WASHINGTON -- A new bipartisan Senate bill authorizing billions of dollars worth of water projects includes reforms that sponsors say will speed up the Army Corps of Engineers cumbersome study and approval process and increase available financing for harbor dredging work. The draft water resources bill, or WRDA as it is known on Capitol Hill, was written by Sens....
WASHINGTON -- A new bipartisan Senate bill authorizing billions of dollars worth of water projects includes reforms that sponsors say will speed up the Army Corps of Engineers cumbersome study and approval process and increase available financing for harbor dredging work.
Sen. David Vitter, R-La., joins Sen. Barbara Boxer in offering new water resources bill he says contains key reforms for the Army Corps of Engineers.
The draft water resources bill, or WRDA as it is known on Capitol Hill, was written by Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and David Vitter, R-La. It is scheduled to be considered Wednesday by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which is chaired by Boxer. Vitter is the panel's top Republican.
Vitter said key elements of the bill include reforms that are intended to address long-term shortcomings at the Corps of Engineers, which were revealed in dramatic form through the destructive flooding from Hurricane Katrina.
For example, to deal with a problem in coastal areas of Louisiana in which levees are weakened by subsidence and sea-level rise, a significant problem with levees in place for Hurricane Katrina, The Corps would be given authority to spend construction dollars for up to 10 years to reconstruct faulty levees. Currently, reconstruction costs are the responsibility of the local sponsor, not the federal government.
Another reform touted by Vitter: A pilot program in which local and state governments could take over as project manager for Corps projects, a procedure Vitter believes will improve the quality of projects and speed their construction.
Another provision requires the Corps to be more transparent, and respond quickly to requests for reports and information from members of Congress and communities impacted by Corps projects.
And another pilot provision sets up a loan program in which localities can borrow the money from the federal government for the local share of projects -- a provision Boxer said is critical at a time when so many local and state governments are struggling financially.
Despite the concurrence of Boxer, one of the Senate's leading advocates for tough environmental regulation, and Vitter, who argues for significantly less intrusive regulations, the bill faces many obstacles. Given the growing influences of fiscal conservatives in the Republican Party, and new congressional rules that make it impossible to draw support for legislation by earmarking projects in members' states and districts, passage won't be easy, though Vitter argues this is a bill that should get strong conservative support.
The bill also faces opposition, at least for some components of the bill, from environmental groups that argue the new streamlined authorization process, while expediting coastal restoration work in Louisiana that they support, would lead to more big Corps projects that will damage the environment.
Vitter said the bill will help speed up some needed projects in Louisiana.
Vitter said to deal with continued delays for the Morganza to the Gulf hurricane protection and other stalled Corps projects, the bill includes language that authorize projects that receive favorable chief's report, as well as concurrence from the Office of Management and Budget and the Assistant Secretary of the Army for civil works. That, Vitter staffers said, would help deal with continued missed deadlines by the Corps of Engineers that resulted in the termination of previous congressional authorizations.
And to deal with a backlog of dredging and harbor maintenance projects, a Vitter provision would require the government to spend the proceeds of a Harbor Maintenance Fund -- 0.125 percent ad valoreum levy on goods that arrive on U.S. docks for their intended purpose - dredging. The tax generates about $1.5 billion annually, but only about half of it is used for harbor maintenance.
The water resources bill, which would be the first in over five years, would also raise the Corps threshold for maintaining waterways from the current level of 45 feet to 50 feet, a depth Metro New Orleans port officials say is critical to handle ships from the recently expanded Panama Canal.
One disappointment for Port of New Orleans officials. The bill does not include a provision that would have ease funding for lock projects, such as the Inner Harbor Navigational Lock Replacement, which has been stalled for lack of funding.
Vittter, who during a news conference referred to Boxer as Barbara, and Boxer, who referred to Vitter, as David, certainly are highlighting their bipartisan support.
"I'm very encouraged to moving this bipartisan WRDA forward, along with Chairman Boxer," Vitter said. "Our bill will implement some real, necessary reforms to the Corps of Engineers and decrease project delivery time so folks will be better protected from flooding and other projects that will help jump start increased commerce."
Boxer, who has totally different views than Vitter on many environmental issues, including her belief that the United States must take immediate steps to reduce carbon emissions to deal with global warming, said it was important for the two of them to come together on the water resources bill.
Environmentalists had mixed views.
In a memo on the WRDA proposal, the National Wildlife Federation said this about the new authorization process for Corps projects:
"This provision will allow continued progress toward restoring America's Everglades and coastal Louisiana as key restoration projects meet these criteria. Delay in restoring these two environmentally and economically valuable ecosystems would result in further degradation and higher costs in the long-ruin. However, other projects that meet these criteria would cost taxpayers billions of dollars while creating large scale environmental destruction and producing questionable benefits."
Vitter said the bill "doesn't get rid of any requirement or review," but rather streamlines the process so that some reviews can be conducted concurrently.