A Manager’s amendment to S. 728 and other amendments are anticipated during consideration on the Senate floor. Amendments may address water resources policy issues and projects receiving attention in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Some observers also anticipate amendments to provisions on Corps policy and procedures (e.g., amendments to provisions on the independent review of Corps projects) and amendments on authorizations of controversial projects.

The impact of the 2005 hurricane season on WRDA passage is uncertain; the disaster increased interest in flood control projects and activities, and Louisiana and other Gulf Coast projects, including coastal wetlands restoration activities. At the same time, the disaster increased interest in streamlining federal spending. In recent years, the Administration has expressed strong concerns about WRDA bills that do not address the backlog of Corps projects through changes to project formulation and funding priorities, and that add to the backlog through extensive new authorizations. The 2005 hurricanes’ effect on the nation’s financial resources and the Corps’ workload may amplify the Administration’s concerns.

Recent Issues in WRDA Consideration. The Corps has a prominent role in New Orleans and southeast Louisiana hurricane recovery efforts, including repairing damaged floodwalls and levees and strengthening hurricane resiliency through infrastructure fortification and wetlands restoration. The Corps is repairing and strengthening much of the areas’ hurricane protection levees and floodwalls using existing authority and through funding provided in supplemental appropriations legislation. However, some proposed measures to fortify the structural elements of the hurricane protection system require congressional authorization and may be included in a WRDA or other legislation (e.g., H.R. 5461 — Meeting Authorization Requirements for the Coast Act of 2006). Authorization of wetlands restoration actions were included in the pending WRDAs prior to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Following those hurricanes, alternate and more extensive proposals with components focused more directly on the role of wetlands and barrier islands in storm surge reduction are being developed. WRDA amendments may address some of the interest raised by the 2005 hurricanes in the role of coastal wetlands and barrier islands in storm surge attenuation.

Three provisions in the WRDA bills (often labeled Corps reform provisions) would change independent review of Corps project proposals, agency planning guidance, and fish and wildlife mitigation for Corps projects. The content of the provisions differs in the two bills and is distinct from other proposed legislation (S. 2288 — Water Resources Planning and Modernization Act of 2006). Some observers anticipate introduction of Senate floor amendments to S. 728 related to these provisions and other amendments related to project authorizations. Specific project authorizations receiving attention are a coastal Louisiana wetland restoration program; Upper Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway (UMR-IWW) navigation and ecosystem restoration projects; and two Florida Everglades projects — Indian River Lagoon-South and Picayune Strand ecosystem restoration efforts.

Abstract: Congress generally authorizes new Army Corps of Engineers water resources studies and projects in a Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) before appropriating funds to them. The 107th, 108th, and 109th Congresses considered but did not enact WRDA legislation; the most recent WRDA was enacted in 2000. WRDA 2007 (H.R. 1495), which would authorize hundreds of projects and studies, was cleared for the White House on September 24, 2007. The conference report was agreed to in the House by a vote of 381-40, and in the Senate by a vote of 81-12.

A central issue in the current debate over the bill is its level of authorizations. A recent Congressional Budget Office analysis of H.R. 1495 estimated the 15-year impact of the bill at $23 billion. The conference report would authorize the majority of projects in the earlier House and Senate versions of the bill; because many authorizations were in either the Senate or House bill but not in both, and because the Army Corps increased cost estimates in August 2007 for New Orleans hurricane protection authorized in the bill, the conference report authorization level exceeded the cost estimates of each chamber’s bill.

An August 1, 2007, Administration letter stated that the President anticipated vetoing the bill, citing among other reasons the authorization level. The White House veto threat has prompted speculation about a congressional override. The Administration supports limiting authorizations to projects in the Corps’ primary missions (navigation, flood and storm damage reduction, and ecosystem restoration) that demonstrate an economic and environmental justification for federal participation. Other issues shaping the WRDA 2007 debate include different opinions on Corps reform measures (such as independent review and project planning) and the need for prioritizing among authorized projects, increases in the federal cost for some water resources activities and nonfederal cost share credits, and expansion of the Corps’ authorizations in municipal water and wastewater infrastructure (called environmental infrastructure projects).

H.R. 1495 would authorize more than two billion dollars in construction activities to restore wetlands in coastal Louisiana, as well as actions to improve hurricane protection in New Orleans. Authorizations for navigation improvements ($2.2 billion) and ecosystem restoration ($1.7 billion) on the Upper Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway and Florida Everglades restoration (around $2 billion), also are included. The conference bill would create a Committee on Levee Safety that would make recommendations for a national levee safety program. The conference bill’s independent review provisions would require technical review of plans for Corps projects exceeding $45 million and a safety review of construction activities for flood and storm damage projects at the discretion of the agency’s Chief of Engineers.

 [read report]

Topics: Federal Agencies, Water, Legislative