Tucson Standard

Tucson Mayor Regina Romero traveled to Washington on Sept. 21 to testify before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works about Tucson's vision for the future and its growth in sustainability under the recent infrastructure laws.

Romero also sought help from the federal government in curtailing Per-and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) contamination in groundwater, saying the city is at the forefront of climate change and sustainability.

"Through BIL funding, Tucson is building infrastructure and investments that heal historic wounds, reconnect communities and address the challenges that result from being on the front lines of climate change," she told the committee, according to a story by KGUN.

Other state and federal officials also testified, the story said.

"My vision for Tucson's future is an equitable, climate-resilient desert city that sustains itself through conservation, investment and good policy," Romero told the committee.

"This morning I'm in #WashingtonDC testifying in front of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee," Romero said Sept. 21 on Twitter. "Please join at 7a MT/10a ET as I present my vision of #Tucson as a sustainable desert city.@EPWCmte"

Romero added more about her vision for the city in other posts online.

"#Tucson is ready to be the sustainable, thriving city of the Future," she said in a Twitter post. "Our city is centering equity with the help of federal funding to fight climate change, electrify our transportation sector, and improve safety and accessibility for all the ways Tucsonans get around our city."

Romero encouraged the committee to allocate funding for localities, saying the benefits trickle upward.

"The nation benefits when Congress sends money directly to cities, we know how to get it done," she said in another Twitter post.

She also thanked the Senate for its assistance in the past as well as offering expectations of more in the future.

"I am grateful to Chairman@SenatorCarper for the opportunity to share my testimony and for his leadership. The federal government is helping cities like #Tucson make transformative investments in historically disinvested neighborhoods in just ONE GENERATION," she wrote in a post.

She made note of the city's current climate-friendly projects as proof that Tucson is ready to grow and do so in a sustainable way.

"I look forward to thinking and dreaming boldly as we work on the continuation of #Tucson's streetcar and other infrastructure projects to better the lives of Tucsonans," she said on Twitter. "I appreciate the incredible work of the @EPWCmte as we partner to implement the #BipartisanInfrastructureLaw."