Legislation to authorize more than $6 billion for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers storm and flood protection, dredging and other water projects has passed a key marker, with unanimous U.S. Senate passage of a new Water Resources Development Act on Aug. 1. Read bill text here and section-by-section summary here.
Senate and House lawmakers will now enter negotiations to resolve differences between their two versions.
The Senate version authorizes about $6.7 billion in federal funds for 13 new or modified projects that have received favorable reports from the Army Chief of Engineers. It also has 83 feasibility studies. The House version, which that chamber approved on July 22 in a 359-13 vote, authorized 12 new or modified Corps projects.
The largest allocation is $3.7 billion for a coastal storm and flood protection project in Louisiana's St. Tammany Parish.
The other mega-project is a coastal storm protection plan in the South Shore of New York City's Staten Island, for which the bill provides $1.7 billion.
The Senate bill adds one item to the House measure's list: $68.1 million for a navigation project in Akutgan Harbor, Alaska, which received Army approval on July 17.
Focus on Cost-Share Proposal
A key difference between the bills in their policy sections is a Senate provision to permanently change the cost-share ratio for inland waterway construction and major rehabilitation projects to 75% from general federal revenue and 25% from the Inland Waterways Trust Fund—from the current 65%-35% split.
The cost-share provision is not in the House bill.
Waterways Council Inc. has been pushing for the cost-share change to be part of the final compromise bill. The group "believes there is a very good chance that the cost share will be included in the final bill," Tracy Zea, council president and CEO, said via email.
The American Society of Civil Engineers also voiced support for the cost-share language.
President Marsia Geldert-Murphey said the change “will ensure that the [trust fund] remains available for future projects to help reduce the backlog of inland waterways projects.”
ASCE also wants to that see several other provisions in the House bill, but not the Senate version, make it into the eventual final measure, she said. They include reauthorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency National Dam Safety Program through 2028–the program expired last September–and reduced restrictions on how much states can receive from National Dam Safety Program assistance grants.
Continuing the Streak
If a new Water Resources Development Act can be enacted before the end of December, it would continue a 10-year streak of passing a new bill every other year.
Sen. Thomas Carper (D-Delaware), chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and for whom the new Senate bill is named, said that keeping to that biennial schedule “is essential to ensuring that Corps projects can move forward.” He also said the bill has provisions that "will go a long way toward ensuring timely implementation" of prior legislation.
Carper said that hearings before his committee have shown that “implementation of past [act] reauthorizations has been taking a a good deal longer than expected—in some cases, more than a decade."
To address that shortcoming, the new bill has a provision requiring the Corps to develop and implement a plan to fully implement past water resources act directives "as soon as possible," Carper said.
