WASHINGTON -- The water-projects bill the U.S. Senate passed this week could promote investment in ports and protect the Coast from Louisiana flood-control projects.
Louisiana has been considering several flood-control measures, including a 24-foot levee Mississippi officials fear could push flood waters from St. Tammany Parish into South Mississippi.
An amendment added by Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., clarifies that a section of the bill related to Gulf Coast flood protection does not authorize construction or program assistance for a flood-control barrier across the Lake Pontchartrain land bridge, and that any study to advance such a project must include the consultation and approval of the governors of Mississippi and Louisiana, said a statement from the senator's office.
"The amendment ensures that Gov. (Phil) Bryant will have a seat at the table if and when projects that could affect Mississippi are considered," Cochran said. "It will give Mississippians a role in guaranteeing that a flood control project built by our neighbors won't inadvertently increase flood risk on our side of the border."
The smooth passage of the Water Resources Development Act on a 83-14 vote was in sharp contrast to the last time Congress took up a WRDA bill in 2007, when President George W. Bush vetoed it and the Democratic-led Congress retaliated with the first veto override of the Bush presidency.
Though the bill faces uncertain prospects in the House, which is writing its own version, Rep. Steven Palazzo, R-4, likes the flood-control provision.
"It's been far too long since Congress passed a WRDA bill," he said in a release from his office. "Today's Senate passage is a good first step in addressing the needs of Mississippi's waterways, harbors, ports and channels.
"In addition, I am pleased to report that this bill includes language that protects areas of South Mississippi that could be affected by Louisiana's levee construction plans. I applaud the work of Mississippi Sens. Cochran and Roger Wicker, and I will continue to work … to ensure that these important measures are mirrored in the House version of the bill."
The bill also provides a way for ports to pay for dredging, the release from Cochran said.
According to the release, it authorizes a state or local entity, such as a coastal port authority, to receive credit for costs incurred for authorized dredging, an activity that is normally the responsibility of the federal government but is not always performed in a timely manner.
The Port of Gulfport, for example, has not been dredged to its full width and depth since 2009, preventing large cargo ships from doing business there. The release says the state or local entity could apply such credit toward up to 20 percent of the non-federal cost requirements for future construction projects. This non-federal operation and maintenance work must adhere to the same standards under which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operates.
Another attempt to help the Coast failed when the Senate blocked an effort by Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and David Vitter, R-La., to delay an increase in flood-insurance premiums.
Those increases are part of a law passed in 2012 to make the National Flood Insurance Program financially solvent. Some people who live in flood zones will have their rates increased this year and a broader section of the population will have increases in 2014.
Coast officials fear the increase will be a disaster.
"I think it's going to be huge," Michele Coats, Jackson County's planning director, told the Sun Herald. "You're going to see a lot of people who can't afford this. I don't think anybody here can afford the rates (the National Flood Insurance Program is) talking about …. We got the impression after Katrina it wasn't going to change that much, the rates were going to go up a little. This is catastrophic."
A leaner bill
Unlike the 2007 WRDA bill, which was laden with hundreds of earmarks or special projects sought by individual lawmakers, this bill has no earmarks. But critics questioned approving any new water projects when the Corps of Engineers is already saddled with some $60 billion in projects it hasn't yet completed.
The newest version of WRDA met resistance from the Obama administration. Though stopping short of a veto threat, the administration faulted the measure for speeding up environmental reviews, increasing federal obligations to projects and doing little to resolve the corps' construction backlog. The bill, which now goes to the House, also was criticized by some environmental and fiscally conservative groups.
Panama Canal has role
The legislation would sanction more than 20 new corps projects, some aimed at making ports more accessible in time for the 2015 completion of a widened Panama Canal. It would ensure more money in the user-fee-financed Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund actually goes to harbor improvements. It sets up a new program to promote levee safety and inland waterway projects, takes steps to expedite the environmental review process and sets up a commission to make recommendations on defunding uncompleted projects.
"We focus on flood control. We focus on ports and environmental restoration projects where the corps has completed a comprehensive study," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee. She said it took a while to reach consensus on the bill because "we had to deal with changing the culture of the Senate away from earmarks."
Partisanship aside
The top Republican on the committee, Vitter, a Louisiana conservative whose state is a main recipient of WRDA projects, said he and the liberal Boxer were able to work together because of their agreement that water-resource projects are jobs producers.
"Ultimately that core, that theme, that common goal is what brought us effectively together," Vitter said.
The American Farm Bureau Federation noted 95 percent of U.S. agriculture exports and imports move through U.S. harbors, supporting more than 400,000 jobs. "However, unless WRDA is approved, the inland waterway system is at risk of becoming a potential detriment to the nation rather than a comparative strength."
But fiscally conservative groups such as Taxpayers for Common Sense and Citizens Against Government Waste wrote senators that with the corps already burdened by a $60 billion backlog in projects, "we cannot simply pile more projects on the to-do list."
"The plate has been full for over 25 years," said Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M. "Project authorizations far exceed the money to pay for them."
The Congressional Budget Office estimates the new projects authorized by the legislation would cost more than $12 billion over the next decade if the funding were approved.
Written by: Staff, The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Original Publication URL: http://www.sunherald.com/2013/05/16/4671933/bill-would-stop-feared-louisiana.html
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