Congress has provided an infusion of $10.7 billion in federal funds for US Army Corps of Engineers water projects, thanks to a recently enacted multifaceted federal infrastructure package.
Along with the funding authorizations, the measure implements industry-supported changes in cost sharing for certain waterway and dredging projects.
President Joe Biden signed the new Water Resources Development Act, or WRDA, on January 4. The measure had strong bipartisan support in Congress. The House passed the bill 399-18 on Dec. 10, and the Senate followed on Dec. 18 with a landslide 97-1.
Traditionally, the centerpieces of WRDA bills have been its lists of federal funding authorizations for individual Corps water projects.
The new commitment measure includes 21 such projects. They will receive a total of about $10.7 billion in federal funds, a spokesman for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee told ENR. Many of the projects will also use non-federal funding.
Advance Megaprojects
The project with the largest federal allocation is a coastal storm and flood risk management plan in the parish of St. Tammany of Louisiana, which is receiving $3.7 billion.
Other authorizations of more than $1 billion are: $1.78 billion for a coastal storm risk management project on the south shore of New York City’s Staten Island and $1.76 billion for a coastal storm risk management project in Florida’s Miami-Dade County.
Additionally, the legislation includes $1.06 billion for Florida’s Everglades Comprehensive Restoration Plan. This project is in the Corps’ category of ecosystem restoration projects.
One caveat is that WRDA funds are authorizations and will have to compete with other projects for annual appropriations.
Wins for cost-sharing adjustments
In addition to project authorizations, perhaps the most significant provisions related to the Body of the new WRDA are changes to cost shares for waterway and harbor dredging projects.
Waterways Council Inc. says he scored a significant victory on a provision that permanently increases the general fund’s share of funding for waterway construction and major rehabilitation projects to 75 percent and reduces the share of the Inland Waterways Trust Fund to 25 %. This is a change from the current 65/35 split.
Tracy Zea, CEO of Waterways Council Inc., said the new cost-sharing agreement would bring in an additional $130 million a year for inland waterway construction projects. Over 10 years, he says, “It’s basically funding one more construction project to completion per year.”
The American Association of Port Authorities praised a provision that changes the depth threshold at which the Corps would fund dredging projects.
Under the new WRDA, the Corps will fund 75% of construction dredging costs at depths between 20 feet and 55 feet. This compares to a previous maximum depth of 50 feet for these projects.
In addition, the Corps will fund 100% of dredging operations and maintenance costs for depths up to 55 feet, starting at 50 feet.
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.) said the legislation also includes provisions to “streamline Corps processes, cut red tape and get projects done faster.”
Among the non-Case provisions is language related to the federal highway program. American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Executive Director Jim Tymon said in a letter to WRDA negotiators that AASHTO was pleased to see a provision that transfers $1.8 billion of existing contract authority and stagnation” of the Transport Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Law (TIFIA). ) federal surface transportation block grant program credit assistance program, which has interstate demand.
Tymon said the WRDA also redistributes 75 percent of any unused future amounts of the $250 million provided to TIFIA in fiscal years 2025 and 2026.
In addition, the new WRDA package reauthorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Dam Safety Program through 2028 and takes steps to strengthen the high-hazard potential dam program, according to the House committee . In addition, the bill reauthorizes the Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration for the first time in 20 years.
Another piece of legislation focuses on the General Services Administration’s management of federal buildings. Graves said the bill would improve the use of federal office space and “reduce the amount of taxpayer dollars wasted in empty federal buildings and put federal workers back in the office.”
The measure’s full name is the Thomas R. Carper Water Resources Development Act and is named after the Senate Democrat who left the chamber after the session ended.
Carper has served on the Environment and Public Works Committee since 2001, and as chairman, was the lead Democrat author of the last WRDA.
More importantly, he played a leading role in crafting the Jobs and Infrastructure Investment Act of 2021, particularly the highway and water sections.
