NOR'WESTER NEWSLETTER ISSUE #469                                                                          

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July 12th, 2013
In This Issue:
House approves FY2014 Energy & Water Appropriations bill

House approves FY2014 Energy & Water Appropriations bill   

 

On Wednesday, July 10th the House passed their FY2014 Energy & Water Appropriations bill (H.R. 2609).  The bill included a total of $4.826 billion for the Corps, a reduction of $154 million from FY2013 enacted levels.  The House legislation retained the $1 billion from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) that we saw in the iteration approved in Committee.  This is a substantial increase over previous years funding from the HMTF and $110 million above the President's FY2014 budget request (PBUD).
 

Most PNWA supported Corps projects that were included in the PBUD received a small haircut in the House bill. New start funding, however, was a noticeable exclusion and impacts two PNWA priority projects, the MCR jetty major rehabilitation and the Seattle Harbor channel deepening study, both of which received new start funding in the PBUD. PNWA will be advocating for robust funding for these and all PNWA supported projects as the appropriations process moves forward.

 

The final House bill did recognize the need for additional funding to operate and maintain our nation's critical navigation infrastructure, and included a large funding pot of $149 million in additional O&M. While this money is not divided into specific funding pots for deep draft, inland and coastal projects, the bill acknowledged the severe underfunding of small ports and directed at least $30 million to "small, remote and subsistence harbors and waterways" around the nation. PNWA will continue to strongly advocate for retention of these additional monies in a final bill. 

                                                                                                                                   

For more information, view the full text legislation or the accompanying bill report.  For a full list of PNWA supported Corps projects and how they fared in the bill, click here.