BOND: WATER RESOURCES BILL LONG OVERDUE
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May 16, 2007
U.S. Senate passes WRDA bill that includes Lock and Dam Modernization
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Kit Bond today praised the passage of the Water Resources and Development Act (WRDA), which authorizes the nation’s navigation, flood control, and ecosystem restoration projects. The Senate-passed WRDA bill includes Bond’s bipartisan legislation to modernize locks on the upper Mississippi River.
“This bill is long overdue and much needed,” said Bond. “We cannot afford to delay a bill that provides for our nation’s critical navigation, flood protection and environmental restoration projects. I urge Congress to agree immediately upon a good bill in conference that the President can sign into law.”
As Chairman of the Environment and Public Work’s Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee in 2006, Bond was a key author of the present bill. Bond emphasized that the bill is bipartisan and has broad support. Programs made possible by WRDA provide tremendous value to the entire nation. They provide drinking water, electric power production, river transportation, recreation, flood protection, environmental protection and restoration, and emergency response. The legislation authorizes $1.95 billion in federal funds for seven new locks and $1.72 billion for environmental restoration. WRDA is also a critical jobs initiative, said Bond, creating 48 million man-hours of construction work on the locks alone.
Despite the importance of and support for the bill, Congress has not passed a WRDA bill since 2000. Today, WRDA passed the full Senate by a vote of 91 - 4. The legislation must now be reconciled with the House of Representatives version before being signed into law. Bond, who has fought for WRDA’s passage since 2002, stressed that this action is long overdue.
Bond’s lock and dam provision is an essential part of WRDA. The legislation provides for the modernization of locks and dams on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. The new 1,2000 foot locks on the Mississippi River will provide greater efficiency, especially critical to farmers in the Midwest who depend on the lock and dam system to move their products to market.
Modernizing the nation’s waterways will help prepare the country for emerging energy and economic challenges in the future. Bond stressed that water transportation is a great untapped capacity, and is more energy and environment friendly. One medium-size tow on the river can carry the same weight as 870 trucks, or two diesel engines in exchange for 870 diesel engines. With oil and gas prices at a record high, increased waterways usage is a positive step towards the use of less costly, domestic and environmentally safe energy in America.
For Missouri, the WRDA bill authorizes several key projects including:
• Swope Park Industrial Area – flood damage reduction;
• Enhanced Navigation Capacity Improvements and Ecosystem Restoration Plan for the Upper Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway System;
• Missouri and Illinois flood protection projects reconstruction pilot program;
• Land exchange, Pike County, Missouri
• L-15 levee, Missouri
• Union Lake, Missouri
• Missouri and Middle Mississippi rivers enhancement project
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WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Kit Bond today praised the passage of the Water Resources and Development Act (WRDA), which authorizes the nation’s navigation, flood control, and ecosystem restoration projects. The Senate-passed WRDA bill includes Bond’s bipartisan legislation to modernize locks on the upper Mississippi River.
“This bill is long overdue and much needed,” said Bond. “We cannot afford to delay a bill that provides for our nation’s critical navigation, flood protection and environmental restoration projects. I urge Congress to agree immediately upon a good bill in conference that the President can sign into law.”
As Chairman of the Environment and Public Work’s Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee in 2006, Bond was a key author of the present bill. Bond emphasized that the bill is bipartisan and has broad support. Programs made possible by WRDA provide tremendous value to the entire nation. They provide drinking water, electric power production, river transportation, recreation, flood protection, environmental protection and restoration, and emergency response. The legislation authorizes $1.95 billion in federal funds for seven new locks and $1.72 billion for environmental restoration. WRDA is also a critical jobs initiative, said Bond, creating 48 million man-hours of construction work on the locks alone.
Despite the importance of and support for the bill, Congress has not passed a WRDA bill since 2000. Today, WRDA passed the full Senate by a vote of 91 - 4. The legislation must now be reconciled with the House of Representatives version before being signed into law. Bond, who has fought for WRDA’s passage since 2002, stressed that this action is long overdue.
Bond’s lock and dam provision is an essential part of WRDA. The legislation provides for the modernization of locks and dams on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. The new 1,2000 foot locks on the Mississippi River will provide greater efficiency, especially critical to farmers in the Midwest who depend on the lock and dam system to move their products to market.
Modernizing the nation’s waterways will help prepare the country for emerging energy and economic challenges in the future. Bond stressed that water transportation is a great untapped capacity, and is more energy and environment friendly. One medium-size tow on the river can carry the same weight as 870 trucks, or two diesel engines in exchange for 870 diesel engines. With oil and gas prices at a record high, increased waterways usage is a positive step towards the use of less costly, domestic and environmentally safe energy in America.
For Missouri, the WRDA bill authorizes several key projects including:
• Swope Park Industrial Area – flood damage reduction;
• Enhanced Navigation Capacity Improvements and Ecosystem Restoration Plan for the Upper Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway System;
• Missouri and Illinois flood protection projects reconstruction pilot program;
• Land exchange, Pike County, Missouri
• L-15 levee, Missouri
• Union Lake, Missouri
• Missouri and Middle Mississippi rivers enhancement project
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