Senate Panel OKs Army Corps Reforms, River Works
Date: 25-Jun-04
Country: USA
Author: Christopher Doering
The bill unanimously passed by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee also would spend $2.3 billion to upgrade antiquated locks and dams on the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. The improvements have long been sought by farm state lawmakers to speed up shipments of corn, soybeans and wheat.
The Senate panel's action aimed to restore credibility to the Army Corps' project planning process. The agency has been criticized for frivolous spending and rigging data to justify projects that create jobs at the expense of the environment.
The full Senate is expected to vote on the legislation before it adjourns on Oct. 1 as part of a broader bill that authorizes Corps civil works projects for the next two years. The Corps has more than $50 billion in unfinished projects.
Army Corps chief Lt. Gen. Robert Flowers told Reuters in March that he acknowledged the agency is in dire need of legislative reform.
"What we are hoping is that there will be some legislation (from Congress) which will give us some direction and authority," he said.
Under the legislation, the Corps, the agency responsible for building federal dams and designating flood plains, would have its planning process and analysis used for a possible project reviewed by an independent panel.
The Army Corps also would have to submit to the House and Senate an annual report updating the progress of its projects. The report would include those currently under construction, number of years remaining and the estimated cost to complete them. A list of projects to be finished during the current fiscal year also would be included.
Among the Corps projects criticized in the past few years was a controversial $60 million study that endorsed spending about $1 billion to upgrade the 70-year-old lock-and-dam system that dots the Mississippi and Illinois rivers.
The Senate bill specifically authorized funding to enlarge several locks and dams on both rivers to handle bigger barges. About half of the $2.3 billion earmarked would be used for environmental restoration along the rivers.
The Corps' planning process for the project came into question after it said grain imports in the region would rise between 1995 and 2000 when, in fact, they fell.