WASHINGTON,
May 25, 2016 – Farm and waterways interest groups expressed support for the
2016 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) that cleared the House
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Wednesday.
The
House’s version of WRDA is less expensive and less complex than the Senate’s,
which was voted out of the Senate
Environment and Public Works Committee last month. The House bill, H.R. 5303, would authorize
about $5 billion in projects to maintain the nation’s aging locks, dams, ports
and harbors; the Senate version, S. 2848, tips the scales
at $9.3 billion.
“Water resources
infrastructure is fundamental to a sound economy, and WRDA 2016 gets Congress
back to basics and the business of regularly addressing the needs of our ports,
waterways, lock and dam systems, flood protection, and other infrastructure,” House T&I
Chairman Bill Shuster, R-Pa., said.
Included
in the Senate bill is authority for $230 million in grants in fiscal 2017 for
small community drinking water systems, and another $60 million for projects to
reduce lead in drinking water. The House bill includes no such language, and Shuster
opposed most amendments that would have increased the cost of the bill,
including one offered by Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, that would have
allowed the Army Corps of Engineers to offer construction assistance to
communities to address drinking water contamination.
Both
bills authorize so-called “Chief’s Reports” – 28 in the House bill, 25 in the
Senate’s – that constitute the Corps’ final recommendations for water resources
infrastructure projects.
What
was left out of the House bill was as important to waterways advocates as what
was in it.
The
Waterways Council Inc. (WCI) and the National Grain and
Feed Association
(NGFA) were both happy that the bill does not include tolling or lockage fees to pay for public-private partnerships.
“It’s
a great bill,” said Waterways Council Inc. (WCI) President and CEO Mike Toohey. “It’s
really heartening to see how the committee operates.” (WCI news release is here.)
NGFA
said in a statement that the bill is “an important step toward more frequent
and thorough oversight of the U.S. inland waterways system and U.S. harbors.” But
NGFA also said it would continue to push for an increase in the threshold for major
rehabilitation projects. Rep. John Duncan Jr, R-Tenn., offered but then
withdrew an amendment to increase the threshold to $35 million, after Shuster
said he opposed it.
Both
the Waterways Council and NGFA support an increase in the current threshold of
$20 million. WCI wants the level raised “as a way to more clearly differentiate between capital and O&M
project work on the waterways.” NGFA said it wants the threshold raised “in an
effort to ensure proper maintenance and protect (Inland Waterways Trust Fund)
dollars.”
#30
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