FY2009 omnibus
released, including Northwest navigation funding figures
Yesterday,
the House and Senate Appropriations Committees released a $410 billion omnibus
spending act. This omnibus bill
incorporates the nine unfinished appropriations bills for FY2009, including the
Energy & Water Appropriations bill that funds the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers. PNWA members may remember
that the Corps and many other agencies are currently operating under a
continuing resolution (CR) that expires on March 6th. It is hoped that the House will pass this
omnibus later this week, with the Senate following suit next week and a
signature from the President shortly thereafter.
The
FY2009 omnibus bill proposes funding for the Corps of Engineers at $5.4
billion, which is $1.5 billion over the President's budget amount, but still a
decrease from the FY2008 amount of $5.6 billion. However, it should be noted that the Corps
will receive an additional $4.6 billion as part of the recently enacted
stimulus package.
PNWA
has reviewed the tables that outline specific funding amounts for Corps
construction, general investigation (study), and operations and maintenance
projects we support in the Pacific Northwest.
Click here to view the FY2009 funding
amounts for PNWA's supported Northwest projects. This document also includes our preliminary
FY2010 requests, which may be revised once the President's FY2010 budget is
released, likely in mid-April. These
amounts may also change once our local Corps districts receive and disperse stimulus
package funding.
Northwest
House and Senate members have once again delivered important project funding
for critical navigation and ecosystem restoration projects in our region. We are especially pleased to report that the
Columbia River Channel Improvement Project (channel deepening) is slated to
receive $34.5M, which will keep this project on target for completion by
2010. We are also pleased to report
increases to the following projects, when compared with the FY2009 budget
proposal:
Mt.
St. Helens sediment control, WA
Elliott
Bay Seawall, WA study (Port of Seattle)
Tillamook
Bay & Bar (Port of Garibaldi)
Yaquina
River (Port of Toledo)
Siuslaw
River (Port of Siuslaw)
Umpqua
River (Port of Umpqua)
Swinomish
Channel (Port of Skagit County)
Columbia
River at Baker Bay (Port of Ilwaco)
Columbia
River b/t Chinook & Sand Island (Port of Chinook)
Important
inland projects received funding. The major rehab study of John Day received approximately
$2 million. Operations and maintenance
funding for the eight locks and dams on the Columbia Snake River System was
fairly flat, though many of these projects will be recipients of stimulus
spending in the next few months.
In
a time of increased costs, project needs, aging infrastructure, and freight
congestion, PNWA urges Congress to continue recognizing the value of Corps
projects, and provide greater funding for this important agency in the future.
Note:
interested readers may download the full version of the Energy & Water
chapter of the omnibus bill by clicking here and
the tables with Corps funding here.
Stimulus update
As
noted above, the Corps of Engineers received $4.6 billion in the recently
enacted "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" stimulus package. The Corps will submit their spending plan to
the Office of Management & Budget (OMB - an arm of the White House) on
February 27th. The funds are
expected to be released to Corps headquarters on March 6th, and will
likely be dispersed to the districts around the country approximately one week
later. PNWA has been in close contact
with the Portland, Walla Walla and Seattle Districts as well as the
Northwestern Division in an effort to communicate our views regarding Northwest
navigation and ecosystem restoration priorities.
PNWA staff contact: Kristin Meira
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