NOR'WESTER NEWSLETTER ISSUE #379                                           Visit us on Facebook! Facebookmasthead

December 20, 2010

In This Issue:
Section 214 extension signed into law by President Obama on December 18
Another FY2011 Continuing Resolution (CR) likely
Columbia Snake River System lock maintenance closure begins
Online registration available for PNWA Mission to Washington and Regional Meetings
CLD Pacific joins PNWA
MacKay & Sposito joins PNWA
Section 214 extension signed into law by President Obama on December 18

We are pleased to announce that Section 214 authority has been extended for six more years. The enactment of this legislation allows ports and other government entities to continue partnering with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to speed up permit reviews. Section 214 of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2000 allows the Corps of Engineers to accept funds from non-federal public entities to expedite the processing of permits. Section 214 is currently being used by over 41 public agencies in 20 Corps districts around the country, including the Ports of Seattle, Tacoma, Portland, Vancouver, and Kalama, as well as Seattle Public Utilities. By providing funding to their local Corps district to hire additional permit review staff, these entities ultimately save time and money by minimizing lengthy regulatory wait times. In addition, anyone making a permit request from that Corps district will also reap the benefits, in that more reviewers are available to process regulatory backlogs.

Rep. Larsen introduced H.R.6184 on September 22nd, with Rep. Peter DeFazio [OR-4] as an original co-sponsor. Twelve other House members signed on as co-sponsors, including the following from the Northwest delegation: Rep. Earl Blumenauer [OR-3], Rep. Jay Inslee [WA-1], Rep. Jim McDermott [WA-7], Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers [WA-5], Rep. Dave Reichert [WA-8], Rep. Kurt Schrader [OR-5], Rep. Mike Simpson [ID-2], and Rep. David Wu [OR-1].

After H.R.6184 cleared the House, Sen. Patty Murray [WA] led the effort to move the legislation in the Senate. The bill passed the Senate under unanimous consent on December 7th.

PNWA's goal remains to eventually make Section 214 authority permanent when a Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) bill is ready to move forward, hopefully in 2011. PNWA leads a national coalition to advocate for making Section 214 authority permanent.

PNWA staff contact: Kristin Meira
Another FY2011 Continuing Resolution (CR) likely

 

Agencies are currently operating under the third continuing resolution (CR) that has been necessary to temporarily fund the federal government since the 2011 fiscal year began on October 1, 2010. This third CR expires tomorrow evening.

Until last week, Senate leaders had been working on an omnibus spending bill that would have encompassed the twelve unfinished appropriations bills, including the earmarks that had been proposed. That effort was abandoned last Thursday, when it became clear there were not enough Senate votes to pass such a measure.

The Senate and House are currently negotiating a longer term CR to continue funding agencies at FY2010 levels. The next CR, which will be voted on by the Senate tomorrow morning, would fund the government through March 4, 2011. This CR will keep agencies to FY2010 spending levels, and will not include the FY2011 earmarks that had been provided in the House and Senate appropriations bills.

PNWA staff contact: Kristin Meira

Columbia Snake River System lock maintenance closure begins

 

The extended lock maintenance closure of the inland Columbia Snake River System began on time at 6:00 a.m. on Friday, December 10, 2010. The closure will last 14 weeks, until March 18, 2011. This extended closure will allow the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to install three new lock gates at The Dalles, John Day and Lower Monumental locks, with additional work at the remaining five locks on the inland river system.

PNWA staff had the opportunity to tour the locks at The Dalles and Lower Monumental last week. We were joined on Monday at The Dalles Dam by Dana Peterson, CEO of the National Association of Wheat Growers, as well as several reps from the Oregon wheat industry. The tour included views of the dewatered lock, the downstream gate that will be replaced, and a tainter valve that is ready for installation.

On Tuesday, we participated in a tour with roughly 50 members of the public at Lower Monumental Dam. Corps staff made presentations on the navlock, the gate to be replaced, and work taking place on a section of the concrete wall inside the lock. There was significant press coverage at this tour, including PNWA staff quotes in an AP story and evening news coverage in the Tri-Cities.

For more information regarding this historic and unprecedented closure, visit www.pnwa.net or http://www.nwp.usace.army.mil/navigation/lockoutage.asp.

PNWA staff contact: Kristin Meira

Online registration available for PNWA Mission to Washington and Regional Meetings

 

Online registration is now available for PNWA's Mission to Washington DC, to be held March 13-17, 2011 at the Grand Hyatt. Visit our Mission page to register.

Registration is also now available for PNWA's regional meetings in February. These meetings are free to PNWA members, and allow the association to prepare for the Mission to Washington, and the policy and project priorities the staff will pursue the remainder of the year. To register, visit our Regional Meetings page.


Staff contact: Kristin Meira

CLD Pacific joins PNWA

PNWA is pleased to announce our newest member: CLD Pacific Grain! CLD Pacific Grain is a Pacific Northwest regional joint venture between Louis Dreyfus Corporation, and Cargill Incorporated. CLD Pacific Grain handles and trades a variety of grain commodities within the Pacific Northwest as well as operates eight grain handling facilities throughout Washington, Oregon and Idaho. They operate two export terminals in the Portland area, and six river terminals along the Columbia, Snake and Clearwater Rivers. Commodities handled include: Soft White Wheat, Dark North Spring Wheat, Hard Red Winter Wheat, Club Wheat, Hard White Wheat, and Barley. For more information, contact Gene Loffler or Arnie Schaufler.
MacKay & Sposito joins PNWA

 

PNWA is pleased to announce the addition of MacKay & Sposito, Inc. to our membership. MacKay & Sposito, Inc. (M&S) is a regional consulting firm, focused on delivering results for clients through their passion for great work and leadership in our communities. With a large number of port and utility clients, M&S has a deep understanding of the goals, potential challenges, and opportunities facing clients in the public sector. Their professional staff forms a dynamic integrated team spanning five core service areas and four office locations with 80 employees (and growing) all focused on meeting client needs.

M&S offers innovation, vision and cost effective problem solving expertise in the following areas:

� Master planning services ranging in size from a small recreation park site plan to very large phased industrial development plans integrating land use and infrastructure components.

� Planning and entitlement services including, but not limited to site design, land divisions, NEPA, SEPA, JARPA and shoreline permitting.

� Civil engineering, including assessment and retrofitting of existing facilities, infrastructure master planning for utilities, road, and rail, industrial site development, and recreational facilities.

� Landscape architecture including development and operations standards, recreational facility site planning and design.

� Project, program and construction management from program design and scheduling to management, documentation and close out.

� Construction oversight, inspection, procurement, daily logs, quality assurance and control, contractor interface.

� Land surveying for all Port and Power Delivery needs, including topographic, boundary, and ALTA surveys for wind projects; transmission and distribution line surveying for new lines and upgrades, impairment studies, support and contracting of LiDAR and aerial mapping for large scale projects, as well as all surveying related to Air and Marine terminals, Port Management Agreement surveys, surveys for rail construction and upgrades, as well as lease and right of way surveys done to WSDOT LAG manual standards. Most M&S surveyors also have their TWIC credentials.

Visit MacKay & Sposito online at www.mackaysposito.com.