In response to the Administration’s proposal today to consolidate the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works program with the Departments of Transportation and Interior, the National Waterways Conference urges that before any reorganization takes place, the Administration must conduct an open and transparent process, taking into consideration the input of local governments, states and other water resources stakeholders.
Under the civil works program, the Corps is responsible for carrying out the Federal role in planning, designing, constructing, operating and maintaining much of the nation’s water resources infrastructure, including inland and deep-draft navigation, flood control, hydropower generation, water supply, aquatic ecosystem restoration, regulation of certain water-related activities and ancillary activities such as outdoor recreation. The vast majority of these are multi-purpose projects, from which accrue tangible and long-lasting benefits that maximize the nation’s economic investments while protecting our precious natural resources.
The Congress and the Corps have both recognized the need to streamline the Corps business model, improve project delivery, and provide greater responsiveness to impacted stakeholders and the public. Both the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014 and the Water Resources Development Act of 2016 enacted policy reforms towards this end. Similarly, the Corps has taken additional steps to review its rules, regulations, policies and guidelines to ensure they are serving the nation’s needs. Moreover, pending legislation in the Congress, the House-passed Water Resources Development Act of 2018, and the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018, both call for a comprehensive study on the Corps’ structure and organization, whether it should be modified to lead to greater efficiency, coordination, transparency and cost savings, and the effects of transferring its functions to an existing or new agency.
Managing water for multiple purposes can and often does lead to conflict among competing interests. Keeping appropriate federal activities in water resources consolidated within a single agency offers an opportunity to optimize these competing interests, allows federal responsibilities for water to be properly coordinated with those at state and local levels, and protects the multiple benefits produced from the water resources projects. In turn, such an approach assures the protection of the nation’s economic investments and the environment alike.