NOR'WESTER NEWSLETTER ISSUE #382                                           Visit us on Facebook! Facebookmasthead

February 14, 2011

In This Issue:
Administration releases FY2012 Corps of Engineers budget
FEMA offers Puget Sound floodplain workshop

Administration releases FY2012 Corps of Engineers budget

 

PNWA staff contact: Kristin Meira

 

Today, the Administration released its budget proposal for the 2012 fiscal year, which begins on October 1, 2011.  The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is proposed to receive $4.631B, nearly $200M below the Administration's proposal for FY2011, and nearly $800M below the $5.4B appropriated for the Corps by Congress for FY2010.  The Operations & Maintenance (O&M) account would largely remain intact, with a proposed $2.3B in funding, roughly the same as what was appropriated in FY2010.  However, the Construction account would face a significant reduction, with only $1.48B proposed for FY2012, 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 FY2012.  The budget also includes $50M, a $40M increase, for a comprehensive levee safety initiative to help ensure that federal levees are safe, and to assist non-federal parties to address safety issues with their levees.

 

Following are the President's proposed spending levels for specific projects that are supported by PNWA's membership:

 

Construction (CG)          

Lower Columbia River ecosystem restoration, OR/WA - $4,500,000

Mt. St. Helens sediment control, WA - $6,500,000

Columbia River Fish Mitigation (CRFM) - $128,405,000

 

General Investigations (GI)

Elliott Bay Seawall, WA study (Port of Seattle) - 0

Humboldt Bay Long-Term Shoal Management, CA feasibility study - 0

Puyallup River flood damage reduction study - 0

 

Operations & Maintenance - Deep Draft             

Columbia & Lower Willamette below Vancouver & Portland (C&LW), OR/WA - $24,378,000

Columbia River at the Mouth (MCR), OR/WA - $12,857,000

Columbia River between Vancouver & The Dalles, OR/WA - $693,000

Coos Bay (Port of Coos Bay), OR - $4,793,000

Humboldt Harbor & Bay (Port of Humboldt Bay, CA) - $2,800,000

Lake Washington Ship Canal, WA - $10,553,000

Seattle Harbor, WA - $4,240,000

Skipanon Channel (Port of Astoria), OR - 0

Willamette River environmental dredging, OR - $250,000

Yaquina Bay & Harbor (Port of Newport), OR - $1,962,000

 

Operations & Maintenance - Shallow Draft        

Columbia River at Baker Bay (Port of Ilwaco) - 0

Columbia River b/t Chinook & Sand Island (Port of Chinook) - 0

Siuslaw River (Port of Siuslaw) - $551,000

Yaquina River (Port of Toledo) - 0

Swinomish Channel (Port of Skagit County) - 0

Tillamook Bay & Bar (Port of Garibaldi) - 0

Umpqua River (Port of Umpqua) - 0

 

Operations & Maintenance - Inland Locks

Bonneville Lock & Dam - $6,640,000

The Dalles Lock & Dam - $3,236,000

John Day Lock & Dam - $4,394,000

McNary Lock & Dam - $5,309,000

Ice Harbor Lock & Dam - $3,734,000

Lower Monumental Lock & Dam - $2,172,000

Little Goose Lock & Dam - $2,062,000

Lower Granite Lock & Dam - $2,823,000

 

Today and tomorrow, PNWA staff will be meeting with the Corps' Portland, Walla Walla, Seattle, and San Francisco Districts to better understand the proposed budget levels, and what they would mean for navigation and ecosystem restoration projects in the Northwest.  PNWA's FY2012 Navigation Projects document will be finalized and released to the Northwest Congressional delegation and posted to our website by the end of this week.

 

Besides the suggested FY2012 spending amounts for the Corps, the budget also contained notable policy suggestions.  With regard to the Inland Waterways Trust Fund (IWTF), the Administration intends to "work with Congress to reform the laws governing the IWTF, including increasing the revenue paid by commercial navigation users sufficiently to meet their share of the costs of activities financed from this trust fund."  For the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF), the budget language notes that "legislation will be proposed to significantly expand the authorized uses of the HMTF so that its receipts are available to finance the federal share of efforts carried out by several agencies in support of commercial navigation through the Nation's ports."  Only $691M in receipts are designated for coastal O&M in this budget; the HMTF usually takes in twice that amount each year.  PNWA staff will be gathering details of both of these policy proposals, and will report on them to the membership.

 

PNWA staff contact: Kristin Meira

 

FEMA offers Puget Sound floodplain workshop

 

FEMA is hosting a workshop for Puget Sound's NFIP participating communities with information on how NFIP implementation can meet Endangered Species Act obligations. NMFS and FEMA, together with the Puget Sound Partnership, will present information on how they will bring local land use implementation into alignment with both NFIP and ESA requirements. FEMA has posted a "Draft Final" Model Ordinance (MO) at http://www.fema.gov/about/regions/regionx/nfipesa.shtm . 

 

The Conference will take place on March 1 and 2 and run both days from 9:00 to 3:30. It will be held at the Edmonds Conference Center, 201 Fourth Ave N. Edmonds, WA 98020.  More information is available at http://www.client-ross.com/FloodPlainWorkshop/.

 

PNWA, WPPA and our port members met with FEMA to discuss port concerns with earlier drafts of the MO. Only one of our requested revisions was included in the revised MO. The prohibition of development in the hazardous materials section will not apply to continued operation of existing facilities and structures, reuse of existing facilities and structures, or functionally dependent facilities or structures.

 

We proposed definitions of the terms "reuse" and "functionally dependent" that would encompass port activities, but FEMA chose not to include any definition of those terms in the MO. FEMA staff told PNWA that ports would need to address those definitions with their local jurisdictions.  

The MO does include a section on "critical facilities" that gives a local jurisdiction some flexibility in locating essential services. Ports will need to work with their local jurisdictions to include port facilities under this section.  

 

PNWA staff contact: Glenn Vanselow