Ken Calvert: “Congressional approval of water projects from planning through construction is not a new concept. The Corps of Engineers…”

“Congressional approval of water projects from planning through construction is not a new concept. The Corps of Engineers has authority through the Water Resources Development Act, WRDA, to implement projects following a favorable Chief's, or some people call it feasibility, report. Through WRDA, Congress approves projects from planning through construction, subject to the conditions stated in a favorable Chief's report. Numerous examples of the corps' projects can be found in WRDA 1996, WRDA 1999, and WRDA 2000 which authorize construction following a favorable Chief's report. In the last three WRDAs, over 50 projects were approved from planning through construction, with conditional authorization subject to a favorable Chief's report. New projects were conditionally authorized, and there were additional project modifications that were conditionally authorized. WRDA projects conditionally authorized included the Bel Marin Keys Unit, California, well over $100 million; Kill Van Kull, New York and New Jersey navigation project, $325 million authorization to $750 million; the Savannah Harbor Expansion navigation project $230 million, and I can go on and on and on.”