WRDA Bill 2007: Target for Corps Reforms

Congress is planning to authorize more than $15 billion of new projects in the Water Resources and Development Act of 2007, and has the opportunity to also pass meaningful CORPS REFORMS in the bill to save taxpayer dollars and to protect our environment.

What is WRDA?
WRDA is a bill that generally gets introduced every-other-year and authorizes the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to study, plan and construct large water projects like dams, levees and river dredging.  Congress has passed nine WRDA’s since 1974, authorizing more than $43 billion worth of water projects.  With the exception of restoration projects, the majority of corps projects typically work against natural systems, rather than with them, damaging wetlands, rivers and streams that support our ecosystem.

Support for Corps Reform
More than a decade of reports from the National Academy of Sciences, Government Accountability Office, and other agencies and independent experts have revealed flaws in corps project planning.  Flawed corps projects played a major role in the post-Katrina devastation of New Orleans.  The corps engineered the levees that failed, destroyed coastal wetlands that were not available to buffer the storm surge, and encouraged development in high risk areas. All around the country, corps projects are planned with short-term economic interest in mind without taking into account long-term sustainability of the watershed and environment.

2007 WRDA – Target for Corps Reform
By including critical corps reforms in the 2007 WRDA, Congress can ensure that corps projects are in our national interest and protect and restore America’s rivers, wetlands and coasts, instead of degrading our environment.  Here are the reforms that lawmakers should include in WRDA:

• Independent Review - This reform will require outside review of costly or controversial corps projects and help ensure that the corps uses the best available science, economics, and engineering, and takes into account views of the public, civic leaders, and scientists. 

• Modernizing the Corps Planning Guidelines - The corps planning guidelines have not been updated in nearly a quarter century.  Revising the guidelines will ensure the corps protects wetlands that shield people and property against floods and discourages developers from building in flood-prone areas.

• Enhance Mitigation - The corps often does not adequately mitigate or off-set the impacts its projects have to wetlands and the environment.  Enhancing mitigation will create healthy systems that provide natural flood protection, vital fish and wildlife habitat, and a vibrant economy. 

• Focus Corps Projects on National Priorities - The corps often constructs projects that do not focus on the nation’s most pressing needs.  Prioritization will ensure that corps projects reflect national priorities for flood damage reduction, navigation, and ecosystem restoration.

Reforming the corps will enable future generations to avoid reliving the tragedies in New Orleans. A 21st Century Corps would restore America’s great waters and prioritize projects that are in the public interest.