David Weldon: “I rise in support of H.R. 2863, The Water Resources and Development Act of 2005, WRDA 05. I commend the chairman for…”

“I rise in support of H.R. 2863, The Water Resources and Development Act of 2005, WRDA 05. I commend the chairman for including in this bill provisions I requested that are important to Port Canaveral and my constituents in Brevard County, Florida. This bill includes several provisions that are important to the residents of Brevard County as a whole and those living in what has been referred to as the ``Mid-Reach'' or ``wormrock'' area in particular. First, the bill makes it clear that the Corps of Engineers is to accept the ICE report that was completed by and independent panel assessing the true impact of Canaveral inlet on the beach south of that inlet. The ICE report concluded that considerably larger share of the costs of the Brevard County Storm Damage Protection Project should have been borne by the federal government. The provision in WRDA 05 will ensure that Brevard County, Florida is able to recover, as a part of future renourishment activities, that portion of the costs of the original renourishment project that should have been borne by the Federal government. Second, the bill corrects an error that has been promulgated through several Corps documents since the mid-1990s and in WRDA 2000 that incorrectly calculated the length of the ``MidReach'' section of the Brevard County Storm Damage Protection Project as 7.1 miles rather than 7.6 miles.…”