WRRDA Conference Report

Floor Speech

Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Madam President, I am joined by the chair and ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee to discuss a provision of the Water Resources Reform and Development Act conference report, which we will vote on shortly in the Senate. I thank them for their leadership on this important legislation, and rise with them today to discuss one of its provisions.

Section 4014 of the conference report, Ocean and Coastal Resiliency, creates a new Army Corps authority to address ocean and coastal ecosystem resiliency.

Subject to appropriations, this authority requires the Army Corps of Engineers to work with the heads of other Federal agencies, like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Fish and Wildlife Service, State governors and other State officials, and nonprofit organizations, to conduct a study identifying projects in coastal zones to enhance ocean and coastal ecosystem resiliency. State and local leaders often have the best information about the changing conditions of their oceans and coastal zones, and participation by them in the Army Corps' study process is intended to ensure the most effective resiliency projects are identified in the study.

In Rhode Island there are numerous entities, from our Coastal Zone Management Agency to our National Estuary Program, the University of Rhode Island, and Save the Bay that would bring important information and expertise to the process for identifying coastal resiliency projects in Rhode Island. In other States I know there will be similar interest.

Subject to appropriations, the study and project list will be updated every 5 years, to ensure that best available science and policies are informing project identification and selection.

When funding is provided for this program through the appropriations process, the Army Corps may carry out identified projects in accordance with the criteria for existing Corps Continuing Authority Program authorities.

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Mr. WHITEHOUSE. The conference committee's deliberations were informed by a legal analysis prepared by the Corps of Engineers Counsel regarding the interpretation of Section 4014.

I ask unanimous consent that the legal analysis prepared by Scott Murphy, Senior Counsel for Project Agreements and Reports in the Office of the Chief Counsel of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Headquarters, which describes how the Corps would implement this provision, be printed in the RECORD at the end of this colloquy.

The legal analysis, dated May 8, 2014, states that Section 4014 authorizes ``an independent coastal zone resiliency study and follow-on construction authority for projects to the extent they satisfy criteria for projects carried out under four named CAP authorities.'' In other words, Section 4014 relies on the terms and conditions of four preexisting authorities but it is not limited by the authorized levels in those authorities.

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Mr. WHITEHOUSE. I thank the chairman. I look forward to supporting this program in the future and during the appropriations process.

Resiliency is important in our estuaries, bays, and barrier islands, because we cannot just restore things the way they were and expect to reap the benefits. These systems are changing too much. Resiliency requires planning for future threats from extreme weather, from rising sea levels and warming temperatures, from development pressure, and from pollution. Coastal ecosystems act as filters, improving water quality so we can swim and fish off our docks; they act as barriers protecting property and lives from storms and storm surges; and they provide habitat for commercially valuable fish, shellfish, and other wildlife.

Coastal ecosystems support coastal economies, and I will continue looking for avenues to support restoration and research in this area.

There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:

LEGAL ANALYSIS--MAY 8, 2014

I've looked at the language and agree that it authorizes an independent coastal zone resiliency study and follow-on construction authority for projects to the extent they satisfy criteria for projects carried out under four named CAP authorities. Like other free standing study and construction authorities, I'd expect us to carry projects following the study to the extent they were separately funded. In other words, to the extent the language cites to CAP authorities, I would read that language as requiring merely that we apply the same rules for those projects for purposes of implementing projects (requiring agreement, cost sharing, etc.) following this study, but not as an actual direct expansion of those particular CAP program authorities themselves that might thereby subject our implementation of coastal zone resiliency projects after the study somehow subject to the Corps discretionary use of its overall CAP funding.

N. Scott Murphy,
Senior Counsel for Project Agreements and Reports Office of the Chief Counsel Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

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