NWC FEDERAL SPOTLIGHT (Jan. 9, 2024)

Happy New Year NWC members and friends!

Since our December Federal Spotlight, we have a few updates.

Congress is back in town this week and faces a daunting list of tasks. First up is FY2024, of which the current Continuing Resolution runs out on Jan. 19 and Feb. 2 respectively. While Congress has determined top-line numbers for FY2024, the House is facing a shrinking majority which will add to the challenges facing them. On a good note, both chambers have started their Water Resources Development Act work for 2024 and a Members Day hearing is scheduled for later this week. Read more about it in the Congressional Spotlight.

On the agency front, check out the latest on meetings, guidelines, and rules in our Federal Agency Spotlight.

On the NWC front, is so much to report from new members to a new policy issue submission process to our upcoming Legislative Summit, March 11-13, 2024, in Washington, DC. Read about it all in New Member Spotlight and  NWC’s Spotlight. 

Julie Ufner

NWC

 

NEW MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

NWC WELCOMES AMERICAN SHORE & BEACH PRESERVATION ASSOCIATION (ASBPA). The American Shore and Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA) was founded in 1926 and is dedicated to preserving, protecting and enhancing our coasts by merging science and public policy.  ASBPA advocates for healthy, sustainable and resilient coastal systems to sustain four inter-connected core values provided by shores and beaches: community protection, a strong economy, ecological health and recreation.

CONGRESSIONAL SPOTLIGHT

Overview. Both the House and Senate return this week to an avalanche of outstanding issues. They have a host of unresolved issues from FY2024 appropriations, border security, funding for Ukraine, and a Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) bill.

Adding to the challenges faced by the new House Speaker, Mike Johnson (R-La.), is the shrinking GOP majority. December witnessed the expulsion of Rep. George Santos (R-NY) due to ethics violations, alongside the departure of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) at year-end. The Republicans received another surprise last week as Rep. Bill Johnson of Ohio, originally set to leave Congress after March 2024 to lead Youngstown State University, announced an earlier departure on Jan. 21.

This resignation leaves the House GOP with 219 members compared to 213 Democrats, with three vacancies, carrying significant consequences for the Republicans. With a slim margin, assuming full attendance, House Republicans can only afford to lose two votes on party-line measures. That doesn’t even account for House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) who is out for cancer treatments. Such a scenario renders passing party-oriented legislation challenging, especially contentious measures.

And this year is an election year for the President, all the House of Representative members and 34 Senators. According to the Cook Report, there are 24 toss-up seats in the House, 10 held by Democrats and 14 held by Republicans.

Status of FY2024 Appropriations. Currently, the federal government is running under a two-tiered Continuing Resolution until Jan. 19 and Feb. 2 respectively (Under tier 1, four generally non-controversial FY2024 appropriations for Agriculture, Energy/Water, Transportation-Housing and Urban Development and Veterans Affairs were extended to Jan. 19. The eight other appropriations measures (along with authorization for the National Flood Insurance Program) expire on Feb. 2, 2024, under tier 2).  Up until last week, there was disagreement on the top-line funding number for FY2024.

But, over the weekend, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced a deal on top-line numbers for FY2024 appropriations which allows appropriators to craft a detailed spending package. Under the deal, the agreement sets aside $1.59 trillion for the 12 appropriations bills. This largely echoes the debt ceiling agreement which was passed last May. It also speeds up an IRS spending cut of $10 billion from FY2025 to FY2024 and takes back $6.1 billion in Covid-related funding.

However, agreement has not been made on how this money will be broken up among the 12 bills—Sen. Patty Murry (D-Wash.) and Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), chairs of the Senate and House Appropriations Committees respectively, are working on these allocations. Nor does the agreement address potential “riders” that may also be attached to the bill(s).

The agreement was almost immediately given a thumbs down by House Freedom Caucus members who said it was a “terrible failure.” Additionally, several conservatives members have indicated support for a shutdown if border issues are not addressed in the appropriations bills.

This raises the odds of a partial government shutdown in 10 days and highlights the challenge House Speaker Johnson will have to wrap up FY2024 appropriations in the next several weeks.

Water Resources Development Act (WRDA). The 2024 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) is in progress in both the House and Senate. The Senate began the process with a Senator-exclusive portal for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) submissions, reviewing over 1,100 ideas with the Environment and Public Works Committee. Senate submissions are mostly closed, while the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s member-only portal closes on January 12. Concurrently, this week the T&I Committee plans to hold a Members Day on WRDA requests on Thursday, Jan. 11 at 10am ET.

Both chambers aim for a draft WRDA bill by spring, voting in late spring or early summer. Later, a conference committee will merge House and Senate bills, leading to a final vote before the election.

Tips: If proposing studies, projects or policies to House reps, know their deadlines and formats.

Offices vary in handling member submissions; some forward all to T&I while others prioritize. Consider gathering community support letters for proposals. Ultimately, WRDA is a bipartisan effort avoiding contentious elements. Staff strive for elements appealing to both sides for bipartisan success.

Congressional Hearings and Markups of Interest:

COURTS SPOTLIGHT

Waters of the U.S. limits are still up to debate. The “Waters of the U.S.” (WOTUS) fight on the final rule is not over, even though the U.S. Supreme Court scaled back its reach last May. Due to ongoing litigation, 27 states are still under the pre-2015 WOTUS rule, also known as the 1986 WOTUS regulations and 23 states are under the 2023 WOTUS rule as amended by the SCOTUS decision. However, questions continue, ‘what is a surface water connection,’ ‘what is considered relatively permanent’—i.e. ‘how long water needs to flow’ among other questions. According to comments by EPA and USACE, the agencies are considering releasing revised or additional guidance in 2024.

FEDERAL AGENCY SPOTLIGHT

COAST GUARD

MEETING. National Maritime Security Advisory Committee (In person/virtual, Feb. 5-7, 2024). The National Maritime Security Advisory Committee (Committee) will conduct a series of meetings over three days in conjunction with the 11th Annual Maritime Security East Conference in Arlington, VA to discuss the Committee’s open taskings concerning NVIC 03-03 updates, Active Shooter/Active Threat in the Maritime Environment, and Unmanned Systems in the Maritime Environment. All meetings will be open to the public and will not require registration to the Conference.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

GRANT. EPA Announces Grant Funding for Technical Assistance for Rural Water Systems (Grant Applications due Feb. 2, 2024) On December 4, 2023, EPA announced the availability of up to $30.7 million in grant funding for technical assistance and training to support small drinking water and wastewater systems, including those in rural communities. This grant will help expand on the Agency’s water technical assistance (WaterTA) commitment, which aims to provide a range of assistance to help communities identify solutions for water challenges — from capacity building to helping navigate the federal funding application process, and strategically investing in reliable infrastructure solutions. Questions about applying for EPA funding for training and technical assistance must be received by January 18, 2024, and applications must be received by February 2, 2024. EPA expects to award these cooperative agreements by summer of 2024. For more information on the grant, please visit EPA’s website on Training and Technical Assistance for Small Systems Funding.

FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY

GUIDELINES. FEMA’s Releases Updated FEMA P-93 Federal Guidelines for Dam Safety. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Dam Safety Program (NDSP) has released an updated FEMA P-93, Federal Guidelines for Dam Safety. These guidelines apply to dam safety management practices for all federal agencies responsible for the planning, emergency preparedness, design, construction, operation, regulation of dams, and response to dam incidents. To download the updated version of FEMA P-93, please visit: Federal Guidelines for Dam Safety (fema.gov). For other Dam Safety Federal Guidelines: Dam Safety Federal Guidelines | FEMA.gov.

MEETING. Technical Mapping Advisory Council Meeting (Virtual, Tuesday, Jan. 23—Wednesday, Jan 24, 2024). The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Technical Mapping Advisory Council (TMAC) will hold a virtual public meeting on Tuesday, January 23, 2024, and Wednesday, January 24, 2024. The purpose of this meeting is for the TMAC members to discuss the content of the 2023 TMAC Annual Report. The meeting will be held virtually using the following Microsoft Teams Video Communications link (Tuesday Link: https://tinyurl.com/bdemyspu; Wednesday Link: https://tinyurl.com/yu8pcaan). Members of the public who wish to attend the virtual meeting must register in advance by sending an email to FEMA-TMAC@fema.dhs.gov

REGISTRATION. 2024 National Dam Safety Program Technical Seminar (Closes Jan. 13, 2024). The National Dam Safety Program Technical Seminar (NDSPTS) is hosting its 31st annual session on Tuesday, February 13, 2024, to Wednesday, February 14, 2024, at FEMA’s Emergency Management Training Institute Facilities in Emmitsburg, Maryland. The theme of the seminar is “Dam Safety 101: Design, Analysis, Construction, and Risk Management.” The keynote speakers for the event are Eric Halpin from Consulting LLC, and Mark Kilgore from the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. The seminar covers key topics of Developing Design Data: Field Sampling to Lab Testing, Data Management and Visualization During Dam Construction and Rehabilitation ‐ Lessons learned From USACE Projects, Granular Filter Material Quality Testing: Best Practices and Lessons Learned, Use of Drones and Bathymetry to Assist with Decision Making by a State Dam Safety Program, and USACE Robotics and AI/ML for Critical Infrastructure Inspection. Those interested in participating must register by Saturday, January 13, 2024. Upon registration, kindly provide supervisor information for approval in the application, list Tim Bush at  timothy.bush@fema.dhs.gov, (256)-454- 5865.

OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET (OMB)

GUIDANCE. OIRA Regulatory Meeting Policy. In Dec., the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) released Guidance Implementing Section 2(e) of Executive Order 14094 (Modernizing Regulatory Review).  OIRA is within OMB and charged with overseeing the federal rulemaking process. The guidance lays out how and when the agency will meet with interested parties on rulemaking coming down the pike, including those entities who have not historically requested such meetings. Additionally, the guidance states that “OIRA generally will not schedule E.O. 12866 meetings for the same meeting requester during a dingle E.O. 12866 review of the same regulatory action at the same stage of the regulatory process….As a general matter, OIRA will not consider meeting requests from an umbrella coalition or federation as duplicative of requests from individual members of that coalition or federation.”

Resources:

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

WEBINAR. Remote Sensing of River Discharge Under Critical Flow Conditions (Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, at 1:30pm ET/10:30am PT). USGS’s National Innovation Center/Next Generation Water Observing System’s External Research and Development will hold their next seminar on Thursday, Jan. 18 at 1:30pm ET. During this webinar/seminar, Dr. Elowyn Yager and Dr. Danny White from the University of Idaho and Dr. Carl Legleiter and Dr. Laura Hempel from USGS will present their work to monitor river discharge under critical flow conditions using remote sensing. Reliable information on streamflow is critical for numerous applications, including water supply forecasting, flood management, habitat assessment, and even recreation. However, conventional, field-based methods of measuring discharge are costly, limited in spatial extent, and can place personnel at risk. A current research priority for the USGS is thus to identify, develop, and test alternative, non-contact techniques by which discharge could be inferred from various forms of remotely sensed data. This presentation will describe the initial exploration of one such approach that involves making simple measurements from readily available image data and then calculating discharge based on a pair of hydraulic relationships. The meeting information is as follows: https://doitalent.zoomgov.com/j/1605824909; Meeting ID: 160 582 4909, Passcode: 942491.

NWC SPOTLIGHT

REGISTRATION OPEN. 2024 Legislative Summit Dates Set (March 11-13, 2024; Washington, D.C.). We will be holding our 2024 Legislative Summit at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC from Monday, March 11 through Wednesday, March 13, 2024. This meeting is jam-packed with sessions and speakers on federal water and waterways resource changes and opportunities. For the latest information on speakers, session and registration, check out our 2024 Legislative Summit page.

NWC FEDERAL POLICY/ISSUE REQUEST FORM. Help NWC determine federal policy positions. With the invaluable assistance of NWC members Brad Pickel from the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterways Association and Kristin Meira from American Cruise Lines (also the chair of the Navigation Caucus), NWC has developed a form for members to submit federal policy requests. This streamlined process aims to help us better track issues of interest to the membership, enhance the quality of programming during caucus calls and NWC meetings, and allows us to more accurately and efficiently weigh in on federal legislation, regulations, and policies.

NEXT NWC NAVIGIATION CAUCUS MEETING (Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024 at 1pm ET). The next meeting for NWC’s Navigation Caucus will be on Tuesday, Feb. 6 at 1pm ET. If interested, and you have not received a calendar invite, email Julie Ufner at julie@waterways.org. The NWC Navigation Caucus supports the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and all federal agencies whose authorizations, policies, and legislative mandates impact the navigation channels across the nation. Our goal is to facilitate the fluid movement of commerce by collaborating with federal agencies and industry to ensure the viability of the coastal and inland river navigation systems by working with Congress to secure funding for construction and ongoing operations and maintenance for USACE projects.

INTERESTED IN FEDERAL POLICY ISSUES? Next NWC Legislative Policy Committee Monthly Meeting (Thursday, Feb. 8 at 4pm ET). During these monthly meetings, someone (usually Julie) will give a 60,000 overview on what’s going on in DC that may impact the movement of water/waterways issues before diving into specific issues. Additionally at this meeting, members are given the opportunity to share intel, including issues they are following and/or working on. LPC is NWC’s primary arbitrator on federal policy positions and is open to all interested in NWC members.

NWC LEVEE WORKING GROUP. Comment letter on draft engineering manual 1110-2-1913. NWC’s Levee Working Group is currently assessing potential NWC comments on USACE’s draft Engineering Manual 1110-2-1013 for levees. If you would like to be a part of this group, let Julie Ufner know. We will be sharing the draft initial comments we received from the membership with the group soon for further feedback.