[Senate Hearing 118-19]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 118-19
U.S. ARMY CORPS BUDGET 2024 AND IMPLEMENTATION OF WATER RESOURCES
DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 2022
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON
ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
MAY 3, 2023
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Environment and Public Works
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov
U. S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
55-085 WASHINGTON : 2025
COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware, Chairman
SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia, Ranking Member
BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland KEVIN CRAMER, North Dakota
BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont CYNTHIA M. LUMMIS, Wyoming
SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island MARKWAYNE MULLIN, Oklahoma
JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon PETE RICKETTS, Nebraska
EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
DEBBIE STABENOW, Michigan ROGER WICKER, Mississippi
MARK KELLY, Arizona DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska
ALEX PADILLA, California LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, South Carolina
JOHN FETTERMAN, Pennsylvania
Courtney Taylor, Democratic Staff Director
Adam Tomlinson, Republican Staff Director
C O N T E N T S
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Page
MAY 3, 2023
OPENING STATEMENTS
Carper, Hon. Thomas R., U.S. Senator from the State of Delaware.. 1
Capito, Hon. Shelley Moore, U.S. Senator from the State of West
Virginia....................................................... 3
WITNESSES
Conner, Hon. Michael L., Assistant Secretary, Army, for Civil
Works.......................................................... 5
Prepared statement........................................... 8
Responses to additional questions from:
Senator Carper........................................... 18
Senator Whitehouse....................................... 19
Senator Fetterman........................................ 20
Senator Ricketts......................................... 21
Senator Sullivan......................................... 24
Spellmon, Lieutenant General Scott A., 55th Chief of Engineers
and Commanding General, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers........... 26
Prepared statement........................................... 29
Responses to additional questions from:
Senator Carper........................................... 33
Senator Graham........................................... 36
U.S. ARMY CORPS BUDGET 2024 AND IMPLEMENTATION OF WATER RESOURCES
DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 2022
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WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2023
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Environment and Public Works,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:01 a.m. in
room 406, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Thomas R. Carper
(chairman of the committee) presiding.
Present: Senators Carper, Capito, Cardin, Markey, Stabenow,
Kelly, Padilla, Fetterman, Cramer, Boozman, Wicker, Sullivan,
Mullin, Ricketts.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. THOMAS R. CARPER,
U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF DELAWARE
Senator Carper. Good morning, everybody. I am pleased to
call this hearing to order.
Today, we have gathered to examine the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers' budget request for Fiscal Year 2024 as well as the
implementation of the recently passed Water Resources
Development Act, affectionately known as WRDA 2022.
This year, the President has proposed a budget of $7.4
billion for the Army Corps of Engineers, $7.4 billion for this
year. While that is larger than any other budget request for
the Corps to date, the President's proposal is still less than
the $8.7 billion that Congress provided in annual spending last
year.
To help us unpack the request and understand the Corps'
implementation of WRDA 2022, we are pleased to welcome our
witnesses. Assistant Secretary Connor, welcome, good to see
you, and General Spellmon. General, Navy salutes Army. Thank
you both for joining us and for your ongoing service to our
Nation.
The Corps' work is fundamental to keeping our economy
moving forward. As you may recall, the Corps manages our
Nation's ports and waterways, restores our ecosystems, which
are critical to fisheries, to tourism, to recreation, and
advances flood management solutions to protect communities from
coast to coast. In fact, 99 percent of our overseas trade goes
through channels that the Corps helps to maintain. Let me
repeat that: 99 percent of our overseas trade goes through
channels that the Army Corps of Engineers helps to maintain.
As the largest manager of our Nation's water
infrastructure, the Corps also plays a critical role in job
creation and job retention. In addition to employing nearly
37,000 civilian and military personnel, the agency's work spurs
economic growth across our Country to the tune of more than $50
billion annually. With that in mind, I am sure that a number of
our members will have some specific projects in their States
that they want to ask both of you about today.
The Corps has certainly been a vital partner in many parts
of our economy in the first State of Delaware. In addition to
delivering nearly $300 million in essential project funding for
Delaware this year alone, the Corps recently approved permits
to allow for an expansion of the Port of Wilmington. I am
pleased to share that Delaware is now set to build a new
terminal at the Port and bring hundreds of new jobs to our
region, which includes several States, including New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, and Maryland.
The Corps' work is possible because of the policies and
studies, along with the projects and programs that our
committee authorizes through WRDA. For a decade, this committee
has led the effort to pass biennial WRDA legislation with
overwhelming bipartisan support. Last year, for example, the
Senate passed the final WRDA 2022 legislation by a vote of 83
to 11.
I can't tell you how often people say to me in Delaware,
outside of Delaware, on the train, why don't you guys ever work
together instead of always fighting with each other? We do work
together. This is a workhorse committee. We have the numbers to
prove it. That is a pattern we hope and expect to continue:
timely bipartisan reauthorizations, resulting in sound policies
to address our Nation's water resource needs.
Today, I am particularly interested in hearing, I think we
are particularly interested in hearing, about how the Corps'
Fiscal Year budget for 2024 would help advance its mission and
support the implementation of WRDA 2022. We also want to hear
about any ongoing challenges that the agency faces so that our
committee can continue to be a problem solver as we consider
the next WRDA reauthorization.
The Corps has an important and challenging mission. We
recognize that even with historic funding, project demands
still often outpace our investments. In the past, that has led
to the Corps having to make some tough choices, particularly in
many smaller, more economically disadvantaged communities,
including those in rural and tribal areas. Historically, these
disadvantaged communities have been the last to have their
needs met.
That is why we have included provisions in the 2018, as
well as the 2020 and the 2022 WRDA reauthorizations directing
the Corps to increase its work with financially disadvantaged
and underserved communities. I am encouraged that the Corps'
recently issued guidance begins to better serve these
communities. I know they appreciate it, too. In addition, I am
eager to hear more about the Corps' progress.
In WRDA 2022, Congress instructed the Corps to take a more
holistic approach when accounting for the impacts of climate
change in the work that you do. With that in mind, today is
also an opportunity for our committee to hear about how the
Corps is using and plans to use those authorities.
We are acutely aware of the need to develop solutions that
not only work today but will still protect our Country in the
future, but we are not alone in facing the challenges posed by
climate change. The Federal Government needs to plan for the
climate realities we face and will continue to face for as long
as we are around, as human beings and probably as a Nation.
These realities range from droughts in the West to sea level
rise in the Gulf Coast to floods from snowpacks melting in the
Midwest and beyond.
As a key partner for States and communities in addressing
the impacts of climate change, the Corps must plan for these
realities. We know that failing to do so comes at a steep cost.
In 2022, there were 18 climate disasters in the United States
with damages of over $1 billion apiece. Let me just say that
again: there were 18 climate disasters in the United States in
2022 with damages of over $1 billion each.
Throughout the past 30 years, much of the Corps' funding
has been provided in response to disasters, not in preparation
for them. Not only do we need to proactively address the root
causes of climate change, and we are, we need to also
proactively make our infrastructure more resilient to the
climate-fueled extreme weather.
In closing, my hope is that today's hearing will provide us
with a better sense of the Corps' priorities and the direction
it plans to take. General Spellmon, Assistant Secretary Connor,
we look forward to hearing your testimony and your insights
today. That will better inform our oversight and, of course,
the 2024 WRDA bill.
I would just say, I know you have several members of your
team here today, including a couple named Stacey. I just want
to say to them and to the other folks who are a part of your
team, uniformed and not, how much we appreciate, from coast to
coast, Red States, Blue States, every kind of State, we
appreciate the great work you do for us, for our constituents,
and for our Country.
With that, let me turn to our Ranking Member, Senator
Capito for her opening remarks. Senator Capito?
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO,
U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA
Senator Capito. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for
calling the hearing today and for your ongoing commitment to
our bipartisan oversight of the implementation of WRDA 2022. I
look forward to hearing about the Corps' ongoing efforts to
implement the law and then also your 2024 budget request.
As Ranking Member of this committee, I recognize the
important role that the Army Corps plays in safeguarding our
communities and supporting growth. I live one-quarter of a mile
from one of your waterways, so I see how important the work of
the Corps is in my own community.
Since 2014, the committee has kept its biennial schedule of
authorizing water resource projects and setting national
policies for the Civil Works Program of the Army Corps. I look
forward to continuing this track record next year.
WRDA 2022 authorized 25 new projects and six modifications
to existing projects around the Country, including projects for
navigation, flood, and coastal storm risk management, and
ecosystem restoration it authorized, and I think this is the
largest number, more than 100 feasibility studies that will
develop solutions to water resources challenges in the years
ahead.
WRDA 2022 also included several policy changes that will
help the Army Corps better succeed, I believe, in the Civil
Works mission.
I would like to extend my appreciation to the staff at the
Army Corps and also in the Assistant Secretary's office for
their continual engagement with the committee as we oversee the
implementation of WRDA 2022 and prior WRDA legislation.
As my colleagues on this committee know so well, the Army
Corps also has important regulatory responsibilities under
other Federal laws. These responsibilities include reviewing
permit applications from public and private entities that are
seeking to undertake important infrastructure projects or
economic development projects across the Country.
One of those private entities, Nucor, announced last year
that Mason County, West Virginia will soon be home to the
company's newest steel sheet mill. This is really great news
for the State of West Virginia, but also for the Country. The
committee has heard time and time again how product
availability issues adversely impact the delivery of projects
and the manufacture of goods.
This mill will have the capacity to produce up to three
million tons of American-made steel sheet per year, helping to
alleviate availability issues for the industries that utilize
this product and supporting compliance with Buy America
provisions, including those for the Corps' own construction
projects. According to Nucor, it will also have one of the
lowest carbon footprints of any sheet mill in the world.
Most importantly, to me and to most of my fellow West
Virginians, it will bring hundreds, if not more, permanent,
great jobs to West Virginia, which we desperately need.
In order for this mill to become a reality, Nucor submitted
applications for permits under Section 404 of the Clean Water
Act and Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 to the
Huntington District. I was looking at that date, 1899. That was
pretty long ago.
The Army Corps and Nucor must work diligently and
collaboratively through this process so that timely decisions
on these applications can be made. The Federal laws must be
adhered to, while bureaucratic delays must be avoided.
Assistant Secretary Connor and General Spellmon, you are
not surprised to hear me talk about this. I want to thank you
for the personal attention you have paid to these applications
and look forward to continuing our engagement as we move
forward. I appreciate your commitments to provide the District
with resources it needs to review these applications and notify
me of any challenges that the Army Corps has encountered.
As I have previously reinforced with both of you, this
plant is critical to the economic vitality of my home State and
to improving the lives of constituents while supporting
infrastructure and manufacturing across our Country. I will
continue to stay on top of this, and we have talked about this
already, previous to this starting, as I know you all will,
too. Thank you for that.
Last year, the Army Corps also provided funding for the
Kanawha River Basin flood risk management study. This study
will focus on the area of West Virginia that was devastated in
2016 where we lost 26 people in a massive flash flood.
Notably, the Corps has also made a significant investment
in the Lower Mud River flood control project in Milton, West
Virginia. This funding will go toward constructing a levee and
other measures to help ensure the long-term safety and
prosperity of residents in the Milton area.
Thank you very much for recognizing the importance of these
projects to my State. The work of the Corps, and I am sure each
one of us could enumerate, and probably will, projects in our
State. The work of the Corps has and will continue to make a
difference in communities across the State of West Virginia.
Chairman Carper, I know before too long, we will be kicking
off the process for WRDA 2024. I look forward to continuing our
partnership to develop bipartisan legislation.
Let me again reiterate my gratitude toward our witnesses.
Thank you for being here today.
Senator Carper. Thank you, Senator Capito. Thanks very,
very much.
As she knows well, my family is from West Virginia,
Beckley, just south of Charleston. I still have quite a few
relatives in that State. I just want to say, Senator Capito, as
somebody who cares a lot about the Mountain State, I am really
delighted to hear about the economic opportunities that are
being delivered in no small part because of the Army Corps. So
thank you doubly for that.
Now, we are going to turn to our witnesses. Before I do,
though, let me just say to our staffs, our side led by John
Kane, and both sides, Democrat and Republican, as well as the
members of our committee, all of our staffs, blue States, red
States, we work together. We worked really well together on
this legislation. It is really important legislation. I can't
say thanks enough to all who made our jobs relatively easy as
we move forward to today's hearing. My thanks to all of you.
OK. Assistant Secretary Connor has served in a variety of
positions in the Federal Government, focusing on natural
sources and water resources throughout his distinguished
career. He was confirmed as the Assistant Secretary of the Army
in November 2021, and has been off and running ever since,
immersing himself in all matters related to Civil Works
programs.
Mr. Connor, you are now recognized for your statement. Once
you have given it, we are going to turn to the fellow in
uniform right next to you.
Secretary Connor.
STATEMENT OF HON. MICHAEL CONNOR, ASSISTANT SECRETARY, ARMY,
FOR CIVIL WORKS
Mr. Connor. Thank you. Chairman Carper, Ranking Member
Capito, and distinguished members, thank you for the
opportunity to be here today to discuss the President's Fiscal
Year 2024 budget and the implementation of WRDA 2022.
Thank you for the tenacious work of you and your staff in
getting the Water Resources Development Act over the finish
line last year. We and countless stakeholders rely on the
biennial authorization to address new challenges and adjust
existing authorities as circumstances warrant. This committee's
work is incredibly important.
As you know, the Army Civil Works Program serves three main
missions: flood and storm damage reduction, commercial
navigation, and aquatic ecosystem restoration and supports
related project purposes, such as water supply, hydropower, and
recreation. The Fiscal Year 2024 budget request includes over
$7.4 billion for the Army Civil Works Program, which is the
largest request in history, and is complemented by an
additional $1.05 billion from the Infrastructure Investment and
Jobs Act.
These investments demonstrate President Biden's ongoing
commitment to funding the construction of critical
infrastructure projects that will strengthen our economy,
protect people and property, and restore key ecosystems.
It is important to note that the water resources challenges
of today are not like those of yesterday. Weather extremes are
increasingly the norm, so understanding vulnerabilities and
increasing our preparedness is of the utmost importance. For
that reason, the budget provides $86 million, the largest
request in Corps' history, for research and development. The
focus of this work will be on innovative solutions that address
the emerging water resources challenges of the 21st century and
achieves cost savings in the Civil Works Program.
The Army Civil Works budget focuses on the highest
performing work within the three main missions of the Civil
Works Program. In developing the budget, consideration was also
given to advancing three key objectives of the Administration:
decreasing climate risk for communities and the environment,
promoting environmental justice in underserved communities and
tribal nations, and strengthening the Nation's supply chains.
First, the Corps has always been in the resilience business
and climate-focused investments include more than $1.4 billion
for construction of flood and storm damage reduction and
aquatic ecosystem restoration projects.
Second priority, the budget supports the Administration's
Justice40 Initiative through investments in 23 studies and
construction of 33 projects to help disadvantaged and tribal
communities address their water resources challenges.
Priority three, the budget facilitates safe, reliable, and
sustainable commercial navigation to support U.S.
competitiveness and improve the resilience of our Nation's
manufacturing and supply chains, supporting American jobs and
the economy.
The Administration's commitment to our coastal ports and
inland waterways is represented by over $3.4 billion for the
inland and coastal navigation projects, including $1.7 billion
derived from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund.
Looking deeper at the construction budget, it provides $653
million for aquatic ecosystem restoration, including $415
million to continue restoring America's everglades, and $67
million to support salmon recovery efforts in the Columbia
River Basin. Other significant construction activity includes
$655 million for dam safety at Prado Dam in California, $350
million for replacement of the Cape Cod Canal Bridges, and $235
million to continue construction of the Soo Locks project,
which benefits our entire economy.
In total, the Fiscal Year 2024 construction program is
funded at more than $2 billion. In addition to new projects,
the budget invests in operation and maintaining the Corps'
existing infrastructure and improving its reliability and
performance by providing over $4.4 billion in the operation and
maintenance account.
Investments in the recreation program are also providing
significant funding as set forth in my statement, and the
regulatory program is robustly funded at $221 million to
support the Administration's focus on permitting.
Turning to WRDA, we are well into the initial steps of
implementing the law. We held a public comment period and
listening sessions earlier this year to gather input on the
need for implementation guidance. At this time, the Army has
identified 10 provisions of WRDA 2022 that will require
implementation guidance documents, and the drafting is now
underway.
WRDA 2022 provided additional flexibility for the Army to
assist disadvantaged and rural communities, including tribal
nations, a theme continued from WRDA 2020. We look forward to
using these tools to expand the range of communities we work
with and for. We also look forward to engaging with each of you
on the provisions of importance to the communities that you
represent.
To summarize, the budget makes critical investments that
will benefit the American people and promote greater prosperity
and economic growth for decades to come. WRDA 2022 provides the
opportunity to solve water resources challenges facing
communities, nurture sustainable aquatic ecosystems, and
strengthen community resilience and the Nation's economy as a
fundamental part of the Army Corps' mission.
Thank you for the invitation. I look forward to the
questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Connor follows:]
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Senator Carper. Thanks so much for your testimony and for
your leadership.
Now, we are going to turn to General Spellmon. General
Spellmon, you have been here before any number of times. We are
happy to see you again.
I understand that you served in a number of a variety of
positions within the Federal Government, focusing largely on
natural and water resources throughout your distinguished
career. How long have you served in the Army?
General Spellmon. Sir, 37 years.
Senator Carper. Thirty-seven years. You started as a child?
Didn't they have labor laws back then?
General Spellmon. Eighteen, sir.
Senator Carper. That is pretty impressive. Were you prior
enlisted?
General Spellmon. No, sir.
Senator Carper. Where did you go, the Military Academy?
General Spellmon. Military Academy at high school, yes,
sir.
Senator Carper. Good for you.
General Spellmon was confirmed as Assistant Secretary of
the Army in November 2021 and has been off and running ever
since, immersing himself in all matters relating to the Civil
Works Program. That, I just read the wrong intro. Let us just
start over.
[Laughter.]
Senator Carper. General Spellmon has been serving forever
as the 55th Chief of Engineers as Commanding General of the
Army Corps of Engineers serving since September 2020, before
which he served as the Deputy Commanding General for Civil and
Emergency Operations. He is no stranger to the Corps' Civil
Works Program or to this committee.
We are grateful for your distinguished service, long-time
service. We look forward to hearing from you today, and you are
welcome to begin your statement.
Thank you.
STATEMENT OF LIEUTENANT GENERAL SCOTT SPELLMON, 55TH CHIEF OF
ENGINEERS AND COMMANDING GENERAL
General Spellmon. Sir, thank you for that generous
introduction, and good morning.
Senator Carper. Which one did you like best?
[Laughter.]
We can only pay you for one job, though. Welcome aboard.
General Spellmon. Yes, sir. Chairman Carper, Ranking Member
Capito, and distinguished members of the committee, I am
honored to testify before you today.
Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the Fiscal Year
2024 budget request for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It is
another record investment in our Nation's Civil Works Program,
and I am also pleased to discuss the ongoing implementation of
the Water Resources Development Act of 2022, as well as other
recent water resources acts. This critical legislation provides
us with the authorizations necessary to advance our civil works
missions and enables critical policy transformations to address
the changing needs of the Nation's water resources
infrastructure.
Today, I look forward to discussing the status of important
Corps projects and programs, as well as answering any questions
the committee may have regarding the 2024 budget and recent
WRDA implementation. Most importantly, I look forward to
continuing to work with this committee, the Congress, and the
Administration to address the Nation's critical water resources
infrastructure needs.
We greatly appreciate the committee's continued support of
the Corps' program. In WRDA 2022, Congress authorized 25 new
construction projects, 94 new feasibility studies, and 131 new
environmental infrastructure projects. These studies and
projects, when funded, will strengthen our supply chain, help
tackle the climate crisis, advance environmental justice, and
invest in tribal nations and underserved communities.
With recent record-high appropriations, including the $1.4
billion of additional funding provided late last year as part
of the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2023,
the Corps' Civil Works Program has experienced significant
growth over the past several years. This substantial level of
investment enables critical water resource projects to be
studied and constructed and it allows us to further develop
innovative approaches to address some of our most pressing
challenges through focused research and development.
The Fiscal Year 2024 Budget reflects a targeted approach to
continue investing in our water resources programs to promote
climate resiliency, which will benefit the Nation's economy,
our environment, and public safety now and well into the
future. The budget also supports the Assistant Secretary's
priorities for the Corps by upgrading our Nation's waterways,
protecting communities and ecosystems, better serving
disadvantaged communities, investing in science and research
and development, and then finally, sustaining and improving our
communications and relationships with our many partners.
The 2024 budget, when taken with other recent funding, as
well as the authorizations from WRDA 2022 and previous WRDA
legislation, provides the Corps with what the Secretary calls a
transformational opportunity to deliver water resource
infrastructure projects that will positively impact communities
across our great Nation.
We are also taking advantage of this opportunity to do two
things. First, that is to transform our organization and
decisionmaking processes to safely deliver quality projects on
time and within budget, and second, to identify risks to how we
are delivering our program. Our teams are hard at work seeking
out new and better ways to mitigate or eliminate these risks so
we can further strengthen the safety and security of
communities across our Country and our territories.
By evolving our policies, programs, and operations, and
placing increased focus on research and development, we are
working to overcome impacts of challenges such as sea level
rise, changes to precipitation patterns and hydrology, and
other effects of climate change, including improvement to the
resilience of our own Corps-owned and operated infrastructure.
I will conclude by saying the Corps does not accomplish
anything on its own. Delivering successful civil works projects
is a shared responsibility. It is a team sport. We draw from
our engineering expertise and buildupon our relationships with
our non-Federal partners, our project stakeholders, and
Congress to enable us to succeed.
I look forward to continuing our great collaboration as we
continue to pursue our vision, and that is engineering
solutions for our Nation's toughest challenges.
Thank you again, Chairman Carper, Ranking Member Capito,
and members of the committee. I look forward to answering any
questions you may have.
[The prepared statement of General Spellmon follows:]
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Senator Carper. General, thank you so much for that
testimony.
I am going to ask a couple of questions. The first one, let
me just lay the groundwork, if I could. The 2024 budget request
of $7.4 billion, which is the largest request by an
Administration for the agency. The Corps has received record
high appropriations in recent years, as you know, last year
receiving over $8.6 billion. This is in addition to significant
resources from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, as you have
referenced.
Altogether, in the last three years, the Corps has received
almost $50 billion between advanced and regular appropriations,
almost $50 billion. This is more money than the Corps has ever
received. With this funding, Congress has entrusted you to
plan, to construct, to maintain and to operate our Nation's
water resources infrastructure.
My question is, we are hearing that there are significant
cost overruns on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law projects.
This could cause these projects to become stalled or to require
supplemental funding. Please tell us how the Corps and the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) are working together to
avoid or to address these cost overruns and to make sure that
the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law projects are being delivered
on time and on budget.
Who would like to go first?
General Spellmon. Sir, I will start. Sir, first, I would
acknowledge, these are clearly historic times for the Army
Corps of Engineers. You mentioned the Civil Works Program. When
you add in the work we are doing for the Army, the Air Force,
the Veteran's Administration, today, it is a $92 billion
program, the largest we have ever seen.
Couple that historic program with some unique challenges
that we are experiencing across the Country. When you talk to
our contractors that do this work, No. 1 is labor availability
of skilled tradesmen. That is the No. 1 cost driver that we are
seeing on our projects.
Senator Carper. Yes, we hear that all over our State, and I
think we hear that all over our Country.
General Spellmon. Yes, sir, and different impacts in
different States, but a close second are material prices.
Timber is coming down, steel is levelling off, but we are still
seeing 40-year highs on glass products, on asphalt products,
and coating.
So what are we doing? First of all, we want to take
advantage of Section 8155. That is the 902 Holiday. We don't
want to lose momentum on any project that we have underway.
For a $92 billion program, we have been told we need about
500 cost engineers in the Army Corps. Last year at this time,
we had 350. Today, we have 422, so we want to give better
estimates to the Secretary, and we are working hard to hire the
remaining 78.
We are working hard, also, on alternate suppliers. When we
have long lead items on switch gears or HVAC systems, we are
working with Defense Logistics Agency, and they have given us
opportunities to cut that delivery time, in some cases, a half
to a third.
Again, sir, you have our commitment. One of the criteria
when we take our project recommendations to Secretaries, we
want to finish everything that we start, and we remain
committed to that.
Senator Carper. Thank you.
Mr. Secretary, if you would like to add to that, please do.
Mr. Connor. Absolutely. Just some additional thoughts
really quickly.
I do think it is important that we do more frequent
updates, certified cost estimates, so that we are up-to-date
and transparent with respect to the costs that we have. I think
that has been some of the issue, and General Spellmon has
highlighted how the Army Corps is moving in that direction.
I would just note, for the record, he mentioned the $192
billion program that now exists. That is basically with 38,000
employees. A decade ago, that was about $37 billion with about
37,000 employees. So we are working with about the same numbers
of employees, slightly more these days, on over twice as large
a program. It is quite the challenge.
I think there are a number of innovations from using an
enterprise-wide system at the Corps, bringing in help from
other districts divisions to support the work that I think is
incredibly important.
A couple other quick thoughts: reserve funds, we did it in
Bipartisan Budget Act 2018 (BBA). We have done some of that
with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. We have reallocated
some funds. I should say we have reserved some funds and then
allocated those funds to address some of the cost impacts and
trying to get some of the increases. We are looking at
reallocations.
Some of our sponsors, who have interest in multiple
projects, are looking at how we might reallocate funds to
finish one project before we start another one.
We also got to talk about rescoping with our project
sponsors. There are a number of strategies that we are
discussing internally and with OMB to try and get at these cost
increase issues.
Senator Carper. Let me ask one other quick question. With
respect to climate change, as you know, as the Senator from the
lowest-lying State in our Country, we are concerned about the
fact that climate change is driving sea level rise and extreme
weather events in my State and, frankly, in a lot of other
States around our Country. WRDA 2022 includes authorities for
the Corps to address extreme weather, including sea level rise,
when it designs any project, large or small.
Question:
With these new authorities, how will the Corps work to
implement these provisions and make non-Federal sponsors aware
of the law to ensure that the impacts of climate change are
fully accounted for in all project designs, please?
General Spellmon. Yes, sir. I will start.
First, I am proud to report that the Corps has been using
sea level rise curves in our coastal projects for the past 12
years, and we are working every day to improve the modeling of
that.
We have a lot more work to do on our inland systems. I am
proud to report that our research and development budget has
quadrupled in this President's budget, and that is going to
allow us to get after things like forecast-informed reservoir
operations. Very, very successful pilots ongoing today out in
the West Coast, but how can I take that technology and modify
it to accommodate for some of the changing precipitation
patterns we are seeing, say, on the upper or lower Missouri, or
what we are seeing down in Florida? We are very thankful for
that investment. We think we can do more, but we have to focus
on our R&D program to get after it.
Senator Carper. Thank you.
Mr. Secretary.
Mr. Connor. You are going to hear a lot of repetitive items
here.
Senator Carper. Repetition can be good.
Mr. Connor. The R&D initiative that we have in the budget,
I think, is incredibly important to ensure that we are
constantly updating the models that we use as part of the
engineering design work, whether it be on our coast with sea
level rise, or the hydrology that we are trying to get after
right now. So I think that is fundamental to the whole effort.
I think General Spellmon also highlighted a need that we
have, whether it is new infrastructure or existing
infrastructure, we need to make that infrastructure work harder
and serve multiple benefits.
I think that is incredibly important as we face new
extremes, whether it be drought, or whether it be significant
precipitation events, the seven one-in-one-thousand-year events
we had just in the continental U.S. last year. We have to look
at the existing infrastructure and how it might operate
differently, as well as integrate those extremes into the
designs in our new infrastructure.
Senator Carper. Thank you both for those responses.
Senator Capito.
Senator Capito. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank both of you.
I am going to go to, as I mentioned in my opening
statement, about the Nucor permit application. General
Spellmon, can you provide me with an update, a brief update,
with Nucor's Section 404 permit and also, in particular,
Section 106, the National Historic Preservation Act?
General Spellmon. Yes, ma'am. First of all, I want to thank
you for hosting the meeting with the new Corps executives and
our leadership in your office.
Since that meeting, several developments. The West Virginia
State Historic Preservation Officer has concurred with our
assessment that the five cultural sites and phase eight
properties do, in fact, qualify for consultation, so we have
sent letters to the three tribes to initiate that consultation.
They have asked us for some time. These are 800-page reports,
so we will get that scheduled.
We did receive Nucor's cultural assessment on the phase B
properties. These are, if you recall, the properties closer to
the Ohio River. There are two additional sites there that will
add to that consultation effort.
We did receive the feedback that we requested on the
Neibert sites, ma'am. That is the property just to the south
with the laydown yard. That response included some case law
that we are researching with our attorneys and those from
Nucor, and then we will make a decision here shortly whether or
not that is part of the project footprint.
Senator Capito. I appreciate that. It sounds as though
there is constant contact here with communication and so, I
appreciate that from both of you.
Assistant Secretary Connor, I wanted to ask about
congressionally directed spending. The Army Corps' budget
request includes roughly $5 million for nine feasibility
studies that were included in the congressionally directed
spending items in Fiscal Year 2022. I think the
Administration's incorporation of these items is a step in the
right direction.
Will the Corps continue to incorporate CDS items,
particularly new starts into future budget requests? If the
answer to that is yes, can you please describe the process that
the Corps uses to identify which of these items would be
included?
Mr. Connor. We will certainly proceed in accordance with
the congressionally directed spending items that are
highlighted in the annual appropriations bills and through our
work plans. That is how we will make the selections and move
forward.
I think it is not just the projects themselves that are
having significant cost increases. We are seeing that in the
investigation side of things, too. The investigations we are
doing are more complex. The $3 million mark that we have used
based on the 2014 legislation, in my view, is a bit outdated.
Those costs need to be updated. We are almost 10 years later.
From that standpoint, I think we have still got a good
track record of taking congressionally directed items,
particularly in the investigations count, then following up
through work plan, through the President's budget, and through
the additional resources, supplementals that we have had of
maintaining progress toward completion of those studies.
As General Spellmon said earlier, completing our work,
whether it is projects or investigations, is paramount and
incorporated into every aspect of our decisionmaking processes.
Senator Capito. Thank you.
General Spellmon, I championed a provision in WRDA 2022
that directs the Army Corps to submit to the committee on an
annual basis a report on the timeframes for completing
environmental reviews for water resource development projects.
We are talking a lot about permitting. We had a hearing last
week on permitting. You are obviously a critical part of that
process. Can you solve our permitting reform problem?
[Laughter.]
Senator Capito. I am just kidding. That was not my real
question. If you would like to weigh in on that, too, I was
going to ask you the status of the implementation of the
provision that you will report to us on an annual basis, but
any comments and any words of wisdom you can give us as we are
trying to work a bipartisan permitting reform process would be
greatly appreciated.
General Spellmon. No, ma'am, I think the best policy and
decisions will come from the data, so this is Section 8134. You
have asked for eight different data sets that deal with how
many categorical exclusions do we do, how many environmental
assessments (EA), how many environmental impact statements, how
long does that take. No issue, we collect that data, and I am
happy to provide that to you in this annual report.
Senator Capito. OK, and now onto permitting. Do you have a
comment on that?
General Spellmon. Ma'am, we work hard. We do 80,000
regulatory actions each year. The ones that rise to this
chamber, there is a handful. So, you have an incredibly hard
team out there working every day.
I just want to thank the Congress for the additional
funding that you gave us in the regulatory program in the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. It funded 200 additional
regulators that we so desperately need out in the field. We
have hired 150 of those, and we are working to hire the
remaining 50 as quickly as we can.
Senator Capito. Thank you.
Senator Carper. It looks like Senator Padilla is next in
the lineup, and after that, Senator Ricketts. Senator Padilla?
Senator Padilla. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Secretary Connor, I want to start by thanking you for your
partnership on so many critical issues that we have been
working on in California, from maintaining our seaports, which
handle 40 percent of containerized cargo arriving to the United
States to protecting communities from flood risks posed by more
than 30 atmospheric river storms that we have experienced this
last winter. The Army Corps is clearly critical to California.
In particular, I appreciate your willingness to work with
the town of Pajaro and Watsonville to accelerate the Pajaro
River Flood Protection Project in order to safeguard the
community from future natural disasters. We have spoken about
it directly. I know you have had a chance to visit and see
firsthand.
But now I want to urge the Corps to provide the emergency
assistance necessary to these communities who have been left
behind in so many ways, and are oftentimes disproportionately
impacted by natural disasters like what we have experienced in
recent months. As you know, one of the biggest impediments to
protecting the community of Pajaro before their recent storms
was the Army Corps' benefit-cost ratio. Again, we have talked
about this privately.
I want to raise it in today's hearing, because this is
fundamentally an issue of equity. The Pajaro River Project was
long overlooked because it would protect, imagine this, it
would protect a low-income community with what is considered,
relatively speaking, lower property values. The Army Corps'
rigid benefit-cost ratio formula typically disadvantages
projects that would protect communities like this one compared
to communities with higher property values.
This was an issue that I discussed in a budget hearing with
OMB Director Shalanda Young in March. She and I agreed that it
is patently unfair to have a system that says poorer
communities will not receive the same level of flood protection
as wealthier communities. She committed to work with me to
permanently fix this glaring inequity.
I want to ask, for the record, Secretary Connor, do you
agree that the benefit-cost ratio systematically disadvantages
underserved communities like Pajaro, and will you also commit
to working with us on a permanent fix?
Mr. Connor. Senator, I appreciate the question. I
absolutely agree with you that, whether they be rural or
minority communities that are systematically disadvantaged by
our current benefit-cost ratio processes, and I will absolutely
work with you. We have an initiative in place that I think you
are aware of to institute a rulemaking to address principles,
requirements, guidelines, how we will apply them to better
balance environmental, social, as well as economic benefits.
Senator Padilla. Great. Just to be clear, this is not just
for the sake of current projects that, in many cases, are
overdue, but for all future projects as well.
I want to, in my time remaining, raise one more issue. In
California, we are facing a special kind of weather whiplash
right now. I have talked about the storms that led to record
snowpack, and in fact, snowpack in California right now
measures about 254 percent of average. Six feet of snow sits in
many places that were bare ground just a year ago.
As this historic snowpack melts this spring, we are seeing
the re-emergence of Tulare Lake, a lake that has been dry for
25 years, but has the capacity to hold three to four times more
water than Lake Tahoe, just to give you a perspective here. At
risk are communities like Corcoran, whose levee is already
facing erosion challenges from previous storms.
Secretary Connor, the Corps operates the four major dams
that impact the Tulare Lake Basin. Can you share with the
committee what the Army Corps is working on in collaboration
with the State of California to bolster communities in the low-
lying areas of the San Joaquin Valley against potential flood
risks?
Mr. Connor. Absolutely, Senator. General Spellmon and I
were both out there just a few weeks ago for the ribbon-cutting
on Lake Isabella, the dam safety project. So we are operating
the four-plus facilities that we have. I mentioned Lake
Isabella because we have 200,000 additional capacity now to
store water in the middle of this flood control event, because
we are completing work that we started over a decade ago. What
we do today matters for the next crisis.
Second of all, we immediately started to improve our inter-
agency coordination between the Corps, the Department of Water
Resources, and local officials. During the event itself, I got
several calls, so did the General, and the leadership of the
Corps to better coordinate how we were making releases that we
would prepare the levee district boards, their operators, as
well as the State. We visited the command center outside of
Fresno not too long ago, so we are coordinating those
operations to ensure that we have the best information possible
for people to manage the system throughout down to Tulare Lake.
Last, I would just mention the State of California's
partnership. It was rewarding to see the enthusiasm amongst our
day-to-day operators in incorporating data that the State of
California was providing with their LiDAR monitoring of
snowpack on a real-time basis, giving updates of what snowpack
was there, how quickly it was coming out. That will greatly
improve our operations so that we can manage this flood risk as
best possible. It is pretty overwhelming, though, as you noted.
Senator Padilla. Thank you very much.
In closing, just imagine that: utilizing technology and
science and data to inform decisionmaking. What a concept.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Senator Carper. Thank you for those questions. I was just
saying, as an aside to Senator Capito, I used to be stationed
in the Navy in California. The idea of two Senators
representing a State that large, that diverse, how many people
live in California now?
Senator Padilla. Nearly 40 million, Mr. Chair.
Senator Carper. That is amazing. We are at one million. So,
there you go.
Next in our questioning is going to be Senator Ricketts,
and then it will be Senator Cardin. Senator Ricketts, please.
Senator Ricketts. Thank you very much, Chairman Carper. I
appreciate it. Secretary Connor, thank you very much for being
here, and General Spellmon.
General Spellmon, I am going to focus my remarks on the
Army Corps. I was previously the Governor of Nebraska, so I
have a fair amount of experience with, specifically, the Omaha
District of the Army Corps. I will start by complimenting
Colonel Himes, who is currently the person in charge there, and
Colonel Hudson before him for their efforts to reach out and
have a good relationship with the State of Nebraska with regard
to communication and so forth.
However, my overall experience with the Army Corps is poor.
There are a lot of things I would love to have the time to talk
to you about, but we have limited time, so I am going to focus
on one. First of all, at some point, I hope we do have an
opportunity to talk about the Army Corps' management of the
Missouri River, how they made determinations of how much
storage they are keeping upstream and waterflows and so forth.
But today, I am going to focus on one of the issues that is
also very important, which Ranking Member Capito talked about,
which is permitting reform. I am going to share with you some
of my experiences that I had. First of all, one of the things
that our local natural resource district was trying to do,
because they are responsible for flood control, is raise the
levees around Offutt Air Force Base. I am sure you are familiar
with Offutt Air Force Base as the site of strategic command
that controls our nuclear forces, very important, the 55th
wing, as well.
It took the Army Corps of Engineers six years to get a
permit to raise the levees around Offutt Air Force Base. It
came just as construction was supposed to start in March, so it
would allow for construction to start in the spring of 2019.
Twenty-nineteen was also the year that we had historic flooding
in Nebraska, the most widespread flooding in our State's
history.
The reason they were trying to raise the levee is because
they knew from previous experience that the water was going to
rise, and they needed to raise those levees. The flooding that
happened in 2019 covered the air strip, damaged dozens of
buildings, and cost the taxpayers of this Country nearly a
billion dollars.
If the Army Corps had delivered the permit in just fours
years, that could have been avoided. But it took six years, and
that is not the only example of that. We will get back to this
one as well, but R616-613 took seven years to get a permit. I
want to talk about that one maybe a little bit later.
Another example of permitting where we didn't have good
communication or didn't get good explanation is Highway 275. It
is a two-lane highway we are expanding to a four-lane highway,
and the Army Corps of Engineers insisted on a full-blown
Environmental Impact Study instead of an Environmental
Assessment.
But I want to focus on the permitting side, because I have
lots of questions about why it would take this long. Do you
measure how long it takes to get a permit done for the Army
Corps of Engineers?
General Spellmon. Yes, sir.
Senator Ricketts. How long does it take?
General Spellmon. An individual permit, on average, for the
80,000 that we do each year, is 11 months.
Senator Ricketts. Eleven months. Did you do a review of why
it took six years to get a permit for those levees around
Offutt Air Force Base?
General Spellmon. Sir, I don't know all the history behind
those six years. I can do that for you, but I don't know.
Senator Ricketts. When you have a project that is such an
outlier, if you say it is 11 months, and one happens in six
years, you don't have a process to go back and say, hey, what
happened here? Why is it taking so long?
General Spellmon. I don't have that information today.
Senator Ricketts. I would encourage you to put controls in
place to do that. We did a lot of permitting reform when I was
Governor of Nebraska to be able to take time to reduce the time
it takes for us to be able to issue permits, the State. We used
a process called Lean Six Sigma. It is a process improvement
methodology. There are several others out there you could use.
But that is a way that has helps you process-map so that
you can reduce duplicated steps. To me, again, based upon my
experience with Colonel Himes and Colonel Hudson, you have a
systematic problem. You have good people there, and maybe this
is only my experience in the Omaha District, but we have a
problem there.
For example, I am going to go back to the R616-613 levee
and it taking seven years to get that permit. Again, another
outlier. I presume you don't have any specific knowledge of
that, but it cost $6 million to get that permit for the natural
resources district. The total project cost was $45 million, was
what was projected.
Do you believe it should cost 13 percent of a project to
get your permit?
General Spellmon. Sir, I don't know the details here and
what modeling requirements were necessary. I don't know the
details of your question.
Senator Ricketts. But do you think permitting should take
up 13 percent of the cost of a project?
General Spellmon. I don't have the data behind this, sir. I
would love to followup with you once I know more.
Senator Ricketts. So you don't have a ballpark on what you
think permitting should cost as an overall project?
General Spellmon. I don't, here this morning. Not for this
particular project.
Senator Ricketts. Just in general, I am just saying, in
general. How much should a permit cost? What percentage of a
project should a permit be?
General Spellmon. Sir, I don't have that figure here.
Senator Ricketts. General, I think that is part of the
problem that you have, is that you don't think about the
overall scope of what you should be doing to provide service to
the taxpayers, here. I strongly encourage you, because we do
need to have permitting reform, here. We can streamline these
processes without sacrificing any sort of quality, here, but to
me, there is no reason why it should take six or seven years to
issue a permit to districts.
Another area is maintenance. It is taking two years to get
maintenance permits. That is something that should be done on
an annual basis, but you can't do maintenance annually if it
takes two years.
My time has expired here, General, maybe I will have an
opportunity to have another round of questions here. Maybe not.
But this is why I think it is so important that we look at
permitting reform, looking at our processes, seeing how we can
streamline them so we can turn these things around in a better
timeframe, because it will be important to preventing damage
and also save taxpayers money.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Carper. You bet.
You said earlier, I think, General, you mentioned a number
of permits that you process or segue over in a year. What was
that, do you remember?
General Spellmon. Sir, it is about 80,000 regulatory
actions. I think that the first step for Senator Ricketts, just
to respond, I think the first step in permitting reform you
have helped us with, and that is resourcing the program.
I don't know the details of why this took six years. I also
don't know how many permit actions were on that particular
regulator's desk at the moment. So again, this funding has
greatly helped us. It will help us service through 2026, and I
think an important part would be funding that program into the
future.
Senator Carper. Thank you.
We have been joined by Senator Cardin, who has, as some of
you will recall, he has decided he does not want to be a United
States Senator for the next 100 years, but we are stuck with
him for the next, I think, 20 months.
[Laughter.]
Senator Cardin. I think I might have to defend myself,
here. Let me tell you, I enjoy serving on almost all the
committees I serve on. Not sure about this one.
[Laughter.]
Senator Carper. Ben has the misfortune of having to sit
next to me on not one committee, but two. We have been, and
also, to be alongside our border, we share borders from the
north of our States all the way down to Ocean City.
It is a joy. He and his wife, Myrna, come to our State from
time to time. We have great affection for them. We look forward
to working you really hard in the next 20 months, and we are
going to get one hell of a lot done. We already have.
Senator Cardin. Mr. Chairman, first, it is a pleasure to
serve on this committee. It is one of the great committees in
the U.S. Senate. We work together, and I appreciate that very
much.
I started working with the Army Corps in 1967, my first
year in the Maryland General Assembly, so I go back a few years
on some of these issues, and started working on the Chesapeake
Bay back with Governor Hughes when he became Governor, the
Chesapeake Bay Program. It has been a long run in regard to the
partnership.
General Spellmon, I want you to know that in our District,
Colonel Pinchasin is doing a fabulous job. The communication is
excellent. I am glad you got more resources on the regulatory
front. It was needed; there was no question about that. The
relationship and the transparency has been outstanding, so I
just really wanted you to know that.
Secretary Connor, thank you for your attention,
particularly on our Mid-Bay Project. I mention that because
Poplar Island was really a game changer in regards to using
beneficial use of materials from dredging to do environmental
restoration. It provided a friendly place for us to be able to
keep our channels open for commerce, which was always a
controversial issue in Maryland politics, but no longer is it a
controversial issue.
As a result, we now have Mid-Bay, and thank you again for
your personal attention. We had a little challenge to make sure
we got the construction dollars there. We were initiating it,
and then the Administration came in, the Army Corps came in,
and we appreciate the funds that are there.
Mid-Bay will keep us for about another 40 years, so I am
going to let my future legislators figure out what we do after
40 years. But are we on target to make sure that Mid-Bay moves
forward? If you could just comment on that, I would appreciate
it.
Mr. Connor. Yes, Senator Cardin. As a 24-year Maryland
resident before I relocated back out West, thank you very much
for your service, sir.
With respect to Mid-Bay, we are on target right now to keep
moving forward. We have initiated the project itself. We are
good through Fiscal Year 2024 with the $84 million provided in
the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and then the $5 million in
additional appropriations.
But I do think we will be looking at the need for resources
in 2025. This is a very significantly sized project, but as you
pointed out, win-win-win-win, I think is how I referred to it
between the long-term certainty for the harbor and the economic
activity that supports, the restoration of the islands and the
habitat and aquatic ecosystems and the coastal wetlands that it
will provide, the benefits overall even with respect to
sequestering carbon when we restore those coastal wetlands, as
well as the protection of the Maryland coast when we rebuild
these barrier islands.
This is a really important project. It is a demonstration
of what we can do with valuable material instead of just
putting it in placement areas. I appreciate Maryland's
leadership in developing the program so that we can be a
partner in this.
Senator Cardin. For my colleagues, Poplar Island was at one
time a habitable island. When we started the restoration, there
was just a few acres that remained. Mid-Bay was at one time
habitable, and now it is just a few acres. We are restoring it.
I know my colleagues appreciate the challenges of trying to
find sites for dredged material. It is not easy. Poplar Island
is located in, basically, mid-shore of the Eastern Shore of
Maryland, which has accepted it, and not only accepted it,
brags about that fact of what is there. It is going to become a
real magnet for the economy of the region because it is
attracting wildlife, and it is a plus for the community.
We have been able to really make this a win-win situation,
and it couldn't have been done without your support, so thank
you, Mr. Secretary, I appreciate that very much.
I want to move on to a second priority I have, which are
the small harbors. They can't compete with the large Army Corps
projects on the economic benefits, but they are critically
important to the local economy. In the last WRDA bill, we
included language that asked you to prioritize the
consideration of the smaller projects so that we can help our
smaller communities deal with dredging, which is so important
to their viability and continuation.
Can you just share with us how you are going about trying
to make those types of priority judgments, either the General
or the Secretary?
General?
General Spellmon. Sir, I had a great conversation with
Colonel Pinchasin on this. Every year, we have 90 shallow
harbors in your State, and we have the capability each year to
maintain about 10 of them. We have to do better. One of the
things that we are discussing is, we have to get better usage
data for these 90 small ports. Right now, when I send up my
justification sheets to the Secretary, it is largely anecdotal,
and we have to do better on providing the data that would
support the budget recommendation. That is one idea, sir.
Senator Cardin. I appreciate that.
Last, this committee has provided such additional resources
in regards to environmental infrastructure. I appreciate that
there was authorization for my State, substantial authorization
for environmental infrastructure.
I know that is going to require funding moving forward, but
it also requires technical capacity to take advantage of this.
I would just ask you how you are prioritizing being able to
analyze the opportunities that are there matching with the
funding made available by the Congress.
Mr. Connor. I can not think of any more of an
oversubscribed program than environmental infrastructure at
this point in time. I think in this last WRDA bill, there was
$4.2 billion in authorizations in environmental infrastructure,
and we recognize the value it has to many communities. I think
that $4.2 billion was over double what had previously been
authorized over two decades, at least.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a few steps. We
have the first budget request for environmental infrastructure.
Yes, it is modest, but I think it is a turning point to
recognize how valuable this program is, given all the array of
challenges. We are another provider of services that can
address a lot of communities' needs, whether it be water
supply, wastewater, all the smaller projects.
We are looking at how we can advance our support in
conjunction with the very significant funding provided by
Congress. I think this is going to be a work in progress,
Senator.
Senator Cardin. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Carper. Do I understand, from your announcement
this last week, that you were first elected to the State
legislature 58 years ago? Is that correct? At the age of 12?
Senator Cardin. Yes, in 1966.
Senator Carper. So it was your wife who was 12?
Senator Cardin. You can do the arithmetic. I will let
everybody. Your arithmetic might be a little bit off. It has
been almost 57 years, but it will be 58 by the time I complete
this term.
Senator Carper. That is amazing.
Senator Cardin. It has been an interesting run. I ran when
I was a law student at the University of Maryland. They thought
it would hurt my class standing, but I got on the committee
that had the budget of the University of Maryland School of
Law, and did very well in law school.
[Laughter.]
Senator Carper. In adversity lies opportunity. We are happy
for you and sad for us, but we look forward to making the next
20 months count very much.
Senator Wicker, you are next, and Senator Fetterman, you
are in the on-deck circle. We will turn to you after Senator
Wicker. Go ahead, Senator Wicker.
Senator Wicker. Mr. Chairman, I am getting older by the
minute, sitting over here.
[Laughter.]
Senator Wicker. I want to thank the Secretary for his help
in Mississippi. Mr. Secretary, you have been visiting with us
several times, and we appreciate it and look forward to having
you again.
As you know, we have had a long-time, decades-long flooding
problem in the Pearl River Basin. Today, I want to talk to you
about the Pearl River Basin Flood Control Project. You were
kind enough to visit with us last August, usually the driest
month in Mississippi. Perhaps providentially, we had a terrible
flood in Jackson while you were there, and you were able to see
firsthand the problem that we have had for years and years and
years.
This involves the capital city of our State, the largest
municipality in our State, and the largest county, and also two
of our other most popular counties, Rankin County and Madison
County. It seems that we are getting to a point with the Pearl
River Flood Control Project that we are about to really make
some progress.
Just two months ago, Mr. Secretary, you issued a memorandum
for Lieutenant General Spellmon. The memo outlines a 2023
timeline for this Pearl River Flood Control Project. This would
be initial public engagement this month, May of this year,
June, finalize the draft report of the project, July and
August, complete environmental reviews and revise the project
report based on public comments, September, review the final
report, and fall of this year, a decision by you, Secretary
Connor, on the project.
Also, the memo mentions that there should be a sense of
urgency within the Corps to provide the people of Jackson and
surrounding areas with effective solutions to their flooding.
How are we doing on this, and are we going to be able to
adhere to the timeline which you presented a month before last?
Mr. Connor. Senator, thank you for hosting last August. I
think those moments are pretty significant.
There was some kind of sign with the amount of rain that we
both experienced when we were touring the project. We came back
and allocated very significant resources to move forward with
the project, not just the completion of the studies and this
aspect, but also moving forward with project construction. So
we do see it as a high priority.
We are moving forward well. We have a very whole-of-office
approach between my office, the Army Corps' headquarters, the
division, and the district in working through issues on a
constant ongoing basis and working with the local sponsor to
fill in any holes that exist with respect to the feasibility
report that they provided us.
There are some issues that need to be addressed. I think we
are generally consistent with the schedule that I outlined,
although we might be in the 30-day, 60-day range of having to
extend that because of some of the technical work that needs to
be supplemented.
But we will engage the public in May of this year. We will
move forward with the environmental reviews, take that input,
and try and move forward to ensure and basically, we have to
check all the boxes, which is this has to provide the locals,
the plan has to provide the same amount of flood protection
that was envisioned originally, it has to be environmentally
acceptable, it can't impact downstream communities or States.
And we have put a fourth criteria on there. It can't impact the
other infrastructure needs that are being addressed through
other mechanisms for Jackson, Mississippi.
That review is going to be a thorough one. I will keep you
posted on the timeline. It may shift a little, but this will
continue to be an all-hands-on-deck approach, Senator.
Senator Wicker. So, if it shifts, it will be a matter of
weeks, you think?
Mr. Connor. Thirty to 60 days is what I am anticipating at
most, based on what we know now.
Senator Wicker. After decades and decades of working on
this, I suppose I could accept a matter of 30 or 60 days. The
memorandum also states that the Corps will look at
comprehensive benefits that may be derived from the proposed
project. I know you are aware we have a water system problem in
Jackson, and just so many infrastructure problems, as well as
economic development disadvantages.
Can you assure us that the final flood control project will
adhere to your direction that it provide comprehensive benefits
and take all of those into consideration?
Mr. Connor. Absolutely, Senator. The team has taken that to
heart. We will ensure that we meet the four criteria that I
just mentioned. But we also want to understand the collective,
additional benefits that the community sees from this flood
control project and ensure that we document that and highlight
those as we do our work.
Senator Wicker. Let me just say, I cannot tell you how much
this means to us in Mississippi and how appreciative we are
that the Corps of Engineers is, at this point, really focused
in on this. It will mean the world to a great number of
residents in this flood-prone area. We are very grateful for
your help.
Mr. Connor. Thank you, Senator.
Senator Carper. Senator Wicker, thanks for those questions.
Next, we are going to recognize Senator Fetterman. Thank
you for joining us today.
I am going to run off to the Finance Committee for a few
minutes. I will be back shortly. After Senator Fetterman, it
will be Senator Cramer, and Senator Kelly has graciously agreed
to hold the gavel while I am out of the room. Thanks.
With that, Senator Fetterman, you are recognized. Please
proceed.
Senator Fetterman. Thank you, Chairman. Lieutenant General
Spellmon, I want to start by discussing the Lower Mon Project
in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Are you familiar with it?
General Spellmon. Yes, sir.
Senator Fetterman. Locks and dams Two, Three, and Four on
the Monongahela River are one of the oldest currently operating
facilities on the river. They experience the highest volume of
the commercial traffic. Modernizing and improving and
navigating would reduce the bottleneck delays.
The Army Corps has replaced the 100-year-old dam at
Braddock, and I actually was the mayor of that community. I
remember going on a tour when I was mayor, years back, with Bob
Casey, too. As you know, now he is my mentor here in the Senate
and in Pennsylvania.
One, I thank you for that work there, because that has been
very helpful and transformative. With that being as it is, do
you have a timeline for the locks and dam removal of Elizabeth
and the new larger lock construction for Charleroi? What
benefits can residents expect when it may be finished?
General Spellmon. Yes, sir. First, the timeline. The new
lock at Charleroi will be operational this December, December
2023. Then we will have the lock and dam removed at Elizabeth
in December 2025.
Sir, the benefits are immense. The new lock at Charleroi
will be able to pass nine barges at a time. Nine barges, that
equates, the cargo on nine barges equates to 600 trucks on the
road, 600 diesel engines, 600 drivers.
Senator Fetterman. Six hundred trucks? Really, that is the
equivalent? Wow.
General Spellmon. Yes, sir, 600. The economic benefit to
that, when we did this feasibility study, was $200 million a
year, so that lock renovation is going to pay for itself in
five years. These inland waterways, sir, they are national
treasures, and we appreciate all the leadership from Congress
in helping us maintain and modernize them.
Senator Fetterman. I kind of, just like my colleague,
Senator Wicker, I share my thanks and appreciation for the work
that is done. Again, living right there, I can see the kind of
impact that it has there. Really, I am just grateful for that.
I have a second question, and that is to Secretary Connor.
I understand that there are a number of sections in WRDA 2022
that will need a formal implantation and guidance, including
the scope and flood risk management feasibility studies. This
provision is important for climate change, and it will consider
impacts on our communities.
How can the Corps look into implementing the provision in
the face of climate change, and what more can be done?
Mr. Connor. Thank you, Senator, for the question. I think
it is a very important one.
As I mentioned earlier, I just want to assure you, that
section is one of the ones that we will be issuing
implementation guidance on, and we have already gotten that
process underway.
I would just note that we are not waiting for that
guidance. I think the concepts incorporated in that provision
are consistent with the directive that my predecessor issued,
that we should be looking at comprehensive benefits as we
analyze and do our studies. That comprehensive benefits
necessitates that we be looking at climate change and new
challenges for any of the water resources infrastructure
projects that we do.
The breadth of review that I think is anticipated by that
particular section will be good for us to document to move
forward and incorporate that as fundamental to our studies, but
we are already looking at those challenges right now and trying
to incorporate them in the work that we do.
Senator Fetterman. Thank you.
I cede the remainder of the time toward Senator Kelly.
Senator Kelly.
[Presiding.] Thank you, Senator Fetterman.
Senator Cramer?
Senator Cramer. Thank you, Senator Kelly, and thank you
both for being here. Right up front, I, too, appreciate not
only the work you do, but the accessibility that both of you
have given to me has been generous, and hopefully it is helpful
to your work, but it is certainly helpful to mine.
With that, Mr. Connor, the ice has finally melted on most
of the Missouri River up in North Dakota, but it has been a
long winter. As you know, as we have talked about, I spend a
lot of time with the Standing Rock Tribe and the leadership
down there. Chairwoman Janet Alkire and Vice Chairman Frank
Jamerson are especially interested in your projects.
I know you have said that you would like to go down there.
I really hope we can get something scheduled this summer. I am
very committed to it, and I hope you are, as well, to get down
there and just spend some time with them. They have some
wonderful projects. As you know, they have incredible water
resources down there, and we would sure like to see you.
Together, I think the two of us could do some good, so I would
love to host you.
Mr. Connor. I would just like to let you know that we will
be there for the executive leadership meetings with the Corps
this coming week, and I will spend a little bit of time with
the Tribe. But Senator, there are a lot of things going on up
there. I would be happy to make a return engagement with you. I
share your views.
Senator Cramer. I appreciate that very much. I know that
Frank and Janet and the others are going to be grateful just to
hear that.
General Spellmon, I also want to thank you for extending
the comment period for the EA on the Snake Creek embankment. It
is really, really important. I want you also to know, I have
talked to the Governor, I have talked to the economic
developers, and they are going to get you all the information
that they need, at least the ball is in their court now, to
make a good assessment.
My only admonition would be just, again, to stress the
importance of an all-encompassing perspective that recognizes
that it provides water for about 50 percent of the population
of North Dakota. It is obviously important to development,
economic development, some billions of dollars, actually, worth
of projects that will require that water. Thanks for extending
that.
General Spellmon. Yes, sir. We remain on path to remove
that 43-foot head differential at the Snake Creek embankment by
the end of this calendar year, sir. We will subsequently update
the water control manual, and then we will mitigate that risk
with an increased inspection regime, should the water elevation
reach those levels.
Senator Cramer. I appreciate that a lot. It is obviously an
important project.
To both of you, I think it was just last week. Time is so
deceiving around here. Our weeks are short, but they seem like
they are long, from time to time. Senator Heinrich and I
introduced the LAKES Act. It is the Lake Access Keeping
Economies Strong Act. I know the Corps hasn't taken an official
position on the legislation, but your teams have been very
helpful in providing the information and technical support to
help us draft the legislation.
What it does, for those who don't know, it expands the
opportunities to improve and develop recreational facilities. A
lot of people don't think of the Corps of Engineers as a
recreational manager, but boy, it is incredible, some of the
best assets that we have in North Dakota are your assets.
What it does, it does two things, basically. It allows the
Corps to retain recreation fees at the area, at the sites where
they are collected. And this is something, as you know, in your
background, Secretary, from BOR, it is common throughout the
Federal Government, just not with the Corps of Engineers.
The other thing that it does is it allows the Corps, gives
them more latitude to partner with non-government
organizations, support organizations, nonprofit entities.
Again, thanks to you and your staff. They have been very
helpful. If the opportunity presents itself or you see other
opportunities, we want to be able to advance this. I think with
Senator Heinrich's help and his understanding, we can do that.
It is hard, as a former tourism director, let me just tell
you, it is hard to exaggerate the value of the incredible
resources you all have, so any thoughts you have on that, I
would be grateful.
Mr. Connor. I will judiciously stay away from opining on
the legislation, but I will say thank you very much. I think
five agencies have that authority already, including the Bureau
of Reclamation, which has a similar mission, although our
recreation mission is significantly larger. I think we have the
largest number of campgrounds, or we are second to the Forest
Service. I can't remember exactly.
But the bottom line is, it takes some pressure off of our
budget and, I think, greatly has the capacity to provide
improved services and facilities for those using those
recreation facilities. We look forward to taking a look at that
legislation, but thank you for thinking of us, because that is
a very important part of our mission.
Senator Cramer. I know that the support groups, the
nonprofits, the people that use the assets are going to be very
grateful as well. So we will work on getting that done without
your opinion, but we are grateful for your support.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Kelly. Thank you.
Secretary Connor, General Spellmon, it is great seeing you
both again.
I want to start off by discussing two priority flood
control projects in the State of Arizona. Both projects have
been authorized for construction, and both have received full
Federal funding, but neither project has been able to break
ground yet.
I understand that the Los Angeles District continues to
work with the local sponsors to get these projects shovel-
ready, but I would appreciate a commitment from both of you
that the projects don't get off-track.
The first one is the Little Colorado River Winslow Levee
Project. This project would provide long overdue flood
protection to the entire town of Winslow, Arizona.
Will you both commit to work with the Los Angeles District
to ensure a design agreement is signed by the end of July, if
not sooner?
General Spellmon. Yes, sir, absolutely. We are on track to
sign that design agreement with Navajo County in July.
Senator Kelly. Mr. Connor?
Mr. Connor. Absolutely. It is an incredibly important
project from a lot of different perspectives.
Senator Kelly. Thank you.
Then, the second one is Rio de Flag, which would help to
comprehensively address the flood risk in Flagstaff, Arizona.
This region struggled in recent years with significant flooding
that is cause by the wildfire burn scars up in the hills. The
Corps has been working on this project since the early 2000's.
Will you both commit, again, to work with the Los Angeles
District to ensure that the district and the local sponsor have
the resources they need to complete all of the real estate
transactions by this September?
General Spellmon. Yes, sir. Certainly, we will put all the
resources we can. The first three phases, as you know, of this
project are complete. Flagstaff is having some challenges that
we are working through on nine remaining parcels with the BNSF
Railroad. We are meeting regularly. We are putting all of our
experts in the room to try to expedite this negotiation as
quickly as possible.
Senator Kelly. Thank you.
Mr. Connor. I am committed to also helping work through
those remaining issues. I think they are in a better position
than they have been historically to work through those real
estate issues, and we will continue to monitor and support.
Senator Kelly. That is great. If we meet this timeline,
this project is going to be ready for construction next year,
and if we face delays, it might not be able to break ground
until 2025 at the earliest. So thank you for that.
To Mr. Connor, I want to discuss an issue that I understand
you have done a lot of work on, and that is drought in the
Western United States. As you know, this year has been great.
We have had a wetter winter than usual, and that has resulted
in a significant snowpack, but we still face a significant
drought.
The solution to this problem is clear. We need to invest in
some long-term conservation efforts, which will help prevent
water loss. It would also help to increase storage capacity. We
need to develop some new sources of water.
Last July, you wrote a memo spelling out the existing
authorities that the Army Corps had to respond to drought
challenges. We then built upon that memo in WRDA 2022, which
provided some more authority for the Corps to respond to
drought and water conservation needs.
Mr. Connor, in light of the new provisions included in WRDA
2022, do you plan to update your July 2022 memo on drought
authorities?
Mr. Connor. Thank you for the question. I share your view.
I was Commissioner of Reclamation in 2011 when we had a record
year, and then by 2013 and 2014, we were doing drought
contingency planning again. One year's bounty is not going to
sustain the system overall.
With respect to our role as part of a whole-of-government
effort to build drought resilience, yes, we will. That memo
directing the Corps to develop a long-term strategy is a
living, breathing document that we will continue to update with
new authorities. We have some specific approaches right now
using the Environmental Infrastructure Program, using
operations and the ability to change operations to provide more
water, to look at how ecosystem restoration might take pressure
off water supply in our tribal programs and planning programs.
We are moving forward, but we will incorporate those new
authorities into a long-term strategy, yes, Senator.
Senator Kelly. Thank you. If the Corps was to identify a
new, let's say, a new start project with drought reduction
benefits, how well would that project compete for funding
within the Corps and from OMB compared to a new start project
which fit within one of the more traditional areas of the
Corps, like things like flood control and navigation?
Mr. Connor. I think, in general, Senator, it would compete
well, because our goal would be moving forward to integrate
multiple benefits of any particular project, whether it is
large infrastructure or just how we manage water, how are we
going to not only provide better flood control, look at how we
might restore the environment as part of that flood control by
slowing down water and letting it spread out where there is
land. But then how we might also use that to recharge aquifers
or to provide additional water supply. I think the key to
improving the ability to compete for limited budget resources
is to have those multiple benefits incorporated in any part of
our projects.
Senator Kelly. Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
Senator Boozman?
Senator Boozman. Thank you very much.
We appreciate you all being here. I appreciate your hard
work.
Recently, the Air Force selected Ebbing Air Force Base in
Fort Smith, Arkansas to serve as the home of the F-35 training
mission for our Nation's partners and allies. This mission is
being deemed critical to our Nation's national security as well
as our partner nations' national security. Those aren't my
words; those come from the very top on down.
The Corps of Engineers in Little Rock, whom we enjoy
working with, is responsible for the new construction for the
mission at Ebbing and will be tasked to meet a really very
tight turnaround. Will you both commit to giving the Little
Rock District the resources it needs from the entire Corps of
Engineers' enterprise to meet their deadlines?
General Spellmon. Yes, sir. This falls under our military
construction portfolio, sir.
The important part here is we have been given $10 million
from the Air Force to develop the area development plan. Sir,
that will inform the detail designs moving forward and really
helping get down to the level of detail we need to on the
schedule. Yes, sir, you have my commitment to give them
everything they need to deliver this important program.
Senator Boozman. Okay.
Mr. Connor. Senator, any way the Civil Works Program can
support the military side of the house, we are happy to do
that.
Senator Boozman. Well, thank you all very much. I knew that
was the case, but again, this is something, deadlines are
tight, and it is just going to take everybody working together.
The other thing is, I would like to also voice my support
for the Cramer-Heinrich Bill. I am a cosponsor of that, too. We
have really been working with that for several years.
But you have problems at your parks, and you do a great job
in the sense, especially now with people, I think, wanting to
get out more after the pandemic and all that has occurred, but
you have troubles right now in Arkansas, throughout the
Midwest. You have a lot of flooding. Most of those campgrounds
now are under water, the Mississippi campground, the list goes
on and on.
You have a lot of maintenance that has been deferred. You
can fix things now, and it costs some money. You can defer
that, and it costs more money, and then it comes to a point
where you have to replace it, and it costs a lot of money.
I do think that it is a bill that would make a lot of
difference. If maybe 80 percent is too high, we can work with
that, or whatever. But I do think that whatever money we did in
that, you would actually receive benefit from, the cost-benefit
would be very, very good, plus you would be able to update the
campgrounds and make it such where you would have even more
usage. I think it would actually pay for itself, but look at
it. Again, your support, if somehow that could be acquired,
would be very helpful.
Mr. Connor. Thank you very much for recognizing what an
important part of this mission and the value of those
additional resources might provide.
I did visit some recreational facilities last summer. You
would not believe the lengths that our committed rangers go to
try and ensure that the visitors have the best experience
possible and have good facilities. We should make it a little
easier for them, quite frankly.
Senator Boozman. I understand.
General Spellmon. Sir, I would just echo that commitment.
This is an important part of our mission. I don't know the
details of the legislation, but anything that supports our
recreation function we fully support.
Senator Boozman. The other thing is, right now, we are in
the process, I am the Ranking Member on Agriculture. We are in
the process of trying to pass a Farm Bill. We are going to get
it passed this year.
But it comes to mind, 40 percent of the products in
Arkansas are exported. That is true throughout most of the
Country. So, our inland waterways, our ports and harbors, are
so vital.
Can you talk a little bit about, again, the importance of
that flow of trade, and what that means, not only to those
farmers, but also the end users? Right now, we have the
cheapest, safest food supply of any place in the world. What
does that do to costs and things like that?
General Spellmon. Yes, sir. I would just say, in your
State, you have tows and barges, sometimes a couple, 15 barges
together, and just to keep the analogy going, 15 barges, that
is a thousand trucks, a thousand diesel engines, a thousand
drivers that you don't need because of movement of cargo on the
waterway. Sir, it just drives the cost down for goods and
increases the speed of those goods getting to market.
As I said earlier, these are national treasures, and we
appreciate all the support we get from Congress in maintaining
and upgrading those.
Mr. Connor. Just a quick point. The old saying, we know the
value of water when the well runs dry. Well, we know the value
of the inland waterway system when the Mississippi River has
low flows.
Senator Boozman. I know. It was last summer where I wanted
to just jump in it and claim that I could swim across it.
Remarkable.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Connor. Significant immediate economic impact from
drought when the Mississippi River is that low and we can't
efficiently move product. The reverberates to the Agricultural
Committee.
So we are not looking just at how we manage the system in
conjunction with industry. I think we had great communication
and resources to keep the system dredged and moving, but we
also want to do lessons learned and make sure we are continuing
to try and ensure that the next drought doesn't have as deep an
impact.
Senator Boozman. It is remarkable. Now the Mississippi, we
have actually closed off part of it, because it is so high.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
Senator Carper.
[Presiding.] Senator Boozman, thank you.
It is not every day we have the chairs of both the
Environment and Public Works Committee and the Ranking Member
of this committee, along with the Chair of the Ag Committee and
the Ranking Member of the Ag Committee. It is a special day.
Good to see you both.
Senator Stabenow, you are on.
Senator Stabenow. Good morning. It is wonderful to be with
you, Mr. Chairman. Senator Boozman and I, I think we are on a
tour today, all week now, talking about farm bills and forestry
and all kinds of wonderful things, and public works, here, and
the important infrastructure. It is great.
It is wonderful to see you, Assistant Secretary. It is
wonderful to see you, Lieutenant Colonel. We appreciate so much
your work.
I first have to start with a thank you, because when you
look at the Corps' 2024 budget request, I see a lot of wins for
Michigan. I appreciate it very much. Two new starts to
identifying and addressing flood risk in both Southeast
Michigan and Midland County, two important projects that I was
pleased to author as part of WRDA in 2022.
Also, Soo Locks, that we have talked about so many times,
thank you for working with me to ensure that this critical
project has a line item this year in the President's budget.
I do want to say though, that as grateful as I am, I note
this funding falls short of the full 2024 capability. You and I
want to get this done, I know.
Assistant Secretary Connor, as you know, any unscheduled
outage at the Soo Locks would devastate the economy. I am going
to fight tooth and nail to make sure we are in a good place on
the appropriations side, but I need your help to make sure that
this is in the work plan, and I wondered if you might speak to
that.
Can I continue to count on you to make this vital project
and the funding a priority and to help keep it on schedule?
Mr. Connor. Yes, Senator. Soo Locks, for all the reasons we
have discussed and that you have identified today will continue
to be a very high priority. We have tried to plug the gap with
those cost overruns through additional resources from
Infrastructure Investment and Job Act, the work plan money we
had earlier this year, the budget request. We will continue to
work with you.
We have the contracts identified with the options. We want
to minimize the additional prospects of cost overruns by trying
to meet those options. We will continue to be in very close
coordination with you, Senator.
Senator Stabenow. Thank you so much. As we know, they have
been working hard, and when we talk about cost, inflation is
not our friend on this, and has been a real challenge. But I
think they have been doing a good job and working really hard
on this, and efficiently on this.
Speaking of projects that are critical to the Great Lakes,
let us talk Brandon Road Lock and Dam. Lieutenant General
Spellmon, you know that this is the linchpin to halting the
terrible Asian carp from getting into the Great Lakes. I have a
fish and a lock that keep me up every night as to what will
happen. I feel like we are on borrowed time on both, frankly.
I have been working on this project for nearly a decade,
having secured $226 million in the Infrastructure Law funding.
We increased the Federal cost share as part of WRDA. I thought
we were finally ready for construction. However, now it is my
understanding that the construction phase of the project is on
hold until the Army Corps and the State sign a project
partnership agreement, and unfortunately the carp, they are a
ticking time bomb. They don't wait. The fish aren't waiting
around for project agreements.
Lieutenant General Spellmon, given the stakes, is the
Brandon Road project a priority? If so, do I have your
commitment to do whatever it takes to get this Power Purchase
Agreement signed as soon as possible so construction can begin?
General Spellmon. Yes, ma'am. This is absolutely a priority
for us for all of the reasons that you have outlined.
Committing to do whatever it takes is a bit outside of my
authority at the moment. As I mentioned in my opening
statement, delivery of these projects, it is a team sport.
There are several things that the non-Federal sponsor is
asking from the Corps that would require legislative changes
and even policy changes. So we are sending a team out from our
headquarters this month to meet with our non-Federal sponsors.
I just want to make sure that they have a firm
understanding of what our left and right limits are,
statutorily and then from policy, from a policy perspective.
But we want to get to that signed PPA so we can unlock that
$225 million that you secured for us and getting to
construction.
Senator Stabenow. Well, I am happy to work with you in any
way possible and communicating with the States and signing. It
has to be clear what you can and can't do with the money that
we have, and that we really are, this is a ticking time bomb.
We have to move. We are ready to move, so I will look forward
with you to getting that done.
General Spellmon. Thanks, ma'am.
Senator Carper. Senator Stabenow, thanks so much for
joining us and working with us on, as you put together the
Agriculture Bill, you and Senator Boozman, and we look forward
to making sure we are joined at the hip. Thank you.
Senator Mullin, you are up. Thanks. Welcome.
Senator Mullin. Thank you, Chairman, and thank you guys for
being here.
General, I will start with you. As you know, Section 8358
of the Water Resources Development Act of 2022 directly
provides the city of Bartlesville in Oklahoma the opportunity
to secure water storage rights from Copan Lake, also in
Oklahoma. General Spellmon, would you agree that a growing city
such as Bartlesville, like many growing cities in the Country,
needs affordable, that is the key word there, affordable access
to water storage to continue their growth?
General Spellmon. Yes, Senator, absolutely.
Senator Mullin. I want to bring something to your
attention. I don't know if you are aware of it or not, but Lake
Copan was built in the 1980's. In 1981, the Corps acquired
4,750 acre feet of water storage for Lake Copan. That was 40
years ago, right?
Now, the city of Bartlesville is trying to purchase that
from you guys. In 2020, they also worked out a deal with the
Corps of Engineers to buy water from the lake at roughly $81
per acre foot. Right now, they are currently in negotiations
wanting to buy that 4,750 feet of water from the Corps of
Engineers, but the Corps of Engineers wants to charge $1,181
per acre foot.
Would you consider that affordable?
General Spellmon. Sir, this is what the legislation, the
formula for these pricing constructs, it is not a Corps policy.
It is not a policy from the Secretary. The formula is given to
us in the 1958 Water Supply Act.
Senator Mullin. The way that I understand that, sir, is
that the Army Corps of Engineers can agree to charge less, but
you don't normally do, but you do have the flexibility to do
so.
General Spellmon. I am not aware of any flexibility to
stray from the legislation, sir. I would have to look into
that. The statute is very clear on the pricing methodology.
Senator Mullin. So, how do you suggest moving forward in
this? Because when you are trying to recover the cost of a lake
that was obviously really expensive to build, it is sitting
there for 40 years, no one has purchased it because no one can
afford it. The taxpayer dollars are holding the bill.
What is our solution?
General Spellmon. Sir, unfortunately, today, it requires
legislation, piecemeal legislation.
Senator Mullin. What is the legislation you are needing for
flexibility?
General Spellmon. The WRDA provisions from 2020 and 2022
for Lake Bartlesville have reduced that cost to your water
suppliers to $74 an acre foot, so that is the maximum amount
that we can charge.
I will tell you that I have 145 water supply storage
contracts like this across the Country. The average cost per
acre foot is $300 per acre foot.
Sir, I would just say, when you compare that with other
water suppliers across the Country, this is----
Senator Mullin. Three hundred dollars is fine. We are
talking about a $1,000, or nearly $1,200.
General Spellmon. Sir, I have some ideas on how we can go
about this moving forward. The problem here is there is a large
renovation contract associated with Lake Copan, and
unfortunately, a small percentage of a large figure gets spread
across all the users. So that is what they were experiencing.
We have seen this in other corners as well.
I think there are other ways to go about this, and I look
forward to having this conversation with you.
Senator Mullin. That is what the conversation is about.
Sir, if you have ideas about this, I am looking for solutions
that this committee can bring forward. This isn't just going to
be a one-off situation on Bartlesville. This is something that
is going to be facing a lot of municipalities moving forward,
because the cost of everything is skyrocketing.
What is it that the committee needs to be looking at,
legislatively speaking, to fix this?
Mr. Connor. Senator, I just wanted to add onto what General
Spellmon said. We are happy to look at the legislative
limitations here, and I trust the General has already looked at
that, so we will get back to you and let you know specifically
the issue.
To your point on policy, I agree. Any revenue is better
than no revenue. We want to maximize the use of existing
infrastructure to serve communities in different ways, because
that is going to be the cheapest and less environmentally
damaging approach.
Senator Mullin. This has been sitting for over 40 years and
hasn't been sold because no one can afford it. So this would be
a perfect opportunity to show how we can work together with
agencies to create the flexibility. I know the Chairman and the
Ranking Member would both agree that this is something that
needs to be addressed.
Mr. Connor. There is good policy here to be made, Senator.
Senator Mullin. Great. If you could, get back to us, and
let us know what we can do on our side to give you that
flexibility. I look forward to hearing from you. I yield back.
Senator Carper. Thanks, Senator Mullin.
Senator Capito, if you have another question or two you
would like to ask, or comments, please do.
Senator Capito. I have one question, just a comment. First
of all, thanks to both of you. These are massive amounts of
dollars, but as you can tell, the interest from the committee,
massive amounts of impacts in communities in all kinds of ways.
Assistant Secretary, you mentioned the word reprogramming.
That brought back some, I would say, not the greatest memories
of some experiences I have had in past years with the Corps. I
have been here a while.
Here is my concern. We have all these projects, and you
reach a point of cost overruns, we have already talked about
it; things are more expensive than we think. Then, we think
they are getting delayed for one reason or another, so you are
looking at maybe six projects, I am just using this as an
example, six projects, and all of a sudden, project No. 6 is
starting to fail, but these other five are moving and, as the
General said, completing projects is really important to the
Corps.
Who makes the decision to pull the funding, then, from
project No. 6 that is flailing over here? Is this what you mean
by reprogramming? Do you reprogram away from what we would
think would be a project that is going to be happening in our
State into maybe, another project within our State or within
our Corps District? Is that what reprogramming means to you?
Mr. Connor. Senator, I think my staff already seizes up
when I use the word reprogramming because of those specific
issues. There are technical aspects of it, too.
But yes, fundamentally, I think we need to look at where a
project is not proceeding. As I highlighted in my oral
statement, we have had discussions with stakeholders who have
involvement in a series of projects, they may be the one
suggesting we should be proceeding.
Bottom line is, I don't know if reprogramming was the right
word, but are we looking at where we haven't yet allocated
resources, whether a project is going to proceed, and whether
we need to look at trying to move funds to try and complete a
project so that we can move forward and fund other projects in
the future, yes.
I am thinking about that. That authority rests in my
office, but it doesn't work unless I am transparent with all of
you in any of the interests involved.
Senator Capito. I think that is probably why I seize up,
because I think that the decision that is made within your
office, whereas we have already made the decision legislatively
to move in a certain direction, so I do think communication and
transparency is the key here.
I am not naive enough to think that, well, we gave you all
the money you are ever going to need, and you need to do all
these projects, and life is never going to change there. I
realize there are change orders, there are all kinds of things
that you find in the process of different projects that maybe
were unexpected or circumstances changed, or we can't find the
work force, whatever the issue is.
But I do believe that the transparency with which you move
forward on these decisions is absolutely critical. From a
public servant point of view, as an elected leader, when you go
to the mayor of your small town and say, we are going to have a
levee here, and we are going to solve your flooding problem,
and then all of a sudden, you go back to the Corps and they go,
well, we had to go ahead and move that to another project,
without our knowledge, without at least, I understand maybe we
don't be included in the project reprogramming issues, but at
least having us aware of it, we can soften the blow.
I don't want to have to do that. I want everything that we
have planned for and that we have put into legislation and we
have worked with you all on to be able to work to completion.
But I do understand the reality. Sometimes, that makes it more
difficult.
I would thank you both, your open communication with me,
and certainly as the Ranking Member on this committee, it has
been very much appreciated, and I appreciate all the good, hard
work that you do every day.
I am going to take my leave and do my constitutional duty,
which is to vote on the floor of the Senate. Thank you, Mr.
Chair.
Senator Carper. Thanks so much.
I am going to ask a couple of questions, maybe, for the
record, and then go vote, as well. The first one would be for
Secretary Connor.
Secretary Connor, as you well know, Congress included some
critical new authorities in WRDA 2022 to increase assistance to
disadvantaged communities. I was pleased to see that the budget
focuses on environmental justice and that the Corps has issued
guidance for WRDA 2020 and for WRDA 2022 authorities to support
the disadvantaged communities. Will you take a minute or two to
explain for us the significance of this recent guidance, and
how do you plan to prioritize devoting resources to
disadvantaged communities?
Mr. Connor. Absolutely, Mr. Chairman. These authorities are
incredibly important and allow us to do good work on a broader
scale than I think we would otherwise be able to do.
First of all, in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,
Congress gave us express direction to not just be beholden to
the highest benefit-cost ratios. That allowed us to choose
projects to fund that would broaden the benefits to communities
on a larger scale.
Second of all, we want to improve outreach, and there are
existing programs, whether they are the planning assistance to
States, flood plain management services, tribal partnership
program, we are trying to use the guides that I provided to
broaden our outreach so that we can do work with more
communities.
Finally, the specific provisions in WRDA 2020, those we are
moving out with guidance, economically disadvantaged
communities definition, so that we can use that to implement
the programs that Congress has already provided funding for.
This is the pilot program to do investigations for economically
disadvantaged communities.
We have $30 million in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
waiting to be released. After we finalize that guidance, which
is significant guidance, so we have to have a process there, as
well as the CAP projects that are going to use that funding.
The direction has been great. I think we are moving forward
with our smaller programs, and we are trying to ensure we are
taking the provisions that you have enacted and run with them.
Senator Carper. Thank you.
I am going to leave another question for the record. It
deals with economic growth and project delivery. I will just
submit that one for the record.
Before I turn over the gavel to Senator Markey to close us
out, I am going to give just a really short closing statement,
with some housekeeping, if you don't mind.
Every State is significantly, maybe dramatically affected,
by the work that you lead across the Country, and to all the
men and women who report to you, who look to you for
leadership. We want to thank you, and we want to thank them for
doing extraordinary things.
Every member of this committee has great interest in the
work that you do, and really, great gratitude. The same is true
of all 100 Senators. We appreciate very much what you do with
your lives, serving our Country and our respective States.
Before we adjourn, before I give the gavel to Senator
Markey, I just want to mention that Senators will be allowed
to, invited, rather, to submit written questions for the record
by 4 p.m. on Wednesday, May 17th, which is two weeks from
today. We will compile those questions. We will send them to
you, and we will ask you to reply by Wednesday, May 31st.
I am not going to adjourn this hearing. We are going to
hand the gavel to Senator Markey, and when he finishes with his
questions, if he would just adjourn the hearing, that would be
great. Thank you.
Again, our thanks to all of you. It was great to see you.
Take care.
Senator Markey.
[Presiding.] Thank you, Mr. Chairman, very much. There is a
roll call on the floor of the Senate right now, which why the
members were scrambling to get over there. I am running back
over from the Senate floor to be here to take the gavel from
Chairman Carper.
It is great to see you again, Assistant Secretary Connor,
General Spellmon.
The Army Corps owns the Cape Cod bridges, which are nearly
90 years old. The bridges are structurally deficient, and they
are in need of desperate replacement. The Bourne and the
Sagamore Bridges are the only route for people to drive to and
from Cape Cod. I will say that again: it is the only way for
people to drive to and from Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
The Federal Government, almost 90 years ago, built two
bridges, which make it possible for that to be possible. We
thank the Federal Government for building those two bridges
back then, at the height of the New Deal. Great work by
President Roosevelt, great visions for these public works
projects. In the same way they were building the Tennessee
Valley Authority, they were building these other facilities all
across the Country, especially for electrical generation.
In Massachusetts, they built two bridges for us, and my
colleagues in the Massachusetts congressional delegation and I
right now are extremely concerned that if a severe storm
strikes the Cape, residents and visitors could be unable to
evacuate the Cape and the islands, because it is the only way
off. Replacing these bridges is not just a matter of
convenience. It is a matter of safety.
Assistant Secretary Connor, do you agree that replacing the
Cape Cod bridges is a critical safety project?
Mr. Connor. Senator, I do.
Senator Markey. Thank you. Obviously, we are very fortunate
that Hurricane Sandy did not hit us, but if it did, it would
have devastated Cape Cod. It would have just devastated it, and
people would have been told to evacuate, to get out before Cape
Cod was inundated. We obviously need these bridges to be
replaced in order for that safety concern to be dealt with.
The Army Corps owns these bridges. These are Federal
bridges. The Corps and the Federal Government have a financial
responsibility here. In fact, in 2020, the Corps estimated that
rehabilitating the bridges over the next 50 years would cost
nearly $800 million. Just for the Army Corps, for the Federal
Government, which owns the bridges, it would cost them $800
million just to maintain them over the next 50 years.
Massachusetts has agreed to take ownership of the new Cape
Cod bridges as long as the Corps contributes its fair share to
help to replace them. The stakes are clear: if the Corps
doesn't help replace the bridges, it will have to spend even
more money to maintain them over the next 50 years.
Assistant Secretary Connor, would giving the bridges to
Massachusetts save money for the Corps in the long run, in your
opinion?
Mr. Connor. In my opinion, yes, it would. We would no
longer have the ongoing operations and maintenance and
significant rehab costs into the future related to the bridges,
so we think this is a good approach.
Senator Markey. O&M is operation and maintenance?
Mr. Connor. Operation and maintenance, that is correct.
Senator Markey. The Army Corps, otherwise, would have to
contribute to keeping those bridges functional.
I agree with you. The Corps' most fiscally responsible
action is to help replace the Cape Cod bridges now, and we need
to do this project in a smart way. Both Massachusetts and the
Corps want Massachusetts to manage the bridges project.
After all, the Corps specializes in water projects, not
building bridges. This is an anomaly for the Corps, these
bridges. I don't know, is there another instance across the
whole Country where the Corps owns the bridges?
Mr. Connor. We own more bridges than I can remember, but it
is a significant part of the portfolio, and you are exactly
right. It is not our specialty. It has come with our inland
waterways and intercoastal waterways.
Senator Markey. So, Secretary Connor, does the Corps have
significant experience in building bridges over the last 20 or
30 years?
Mr. Connor. Not in the last 20, 30 years. We have
experience, but that is experience that others have much
better.
Senator Markey. Yes, and most of the people who had the
experience are already retired from the Corps who worked for
the Corps. Would you agree with that?
Mr. Connor. Absolutely.
Senator Markey. Yes, so this is something that would have
to be developed. It makes no sense, in other words, for the
Corps to construct these new bridges.
Unfortunately, the Corps lacks the authority to transfer
money to Massachusetts for this project, and that makes it
difficult for the Corps to help fund this project and allow
Massachusetts to construct the new bridges. I am glad the Corps
proposed legislative language to address this issue. With a
narrow fix, we can construct new bridges in a smart, fiscally
responsible way.
Assistant Secretary Connor, does the legislative language
proposed by the Corps give the Corps sweeping new authority to
issue grants?
Mr. Connor. This is not a grant, Senator. The authority
that we have submitted would just provide us a mechanism to
provide money to an entity that is much better positioned to
replace the bridges, take us out of that business, and I think
it is unique to this situation with bridges. It is larger than
just Cape Cod, but it is specific to this particular aspect of
the portfolio which we shouldn't have.
Senator Markey. I think that is right. I urge my colleagues
to support this small legislative tweak and ensure that this
critical safety project can proceed.
I thank you, Assistant Secretary Connor and your entire
team, for all your help with this project that goes back years.
Time is of the essence. We have to begin the job of actually
replacing these bridges. We thank you for your assistance. Let
me turn and recognize Senator Sullivan for his round of
questions.
Senator Sullivan. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Secretary
Connor, General Spellmon, thank you, gentlemen.
I just want to begin by doing a shoutout to both of you. I
think you are both doing a really good job. It is not an easy
position to be in, a really important position. I am on Armed
Services, too, so I was saying, I kind of have dual oversight
of you guys, because you are Army and EPW, Armed Services.
I appreciate you and your team and all the hard work that
you guys are doing. It is much appreciated and much needed for
our Country, certainly for Alaska, so thanks. Both of you have,
in my view, really good teams.
Secretary Connor, I just wanted to reiterate, and you
probably know where I am going with this. I think I have asked
you to reiterate this 50 times. I am just doing it one more
time, just to be safe.
I am going to talk about Donlin. One of the hallmarks, and
it is for both of you gentlemen, one of the unfortunate
hallmarks, in my view, of the Biden Administration,
particularly for big projects in my State that have gone
through massive permitting by professional staff from the
previous Administration, actually, from the previous two
Administrations, Obama, Trump, we got things done, completed,
records and decisions.
This Administration loves to come back to Alaska and go,
hmm, you know what, we are going to reopen this. We are going
to reopen that. We are going to reopen this. They come up with
excuses. It is Ambler; it is ANWR; it is Tongass; it is Willow;
it is King Cove Road. It is just nonstop. Decisions that have
been made, and they come back, usually to say, the previous
Administration didn't consult enough.
By the way, Secretary Connor, you and I have talked about
this. Most of these are strongly supported by the Alaska Native
people, these projects I just listed, and so when you have an
Administration talk about environmental justice, racial equity,
they seem to always forget indigenous people of Alaska. I know
you haven't, but I am just making the point, because, and by
the way, this is a broader issue. It turns America into a
Banana Republic if we can't rely on previous Administrations
that have done the due diligence, made records of decision, and
then now we reopen them three, four, five, six years later? We
might as well be Venezuela, right? It chills impact, chills
investment opportunities.
Mr. Secretary, you and I have talked ad nauseum, and
Administrator Regan of the EPA and Assistant Administrator Fox,
you guys have all, and I appreciate it, made commitments that
the Donlin permits were issued five years ago, five years ago,
and you see no reason to reopen those.
As you know, there are some radical lower 48 environmental
groups who are now trying to do this. Our Native leaders call
them eco-colonialists, right, lower-48 groups that come up and
tell the Native people what they need to do, kind of a second
wave of colonialism that they call eco-colonialists. It is a
term that I think really fits well.
The Donlin project, as you know, is supported by the
regional Alaska Native Corporation. It is on their land. Can I
just get one more commitment from you guys, and I know you have
done it a lot, but things are starting to percolate once again.
These groups have a lot of power. The media loves them. This
important project, that you see no reason to reopen these
permit decisions, I know you have to consult, but if they file
a lawsuit, just defend it. Defend it. That is your job, in my
view. General, you and I have talked about it, Mr. Secretary.
I just want a quick commitment on that. To his credit, the
EPA Administrator, just a couple weeks ago, and Assistant
Administrator Fox came in right here, same, said Senator, we
are with you. We don't see any reason to do that.
I would just like that commitment from you. It is
important, because this is all percolating, and five years ago,
we had a permit issued. Banana Republic-ville if we start
opening these things up. General?
General Spellmon. Sir, on the Donlin project, we have a
valid permit. I am not aware of any discussions to reopen that
decision.
Senator Sullivan. Thank you. No reason to do that, five
years old. OK, Mr. Secretary?
Mr. Connor. Senator, as we have talked about before,
nothing has changed with respect to my views on Donlin, and
that is after we have done consultation. We have talked with
proponents, opponents. It is in litigation now. We are
defending the lawsuit.
Senator Sullivan. Good. Thank you very much for that, both
of you. I appreciate that you guys kept your word.
It is not just support for Alaska and the Native people
there. It is important for America. Five years, and now you are
going to reopen a permit? You won't be able to get anything
done in this Country.
Let me just end, Mr. Chairman, really quickly, the Port of
Nome, you guys have done a great job. I can't thank you enough.
That is a nationally significant and important project, a very
strategic Arctic port for America. The Corps has done a great
job. Mr. Secretary, you have done a great job.
I am sure you are aware that WRDA, last year, modified the
cost-sharing formula for that deep draft port, which the Navy
needs, the Coast Guard needs. It will help the communities out
there.
During our recent meeting, Major General Graham had stated
that we can anticipate full support from the Administration in
future years, moving and phasing. Can I just continue to get
your commitment on that, given that the cost share changed?
General Spellmon. Yes, sir. We appreciate, certainly, the
$250 million that we received in the Bipartisan Infrastructure
Law. We are getting ready. We are doing the design on the west
causeway extension right now and looking forward to awarding
that contract in 2024 and then also working on the design of
the deepening for the channel. Yes, sir, you have our
commitment.
Senator Sullivan. Mr. Secretary?
Mr. Connor. I would just go with what General Spellmon just
said. We are committed to moving that forward. It increases the
challenges, so with respect to the funding needs, obviously
from the cost share change, but we are committed to moving
forward with the project.
Senator Sullivan. Great. Thanks again, both of you. I think
your teams are doing a great job for Alaska, the Country, and
we really appreciate it.
Senator Markey. I thank Senator Sullivan.
I note Senator Wicker is here. If you have any other
comments you would like to make?
Senator Wicker. No, thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Markey. With that, and the thanks of the committee,
we have completed this period of questioning and answering of
our great witnesses today. We thank you both for your service
and for all those who serve with you in the Army Corps. We
thank you so much.
With that, and again, with all of the procedural niceties
that Chairman Carper has already laid out in terms of the
rights of the committee and the request to the Army Corps to
respond to questions in writing, this hearing is adjourned.
Thank you.
[Whereupon, at 12:02 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]