RD: Rural Oregon Will Benefit From Infrastructure Bill

Additional funding is Oregon bound, as part of President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Package. USDA Rural Development State Director Margi Hoffmann acknowledges a lot of Infrastructure attention is focused on improving airports, highways and bridges, but she noted money isn’t just flowing to urban centers.

“For rural development, that looks like investments in broadband connectivity across the board - so, making sure that every single person in the United States is connected to the internet for telehealth purposes, or to enable precision agriculture. And, we have been working a lot on the municipal water systems throughout the state, particularly with those communities that have been devastated by fire.”

Hoffmann said funded projects include updating damaged equipment used to supply drinking water to a portion of Crook County in Central Oregon.

“Modernizing our infrastructure, particularly our water infrastructure to ensure that every single Oregonian and the rural Oregonians that we serve have access to clean and safe drinking water, is paramount.

All together $28 million will go toward rural Oregon projects and efforts, including the city of Brookings to upgrade pump stations, Jackson County to replace damaged water equipment, and Lincoln County to shore up a hillside that burned in 2020, which could trigger a landslide impacting a nearby water system.

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