In this issue:
- FY20 Corps Work Plan
- California Projects Funded
- New Director of Civil Works
- WRDA Time in Washington
- U.S. Coastal Policy is (Literally) a Disaster
Page 1 / 5
Zoom 100%
WaterLog © 2020
1
Work Plan Released
On February 10th, the Corps released its Work Plan for fiscal year 20, alongside the president’s FY21
budget proposal, which we’ll get to later (U.S. Coastal Policy is (Literally) a Disaster). To see all the funded
coastal projects, you can find our shore protection tracker
here
. The total shore protection budget in the
FY20 Work Plan is $30.5 million short f rom last year’s enacted level.
The Corps Work Plan proposes 6 new study starts and 6 new construction starts:
General Investigations:
•
Baltimore Harbor & Channels (Seagirt Loop Deepening), MD (Navigation)
•
Oakland Inner Harbor Turning Basin Widening, CA (Navigation)
•
Central City Flood and Storm Damage Reduction, TX (Flood Risk Management)
•
Lower Missouri Basin Flood Risk and Resiliency Study, IA, KS, NE & MO (Flood Risk Management)
•
Lower Osage River at Lock and Dam No. 1, MO (Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration)
•
GIWW Coastal Resiliency Study, TX (Multi-purpose Watershed Study)
General Construction:
•
Freeport Harbor Channel Improvements, TX (Navigation)
•
Port Everglades Harbor Deepening, FL (Navigation)
•
San Joaquin River Basin, Lower San Joaquin, CA (Flood Risk Management)
•
Waterbury Dam Rehabilitation, VT (Flood Risk Management)
•
Dry Creek (Warm Springs) Restoration, CA (Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration)
•
South Florida Ecosystem Restoration, FL (Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration)
In this issue:
•
FY20 Corps Work Plan
•
California Projects Funded
•
New Director of Civil Works
•
WRDA Time in Washington
•
U.S. Coastal Policy is (Literally) a Disaster
February 25th, 2020
WaterLog © 2020
2
2
While Congress specifically notes that 6 new study and 6 new construction starts are to be included,
the Work Plan also includes funds to initiate construction to deepen two additional navigation projects
(bringing the total to 8):
•
Mobile Harbor, AL; and
•
Mississippi River Ship Channel, Baton Rouge to the Gulf, LA.
Are they not new starts? We’re looking into it, because they look, smell and taste like new starts.
California Projects Funded
In better news, the California projects that have been seeking funds for nearly two decades finally got
funded in the Work Plan (sorry OMB - you lose!). This appropriation will enable the San Clemente shoreline
project to complete the design phase prior to construction and the Solana Beach - Encinitas project will
initiate the engineering design phase.
New Director of Civil Works – Al Lee
Mr. Lee comes f rom the Transatlantic Division where he served as Director of Programs and Regional
Business. Prior to that assignment, he served as Programs Director for the South Atlantic Division
covering a large Civil Works region including three mega-projects; Herbert Hoover Dike, the Savannah
Harbor Expansion project and the Everglades Ecosystem Restoration Program.
In a message to USACE partners, Lee delivered his plan to revolutionize civil works and maintain the
momentum the program currently has through sustained improvements to the items discussed below:
1) Continuing Authorities Program (CAP)
We are actively working to implement improvements to the Continuing Authorities Program (CAP) which
include delegating decisions and increasing funding flexibilities. These improvements were developed
by USACE staff at all levels and take into account feedback we have received f rom you, our partners.
2) Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS)
On January 23, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Army
(Army) finalized the Navigable Waters Protection Rule that defines “Waters of the United States” and
clarifies the limits of federal control under the Clean Water Act.
WaterLog © 2020
3
3
3) Revolutionize USACE CW Brochure
The team has updated the Revolutionize USACE Civil Works brochure for 2020. The purpose of this update
is to share some early success stories on our efforts and provide information on the additional actions we
are taking this year to continue to revolutionize Civil Works. The brochure is posted to our website.
While an update to the brochure won’t move the needle on the Corps’ $100B construction backlog, the
approach in using the CAP programs and a few other lesser-known programs like those hidden within
the Regional Sediment Management program offer significant opportunity for non-federal sponsors to
advance their priorities without relying on specific congressional authorization and appropriation. To
our benefit, Mr. Lee has significant experience working along the coast f rom his experience in the South
Atlantic Division and understands our coastal world. We look forward to working with you, Mr. Lee.
It’s WRDA time in Washington
Congress has successfully enacted three consecutive WRDAs in 2014, 2016, and 2018 and it is looking
to stay on track this year. This Thursday members of the House who sit outside the Transportation and
Inf rastructure committee have the opportunity to make their case for water resources projects in the
Water Resources Development Act of 2020 by joining the Subcommittee on Water Resources and
Environment for a ‘members day’ hearing. This hearing is an opportunity for all Members of the House of
Representatives to highlight water resource issues of importance in their district as it relates to the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers. Testimony f rom this hearing will inform the Committee in the development of
a new WRDA, which the Committee expects to approve this year.
Sponsored by
U.S. Coastal Policy is (Literally) a Disaster
WaterLog © 2020
4
4
U.S. Coastal Policy is (Literally) a Disaster
By Howard Marlowe
While there’s little this president can do anymore that shocks me, I was stunned to see his FY21 budget
proposal defunds the entire coastal program of the Corps of Engineers. Since he boosted his overall
request for that agency by over 22% compared to his FY20 budget request, this goose-egg was especially
baffling. There was a double-whammy the same day when the Corps released its administration-
approved funding allocations for the current fiscal year. There was almost no money for any of the
ongoing follow-up studies that Congress authorized and funded for the past several years, including the
New York-New Jersey Harbor, New Jersey Back Bays, and several others that were treated by the budget
proposal as if they had never existed. In the Great Lakes, all eight states banded together to develop a
multi-agency, cost-shared, thoughtful approach to erosion and flooding that got no Federal funding
for the last two years and isn’t supported by the Administration next year. These are examples of pro-
active initiatives driven f rom the state and local level that are simply ignored by the budgeteers whose
decisions are as final as they are non-transparent and irrational.
Truth is the Corps’ coastal program is not a big-ticket item for federal taxpayers. For this year, it’s under
$150 million, less than the cost of a grounded 737MAX. Fortunately, state and local governments leverage
that paltry sum with about $75 million, but the whole program is still puny compared with most any
country with a coast that’s even one-third the size of ours. This shortsightedness afflicts all our coasts.
Major Great Lakes initiatives years in the making including fighting erosion and invasive Asian carp were
zeroed out. Many existing coastal projects are getting maintenance funding, but efforts to upgrade their
effectiveness against rising seas were rejected by the Administration.
It isn’t just money that’s missing; it’s thought. Got a disaster? Congress will send billions. No storms,
no money. This helter-skelter post-disaster nonsense really doesn’t require much thought; just a little
haggling behind closed doors over two digits followed by enough zeroes to equal a number that will be
in the tens of billions. Whenever the most careful civil servant allocates billions post-disaster, it’s partly
based on guesswork. There is no plan, just find any place where the Corps District says they could use
money and add them to the list. Most of it is “f ree” money, meaning it waives the usual one-third to
one-half required non-federal cost share. Without skin in the game, the Corps does the study because it
literally pays their salaries, the study sits on the shelf because its recommendations are too expensive for
OMB to support, so they move onto the next post-disaster study.
When it comes to post-disaster repairs, we’re fixing projects to pre-disaster conditions but not upgrading
them to new sea level rise and storm predictions. Even when Congress provides direction to modernize
the projects, Corps Headquarters finds a way to Just Say No. That’s what happened to the disaster
funding provided by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018. Eight projects built by the Corps in the 1970’s
without dunes were given a total of $16 million to add dunes out of the total of $14 billion in post-storm
money. To date, Headquarters has blocked that money saying Congress didn’t use the right words. If you
look at the projects with big figures on the list, there are some that don’t have a non-federal cost share
partner but are happy to take the “f ree” money. The problem is, sand nourishment projects are ongoing
construction that require cost-shared nourishment every 3 to 10 years...unless, of course, you can count
Page 1 / 5
Zoom 100%