Senate subcommittee approves FY2010 Corps
funding bill
Today,
the Senate Energy & Water Appropriations Subcommittee marked up their
FY2010 funding bill for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of
Reclamation, and Department of Energy.
The Corps of Engineers received $5.4B in FY2009 appropriations and
the Administration has proposed $5.1 for FY2010. The Senate bill proposes to keep funding at
the $5.4B level, an increase of $280M over the Administration's budget. The Subcommittee's bill follows the
President's budget proposal fairly closely. Operations and Maintenance (O&M)
would receive $2.450B, which is
$54M less than the President's request, but $248.1 million above the FY 2009
enacted level. PNWA members will also remember that the Corps received $4.6B
in the stimulus package (ARRA), with many Northwest navigation projects receiving
critical investment.
The following PNWA-supported navigation projects are
recommended for funding increases in the Senate bill:
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Lower Monumental Lock and Dam was
funded at $2.735M by both the President and the House. The Senate bill added
$4.0M to begin lock gate replacement for total funding of $6.735M. PNWA thanks
the efforts of U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) for championing this important project. PNWA continues to
support additional stimulus funding to ensure that the lock gate replacement is
completed in 2011.
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Elliott Bay Seawall (Seattle, WA)
General Investigation was not funded in the President's budget. It received
$800K in the House bill and $255K in the Senate bill.
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Coos Bay, OR O&M was proposed
at $$4.591M by the President. It was funded at $5.091M in the House bill and
$5.043 in the Senate bill.
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Columbia River at Baker Bay (Port
of Ilwaco, WA) was funded at $86K in the President's and House's budget. The
Senate bill increases funding to $727K.
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Columbia River between Chinook
and Sand Island (Port of Chinook, WA) received $7K in both the President's
budget and the House bill. It is funded at $847K in the Senate bill.
The Senate also added language directing the Corps to be flexible
in addressing the needs of the Ports of Ilwaco and Chinook, including saving
money by combining the projects into a single mobilization.
The
Senate bill also included $3M for the Bureau of Reclamation to fund the PNWA-supported
Odessa Subarea Special Study.
The
House Appropriations Committee, yesterday, approved its Energy and Water
Appropriations bill. It includes $5.5B for the Corps, including $2.5B for
O&M. PNWA reported on the Subcommittee's draft in the June 26 Nor'wester.
The details of the full Committee's bill are not yet available, but we do not
anticipate significant changes.
For more
information on FY2010 navigation funding, check our website www.pnwa.net.
Please note that PNWA's information will continue to be updated as the House and Senate
continue moving their respective bills through each chamber, as well as with
any changes provided by regional Corps officials regarding navigation-oriented
capabilities at projects our members support.
PNWA staff contact: Glenn Vanselow
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Short sea shipping grant program included in
MARAD bill
Today,
the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee approved the
Maritime Administration Authorization Act of FY2010. It includes provisions to
reduce congestion on the nation's roads by encouraging short sea shipping.
The measure would create a grant program for 'America's Marine Highways'
to encourage shipping by sea or inland waterway and establish a new program to
modernize port facilities to make efficiently transport freight. The bill would
also establish a Port Infrastructure Development Program to improve the
capabilities of port facilities to move freight.
PNWA
staff contact: Glenn Vanselow
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PNWA announces new
member: Cooperative Agricultural Producers, Inc.
PNWA
is extremely excited to announce Co-Ag (Cooperative Agricultural Producers,
Inc.) as our newest member. Co-Ag was
formed June 1, 1998, as the result of a merger between 3 cooperatives:
Fairfield Grain Growers, Inc., Rosalia Producers, Inc., and Oakesdale Grain
Growers, Inc. The cooperative serves over 600 members and has a licensed
storage capacity slightly over 13 million bushels. The commodities they receive are soft white
wheat, hard red winter wheat, dark northern spring wheat, feed barley, malting
barley, green peas, yellow peas, lentils, and triticale. They have a
processing facility in Spokane, Washington, where they are able to clean,
split, and bag peas, as well as clean and bag lentils for export and domestic
sales. Co-Ag utilizes both river and rail and would like to keep both
modes of transportation as viable and available shipping options.
For
more information, you can log onto Co-Ag's website at www.co-ag.com, or contact General
Manager Jackie Tee at [email protected] or
509.523.3511.
PNWA staff contact: Heather Stebbings
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PNWA Mid-Year Meeting
a great success!
Our
75th Annual Mid-Year Meeting held last week in Chelan, WA focused on
offering participants the opportunity to find solutions and develop ideas to
take home to implement. The presentations and discussions were extremely
valuable to all who attended, and we sincerely believe that we lived up to our
goal of leaving registrants challenged, inspired and prepared for the road
ahead as we begin to work through the economic rebound.
We
would like to thank all of our enthusiastic registrants, generous sponsors, and
informative speakers for the time everyone took to join us. It was
wonderful to be able to hear about the work our members are doing to overcome
the economic challenges facing our region and the nation. This meeting
provided a unique opportunity for us to discuss as an organization, a way to
move forward and the outlook is extremely positive!
U.S. Representative Doc Hastings speaks at the PNWA Mid-Year Meeting in Chelan, WA Expert strategy consultant Delore Zimmerman addresses the PNWA membershipPNWA Mid-Year Meeting registrants get a tour of the winemaking facility at Tsillan Cellars by owner Dr. Bob Jankelson
PNWA
staff contact: Heather Stebbings
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