ILTA Fly-In: Agency and Capitol Hill Meetings

Members of ILTA’s Board of Directors and ILTA staff participated in a full day of meetings on Capitol Hill, with regulatory agencies and with other trade associations on February 19 as part of the association’s second annual Washington fly-in. Pictured at the base of the U.S. Capitol are: (back row, left to right) James Hill, Andy Wright, Eric Conard and John Hunt and (front row, left to right) Kathryn Clay, Vincent Di Cosimo, Kip Middendorf, Pratt Summers and Peter Lidiak.

ILTA met with congressional and federal offices during its highly successful February 19 board of directors fly-in. Meetings included: the Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency; the American Association of Port Authorities; the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee; the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment; and the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers.

A variety of topics were covered during the meetings, including reauthorization of the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards program, additional cooperation with fellow trade associations AAPA and AFPM, and additional waterway and infrastructure funding. ILTA’s core policy focus areas were:

Ensuring Chemicals Are Treated Consistently and Appropriately in CFATS: Congress should support ILTA’s technical amendment to CFATS reauthorization that ensures appropriate treatment of gasoline, diesel and fuel mixtures.

Supporting Efforts to Maintain and Improve our Waterways, including through the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, Inland Waterways Trust Fund and Water Resources Development Act: Congress should support full distribution of HMTF to maintain and improve our nation’s sea infrastructure. Congress should also conform the cost-sharing for IWTF-financed construction projects to require in the future 25% of the project cost to be derived from the IWTF and remaining 75% from General Revenues. Finally, Congress should authorize WRDA, either alone or as part of a broader law, to improve the nation’s infrastructure, including water resource infrastructure projects aimed at improving ports and relieving traffic congestion.

As part of the fly-in on February 19, members of the ILTA board and staff visited the Department of Homeland Security to discuss operation and reauthorization of the CFATS program. Pictured from left to right are: Sharmine Jones, Eric Conard, Lona Saccomando, Pratt Summers, Todd Klessman, Peter Lidiak, Kathryn Clay, Kip Middendorf, John Hunt, Vincent Di Cosimo, Andy Wright and James Hill.

Prioritizing Passage of Infrastructure Legislation: Congress should move forward with action to modernize and expand the nation’s infrastructure. Liquid terminals depend on a host of transportation modes, including roads, railways, waterways and pipelines. Public investment in these modes will jumpstart investment of private capital into the terminal industry, as investors have more certainty about infrastructure reliability. This will bolster America’s, exports and help with its trade balance.

Overall, the meetings were very positive, with both congressional offices verbally committing to work with ILTA on such matters in the future. Likewise, AAPA and AFPM reaffirmed their interest in bolstering ties with ILTA as all three organizations share similar interests. 

President Trump’s proposed fiscal year 2021 budget that zeros out the CFATS program (see budget proposal story below) threw a wrench into ILTA’s meeting at CISA with Todd Klessman, Deputy Associate Director of Chemical Security at CISA, on what voluntary chemical security efforts might be supported by the agency. Klessman and his team expressed an interest in working with ILTA in the future to review the program regardless of the outcome of the appropriations process for fiscal year 2021.