A bipartisan, bicameral contingent of lawmakers are calling on congressional appropriators to support the Navigation and Ecosystem Restoration Program in upcoming report language. The letter contains signatures from more than 50 senators and representatives ranging from conservative stalwarts like Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, to liberal newcomers like Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. They say the Army Corps of Engineers hasn’t done enough to implement NESP, which incorporates infrastructure improvements with ecosystem improvements along the inland waterways system, since 2012. In response, the letter suggests specific report language urging the corps “to provide the appropriate preconstruction engineering and design (PED funding needed to advance the projects authorized” in the 2007 Water Resources and Development Act.” The suggested report language would also recommend “continued funding for PED this year in order for the program to receive new start construction funding as soon as such funding becomes available.”
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