{"id":397282,"date":"2022-01-21T19:35:23","date_gmt":"2022-01-21T19:35:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uat.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/?post_type=blog&p=397282"},"modified":"2025-09-19T23:43:42","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T23:43:42","slug":"the-infrastructure-bills-impacts-on-environmental-professionals","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/articles\/the-infrastructure-bills-impacts-on-environmental-professionals","title":{"rendered":"The Infrastructure Bill\u2019s Impacts on Environmental Professionals"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently posted on LinkedIn<\/a> about having read the Infrastructure Bill end-to-end and was not prepared for the post to get as much attention as it did. As comments began rolling in, it became clear to me that people are struggling to wrap their heads around what the bill \u201cmeans.\u201d Why, if nearly every administration has had a stimulus or infrastructure bill, does this one garner so much attention?

This bill is set apart from others because it does 3 things differently. One, it recognizes the importance of environment as the undercurrent to everything we do. Two, it recognizes that we must equitably distribute clean air, land, and water. Three, it recognizes that if we want to move the needle on these issues, then it\u2019s going to require us to innovate how we conduct daily business. It is an attempt to get an entire country to go through Change Management. Ouch!<\/p>\n\n

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1039 pages, lots of notes, and more than a few cups of coffee later – proof I actually read the entire bill.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Right now, many are scrambling to understand the exact monetary value that may be funneled to Transportation agencies, or for Broadband, Utilities, Telecom, etc. This is wise as a planning exercise, but if you ask the same question about how much will benefit our Environmental agencies, the practice breaks down quickly. Why? If I were to parse out the funding that goes directly to an environmental agency, it might look small. However, it can be reasonably argued that ALL of the money in the infrastructure bill will impact our environmental agencies. How can this be?<\/p>\n\n

The Bill effectively states \u201cgo about doing your daily business, but do more of it and do it better.\u201d Nearly every project that this Bill will fund will require people to make decisions about its social and environmental impacts. This translates to permits, which are the product of these decisions. Environmental agencies house these processes. Are they prepared for the increase in review requests? Are they properly outfitted with the information necessary to mitigate the social and environmental impacts of these projects? Are they prepared to maintain reasonable response times with these workflows?

The answer is \u2013 they can be and have already invested in Esri\u2019s technology which can help them do just that. The unsung impact of the Infrastructure Bill is the innovation it will require to successfully implement it. Prior to the pandemic, but especially during it, environmental agencies had already begun to innovate these processes, and the Infrastructure Bill will be a catalyst for them to continue doing so. Here are some examples:  <\/p>\n\n