Introduction

Members of Congress may be interested in ensuring the safe operation and uninterrupted services provided by infrastructure, as well as in improving infrastructure performance.¹ Performance objectives may include reliability, resiliency, efficiency, sustainability, and environmental protection. Given that codes, standards, and regulations may impact infrastructure performance, Congress may consider the role of the federal government and nonfederal stakeholders in developing, guiding, adopting, and enforcing infrastructure codes, standards, and regulations. This report addresses some frequently asked questions about federal and nonfederal activities to develop, guide, adopt, or enforce codes, standards, and/or regulations related to infrastructure.

In this report, infrastructure does not include buildings, although some building codes, standards, and regulations influence infrastructure performance. Additional information about building codes, standards, and regulations that may influence infrastructure is in CRS Report R47665, Building Codes, Standards, and Regulations: Frequently Asked Questions (hereinafter, Building Codes FAQ).

Infrastructure

What Is Infrastructure?

For purposes of this report, infrastructure is defined as physical networks (systems and facilities) that provide functions and services to the community.² Some definitions of infrastructure include buildings, but this report does not. For information about codes, standards, and guidelines for buildings and some that may also relate to infrastructure, see the Building Codes FAQ.

Infrastructure is a distributed service involving structures or systems that may cross over large regions of different jurisdictions and may be owned, operated, and regulated by different stakeholders.³ Likewise, different stakeholders may develop codes, standards, guidelines, or certifications for the planning, construction, repair, or renovation of infrastructure.⁴

What Is the Purpose of Codes, Standards, and Regulations for Infrastructure?

Codes, standards, and regulations for the planning, design, materials, construction, operation and maintenance, repair, and renovation of infrastructure promote a minimum level of safety, public health, welfare, function, and operation. Codes, standards, and regulations seek to provide a consistent, transparent, and systematic approach to constructing and operating infrastructure that facilitates compatibility, interoperability, safety, quality, and reliability. In addition, the use of codes, standards, and guidelines may make it more efficient to implement infrastructure performance improvements, such as increasing resiliency and energy efficiency. Stakeholders can suggest modifications to existing codes, standards, or guidelines using an existing method based on transparency and consensus-building.⁵ (See the Building Codes FAQ for more general information on codes, standards, and guidelines.)

What Types of Infrastructure Are Discussed in This FAQ?

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) created the Community Resilience Planning Guide for Buildings and Infrastructure System, which divides infrastructure in the United States into the categories and subcategories shown in Table 1.⁶ The rest of this report is organized using these categories and subcategories. The infrastructure systems discussed, as well as the codes, standards, and regulations, are examples rather and do not constitute a comprehensive overview.

Do Building Codes Apply to Infrastructure?

In general, state or local building codes and model building codes do not apply to infrastructure (see the Building Codes FAQ). Where infrastructure connects to or runs through a building, some building codes and standards may apply to some components of infrastructure. For example, electrical, plumbing, parking, and building access have building codes and standards, because these components are part of the building structure.

What Is Transportation Infrastructure?

The NIST Community Resilience Planning Guide divides transportation infrastructure into five categories: (1) roads, bridges, highways, and road tunnels; (2) rail; (3) air; (4) ports, harbors, and waterways; and (5) pipelines for the transport of fuel alone, such as a natural gas pipeline.⁷

The category of roadways includes roads, bridges, highways, and road tunnels. According to NIST, roads and highways serve as the primary transportation infrastructure used by the most people and businesses in the United States. The road network needs to consider vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians as the most common methods of transportation and may consider restrictions, such as the size of vehicles on certain roads or alternative methods of transportation, such as scooters.⁸

The category of air includes airports and heliports. As defined in statute (49 U.S.C. §47102), an airport includes (1) an area of land or water used or intended to be used for the landing and taking off of aircraft, (2) an appurtenant area used or intended to be used for airport buildings or other airport facilities or rights of way, and (3) airport buildings and facilities located in any of those areas. Almost all commercial service airports in the United States are owned by local and state governments or by public entities, such as airport authorities or multipurpose port authorities.

The category of rail, as defined by NIST, includes public transportation (e.g., commuter rail, subways, light-rail), intercity passenger rail (e.g., rail operated by Amtrak), and freight rail. Passenger rail systems are predominantly owned and operated by the public sector, and freight rail systems are predominantly owned and operated by the private sector.

The category of waterways includes ports, harbors, and waterways. According to NIST, waterways are primarily used to import or export goods and materials. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) estimates that over 95% of U.S. trade, by volume, moves through ports.⁹

Pipelines delivering natural gas; crude oil; refined products, such as gasoline and diesel; and natural gas liquids, such as ethane and propane, are part of the transportation infrastructure, because they transport fuels. Pipeline infrastructure includes gathering (small-diameter, short-length pipelines that gather oil and gas in production areas), transmission (larger, longer pipelines that transport products from supply areas to market areas), and distribution (pipelines delivering product to residential, commercial, or industrial end users). The U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration oversees the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of pipelines carrying natural gas or hazardous liquids.

What Codes, Standards, and Regulations May Apply to Transportation Infrastructure?

According to NIST, several federal agencies, many organizations (e.g., American Society of Civil Engineers, American Concrete Institute), and others may provide codes, standards, or guidelines for the construction or repair of different types of transportation infrastructure.¹⁰ Table 2 lists different categories of transportation infrastructure and some of the organizations that may provide codes, standards, or guidelines. In general, these organizations are not responsible for regulation or enforcement of these codes, standards, or guidelines. The adoption and enforcement of infrastructure codes or standards varies. In some cases, a federal agency may regulate and enforce some codes or standards for construction, repair, or operation and maintenance of some types of transportation infrastructure.

The application of standards to transportation is complex. For example, highway design and construction standards vary depending on the type of highway, its ownership, and its funding source.¹¹ Federal standards apply only to roads, bridges, and tunnels on the National Highway System (NHS). The NHS is a nationwide designated network of 220,000 miles of arterial highways and includes the Interstate System highways.¹² No matter the source of funding, federal standards apply to all work, other than routine maintenance, on NHS roads.¹³ Projects on other roads and bridges that are eligible for federal highway aid under 23 U.S.C. Chapter I are federally required to adhere to state standards—but only if the projects use federal highway funds. On any non-NHS road projects that do not use federal highway funds, the federal standards do not apply, and the projects adhere to state or local standards as set forth under state and local law.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) develops engineering, design, and construction standards for civil airports.¹⁴ For example, the FAA develops standards for airfield pavement; airport visual aids, such as lighting and signs; deicing and other facilities; and fencing.¹⁵ In addition, through FAA-sponsored airport security research programs, there are security guidelines for airport planning, design, and construction.¹⁶

Port infrastructure can generally be divided into two main divisions that dictate the federal involvement in terms of codes or standards for construction of such facilities: waterside and landside infrastructure. Waterside infrastructure includes the navigation channels and the breakwaters and jetties that form a harbor or waterway. These facilities are largely constructed by USACE, which sets the guidance for their construction in various engineering manuals.¹⁷ The U.S. Coast Guard sets standards and maintains the channel marker buoys and navigation aids (sounds and lights) on federal waterways to guide mariners.

Landside port infrastructure, such as wharfs and docks where ships tie up, is primarily a state or local government endeavor, and the standards are largely established by the American Society of Civil Engineers, specifically the Coasts, Oceans, Ports, and Rivers Institute.¹⁸ Port land itself is owned by state and local governments and is often administered by a public port authority, but some marine terminals are privately owned. The International Organization for Standardization is particularly relevant to international container shipping; this body sets standards for the construction of shipping containers and the gantry cranes that load and unload containers.¹⁹ The World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure is an international body providing guidance and technical assistance in both landside and waterside port construction.²⁰

What Is Energy Infrastructure?

According to NIST, energy infrastructure includes electric power systems, natural gas and liquid fuels systems as they relate to electric power, and emergency and standby power systems. Pipelines that transport natural gas and liquid fuels are discussed as part of transportation infrastructure because the engineering standards for pipeline safety and design are administered by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

What Codes, Standards, and Regulations May Apply to Energy Infrastructure?

According to NIST, a few organizations may provide codes, standards, or guidelines for the construction, repair, or operation of different types of energy infrastructure related to electric power systems (Table 3). The adoption and enforcement of most electric power infrastructure codes or standards varies and depends on state regulations. Except for the federal reliability standards, the organizations listed in Table 3 are not responsible for regulation or enforcement of the codes, standards, or guidelines. Instead, these industry-led organizations develop standards, and state or local utility regulators oversee adoption and enforcement of the standards.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) regulates the interstate trading and transmission of electric energy and services.²¹ FERC is also responsible for regulating the reliability of the bulk power system.²² States have jurisdiction over the retail sale of electricity and the reliability of the distribution systems of investor-owned utilities by setting standards for and controlling the investments in distribution networks.²³

What Is Communications Infrastructure?

According to NIST, communications infrastructure includes wireline, wireless, cable and broadcast, and satellite networks (Figure 1). Wireline and cable communications include wireline and cable for voice, video, and/or data transfers. Distribution centers and network hubs, typically with their own power supplies, provide services through wires (e.g., copper, coaxial cable, fiber-optic cable) that are deployed underground or overhead. Wireless communications for voice, video, and/or data rely on a cellular tower and radio tower network, typically with their own facilities and power supplies, to communicate information via radio waves. Broadcast communications rely on a radio tower network to communicate information via radio waves. Emergency communications include the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA's) 911 services through wireline infrastructure and Integrated Public Alert and Warning System through wireline, wireless, cable, broadcast, and satellite communications infrastructure.²⁴

Figure 1. Examples of Communications Infrastructure

Source: NIST, Resilience Guide II, Figure 15-2. Modified by CRS. Notes: The Services and Applications in the top panel list some of the services and applications available via voice, video, or data. The Core Network in the middle panel refers to the high-capacity communications facilities that connect primary nodes. Core or backbone networks provide paths to exchange information between sub-networks. The Access Networks in the bottom panel connect the end customers to the core network. Access networks use different technologies. For broadcasting, the network uses radio towers, satellites, and buildings for equipment and power supplies. For cable, the network uses wirelines. For satellite, the network uses satellite dishes and satellites. For wireless, the network uses cell towers, radio towers, and buildings for equipment and power supplies. For wireline, the network uses wirelines. This graphic approximates communications infrastructure and does not show all components. VoIP stands for voice over Internet Protocol.

What Codes, Standards, and Regulations May Apply to Communications Infrastructure?

Codes and standards for communications infrastructure may establish minimum acceptable criteria for design and construction (Table 4). In particular, the American National Standards Institute/Telecommunications Industry Association, the Network Equipment Building Standards, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' National Electrical Safety Code provide codes and standards for communications infrastructure.²⁵ The American Society of Civil Engineers in their all hazards resistant standard, ASCE 7, sets minimum design loads and associated criteria for buildings and other structures used by communications infrastructure (see the Building Codes FAQ).²⁶

Multiple regulatory entities (federal, state, and local) have authority over communications infrastructure, and evolving technologies have led to changes in regulatory jurisdiction.²⁷ The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates interstate and international communication services and has jurisdiction over communications by telephone, cable, radio, wireless, wireline, and internet.²⁸ The FCC advisory group on Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council promotes best practices for reliability and resilience, but the FCC does not enforce any codes or standards for communications infrastructure.²⁹

State agencies have authority over local wireline telephone services, and most often a public service commission oversees communications infrastructure at the state level. In addition, state departments of transportation may have jurisdiction over communications infrastructure constructed within rights-of-way adjacent to roads. Local agencies may have jurisdiction for enforcing local building codes and may regulate placement or construction of radio towers, cell towers, electrical equipment, standby power, and fuel storage at communications facilities. Large cities may regulate the construction and location of communications infrastructure through city transportation departments or other city agencies.

What Is Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure?

Water for drinking, cooking, hygiene, flushing toilets, laundry, and other purposes is supplied through water infrastructure from surface or ground waters.³⁰ Wastewater or used water from residential, commercial, government, or other sources is removed through wastewater infrastructure—typically pipes, pumps, and treatment facilities—before discharge into the environment.³¹ In general, water infrastructure consists of supply, transmission, treatment, pumping, storage, and distribution, and wastewater infrastructure consists of collection, conveyance, pumping, treatment, and discharge.³² In addition, wastewater infrastructure can include infrastructure for stormwater.

What Codes, Standards, and Regulations May Apply to Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure?

Codes, standards, and guidelines for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure may be provided by state and local building codes, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), American Concrete Institute, American Water Works Association, American Lifeline Alliance, Water Environment Federation, Water Research Foundation, and Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research, among others (see the Building Codes FAQ).³³ Table 5 lists examples of some such organizations and the standards or guidelines they provide for different parts of the water or wastewater infrastructure.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) establishes requirements for drinking water quality under the authority of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA; codified generally as 42 U.S.C. et seq. §§300f-300j) and for wastewater effluent quality under the authority of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act or Clean Water Act (CWA; codified generally as 33 U.S.C. §§1251-1387).³⁴ A state agency that meets certain criteria may be granted primary enforcement responsibility for these requirements. In addition to meeting SDWA and CWA requirements, water or wastewater systems may have to comply with state or local requirements such as regulations, codes, standards, or guidelines, or such systems may voluntarily adopt codes from other organizations.

What Are Dams and Levees?

The nation's dams were constructed for various and sometimes multiple purposes. The most common type of dam is an earthen dam, which is made from natural soil or rock or from mining waste materials. Other dams include concrete dams, tailings dams (i.e., dams that store mining byproducts), overflow dams (i.e., dams regulating downstream flow), and dikes (i.e., dams constructed at a low point of a reservoir of water).³⁵ The National Inventory of Dams (NID), a database of dams in the United States that is maintained by USACE, lists over 91,000 dams.³⁶ For the purposes of inclusion in the NID, a dam is defined as any artificial barrier that has the ability to impound water, wastewater, or any liquid-borne material, for the purpose of storage or control of water that (1) is at least 25 feet in height with a storage capacity of more than 15 acre-feet; (2) is greater than 6 feet in height with a storage capacity of at least 50 acre-feet; or (3) poses a significant threat to human life or property, should it fail (i.e., high or significant hazard dams).³⁷ Thousands of dams do not meet these criteria; therefore, they are not included in the NID. Most dams in the United States are owned by private entities, state or local governments, or public utilities. Federal agencies reported owning 3% of dams listed in the NID, including some of the largest dams in the United States.

The United States has approximately 100,000 miles of built urban, rural, and agricultural engineered earthen embankments, often referred to as levees, floodwalls (which are constructed of metal or reinforced concrete), and engineered coastal dunes and berms. These structures collectively are often referred to as levees when discussing types of infrastructure, because they share the purpose of excluding water from a landscape to protect property and infrastructure from flooding. Some of these levees are being repaired after damage or rehabilitated to sustain their performance. Federal, state, local, and private entities also continue to plan and construct new levees.

Historically, engineering practices for levee design and construction have varied across the United States, with original construction of many levees predating modern engineering practices. Municipalities and agricultural districts are responsible for the operation and maintenance of many of these structures; other levees may be privately owned. USACE maintains 4,200 miles of levees, and a few other federal agencies (e.g., Bureau of Reclamation, National Park Service) maintain an unknown number of levees.

What Codes, Standards, and Regulations May Apply to Dams?

Dams were built to engineering and construction standards and regulations corresponding to the time of their construction. Although construction of some dams may predate modern engineering practices (approximately 2,300 National Inventory of Dams [NID] dams were built before 1900), over 43,000 dams—nearly half of the dams in the NID—were built between 1950 and 1980.³⁸ After this period, construction of new dams slowed (e.g., the NID lists approximately 4,700 dams built since 2000). Some dams, including older dams, may not meet current dam safety standards, which have evolved as scientific data and engineering have improved over time.³⁹ Dam owners generally are responsible for operation and maintenance of these structures and for investing in dam rehabilitation (i.e., bringing a dam up to current safety standards) and repair. FEMA, federal agencies with large portfolios of sizable dams (e.g., USACE, Bureau of Reclamation), and the Association of State Dam Safety Officials also publish various federal guidelines, technical manuals, and factsheets that other dam owners may use for operation and maintenance and rehabilitation and repair projects.⁴⁰

No single agency regulates all dams. The National Dam Safety Program Act, as amended (Section 215 of the Water Resources Development Act of 1996; P.L. 104-303; 33 U.S.C. §§467f et seq.), established the National Dam Safety Program (NDSP) as a federal program, administered by FEMA, to facilitate dam safety activities and collaboration among the various federal agencies, states, and owners with responsibility for dam safety.⁴¹ Each federal dam is regulated according to the policies and guidance of the individual federal agency that owns the dam, and FEMA's Federal Guidelines for Dam Safety provide basic guidance for federal agencies' dam safety programs.⁴² Every state (except Alabama) in the United States has established a regulatory program for dam safety, as has Puerto Rico.⁴³ Collectively, these programs have regulatory authority over 71% of NID dams.⁴⁴ The NDSP does not mandate uniform standards across dam safety programs but has developed the Model State Dam Safety Program, a guideline for developing state dam safety programs.⁴⁵ Congress also has enacted legislation for certain federal agencies to regulate activities that may use dams, such as hydropower projects, certain mining activities, and nuclear facilities.⁴⁶

Federal agencies traditionally approached dam safety through a deterministic, standards-based approach by mainly considering structural integrity to withstand maximum probable floods and maximum credible earthquakes. Many agencies with large dam portfolios (e.g., Bureau of Reclamation, USACE, FERC) have since moved from this solely standards-based approach for their dam safety programs to a portfolio risk management approach. According to FEMA, "a risk-management approach seeks to improve the resilience of dam infrastructure and mitigate failure of dams and related structures through inspection programs, risk reduction measures, and rehabilitation and repair."⁴⁷ This approach prioritizes rehabilitation and repair efforts for structures where failure would pose the greatest threat to life and property. Some state dam safety agencies also are working to incorporate a risk management approach (e.g., Colorado).⁴⁸

What Codes, Standards, and Regulations May Apply to Levees?

There is no broadly applicable national standard or requirement for levee construction or maintenance. Pursuant to direction in P.L. 113-121 in 2014, USACE and FEMA are working on developing national levee safety guidelines to serve as voluntary best practices.⁴⁹ Ultimately, levee owners are responsible for maintaining their levees.

USACE has developed regulations and guidance documents for levee design, construction, evaluation, operation, and maintenance. USACE provides for some regional differences tailored to different water-loading conditions (e.g., riverine versus coastal levees), geologic variability, climate, and hydrology (e.g., arid versus temperate environments), as well as environmental factors (e.g., vegetation management).⁵⁰ USACE and some other federal agencies use these documents to guide their work on levees. Other federal agencies also have developed guidance for their own levee-related programs, such as the Dike and Levee practice standard for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service. Some states use the USACE documents to guide levee construction in their states, whereas other states maintain their own documents and criteria or adopt other guidance. A few states, such as California, have established design and safety criteria or standards for levees.⁵¹

In P.L. 113-121, Congress authorized FEMA to support the establishment or improvement of state and tribal levee safety programs. Although this initiative has remained largely unfunded, federal agencies have advanced related efforts to improve levee safety, such as the release of a National Levee Database and the 2019 publication for emergency managers of a Guide to Public Alerts and Warning for Dam and Levee Emergencies. USACE and representatives from five other countries launched in 2013 an International Levee Handbook identifying good practice on levees based on current knowledge and experience from six countries.

Federal flood insurance regulations may shape how some levees are designed, operated, and maintained, because levees can reduce flood insurance requirements (see the Building Codes FAQ).⁵² For a levee, floodwall, or coastal dune or berm to appear on a National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Flood Insurance Rate Map, the levee owner is required to obtain a certification consisting of documentation, signed and sealed by a registered professional engineer, that the levee meets the NFIP requirements at 44 C.F.R. §65.10, "Mapping of Areas Protected by Levee Systems."⁵³

What Is the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard?

The Federal Flood Risk Management Standard (FFRMS) is a flood resilience standard that is required for federally funded projects, which are defined as actions where federal funds are used for new construction, for substantial improvement, or to address substantial damage to structures and facilities, including infrastructure.⁵⁴ The floodplain management policy for the FFRMS was first set forth in 2015 by President Obama's Executive Order (E.O.) 13690, revoked in 2017 by President Trump's E.O. 13807, and reinstated in 2021 by President Biden's E.O. 13990. For FFRMS compliance, the floodplain for federally funded projects is determined using one of three currently available approaches: (1) the freeboard value approach;⁵⁵ (2) the 500-year floodplain;⁵⁶ or (3) the climate-informed science approach (CISA).⁵⁷ Individual federal agencies may develop or update procedures and regulations tailored to their programs to account for the reinstated FFRMS. For example, the EPA determined the FFRMS would go into effect starting in FY2022, applying to certain projects funded by State Revolving Fund capitalization grants (including funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act [P.L. 117-58]).⁵⁸ For its implementation of the FFRMS, USACE is using CISA methods set out in agency guidance to evaluate climate change impacts on coastal and inland flood hazard. USACE indicates that it infers the FFMRS to apply to vertical infrastructure, such as buildings, rather than horizontal infrastructure, such as levees or walls.⁵⁹ As of July 2023, the various other agencies providing federal funding to infrastructure projects discussed herein had not made publicly available information on the progress they have made implementing or otherwise complying with the FFRMS.

Appendix. Abbreviation Table

Table A-1 contains a list of abbreviations used in this report.