infrastructure NPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94 NPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94 infrastructure Fri, 17 Sep 2021 21:12:10 +0000 https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Seth Bodine Rural areas are often the last to receive broadband. The lack of broadband is similar to another issue that rural communities faced decades ago — rural electrification. About 22% of Americans who live in rural areas that lack broadband, compared to 1.5% of those in cities, according to the Federal Communications Commission. “In rural areas, you can have less than 10 customers for every mile of fiber optics that you have,” says Hamid Vahdatipour, CEO of Lake Region Electric Cooperative. “In town, that number could go as high as 50 or 70 customers per mile, so it is difficult to provide this kind of service for rural America.” Vahdatipour says rural broadband faces the same basic challenge as electricity: for-profit companies don’t want to invest. The federal government fixed that issue by setting up cooperatives to help rural residents pay to install poles and lines. Now the same cooperatives that set up electricity want to add broadband to their list of services. But while the https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/first-electricity-now-internet-rural-areas-struggle-gain-infrastructure 1029 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Thu, 29 Jul 2021 21:46:29 +0000 First Electricity, Now Internet: Rural Areas Struggle To Gain Infrastructure Katie Peikes Levees protect people, towns, and agriculture from flooding. But two years ago, parts of the Missouri River and its tributaries reached record crests, and many levees failed. Now there’s a rare effort to build a levee higher to better defend one southwest Iowa town. https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/how-iowa-town-won-its-fight-better-flood-protection 992 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Mon, 12 Apr 2021 18:26:50 +0000 How An Iowa Town Won Its Fight For Better Flood Protection Amy Mayer Midwest grain will reach foreign markets faster thanks to a channel-deepening project in the Lower Mississippi River that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has announced will begin this year. While that’s one bit of good news for infrastructure, it doesn’t make it any more likely other projects will follow. A Senate committee passed an infrastructure bill last July with bipartisan support, but Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the chairman of the finance committee, says funding it will be a heavy lift. “And both from Republican and Democrat leaders there doesn’t seem to be any support for raising the gas tax. So if you don’t raise the gas tax, then where do you go?” Grassley says there’s a “grab bag” of ideas to raise some money, but not enough to pay for the $93-$110 billion package. Still, Grassley says that won’t have any impact on the effort to dig the channel downstream from Baton Rouge to a consistent depth of 50 feet. That money’s already been put aside. Mike Steenhoek of the Soy https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/farmers-benefit-upgrades-mississippi-river-more-needed 825 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Tue, 11 Feb 2020 22:58:45 +0000 Farmers To Benefit From Upgrades On Mississippi River, But More Needed Christina Stella Brett Adams, who farms near the town of Peru in southeast Nebraska, takes the good news where he can get it these days. After nearly a year, the floodwater is mostly gone from his riverside farmland. Adams is on the local levee board, which manages the town’s nearly 8 miles of Missouri riverbed. And the (unpaid) work keeps him very busy: he was on a call when I first climbed into his pickup, apologetically holding a finger up every so often. After hanging up, he said he can’t afford to miss a call. Somebody might be on the other end bearing good news. “Farming was the easy part, and it seems like I don't get to do the farming part much anymore,” he said. We drove past the soaked and stubbly remains of 2018’s crop, and tools—once assumed lost—caked in the mud. After a few minutes, we reached the blown out levee that once kept the Missouri River away from his parents' house. Now a small river snakes its way through Adams’ property into a 45-foot deep pond where the last of the water https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/new-flood-season-nears-some-towns-still-cant-pay-fix-damages-2019 821 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Wed, 22 Jan 2020 16:10:38 +0000 As A New Flood Season Nears, Some Towns Still Can't Pay To Fix Damages From 2019 Madelyn Beck President Donald Trump signed America's Water Infrastructure Act on Tuesday, which authorizes work on many projects around the U.S., ranging from water treatment to mitigating invasive species to transportation. https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/president-trump-signs-water-infrastructure-bill 611 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Fri, 26 Oct 2018 17:52:15 +0000 President Trump Signs Water Infrastructure Bill