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Happy New Year!
The Water Resources Coalition was established in 2007 to promote the development, implementation and funding of a comprehensive national water resources policy. With member organizations representing state and local governments, conservation, engineering and construction, ports, waterways and transportation services, the Coalition works to ensure that a comprehensive, national water resources policy is developed, implemented and funded to provide a sustainable, productive economy; a healthy aquatic ecology; and public health and safety. For more information, visit the Water Resources Coalition Web site.
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Congress Eyes Cuts to EPA, CORPS in Final FY 2012 Appropriations Bills
The House and Senate have reached agreement on three bills as part of the final Fiscal Year 2012 package to appropriate funds for government operations.
"The legislation also prevents a potential government shutdown and supports important domestic programs and services the American people rely on," said Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY), chair of the House Appropriations Committee.
The Corps of Engineers is funded at $5 billion, an increase of $145 million above last year's level and $429 million above the budget request. The bill will provide $1.8 billion for navigation projects and studies. The bill also funds flood and coastal storm damage reduction at $1.66 billion, including $437 million for dam safety improvements.
The conference agreement funds EPA at $8.4 billion, which is a $233 million reduction below the FY 2011 enacted level and $524 million below the president's request. Overall, funding for EPA has been reduced by $1.8 billion, a reduction of 18.4 percent for the remainder of calendar year 2011.
The bill also includes a $101 million reduction in FY 2012 for the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds (SRFs), down from $1.525 million for Clean Water and $965 million for Drinking Water appropriated in FY 2011, and resulting in a cut of more than $1 billion for water and wastewater infrastructure over the last two fiscal years. Congress appropriated $2.5 billion for the programs in FY 2011, which represented a cut of $997 million from FY 2010.
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CEQ Issues Guidance on Speeding Up NEPA Reviews
The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has begun a 45-day public comment period on draft guidance to federal agencies to encourage them to speed up their environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The draft guidance, however, does not establish government-wide deadlines for agencies to follow in assessing the impact of their activities on the environment.
NEPA requires federal agencies to undertake certain purely technical steps for "every recommendation or report on proposals for legislation and other major federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment." The federal actions include issuing permits and providing funding for activities that may harm the environment.
The Act establishes three levels of review. An agency may perform an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), the most costly and intensive form of review. It may perform an Environmental Assessment (EA), a lesser but still lengthy review where some uncertainty exists about a proposed project's environmental impact. Finally, the Act allows an agency to issue a "finding of no significant impact" (FONSI) through a Categorical Exclusion (CE), the least vigorous and least costly form of review under NEPA.
"Once finalized, this guidance will help agencies implement NEPA more efficiently and effectively to protect our environment and health and support vital economic growth," said CEQ Chair Nancy Sutley.
ASCE believes that there needs to be firm legal deadlines for agencies to complete their NEPA reviews.
The draft guidance, which will be open for comment until January 27, is at http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ceq/initiatives/nepa/efficiencies-guidance.
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California Releases Statewide Flood Plan
The California Department of Water Resources released the first statewide flood plan recently, which details the status of levees and other infrastructure along the Sacramento and San Joaquin river systems. Official found that more than half of California's levees do not meet flood control standards and need as much as $17 billion in repairs and investment. The current piece meal flood control system consists of 14,000 levees, built over the past 150 years, which is no longer adequate for the rapidly developing area. A levee breech in the system now could pose a great risk to life, property, and the state's drinking water supplies.
The analysis found that more than half of the 300 miles of aged urban levees do not meet modern design criteria and about 60% of non-urban levees have a high potential for failure. Additionally, about half of the 1,016 miles of channels are inadequate to handle projected flooding and two bridges are in need of repairs.
The newly released plan calls for $14 billion to $17 billion in repairs and other investments, including $5 billion in already approved bonds, over the next 20 to 25 years. The majority of the money would be spent in urban areas where there is a greater risk to homeowners. Another $6 billion would go toward systemwide improvements. While the plan does not call for specific projects, it does offer recommendations. These recommendations include bypass expansions and the construction of a new bypass; improvements to intake, weir and gate structures; sediment removal projects; urban and rural levee repairs; fish passage improvements and ecosystem restoration.
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Corps Seeks Public Comments on Improving Regulations
Aiming to making its existing regulations more effective and less burdensome, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Nov. 16 provided notice to the public that it is seeking comments on its Clean Water Act Section 404 general wetlands permits, nationwide permits and related requirements.
The Corps' effort to review its regulations stems from an Executive Order signed by President Obama on Jan. 18 on "Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review." The order directed federal agencies to review their regulations to identify any that could be modified, streamlined, expanded or repealed to make their regulatory program more effective.
The Corps is asking for public comments on its regulatory programs to be sent in electronically by Jan. 17 to docket number COE-2011-0028 or by mail to the address given in the notice. The notice contains eight general questions that are meant to guide responses from the public.
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Sincerely,
Brian Pallasch and Marco Giamberardino
Co-Chairs
Water Resources Coalition
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