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Congress Approves Energy and Water Package; WRDA Delayed Until 109th
A flurry of activity concerning water resources were considered during the final days of the lame duck session of Congress last week.
After a last-minute agreement, Congressional appropriators included the $28 billion FY05 Energy and Water appropriations measure in the omnibus package approved this weekend. Negotiators arrived at a figure for the Corps of Engineers of $4.7 billion -- nearly $200 million over FY04 and only about $100 million less than the House-passed bill. This is the largest appropriation for the Corps of Engineers in several years.
On the water resources front, after several days of intense negotiations, efforts to reauthorize the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), which authorizes billions of dollars in Army Corps of Engineers projects, failed Friday evening. Passage of the troubled biennial measure was held up over a final agreement on how to change the way the Corps reviews the potential environmental and other impacts of projects. If approved, the bill would have included over $7 billion in projects and "modest" Army Corps overhaul.
It is widely expected the 109th Congress will act on WRDA Reauthorization early next year.
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