Water Resources Development Act of 2013

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, today the Senate will pass a Water Resources Development Act, or WRDA, for the first time since 2007. I thank my colleagues, chairman Barbara Boxer and ranking member David Vitter of the Environment and Public Works Committee, for working together to move a bipartisan bill out of committee and to the floor.

I know it wasn't easy, and compromises were made. But water resources development bills are important to the commerce that moves by river and sea, to those communities and towns that rely on the Corps of Engineers to protect them from flooding and other storm damage, and to maintaining the precious natural resources that our rivers, streams, and wetlands represent.

We have an infrastructure problem in this country. The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that we need $3.6 trillion investment in our failing infrastructure. I say failing not only because its literally crumbling but because the American Society of Civil Engineers 2013 Infrastructure Report Card gave America's infrastructure a ``D-plus.'' But for our inland waterways, levees, and ports that grade is a ``D-minus.''

As an example, consider the locks and dams on the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. These two rivers are important economic arteries, transporting millions of tons of product each year. The locks and dams that allow barges to move these goods were built in the 1930s and 1940s.

They are aging, and the risk of failure grows by the day. Back in March, a miter gate at the Marseilles Lock and Dam failed and was closed for 7 days. During that time, more than 50,000 tons of petroleum products came to a halt. That was a 7 day closure--can you imagine the economic impact of a catastrophic failure of one of these locks?

But we also must face reality that we passed this bill in a time of budget caps. This bill tries to update some of the funding mechanisms and processes we use to maintain and build locks dams, levees, and harbors.

With such great need and limited resources, my colleague Senator Mark Kirk and I introduced the Water Infrastructure Now Public Private Partnership Act, or WIN P3. I am pleased that the Senate-passed WRDA includes a major provision of our bill.

The provision adds a new element to a pilot program that allows for public private agreements between the Corps of Engineers and private entities. The pilot would allow the corps to expedite construction by bringing in private entities that have enough of a stake in completing infrastructure projects quickly that they could bring in private resources to help complete the work. The new language ensures that projects that have not received Federal funds would qualify for the program--projects like lock and dam modernization on the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers.

Currently those upgrades aren't projected to be complete until 2090. With this new program, I am hopeful new ways to fund and deliver big projects like these will be developed and help Illinois upgrade our water infrastructure more quickly.

This bill includes many provisions that could greatly benefit my home State of Illinois. It would keep up the fight against the spread of Asian carp. We must keep this invasive species from damaging the ecosystem of Lake Michigan.

The bill would also implement a National Levee Safety Program to establish safety standards and provide assistance to locals whose levees require rehabilitation. Many communities in Illinois find themselves in the difficult situation of having their levees decertified but without the funds to make the necessary repairs. I am hopeful that this bill could help at least some of them.

I am pleased that the bill addresses extreme weather. No matter why you think it is happening, it is clear that extreme weather events are becoming more severe and more frequent.

Consider the last year: The two costliest natural disasters in the world occurred in the United States--the Midwest drought and Hurricane Sandy, costing $100 billion. We can't ignore the reality that weather events like these are the new normal.

This bill would initiate studies by the National Academy of Sciences and GAO to evaluate how we respond to and mitigate extreme weather events. It would also give the corps greater authority to learn from and prepare for extreme weather events.

We have certainly seen our fair share of extreme weather in the Midwest and along the Mississippi River lately. Right now in Illinois and the Midwest, we are recovering from major floods. But it was only 5 months ago that the drought that sapped the Midwest caused record low water levels on the Mississippi--levels not seen since World War II.

I traveled to see it. The corps and Coast Guard took me out on an observation boat. When we got to the center of the channel, the corps commander said, ``Imagine water ten feet over your head right now, that's where the water levels should be.''

The water was so low it threatened to stop navigation on America's great commercial artery. Every few days barge operators and shippers were faced with the difficult question of whether there would be enough water for them to safely transit the Mississippi River. We are talking billions of dollars in goods from nearly every sector imaginable--agriculture, energy, dry goods, bulk goods.

During the crisis, some recommended it could all be solved if we simply allowed more water to flow from the Missouri River into the Mississippi. Some even called on the President to declare a disaster and mandate the water be taken from the Missouri River.

I said, ``Let's hold on a minute, we are all in this together.'' What happens on the Missouri affects the Mississippi, and the commerce on the Mississippi clearly benefits the Missouri River States.

Instead of draining the Missouri River for the benefit of the Mississippi, we pushed the corps to expedite removal of rock pinnacles that obstructed navigation. With that, along with some needed rain and creative management by the corps, we were able to maintain navigation without doing any harm to the Missouri River.

In my view, that was a fair and responsible outcome. Equally fair and responsible, now that we are through the crisis, is doing everything we can to learn from what happened and work to ensure we are better prepared if it happens again.

I introduced legislation to do that--the Mississippi River Navigation Sustainment Act. I am pleased that legislation is part of the Senate-passed bill.

It will improve forecasting capabilities and technology on the Mississippi River, give the corps greater flexibility to operate outside of the navigation channel, and create an environmental management pilot program for the Middle Mississippi.

Also included from my bill is a provision that would create a greater Mississippi River Basin severe flooding and drought management study. It will for the first time look at the entire Mississippi River Basin, which covers 40 percent of the United States and is the third largest river basin in the world. The study will help us better understand how the basin functions as a system and how we can best manage it to maintain safe and reliable navigation and protect lives and property--especially during times of extreme flooding and drought.

This provision was added to the bill as an amendment that I introduced with Senator Roy Blunt and others. That amendment was a compromise between Missouri River Senators and Mississippi River Senators.

I thank my colleagues, including Senator Baucus, for working with me to come up with acceptable language. With this agreement, hopefully we can start to get beyond the parochial wars of the past. It is clear those of us on the Missouri River and the Mississippi River have a new common enemy that isn't going anywhere soon extreme weather.

I am encouraged that the Senate has come together in a bipartisan way on this bill. I now hope the House will pass legislation that makes needed investments in the waterways that are so important to the flow of commerce and upholds the environmental protections that keep America's waterways healthy.

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