Letter to Hon. Peter DeFazio, Chairman on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Hon. Sam Graves, Ranking Member on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Hon. Grace Napolitano, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, Hon. David Rouzer, Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment - Representatives Cohen and Barragán Urge Inclusion of Environmental Justice Provisions in the 2022 Water Resources Development Act

Letter

Dear Chairman DeFazio, Ranking Member Graves, Subcommittee Chair Napolitano, and
Ranking Subcommittee Member Rouzer:

We appreciate the Committee's commitment towards effectively redressing the water resources
challenges facing the nation's most vulnerable communities. This commitment was clearly
evidenced in the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2020, which included vital
reforms designed to improve the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' consultation and coordination
with disadvantaged communities and Tribes, prioritize resiliency planning for economically
disadvantaged communities, and establish an important pilot program to facilitate effective flood
risk management planning for underserved communities.

However, much more needs to be done to ensure that the Army Corps of Engineers' has the tools
and capacity needed to advance community-supported solutions to the entrenched water
resources challenges that plague far too many of the nation's most vulnerable communities. To
provide long-lasting benefits to economically disadvantaged communities, minority communities
and Tribes across the country, we ask you to include the following common-sense provisions in
the upcoming WRDA:

1. Increase Capacity and Expertise Within the Agency: Establish a new position of Senior
Advisor for Environmental Justice within the Office of the Chief of Engineers and
require that each Corps District hire a Tribal Liaison officer. The Senior Advisor should
revisit the way the Corps applies its "ability to pay" provision, address other barriers to
access and participation in Corps programs, ensure culturally competent messaging in
education and outreach materials and assist in identifying and engaging with
communities suffering from environmental injustice. The District Tribal Liaisons should
build authentic and lasting relationships with Tribal leadership and members and work
closely with Tribes to facilitate robust and effective consultation and coordination with
Tribes that fully respects and accounts for the fundamental sovereignty of Tribes, and the
Federal trust and treaty responsibilities to Tribal Nations.

2. Ensure Meaningful Opportunities for Public Input on Environmental Justice: Establish a
standing Federal Advisory Committee on Environmental Justice, in accordance with the
Federal Advisory Committee Act, to advise the Chief of Engineers and the Assistant
Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) on activities and actions that should be undertaken
by the Corps to ensure more equitable delivery of services, projects, and project benefits
through all Corps programs.

3. Increase Opportunities for Assistance: Enhance the Corps' ability to provide resiliency
planning for economically disadvantaged communities, communities of color, and Tribes,
and expand the ten-community Pilot Program for Economically Disadvantaged
Communities established by Section 118(b) of WRDA 2020. The Corps should also be
directed to utilize existing mapping tools -- such as the EPA's EJSCREEN and FEMA's
National Risk Index -- to assist in identifying those communities most in need and at risk.

4. Maximize Toxics Remediation in ecological restoration, navigation, and flood resilience
projects: Ensure that Corps projects, project operations and maintenance, and activities
across all Corps missions and business lines account for, and where practicable
incorporate remediation of, toxic contamination. The Corps should also be directed to
coordinate closely with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, state environmental
agencies, and regional coordinating bodies including River Commissions, to maximize
remediation of toxics to the greatest extent practicable when conducting work in
waterways or regions with high levels of pollutants. This work is particularly critical in
areas where Corps dredging risks stirring up heavy metals and polychlorinated biphenyls
(PCBs) and in areas where hurricanes and floods risk inundating heavily contaminated
sites.

5. Advance Environmental Justice Innovation: Establish an Environmental Justice
Innovation Center to develop and train Corps staff to deliver innovative communityscaled solutions to water resources problems that are environmentally sustainable and
cost-effective. The Innovation Center should prioritize working with smaller
communities facing multiple, or particularly unique, water resources challenges. For
example, the Innovation Center could work with a community and outside experts to
incorporate bioremediation or groundwater recharge maximization measures into a
natural infrastructure project to increase water quality improvement co-benefits.

6. Support Minority-Owned Businesses: Direct the Corps to increase collaboration,
contracting, and subcontracting with minority-owned businesses to improve gender-based
and race-based outcomes. Many companies profit greatly from contracting with the
Corps, including for post-disaster recovery work, and Congress should ensure that these
benefits are inclusive of and prioritize minority-owned businesses. The distribution of
funds should be tracked and reported on a disaggregated basis to assess who benefits
from economic opportunities.

We appreciate your consideration of this request and urge you to ensure that that the Corps has
the capacity and tools it needs to better serve the nation's most vulnerable communities.

Sincerely,

Source