WASHINGTON - A new House water resources bill contains many of the same provisions designed to accelerate Corps of Engineers projects in a bill passed by the Senate last May. But there are significant differences, including elimination of a major hurricane protection project for Louisiana. The bill, released Wednesday by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, doesn't include authorization...
WASHINGTON - A new House water resources bill contains many of the same provisions designed to accelerate Corps of Engineers projects in a bill passed by the Senate last May. But there are significant differences, including elimination of a major hurricane protection project for Louisiana.
The bill, released Wednesday by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, doesn't include authorization for the 98-mile-long, $10.3 billon Morganza to the Gulf hurricane levee system designed to project Houma and surrounding communities from storm surges. In May, the Corps said the project is "economically justified, environmentally acceptable and engineeringly sound" and it was included in the Senate water resources bill.
But it didn't make the House list. Louisiana has no members on the House Transportation and Infrastructure committee that drew up the bill. A committee staffer said that the high cost of the long-delayed project was a factor.
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., denounced the omission and said, if she could, she would shut down the oil rigs until the project got restored.
"I'd turn the lights off in Washington and in New York and in Maine," Landrieu said in an angry Senate floor speech Wednesday. "We are tired of it. The people in our state cannot survive without levees and the country can't survive without our people living where we go to fish, to run the maritime, to run the oil and industry. And Houma, Louisiana, does not deserve this. Terrebonne Parish doesn't deserve it. And our delegation is not going to stand for it."
"We have waited 20 years for this project," said Landrieu, adding that it has been fully vetted by the Corps and local residents and businesses have agreed to provide required local funding.
Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, Landrieu's Senate opponent in 2014, said he would fight to get Morganza to the Gulf authorization restored into the WRDA bill
"The process is not yet over. I will continue to push to have it included in the final version of the bill," said Cassidy who praised some Corps of Engineers reforms included in the House water resources bill.
Aides to Sen. David Vitter, R-La., who helped draft the Senate bill that includes the Morganza to the Gulf project, expressed confidence the bill that finally emerges will include the project. Some Louisiana officials call Morganza to the Gulf the state's most important remaining flood protection project for Louisiana.
The Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2013 legislation introduced Wednesday by the bipartisan leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee includes many of the same provisions of the Senate-passed bill.
It sets a three-year deadline for the Corps to complete studies, as well as a $3 million cost limit. It eliminates duplicative studies and streamlines required environmental review. It doesn't include a provision in the Senate bill that imposes financial penalties on agencies that miss deadlines. (Money would be transferred to other government entities to complete stalled studies).
The House bill, like the Senate bill, allows authorization of the Louisiana Coastal System Ecosystem Restoration Projects by the Corps of Engineers.
The big difference between the House and Senate bills is the House bill takes away authority from the White House Office of Management and Budget to review projects approved by the Corps of Engineers chief engineer, in effect, giving more authority to Congress, according to House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster, R-Pa.
"WRRDA 2013 is the most policy and reform focused legislation of its kind in the last two decades," Shuster said. "The bill contains no earmarks and makes major programmatic reforms to increase transparency, accountability, and Congressional oversight of federal water resources development activities. Most importantly, WRRDA is about jobs and improving America's competitiveness."
Rep. Bob Gibbs, R-Ohio., said the bill changes the way the Corps of Engineers does business.
"We have been literally studying infrastructure projects to death," Gibbs said. "While it once took the Corps three to five years to complete a study, it has become normal for this process to take 10 to 15 years. WRRDA cuts the red tape, streamlines reviews, and accelerates the lengthy process, saving us precious time and money and allowing infrastructure improvements to move forward."
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Vitter, R-La., who together drafted the Senate water resources bill, both welcomed introduction of the House bill. Once the House bill passes the House, a conference committee would be appointed to work out differences between the two bills.
"It's certainly encouraging to see the House advance their version of this important bipartisan legislation," Vitter said. "Their efforts should lead to getting a final version, including the important provisions I passed in the Senate, done by years end."