1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Waterway Activation that Targets Economic Revitalization, Welcomes Activity, and Yields Success Act or the WATERWAYS Act . 2. Findings Congress finds that— (1) inland waterways provide a valuable resource for moving agricultural, energy, and other commodities to market in the United States; (2) further utilization of the waterways would benefit the United States because barges are among the safest and most environmentally responsible ways to transport freight, with barge transport being more fuel efficient and having lower emissions than other methods, while also resulting in fewer injuries per worker than rail or truck transport; (3) given existing issues with supply chains, it is critical that the Federal Government work to expand and promote inland waterway access, especially in regions that are coal communities or have suffered from deindustrialization; and (4) it is of critical importance that the investments made possible by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act ( Public Law 117–58 ; 135 Stat. 429), Public Law 117–169 (commonly known as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 ) (136 Stat. 1818), and other recent legislation, such as Public Law 117–167 (commonly known as the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 ) (136 Stat. 1366), are made with an eye toward utilizing the inland waterways network to maximize the impact of those investments. 3. Task force on waterway freight diversification and economic development (a) Definitions In this section: (1) Covered State The term covered State means each of the States of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee. (2) Interagency Working Group The term Interagency Working Group means the Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization established by section 218 of Executive Order 14008 (86 Fed. Reg. 7628