The U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on June 25 passed a bipartisan water bill led by U.S. Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO).
The Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2024, H.R. 8812, which has three original cosponsors, including lead cosponsor U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA), now awaits consideration by the full U.S. House of Representatives.
“Safe and reliable water infrastructure plays a central role in keeping our economy and supply chain moving, while also protecting life and property,” said Rep. Graves, chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. “That’s exactly what this bill provides, and that’s why WRDA delivers.”
If enacted, H.R. 8812 would authorize the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Civil Works Program for projects to improve the nation’s ports and harbors, inland waterway navigation, flood and storm protection, and other aspects of the nation’s water resources infrastructure, according to a bill summary provided by Rep. Graves’ office.
“This bill also makes common-sense reforms to streamline project development processes at the Corps and empower local, non-federal project sponsors, which will allow water resource projects to get done faster and at a lower cost to taxpayers,” the congressman said.
And with current and expected flooding along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, he added that H.R. 8812 “couldn’t be more timely for North Missouri.”
“The bill continues to build on efforts to make protecting people’s lives and livelihoods the top priority on the Missouri River, and it charts a long-overdue new path forward to improve flood control on the Upper Mississippi River,” Rep. Graves added.
Specific North Missouri priorities included in H.R. 8812 would expand protections for levee districts and navigators on the Missouri River to ensure fish and wildlife experiments don’t interfere with flood control and navigation; authorize an Upper Mississippi River Flood Risk and Resiliency Study to improve flood protection for communities along the Upper Mississippi River; and reform the Corps’ policy for permitting broadband projects on Corps’ property, making it easier to deploy broadband, among other provisions, the summary says.
H.R. 8812 also would authorize 159 new feasibility studies for locally proposed projects and 12 projects that have been reviewed by the Corps and have culminated in a final report to Congress with approval by the chief of engineers or the director of Civil Works, states the summary.