Water Resources Reform & Development Act moves closer to congressional approval

The House and Senate have reached agreement on the Water Resources Reform & Development Act (WRRDA) and could vote on it this week.

Under WRRDA, the nation's waterways infrastructure will be updated, the lock and dam infrastructure on the inland waterways system will be updated and investments will be made to shipping ports.

The National Grain and Feed Association commended the WRRDA conference committee for completing work on the legislation.

“The waterways really are the gateway to how our nation helps feed the world. And recent rail service disruptions have magnified and reinforced the importance of the United States having an 'all-of-the-above' transportation infrastructure policy that focuses on all modes – truck, rail, barge and vessel,” said NGFA President Randy Gordon.

A controversial section of the Senate bill that would have created a so-called “oceans endowment” was dropped from the final bill. The section, authored by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), would have shifted how the Obama administration dealt with ocean recovery, preservation and Great Lakes protection programs. Republicans surrendered on a long-time effort to stop a 2010 White House executive order to try and implement coastline protections.

Reportedly the conference package includes language on a new federal loan program for Environmental Protection Agency/U.S. Army Corps of Engineers water projects and may jump start wastewater treatment plants in the Midwest.

The NGFA said the bill contains several key provisions important to agriculture, including one that changes the funding mix for completing the long-delayed and over-budget Olmstead lock-and-dam project on the Ohio River. Under the new bill, the federal government would assume 85 percent of the cost of completing the project, with funds from the Inland Waterways Trust Fund (comprised of barge diesel fuel user fees) used to finance the remaining 15 percent.

This change in the former 50:50 cost-share formula will free up approximately $56 million a year in industry-paid user fees to fund much-needed restoration to dilapidated locks on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois River System.

NGFA also pointed to reforms to the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund that will make more money available for port-dredging activities, as well as numerous key reforms to the Corps' operations designed to streamline its project-delivery process and promote fiscal responsibility.

NGFA said these improvements will help maintain U.S. agricultural competitiveness in world markets and ensure U.S. farmers receive needed crop inputs to produce grains, oilseeds and other agricultural commodities.