Press release - Infrastructure Depreciating

Thursday, December 19, 2008
For Immediate Release

Infrastructure Depreciating - Repair/Maintenance Costs Itemized in New Report

Impact of Immigration Itemized in 15 categories of public infrastructure

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Immigration will be responsible for more than 80% of the spending needed to expand infrastructure capability between now and mid-century, according to "The Twin Crises: Immigration and Infrastructure," a new report on the impact of immigration on U.S. public works by prominent researcher Edwin S. Rubenstein.

Rubenstein examines 16 categories of infrastructure and details the costs needed to repair and maintain them with current population levels, and projects future costs with both increased and decreased population figures.

Areas detailed in the study are: electricity (the power grids), hospitals, mass transit, public schools, hazardous waste removal, parks and recreation facilities, bridges, ports and navigable waterways, solid waste and trash, drinking water and wastewater, roads and highways, railroads, aviation, bridges, dams and levees, and border security.

$1.6 trillion dollars is needed to repair and maintain U.S. infrastructure in next 5 years according to the American Society of Civil Engineers. The massive influx of immigrants into the U.S. is increasing the demands on an overburdened infrastructure, much of which was built shortly after World War II and is outdated and depreciating.

Edwin S. Rubenstein, president of ESR Research, was senior economist for W. R. Grace & Company where he directed studies on federal government waste and inefficiency for the Grace Commission. He has been an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute, research director of the Hudson Institute, and economic columnist for National Review magazine. He has a B.A. in economics from Johns Hopkins University and an M.A. in public finance from Columbia University.

"If the infrastructure crisis could be fixed by spending money, there would be no crisis," Mr. Rubenstein explained. "Since 1987 capital spending on transportation infrastructure has increased by 2.1 percent per year above the inflation rate. At $233 billion (2004 dollars), infrastructure is already one of the largest categories of government spending. Our infrastructure is "crumbling" because population growth has overwhelmed the ability of even these vast sums to expand capacity."

"The immigration debate needs to be framed in terms of resource depletion, declining infrastructure, and simple fairness," Ed Rubenstein explained. "Population growth requires additional capacity and increases the rate of depreciation of the existing infrastructure. Immigration policy must play a role in making decisions about U.S. infrastructure."

"The Twin Crises: Immigration and Infrastructure" report will be released at a News Conference at 1 p.m. on January 13 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Advance copies of the report are available for review by working journalists.

For more information contact of Griffin Communications.