President's Fiscal 2018 Budget for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works Program released

WASHINGTON, May 25, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The President's Budget for fiscal year 2018 (FY 2018) includes $5.002 billion in gross discretionary funding for the Civil Works program of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps).

"The fiscal 2018 Civil Works budget for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reflects the administration's priorities to support and improve the nation's economy and infrastructure, and to protect the American people," said Mr. Doug Lamont, senior official performing the duties of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works.  "This Budget supports the core mission areas of coastal and inland navigation, reducing flood risks from riverine flooding and along our coasts, and restoring aquatic ecosystems."

"The Budget enables the Corps to carry out its important missions, while advancing key Administration infrastructure initiatives," said Lamont.  "It also reflects the tough choices necessary to put the country on a fiscally sustainable path."

New federal funding in the Civil Works budget consists of $3.966 billion from the general fund, $965 million from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, $45 million from Special Recreation User Fees, and $26 million from the Inland Waterways Trust Fund.

The FY 2018 funding will be distributed among the appropriations accounts as follows:

• $3.1 billion for Operation and Maintenance
• $1.02 billion for Construction
• $253 million for Mississippi River and Tributaries
• $200 million for the Regulatory Program
• $185 million for Expenses
• $118 million for the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP)
• $86 million for Investigations
• $35 million for Flood Control and Coastal Emergencies
• $5 million for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works

The FY 2018 Budget includes $2.098 billion for the study, design, construction, operation and maintenance of inland and coastal navigation projects.  It funds capital investments on the inland waterways within the estimated revenues to the Inland Waterways Trust Fund.  The Budget gives priority to coastal harbors and inland waterways with the most commercial traffic.

It also provides priority for maintenance of channels at small ports that support significant commercial fishing, subsistence, or public transportation benefits.  

The FY 2018 Investigations program as a whole is funded at $89 million, including $3 million from the Mississippi River and Tributaries (MR&T) account, to fund studies to determine the need, engineering feasibility, and economic, environmental and social return of potential solutions for water and related land resources problems.  This includes $5 million for work on proposals to improve seven high and moderate commercial use U.S. harbors and waterways:  GIWW – Brazos River Floodgates & Colorado River Lock, TX; Houston Ship Channel, TX; Matagorda Ship Channel, TX; Port of Long Beach, CA; San Juan, PR; Three Rivers, AR; and Unalaska (Dutch) Harbor, AK.

The Budget also funds 26 studies to completion.  These studies comprise 10 flood risk management studies, eight ecosystem restoration studies, and eight navigation studies.  These study completions include Aliso Creek Mainstem, CA; Arkansas River Corridor, OK; City of Norfolk, VA; Corte Madera Creek, CA; Dry Creek (Warm Springs) Restoration, CA; Du Page River, IL; Espanola Valley, Rio Grande and Tributaries, NM; Jefferson County Shore Protection, TX; Kotzebue Small Boat Harbor, AK; Little Colorado River (Winslow), AZ; Lowell Creek Tunnel Flood Diversion, AK; Lower Santa Cruz River, AZ; Port of Long Beach Navigation Improvements, CA; Proctor Creek Watershed, Fulton County, GA; Resacas at Brownsville, TX; Rota Harbor Modifications, CNMI; Sacramento River Bank Protection (Phase 3), CA; Saint George Harbor Improvement, AK; San Juan Harbor Improvement Study, PR; Souris River Basin, ND; Sweetwater, GA; Three Rivers, AR; Tinian Harbor Modifications, CNMI; Unalaska (Dutch)Harbor, AK; Village Creek, AL; and Yuba River Fish Passage, CA (Englebright & Daguerre Point Dams).

The Investigations account also includes $25 million for Corps' efforts, in conjunction with state floodplain management authorities, to provide technical and planning assistance to enable local communities to reduce their flood risk, with emphasis on non-structural approaches.  The Budget continues to invest in the development of interagency teams known as Silver Jackets to help coordinate federal assistance in implementing flood risk management solutions. 

The FY 2018 Construction program is funded at $1.128 billion, including $108 million in the MR&T account.  The construction program uses objective, performance-based guidelines to allocate funding toward the highest performing economic, environmental, and public safety investments.

The Budget funds 25 construction projects, consisting of 14 flood risk management projects, seven aquatic ecosystem restoration projects, and four commercial navigation projects.

The FY 2018 Budget includes $265 million for safety modifications on seven dam safety, seepage control and static instability correction projects and $21 million for interim risk reduction measures for dams with a significant risk.

Among the ongoing construction projects in the FY 2018 Budget, the 10 highest funded projects are: Olmsted Locks and Dam, IL & KY ($175 million); Lower Mississippi River Mainstem (MR&T) ($108 million); Herbert Hoover Dike, FL, seepage control ($82 million); the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration (Everglades), FL ($77 million); Columbia River Fish Mitigation, WA, OR & ID (CRFM) ($70 million); Boston Harbor Deep Draft Improvements, MA ($58 million); Isabella Lake, CA (Dam Safety) ($58 million); East Branch Clarion River Lake, PA ($50 million); Savannah Harbor Expansion, GA ($50 million); and Santa Ana River Mainstem, CA ($40 million).

The FY 2018 O&M program is funded at $3.242 billion, including $142 million in the MR&T account.  For O&M, the Budget emphasizes performance of existing projects by focusing on those coastal harbors and inland waterways with the most commercial traffic, as well as safety improvements at federal dams and levees based on the risk and consequence of a failure.

The FY 2018 O&M program also funds the completion of 11 master plans, one shoreline management plan and one dredged material management plan.

The FY 2018 aquatic ecosystem restoration program is funded at $335 million with $301 million from Construction, $19 million from O&M and $16 million from Investigations.

This program supports restoring aquatic habitat in ecosystems where ecosystem structure, function, and processes have been degraded.  Aquatic ecosystems supported by the Budget include the California Bay-Delta, the Everglades, the Great Lakes, the Columbia River, the Upper Mississippi River and the Missouri River.

The Corps will continue to work with other federal, state and local agencies, using the best available science and adaptive management to protect and restore these ecosystems.

The FY 2018 Budget funds Recreation at $280 million, with $268 million in the O&M account and $11 million in the MR&T account.  The Corps is one of the nation's largest providers of federal recreation opportunities, with approximately 250 million visits to Corps' lands and waters per year. 

The FY 2018 Regulatory Program is funded at $200 million to protect the nation's waters and wetlands and provide efficiency in permit processing.

The FY 2018 FUSRAP program is funded at $118 million to continue program activities at 19 sites contaminated by the Nation's early efforts to develop atomic weapons.

Based on the Corps' contribution to the response and recovery of communities after natural disasters strike, and the inevitability that there will be more, the Emergency Management program of the Corps is funded at $41 million in FY 2018, with $35 million in the FCCE account for preparedness and training to respond to floods, hurricanes, and other natural disasters, and $6 million in the O&M account.

The FY 2018 Civil Works budget press book is available on the Web at http://www.usace.army.mil/Missions/CivilWorks/Budget.aspx, under the heading Program Budget: Press Books.

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SOURCE U.S. Army Corps of Engineers