TRANSFORM CIVIL WORKS
THE 2014 WATER RESOURCES AND REFORM DEVELOPMENT ACT A comprehensive law with comprehensive benefits to the nation By Rhonda Carpenter
W
hen President Barack Obama signed into law the 2014 Water Resources and Reform Development Act, or WRRDA, on June 10, 2014, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) was given authority to maintain and develop the U.S. transportation infrastructure on the nation’s waterways as well as continue to address risk reduction, flood protection, and environmental needs. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, in its May 15, 2014, WRRDA Conference Report, stated that “the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014 is one of the most policy and reform focused measures of its kind in the last two decades.” “A WRRDA is an authorization bill,” said Jan Rasgus, senior policy advisor in USACE’s Planning and Policy Division, Civil Works. “It provides authority to the Corps to do certain things. The Corps can only do things when we have an authority to do it.” However, USACE can only begin to fulfill its civil works mission when appropriated funds become available to maintain, continue work on, or begin new projects. Over the last several years, available funding has not allowed USACE to fully maintain its much-needed work on the country’s aging dams, levees, ports, and waterways infrastructure. “When programs, projects, and studies are authorized, we need funding in order to actually carry them out,” she said. “As you may know, the authorization process and the appropriations process are two separate things. Once we get an authority, we have an opportunity to do something. But until we actually have the appropriations associated with that authority, we cannot go out and implement or use that authority.” WHAT’S IN WRRDA 2014?
The act contains a provision that authorizes USACE to study and recommend to Congress the deauthorization of nearly $18 billion worth of old, inactive projects that were authorized prior to WRDA of 2007, the most recent act. Projects eligible to be removed from the federal ledgers include those that have not begun construction, or if they have begun construction, have not
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SERVING THE NATION AND THE ARMED FORCES
received funds from federal or non-federal sources within the last six years. This process prioritizes removal of the oldest projects that have been inactive the longest. As a result of this provision, their elimination more than offsets the 2014 WRRDA authorization provisions by approximately $6 billion. To highlight some of WRRDA’s other components, Rasgus explained that Congress gave USACE new authorities while expanding existing authorities “that really focus on [what] I would call reform measures.” These reform measures fall into several categories including planning modernization; greater nonfederal participation in the planning and construction of federal projects; and alternative financing mechanisms to help fund the construction of new projects and support the rehabilitation of aging infrastructure. USACE had already begun streamlining its planning processes, but the act put into law some of the very processes underway, such as completing feasibility studies within three years and at a federal cost of $3 million or less. WRRDA also eliminated the requirement for conducting a “reconnaissance” study, which required USACE to make certain determinations before moving forward with the feasibility study process. Eliminating this phase, which could take a year or longer, frees USACE to move directly into a feasibility study and hit its target of completing assessments within three years or less. The legislation also supports alternative financing mechanisms, whereby nonfederal entities may provide work in kind or undertake the planning and design of civil works projects. “Alternative financing in and of itself,” said Rasgus, “is a very broad term. But there were several provisions that support the Corps moving forward on projects with different funding sources.” WRRDA also included a first-ever fiscal provision, which sanctions USACE to enter into agreements with private-public partners in the future. “This is a new authority that we have never had … one that we are working with very carefully and very diligently to determine how we are going to proceed in light of that new law.” Another financing provision contained within WRRDA is the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act. It’s a loan program – secured loans and loan guarantees to governmental and nongovernmental entities.