FY2012 Corps of Engineers funding update - "additional" funding provided

Today, the House and Senate conferees reached consensus on a spending bill that will fund the government for the remainder of FY2012. The bill incorporates nine unfinished appropriations bills for FY2012, 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 today, December 16.

Yesterday, PNWA reported on overall Corps funding, as well as the monies that will be provided in the Operations & Maintenance (O&M), Construction (CG), and General Investigations (GI) accounts. More information became available today regarding individual project funding levels. All PNWA supported projects  that were in the President's budget have been retained in the omnibus, albeit with a slight "haircut" that was applied to all projects nationwide. This very slight reduction is similar to what was proposed in the House bill earlier this year.

We are very pleased to report that conferees retained the "additional" funding pots that had been proposed by the House and Senate in their bills earlier this year. In a typical year, Congress would have the opportunity to add funding to projects listed in the President's budget, and add projects that were left out of the budget. With the earmark ban in place, this is not possible. Instead, appropriators created additional national funding streams in the General Investigations (studies), Construction, and Operations & Maintenance (O&M) accounts. Following are the additional funding amounts provided in the omnibus:

Additional O&M: $173,409,000

Additional investigations: $34,740,000

Additional navigation construction: $74,145,000

Within the "additional O&M" stream of $173M, the following allotments are prescribed:

Small, remote or subsistence harbor maintenance: $30,000,000

Inland waterways maintenance: $30,000,000

Deep draft harbor and channel harbor maintenance: $55,000,000

Miscellaneous maintenance: $34,000,000

Other authorized project purposes: $24,409,000

This is outstanding news for Northwest navigation projects that were not in the President's budget, or were critically underfunded. The Corps will now have 45 days to devise a work plan to spend these "additional" funding amounts, and send that plan back to the House and Senate. During the past ten months, PNWA has been highlighting critical needs with Corps staff here in the region and in DC. We will continue to advocate for adequate funding for Northwest projects as the Corps determines how to allocate these additional monies.

Aside from the welcome availability of additional funding, there was also very favorable language recognizing the importance of navigation infrastructure. The conferees expressed concern that funding for the nation's aging infrastructure is insufficient to ensure continued competitiveness in the global economy, and noted that investing in operation, maintenance, and rehabilitation of infrastructure today will save taxpayers money in the future.

The nation's small ports and harbors were highlighted as well. The report finds that the criteria for navigation maintenance does not allow small ports and harbors to compete for funds and urges that the criteria be revised to allow for the reasonable and equitable distribution of funds, and include the economic impact these projects provide to local and regional economies. For many years, PNWA has urged Congress and several Administrations to allow local and regional economic impacts to be considered when determining funding for projects. PNWA also urged Senate appropriators to include language recognizing small ports in their bill this year. PNWA and its members are very grateful for the recognition that is clearly building for smaller ports that are so critical to the economic well-being of their local communities.

PNWA will keep you updated as the FY2012 funding process continues, especially as details of the Corps work plans for additional monies are released.