Water Resources Development Act of 2018

Floor Speech

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Mr. COSTA. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I want to also thank the ranking member and the chair of the committee for allowing us to work with the committee for what is an important amendment.

The Denham-Costa amendment would make permanent the existing authority for utility companies to contribute to funds to expedite permit reviews for the Army Corps of Engineers.

Expedited permit review reduces project costs and enhances public safety by ensuring that projects are completed faster. It just makes good sense.

Projects could benefit from this permanent authority include work to stabilize aging transmission line towers in the San Francisco Bay, replacing natural gas transmission lines over and under waterways, and restoring water delivery systems associated with hydroelectric facilities.

A lot of good has come from this amendment. It has broad support from the utility industry and labor unions. I thank the author of this amendment for his good cooperation, and I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. COSTA. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the chair of the committee and the ranking member and all of the staff for their support and work on this important amendment. It is a simple amendment to the Water Resources Development Act.

Today, as a result of action taken by the Congress in the previous WRDA bills, the Army Corps of Engineers has the authority to accept funds from non-Federal interests to update rules that govern the operations of reservoirs owned and operated by the Corps. Unfortunately, there are a number of facilities that are regulated but not owned by the Corps of Engineers, and previous WRDA bills have failed to provide similar authority to accept funds to update the operations manuals. These manuals are very important as it relates to flood control issues.

Although the Corps regulations specify that water operations manuals, including flood-control curves, should be reviewed and updated regularly, the reality is the Corps does not do this because they have got budget constraints.

A Government Accountability Office report released in July 2016 found that the Corps-owned projects for revisions to water control manuals are often a lower priority than other operations and maintenance activities, such as equipment repairs, sediment removal, or levee repairs. As a result, the Corps oftentimes does not get to funding these revised water control manuals. This is important. We have floods all across the country, and it is important that these get updated.

Non-Corps section 7 projects have an even lower budget priority. The Merced Irrigation District in central California, which I have the honor to represent, is the owner of such a facility called New Exchequer Dam, an important reservoir that has served for decades and decades to provide water supply, flood control benefits for the people of the San Joaquin Valley.

The Merced Irrigation District wants to improve the spillway and water storage of Exchequer Dam and Reservoir, and it is going to fund all of the improvements. But it has been prevented from doing so for years because the Corps doesn't have the funding to review and to revise the project's water control manual. As a matter of fact, the last time it was updated was over 30 years ago, which is of concern.

So Merced offered--guess what--to pay for the process, but the Corps said, well, they can't do that because they are not legally able to accept the funds.

That doesn't make any sense. So this amendment would resolve this by giving the Corps the authority to accept funds to update operation manuals from the owners of all of section 7 private facilities that are, in fact, regulated by the Army Corps of Engineers.

So, for the good folks of eastern Merced County, this amendment will provide an opportunity for the Merced Irrigation District to explore the raising of the spillway gates at New Exchequer Dam, therefore increasing flood control protection and, at the same time, increasing the storage capacity of this reservoir that I said has existed for decades to, in some years, another 57,000 acre-feet of water.

57,000 acre-feet of water is an important addition. It is a lifeline--can be--to our way of life in areas like the valley where drought, as many as you have heard about, is an ever-present threat. Every drop of water counts.

So I want to thank the cosponsors of my amendment--Representative Denham, Representative Garamendi, and Representative McClintock--for their working together on a bipartisan basis to provide not only tools for the Merced Irrigation District, but all other facilities, entities, local water agencies that have a similar type of project.

This is a good, commonsense amendment. I know of no opposition to it. Not seeing anyone else who would like to speak on it, I yield back the balance of my time.

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