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Senate EPW Committee Approves WRDA Reauthorization
Full Senate Must Act Next to Move Bill to Conference
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved on June 23 its version of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) Reauthorization. The bill will authorize all water-related projects scheduled for construction by the Army Corps of Engineers over the next two years.
The legislation (S. 2554) authorizes new locks on the Illinois and Mississippi and provides significant flood controls, storm damage, port improvements and other priorities important to communities throughout the nation. The largest projects include a $2.3 billion package of expanded locks and dams and ecosystem restoration projects on the upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers; $1.46 billion for the Upper Mississippi; coastal restoration for Louisiana, including $85 million for unspecified demonstration projects; $140 million Bayou LaFourche "river reintroduction" project; and a dredging project in Miami worth $157 million. With a series of amendments added yesterday by voice vote, the final total of the bill is expected to be close in the $10 billion range.
Also approved yesterday as part of the package are a series of "peer review" provisions relating to the Corps of Engineers and how project studies are developed, reforms that go far and above the House-passed version (H.R. 2557). Still, environmental groups criticized the legislation for not approving additional reforms. Chairman James Inhofe (R-OK) said there were significant reform in the legislation and that the environmental community was trying to kill all Corps projects.
The measure now goes to the Senate floor for consideration.
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