[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 183 (Tuesday, December 8, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H13579-H13581]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY TO EXPEDITE THE PROCESSING OF PERMITS

  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules 
and pass the bill (H.R. 4165) to extend through December 31, 2010, the 
authority of the Secretary of the Army to accept and expend funds 
contributed by non-Federal public entities to expedite the processing 
of permits.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

[[Page H13580]]

                               H.R. 4165

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. FUNDING TO PROCESS PERMITS.

       Section 214(c) of the Water Resources Development Act of 
     2000 (33 U.S.C. 2201 note; 114 Stat. 2594; 119 Stat. 2169; 
     120 Stat. 318; 120 Stat. 3197; 121 Stat. 1067) is amended by 
     striking ``2009'' and inserting ``2010''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Washington (Mr. Larsen) and the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Boozman) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Washington.


                             General Leave

  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend 
their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 4165.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Washington?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4165. This bill would 
extend section 214 of the Water Resources Development Act of 2000 for 
another year through December 31, 2010. Section 214 is currently 
authorized through December 31, 2009.
  The section 214 program allows local governments to fund additional 
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers staff time to expedite the processing of 
permits for infrastructure and ecosystem restoration projects. Section 
214 was enacted by Congress because the Corps of Engineers' permitting 
process had become cumbersome for both the Corps staff and applicants 
as the number of permit applications rose.
  By funding additional specific staff to work on specific, time-
intensive permits, existing Corps staff are able to process significant 
current backlogs more quickly. Funding for additional Corps staff has 
resulted in a reduction of permanent wait times not only for the 
funding entity, but also for any individual or organization seeking a 
permit. As a result, local governments are able to move forward with 
infrastructure and ecosystem restoration projects.
  Section 214 is currently being used by over 41 public agencies in 20 
separate Corps districts. The city of Seattle in my home State of 
Washington was the first public entity in the country to develop and 
use this facilitated permitting process. The city has used the section 
214 program for 285 projects representing over $1.1 billion in capital 
investments. Seven years of using the program has resulted in an 
estimated cost savings of $10.6 million. The average review time per 
project has been reduced from over 808 days to an average of between 
47-166 days.
  In a region where we must balance the most difficult environmental 
issues in the country with the second-highest commerce and trade 
demands of any region in the country, section 214 has become key to 
overcoming permitting delays and other challenges.
  The authority granted by section 214 by the WRDA 2000 has worked well 
in practice. This authority needs to be renewed so the additional staff 
can remain on the job without interruption. Therefore, I urge the House 
to pass H.R. 4165.
  With that, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in qualified support of H.R. 4165, to authorize 
an extension of the Army Corps of Engineers' section 214 program. 
Section 214 of the Water Resources Development Act of 2000 allows the 
Army Corps of Engineers to accept and expand funds provided by non-
Federal public entities to hire additional personnel to process 
regulatory permits.
  Mr. Speaker, I say I offer qualified support for H.R. 4165 because 
while this legislation is needed, my colleague from Texas (Mr. Olson) 
has offered a better piece of legislation. Mr. Olson's legislation, 
H.R. 4162, will authorize a permanent extension of the program--not a 
1-year temporary extension offered by H.R. 4165. The Congress has been 
forced to temporarily expand this program five times since it was 
authorized by the Water Resources Development Act in 2000, yet the 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has heard from Members 
on both sides of the aisle supporting permanent extension of the 214 
program.
  I have heard no Member object to a permanent expansion of the section 
214 program. The Corps of Engineers now has adequate experience in 
running the program, and recent Government Accountability Office 
observations concur with this assessment. Yet here we are again on the 
House floor moving a temporary extension of an excellent program.
  Authority for this program expires on December 31 of this calendar 
year. If this program expires, the Corps will have to fire some 
regulatory personnel, reducing its ability to process permits in a 
timely manner.
  I want to thank Representative Olson and Representative Larsen for 
their efforts on this issue. I urge all Members to vote in favor of 
H.R. 4165, but I do wish that we were passing a permanent, or at least 
a long-term, extension of the section 214 program today, not a 
temporary one.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Olson) whatever time he might consume.

                              {time}  1400

  Mr. OLSON. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Arkansas, 
Congressman Boozman, for yielding me time; and I rise today to express 
my disappointment that we are only considering a 1-year extension of 
the section 214 language.
  Section 214 of the Water Resources Development Act of 2000 allows the 
Secretary of the Army to accept and expend funds contributed by non-
Federal public entities to expedite the processing of permits through 
the Army Corps of Engineers. By funding additional staff to work on 
permanent evaluation, existing Corps staff are able to process 
significant backlogs more quickly. Hiring additional staff results in a 
reduction of permit waiting times not only for the local funding 
entity, but also for any individual or organization that makes an 
application with the Corps district.
  In my district, the Harris County Flood Control District has used 
section 214 for the past 6 months to move forward with vital 
infrastructure and maintenance projects that have minimal environmental 
impact. According to a letter they sent my office, Harris County Flood 
Control District has ``already noticed a significant improvement in the 
length of time it is taking to receive our reviews and permits that are 
required to proceed to construction of our projects.''
  In the past 9 years, section 214 has been extended five times. Two of 
these extensions were for less than 1 year. This program has been 
hamstrung by short-term extensions that discourage both Corps districts 
and local public entities from participating. And today, we again add 
to the uncertainty of this program by extending it for 1 additional 
year with no guarantee of continuing it past that.
  I sponsored legislation that would make section 214 authority 
permanent and ensure non-Federal project sponsors have the ability to 
move forward with vital water resources infrastructure projects and 
maintenance more efficiently year after year.
  My bill is ready for consideration; but, instead, we are considering 
another short-term extension.
  I will reluctantly support this 1-year extension but hope that as we 
move forward with the debate on the Water Resources Development Act 
that we can have a serious conversation about making this provision 
permanent. Non-Federal project sponsors need to be able to count on the 
longevity of section 214 in order to make the most out of it.
  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as 
I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, in response to the gentleman from Texas, I do want to 
say I'm extremely sympathetic to his position, and I fully, in fact, 
agree with the request that we make section 214 permanent. And I, along 
with many others, have asked for that consideration within the context 
of the reauthorization of the Water Resources Development Act of 2010. 
I am hopeful we can

[[Page H13581]]

work in a bipartisan approach to work with the committee's leadership 
to make Mr. Olson's, as well as many others who made the same request, 
to make that request a reality.
  With that, Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. Speaker, again, I do support H.R. 4165 and urge my 
fellow Members to vote for the bill. I appreciate Mr. Larsen. I know 
that he has worked hard on this in trying to bring the issue forward 
and provide a permanent fix.
  My hope is that in the reauthorization of WRDA that we can all, as 
was mentioned, work in a very bipartisan way, because this is an entity 
that has worked very, very well. And I think all of us agree that it 
really is a success story. So hopefully we can work together, he and 
Mr. Olson and our leadership on the committee, so that we can provide 
for a permanent fix of the program, a permanent authorization, and not 
have to go through this every year.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to support H.R. 4165, a bill 
to extend authority of the Secretary of the Army to accept funds from 
non-Federal public entities for the consideration of permits under the 
Clean Water Act and the Rivers and Harbor Act of 1899.
  This language is modeled after language included in the Water 
Resources Development Act of 2007 that included a short-term extension 
of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, corps, section 214 permit review 
authority. That authority expires at the end of the current calendar 
year, and this legislation will continue the program through the end of 
December 2010.
  I have been carefully monitoring the implementation of this 
authority. While this authority is very popular for the local public 
entities that have used it, we need to ensure that this authority does 
not affect the objectivity of the regulator.
  In May 2007, the Government Accountability Office, GAO, issued a 
report, upon my request, which expressed concern with the overall 
implementation of the section 214 authority. This report recommended 
several improvements to increase the overall transparency and 
impartiality of corps' permit reviews conducted with outside funds.
  Earlier this year, I requested GAO to reevaluate whether these 
recommendations had been implemented by the corps. In November, the 
staff of the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment received a 
briefing by GAO that suggested additional improvements to the program 
were still warranted.
  As a track record of implementation develops, the Committee on 
Transportation and Infrastructure, committee, will have an opportunity 
to further review the implementation of this authority, and ensure that 
the corps' review of permit applications is a fair and equitable 
process.
  The committee will further consider this issue next year during its 
development of the Water Resource Development Act. However, because 
that process will take place after the existing program authority 
expires, it is appropriate that we provide for an additional, short-
term extension of the section 214 authority.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 4165.
  Mr. BOOZMAN. With that, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I urge everyone to support 
H.R. 4165, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. Larsen) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 4165.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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