Tester Announces $127 Million in Second Round of American Rescue Plan Funding for Montana Water Infrastructure Projects

Senator was the only statewide elected official in Montana to support the American Rescue Plan and its investments

U.S. Senator Jon Tester today announced that the state of Montana will receive $127 million for the second round of competitive water and sewer grants he secured in the American Rescue Plan Act. The state’s ARPA Infrastructure Advisory Commission approved $118.2 million for 95 water and sewer projects and $8.8 million for 34 irrigation projects.

Tester helped negotiate the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which provided this funding, and he was the only Montana statewide elected official that supported the legislation. Thanks to the ARPA, Montana’s unemployment rate is currently at the lowest rate in state history.

A full list of projects can be found HERE.

“For Montana communities to have economic certainty and job growth, water infrastructure has to keep pace,” said Tester. “I’m proud to have secured these investments through the American Rescue Plan to upgrade and rebuild water and sewer systems across the state that have been outdated and unreliable for far too long. Now that the state has determined the funding for these projects, I’ll be working to ensure that money gets to the folks on the ground without delay.”

Projects were approved by the state’s ARPA Infrastructure Advisory Commission for a total of $127 million in ARPA funding specified for water and sewer infrastructure, which is a part of the $910 million Coronavirus State Fiscal Relief Fund Tester secured for the state of Montana to respond to the economic effects of the pandemic.

In 2020, Tester held hundreds of meetings with Montana’s workers, small business owners, frontline health care workers, educators, Tribes, and local officials to solicit input about what Montanans need to make it through the pandemic. Tester used that input to help craft the American Rescue Plan, which provided $20 billion to get folks vaccinated and back to work, $382 million to get Montana schools reopened, legislation to restore long-distance service to the Empire Builder Amtrak route, and billions for small businesses, rural hospitals and the Department of Veterans Affairs.