Water Resources Bill Passes Senate Committee
May 5th, 2016 | By: Whitford Remer
On April 28 the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) advanced a new Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) by a vote of 19-1. The $9 billion bill authorizes new projects and studies at the Army Corps of Engineers, adds a dam rehabilitation component to the National Dam Safety Program, establishes a new Water Infrastructure Trust Fund and provides $220 million in aid for Flint, Michigan. The last WRDA bill passed Congress in 2014. Water resource bills were once viewed as so important that Congressional leaders tried to pass one every two years. The legislation is the main mechanism for authorizing new projects at the Army Corps of Engineers—the nation’s largest manager of flood control, navigation and ecosystem restoration projects. But with partisanship, fiscal constraints and a self-imposed a ban on earmarks, getting these important projects approved and funded has become more and more difficult. WRDA bills also can provide policy changes to existing programs across the federal government on issues such as drinking water and wastewater, which have become increasingly important in the wake of the Flint, Michigan lead crises. The legislation approved last week will address western drought issues, increase federal drinking water and clean water infrastructure funding, strengthen the nation’s levees, and make changes to the nation’s dredge material policy, making it easier to use for ecosystem restoration projects. These issues were important to several members of the Committee from western states, coastal states and states with older water infrastructure systems. Important to the civil engineering profession was that both the dam rehabilitation program and drinking water revolving fund program will be subject to Qualifications Based Selection (QBS)/Brooks Act requirements—another priority of ASCE. The strong vote for the bill is a rarity in Congress and committee staff are optimistic the bill will advance to the Senate floor at the beginning of summer. The House is expected to introduce their version of the bill in late May.Senate Takes Turn Preparing for New Water Resources Bill
February 11th, 2016 | By: Whitford Remer
Just a week after the House held a discussion on what a new Water Resources Develop Act (WRDA) should look like, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held a hearing Wednesday to kick off that chambers work on the legislation. Opting for a more formal setting than the House roundtable approach, the Senate held a full Committee hearing, giving stakeholders an opportunity to express requests for the bill on the record. Norma Jean Mattei, President-Elect of the American Society of Civil Engineers provided testimony on the state of the nation’s water infrastructure, using the 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. Representatives from the Port of Tusla, Marathon Petroleum Corporation, Nucor Corporation, and North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters also testified. Dr. Mattei testified that the Report Card grades for water resources were so bad that failing to address problem could cost 800,000 American jobs by 2020. The grades (Inland Waters Ways D-, Dams D, Levees D-, and Ports C) were so bad that Senator Barbra Boxer (D-CA) asked to enter the entire report card into the Congressional record. Nearly every Senator on the Committee referenced the Report Card grades, with Senator Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY) even noting her state’s own report card, Report Card for New York’s Infrastructure, released in 2015 didn’t fare much better. Airing out the poor grades teed up a more serious conversation on how to address the nation’s aging infrastructure. Nothing was left off the table: aging locks causing multimillion dollar delays at ports, the drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan, and high hazard deficient dams across the country were all brought up as possible issues to address in the new bill. Lawmakers have promised to get a bill through this Congress, retuning the legislation to its previous two year cycle. All the witnesses agreed that a two-year cycle provides certainty to project sponsors, keeps the price of the bill manageable and helps reduce the backlog of Army Corps projects. Keeping the bill bipartisan and getting enough momentum in an election year will be the challenge moving forward. The Committee will be on a tight deadline to mark-up and pass a bill with dwindling Congressional calendar work days.House Committee Convenes Roundtable Discussion on Next Federal Water Resources Bill
February 4th, 2016 | By: Whitford Remer
The House Subcommittee on Water Resources held a round table this week as Congress gears up to pass a new Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) in 2016. Back in November the committee held a similar discussion in New Orleans. During each roundtable – a less formal setting than a traditional hearing – committee members heard from industry stakeholders on policy matters to consider for the primary legislation that controls the nation’s ports, harbors, levees, dams and flood control structures. In the past, WRDA bills were completed every two years, but congressional gridlock and the ban on earmarks posed significant problems for the bill in the last decade.
ASCE President- Elect, Norma Jean Mattei discusses the next WRDA bill with Derek Brockbank, Executive Director of The American Shore and Beach Preservation Association.
Join the #WaterWorks Thunderclap to Show Your Support for Water Infrastructure Investment
September 3rd, 2014 | By: Becky Moylan
Without clean, safe, and reliable water and wastewater systems, one-fifth of our US economy would grind to a halt. Yet, in the 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, drinking water and wastewater both received D grades.
On Wednesday, Sept. 10, ASCE will join other water leaders as part of the Value of Water Coalition to share the importance of water with White House and Congressional leaders. If you’re not here in DC, you can still show your support and let Congress know that water should be their priority. Consider joining our Thunderclap on social media – you just need to sign up by next Monday. Thunderclap is a tool that lets a message be heard when we all say it together. When you join the #WaterWorks Thunderclap, you and fellow supporters will share the exact same message at the exact same time, spreading an idea across Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr that cannot be ignored. The goal is to trend in social media. By joining, you’re allowing Thunderclap to share a single message on your behalf. This is only the case when you click the red button on the campaign page to support with Twitter, Facebook, or Tumblr. After the campaign is complete, Thunderclap won’t post any additional messages. Visit here to help the Value of Water Coalition meet its goal and spread the message through Thunderclap on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. The message in the blue box is what will appear on your own social media pages. Just click the red boxes to share the message. It will automatically go out on September 9, 2014 at 12:00pm EST.Tags: Drinking Water, thunderclap, wastewater, water, Water Resources, Water Works
5 Comments »
ASCE Members Advise Federal Government on Water Information Programs
September 2nd, 2014 | By: Whitford Remer
ASCE members Martha Juch, P.E., D.WRE, and Robert Schreiber, P.E., BCEE, D.WRE participated in the Advisory Committee on Water Information (ACWI) annual meeting last month in Reston, Virginia. The advisory committee’s mission is to improve water information for decision making for natural resources management and environmental protection. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is the primary federal agency charged with overseeing the committee. Anne Castle, Assistant Secretary for Water and Science at USGS, challenged the committee last week to begin focusing on building out a new project called the Open Water Data Initiative (OWDI). The initiative seeks to compile water metadata into to a central database that is open to the public. Currently, water data is collected using various standards and is often stored on a specific project website, in a state database or withheld by a single agency. The hope is OWDI will standardize the collection practice and make the data open and easy to access through the central database. The OWDI is one of several open data initiatives currently being pursued by the Administration. In May 2013, President Obama signed Executive Order 13642 “Making Open and Machine Readable the New Default for Government Information” to increase public accessibility to scientific data collected by the federal government. OWDI is modeled after the Open Climate Initiative. ASCE will continue to support important open government initiatives, particularly those that increase the public’s ability to access scientific data.Tags: science, USGS, water, Water Resources
No Comments »
House Agrees to Conference
November 18th, 2013 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
The House agreed by unanimous consent to go to conference with the Senate on the Water Resources Reform and Development Act (HR 3080) last Thursday. Shortly after agreeing to go to conference Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) introduced a motion to instruct conferees on the National Dam Safety Program reauthorization. The motion to instruct conferees asks, but cannot require, House conferees to take a certain negotiating position during the WRDA conference. In this case, the motion to instruct conferees would cede to the Senate’s authorization of the dam safety program in S. 601, which provides at $9.2 million in grants, $500,000 for the National Dam Inventory, $1 million for public awareness, and $1.45 million for research. ASCE strongly supports incorporating the Senate dam safety language and worked closely with Congressman Maloney’s office to garner support for the measure. The motion received praise from both sides of the aisle during debate and the final vote for the motion was 347 – 76. The House also selected 28 conferees for the WRDA conference that will now begin. The House appointed 16 Republicans and 12 Democrats from both the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and Natural Resources Committee. The conferees are: Bill Shuster (R-PA) John Duncan (R-TN) Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ) Sam Graves (R-MO) Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) Candice Miller (R-MI) Duncan Hunter (R-CA) Larry Bucshon (R-IN) Bob Gibbs (R-OH) Richard Hanna (R-NY) Daniel Webster (R-FL) Tom Rice (R-SC) Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) Rodney Davis (R-IL) Doc Hastings (R-WA) Rob Bishop (R-UT) Nick Rahall (D-WV) Peter DeFazio (D-OR) Corrine Brown (D-FL) Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) Tim Bishop (D-NY) Donna Edwards (D-MD) John Garamendi (D-CA) Janice Hahn (D-CA) Rick Nolan (D-MN) Lois Frankel (D-FL) Cheri Bustos (D-IL) Grace Napolitano (D-CA) The Senate agreed by unanimous consent on Oct. 31 to launch conference negotiations. The bills would authorize navigation, flood control and wetland restoration projects. Both versions were passed with bipartisan support in their respective chambers. ASCE urges Congress to conference the Water Resources Development Act quickly. Additionally, ASCE hopes to see a final package that expedites the regulatory and environmental review process, creates a national levee safety program, increases money spent out of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, and reauthorizes the National Dam Safety Program. At this time the biggest difference between the House and Senate bills are on how to select Army Corps of Engineers projects that will be authorized for funding as well as the creation of a national levee safety program, which the Senate bill would create, while the House bill would not.Tags: house of representatives, senate, Water Resources, WRDA
No Comments »
