Administration releases FY2011 Corps of Engineers budget

Today, the Administration released its FY2011 budget proposal.  The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is proposed to receive $4.8B, a reduction from the $5.4B appropriated for the Corps by Congress for FY2010.  The Operations & Maintenance (O&M) account would largely remain intact, with a proposed $2.4B in funding, the same as what was appropriated in FY2010.  However, the Construction account would face a significant reduction, with only $1.7B proposed for FY2011, as compared to $2B provided by Congress in FY2010.  The General Investigations (GI) account would also be reduced, from $160M enacted in FY2010 to $104M in FY2011.

Today and tomorrow, PNWA staff will be meeting and speaking with the Corps' Portland, Walla Walla, Seattle, and San Francisco Districts to note the project-by-project budget requests and the Corps' FY2011 capability levels for the navigation and ecosystem restoration projects we support.  PNWA's FY2011 Energy & Water Requests document will be finalized and released to the Northwest Congressional delegation by the end of this week.  It will also be posted to our website, which is also a good source for FY2011 appropriations request forms for House and Senate members from Oregon, Washington, Idaho and California:  www.pnwa.net.

Besides the suggested FY2011 spending amounts for the Corps, the budget also contained notable policy suggestions:

Inland Waterways Trust Fund

The budget text includes a desire to "replace the current diesel fuel tax for the inland waterways with a new funding mechanism to meet the authorized non-Federal cost-share for inland waterways capital investments in a way that is more efficient and more equitable than the fuel tax."  Last year, the Administration proposed a lockage fee. This year, they did not specify an alternate mechanism.  The Inland Marine Transportation System (IMTS) working group, a task force of representatives from the IWUB and Corps, released a draft Capital Investment Strategy in December, to propose changes to the cost-share for inland construction and major rehab projects, project delivery improvements, and an increase in the existing diesel tax.  PNWA is meeting with a group of our members this Wednesday to determine the level of support for this new strategy.  PNWA, other waterways groups, and Congress have repeatedly rejected earlier calls for scrapping the diesel tax in favor of lockage fees.

Principles & Guidelines update

Also included in the budget text is a notation regarding "the Administration's effort to revise the over 25-year old procedures for planning future Federal water resources projects and supports improving the management of existing projects to incorporate current water resources planning concepts and analytical methods."  PNWA has commented and will continue to provide comments regarding the effort to change the Economic and Environmental Principles and Guidelines for Water and Related Land Resources Implementation Studies (P&Gs).  The P&Gs are used to evaluate water resource development projects prior to authorization.  PNWA continues to be concerned about the strong desire for "non-structural" measures for projects, which may be suitable for flood damage control projects but not appropriate for navigation projects.

Water Resources Development Act

Previous administrations in the 1980's and 1990's have taken a leadership role in proposing policy for WRDA bills.  This administration aims to return to this role, noting that "the Administration intends to develop a set of broad principles to chart the future course of the Corps and to help guide authorization of Corps studies, projects, and programs in the next Water Resources Development Act."

PNWA staff contact: Kristin Meira

Expanded Bull Trout Critical Habitat Designation proposed

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, on January 14, 2010, published a Federal Register notice of their proposed rule to expand the Critical Habitat Designation (CHD) for bull trout throughout the Northwest. The proposed rule would designate as Critical Habitat over 22,000 miles of streams and shoreline and more than 500,000 acres of reservoirs and lakes in Washington (including the Olympic Peninsula and Puget Sound), Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Nevada. This is more than a five-fold increase from the habitat originally designated in 2005.

The Forest Service says that there will be about $5-7 Million per year in economic impacts. Most of that will be the cost of increased ESA consultations. They say that there will be no significant impact on energy production and that no significant new conservation measures will be required. Dredging is identified as one of the activities that will be affected, though we were not able to find detail on the nature of those impacts.

The agency is holding informational meetings in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Nevada between February 2^nd and 25^th. A hearing is scheduled the evening of February 25^th in Boise. Comments are due by March 1, 2010. The Federal Register notice, economic impact analysis, meeting schedule and details on how to submit comments are available at www.fws.gov/pacific/bulltrout.

Staff contact: Glenn Vanselow