The Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee held two hearings in January in preparation for development of the panel’s next Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) bill, which senators hope to write and pass this year. The hearings featured little discussion of drinking water issues, but each briefly examined the status of the Corps’ dormant Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program, which Congress authorized in 2014 alongside the more well-known EPA WIFIA program.
EPW’s first hearing on WRDA, on January 10, featured testimony from stakeholders and experts that included Julie Ufner of the National Association of Counties; Scott Robinson of the Muskogee City-County Port Authority in Oklahoma; Steve Cochran of the Restore the Mississippi Delta Coalition; William Friedman of the American Association of Port Authorities; and Nicole Carter of the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
While this hearing largely focused on Corps policies, WIFIA was raised in a question from Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who inquired about the status of the Corps’ WIFIA program. The 2014 legislation that created WIFIA at EPA also established a similar program for water resource projects to be operated by the Corps, but to date no steps have been taken to make this program operational. Nicole Carter of CRS responded that the Corps has yet to move on WIFIA in part because it “has no real history with a loan or loan guaranty program,” and lacks expert understanding of how to evaluate the credit risks of potential projects. But if those challenges could be addressed, Carter said, the program could offer a new source of funding for “projects like flood levees” and other water resource improvements.
Sen. Ernst then suggested that EPA, which has successfully established its own WIFIA program, could aid the Corps by helping evaluate and fund certain water resource projects that fall under the Corps’ jurisdiction. This question appeared to be a reference to legislation introduced in the House of Representatives, and endorsed by AMWA, that would reauthorize EPA’s WIFIA program while setting up a process for the agency and the Corps to work together to vet water resource projects that seek funding under the Corps’ version of the program. A Senate version of the bill is expected to be introduced as early as this month.
EPW’s next WRDA hearing, held on January 17, featured testimony from two Corps officials on progress in implementing the previous WRDA bill, and its ongoing efforts to look “internally at [its] organizations, authorities, policies, regulations and procedures in order to identify opportunities for increased efficiency and effectiveness.” During the hearing, Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) asked where the Corps stood on implementation of its WIFIA program. In response, Army Corps Lieutenant General Todd Semonite said that the Corps is “right now drafting [its] WIFIA policy,” but could offer no definitive timeframe about when it may be complete.
AMWA has been in touch with EPW Committee staff about plans for the panel’s WRDA bill, but staff have indicated the measure will likely be a “slim” bill that focuses almost exclusively on Corps policies. Unlike some other recent WRDA bills (such as the 2014 bill that created the WIFIA program), this year’s initial EPW bill is expected to largely avoid drinking water policy issues that are outside of the jurisdiction of the Army Corps of Engineers – though some such provisions could find their way into a competing WRDA that is expected to be developed in the House. In recent years Congress has aimed to pass a new WRDA bill every two years, with the last one being enacted in 2016.