris, and White Rivers that— 13 ‘‘(A) is functionally connected to the Fed- 14 eral-aid highway system; and 15 ‘‘(B) the Secretary determines is likely to 16 contribute to the attainment or maintenance of 17 a national ambient air quality standard.’’. 18 (c) NATIONAL HIGHWAY FREIGHT PROGRAM.—Sec- 19 tion 167(i)(5)(B) of title 23, United States Code, is 20 amended— 21 (1) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 22 (2) in clause (ii), by striking the period at the 23 end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 24 (3) by adding at the end the following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:26 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1765.IS S1765 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1765 IS ‘‘(iii) on Marine Highway Corridor 1 M–40 in Arkansas and Oklahoma on the 2 Arkansas, Verdigris, and White Rivers, if 3 the Secretary determines that the 4 project— 5 ‘‘(I) is functionally connected to 6 the National Highway Freight Net- 7 work; and 8 ‘‘(II) is likely to reduce on-road 9 mobile source emissions.’’. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:26 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1765.IS S1765 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS