WASHINGTON, DC – Monday, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) applauded the Senate’s 79-14 vote to override President Bush’s veto of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), which authorizes America’s essential flood control, navigation, and ecosystem restoration projects in a way that is fiscally responsible and technically sound.  The vote in the Senate follows Tuesday night’s vote in the House of Representatives of 361-54. With the Senate and House voting to override the president’s veto, the bill now becomes law.

 

This is the first time WRDA has been reauthorized since 2000. The bipartisan legislation includes a permanent extension of an important Army Corps of Engineers authority that allows the Corps to expedite the permitting process for local infrastructure development, reauthorizes projects to improve inland waterways and ports, water quality and storage, and begin necessary environmental remediation and watershed planning throughout the United States. 

 

“In overriding the president’s veto, Congress is making sure that help gets to Washington state’s waterways, ports, and Northwest ecosystems,” said Cantwell. “Washington’s farmers, in particular, need the help contained in this bill because they depend on easy transportation of their crops along the Columbia River. The much-needed improvements to vital infrastructure and projects contained in this bill will grow our economy and strengthen our environment.”

Earlier this year, Cantwell wrote several times to the Environment and Public Works Committee with Senator Patty Murray to encourage members to retain the projects that had been secured for Washington state in the version of the bill passed by the Senate last year.  They also asked the Committee to include additional projects in this year’s legislation, including the Elliot Bay Seawall and the Ilwaco siltation study. 

 

 

WRDA contains a critical extension of permitting authority “Section 214,” which allows permit applicants to cover the cost of additional Army Corps of Engineers permitting officers to expedite the permitting process.  Section 214 is currently operating under a temporary extension set to expire on December 31, 2008. 

 

The City of Seattle was the first public entity in the country to develop and use Section 214 after it first became law in 2000.  In the first three years since the city began working with the Seattle District Corps under Section 214, the average review time per project was reduced from over 800 days to 69 days, saving the city an estimated $5 million.

 

Specifically, Section 214 allows public entities to provide the Corps with funds to hire additional staff to process their permits expediting the processing of their permits and adding more permit processing capacity for all applicants. Section 214 does not provide entities that fund additional permit processing with preferential treatment in the review of their projects.  The City of Seattle, the Port of Tacoma, and the Port of Seattle currently use Section 214 authority.  

 

WRDA removes the federal restriction forcing dredges to only operate for 200 days in one year. Now West Coast hopper dredges will be able to operate whenever necessary to maintain Washington’s vital waterways.  Timely maintenance of these waterways is critical to Washington’s trade and agricultural transportation.

 

WRDA also authorizes measures that will benefit the Elliot Bay Seawall, Puget Island, Baker Bay and the Port of Ilwaco, areas surrounding the Lower Granite Pool, the Walla Walla Basin and areas near the Chehalis River.

 

The Alaskan Way Seawall at Elliot Bay provides support for an enormous amount of fill that in turn supports critical building infrastructure, utility and transportation systems.  The seawall is 70 years old and suffers ongoing damage from marine organisms known as gribbles, which are attacking and weakening the wood timbers supporting the structure of the seawall.  This ongoing damage, in addition to the damage sustained in the 2001 Nisqually Earthquake is causing the seawall to rapidly fail.  Should the Seawall fail, the consequences for our State and the country would be severe, making WRDA’s authorization for improving the Seawall absolutely critical. 

 

The bill eliminates land use restrictions relating to the Lower Granite Pool.  This provision affects land and facilities at the Ports of Clarkston and Wilma in Washington and the Port of Lewiston in Idaho.  Economic development has been inhibited by these land use restrictions and their elimination should spur growth in surrounding communities. 

 

Homes along Puget Island have been threatened by severe erosion caused by traffic on federal navigation channels.  The one-time dumping of dredging material is a long-term solution for the erosion problem. 

 

The siltation study project would require the government to determine whether or not a federal navigation project has caused increased siltation in Baker Bay and the Port of Ilwaco and then to carry out a project to fix the problem.  The fishing and forestry industries of Pacific County, as well as the rural farm economy, depend upon the Port of Ilwaco for their continued success.  Over the past several decades, navigation improvements made by the Corps of Engineers have diverted the Columbia River flow away from Baker Bay and the Port of Ilwaco, likely contributing to silt deposits in the bay and harbor and requiring frequent dredging.    

 

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