Hill Heat

Hearing page

Chair Merkley

Witness:

• Deb Haaland, Secretary, U.S. Department of Interior

The Department’s 2024 budget totals $18.9 billion in current authority ($18.3 billion in net discretionary authority)—an increase of $2.0 billion, or 12 percent, from the 2023 enacted budget.

The budget for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management provides $72.3 million for conventional energy programs to support OCS planning, leasing, and oversight.

The 2024 budget for the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement includes $217.1 million for conventional energy programs to support OCS permit application reviews, regulation and standard development for offshore activities, verification and enforcement of operator compliance with all applicable environmental laws and regulations, technical reviews of planned operations and emerging technologies to properly identify and mitigate risks, a robust inspection program employing an annual inspection strategy that includes risk-based inspections, and incident investigations. BSEE’s budget also includes $30.0 million to fund the decommissioning of orphaned offshore oil and gas infrastructure.

The 2024 budget includes $123.5 million for the Bureau of Land Management’s Oil and Gas Management program, an increase of $10.6 million from the 2023 enacted amount. The BLM budget also includes $51.0 million for Oil and Gas Inspection Activities and proposes to offset the cost of this program through the establishment of onshore inspection fees.

The 2024 BOEM budget includes $6.6 million in Conventional Energy and $2.3 million in Environmental Programs to establish a dedicated team, train existing staff, hire additional specialized experts, and fund environmental studies, scientific research, data collection, and other activities critical to the establishment and implementation of the new program. The 2024 BSEE budget includes $1.5 million to prepare for regulating and overseeing safe and effective offshore carbon sequestration activities. The budget includes $3.4 million to start an onshore carbon sequestration program in BLM.

03/29/2023 at 09:30AM

This Commissioner-led roundtable will provide an opportunity for the Commissioners and staff to engage with environmental justice community members, advocates, researchers, industry representatives, and government leaders on actions the Commission can take to better incorporate environmental justice and equity considerations into its decisions.

This discussion will strengthen the Commission’s efforts to identify and address adverse impacts associated with permitting applications for hydroelectric, natural gas pipeline, liquified natural gas, and electric transmission infrastructure subject to FERC jurisdiction. This roundtable will help further the goals of the Commission’s Equity Action Plan, which include reducing barriers to meaningful participation faced by underserved communities and ensuring that the Commission’s natural gas and hydroelectric policies and processes are consistent with environmental justice principles.

Time

Details

9:30 am – 9:45 am

Welcome and Opening Remarks

9:45 am – 11:15 am

Panel 1: Priorities for Advancing Environmental Justice and Equity in Infrastructure Permitting

As the Commission continues to advance its consideration of environmental justice and equity concerns in its infrastructure permitting proceedings, this panel will discuss how the Commission can better integrate and advance environmental justice and equity principles in its decision-making. The panel may include a discussion of the following questions:

1. What should the Commission prioritize as it more fully integrates environmental justice and equity considerations into its infrastructure permitting proceedings?
2. What lessons can the Commission learn from other federal and state agencies and tribes to better avoid and minimize negative environmental, health, and socioeconomic impacts to historically overburdened communities?
3. How can the Commission better integrate environmental justice and equity considerations into its efforts to enhance the safety and reliability of the infrastructure it authorizes?

Panelists:

Shalanda Baker, U.S. Department of Energy, Director of the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity

Darcie L. Houck, California Public Utilities Commission, Commissioner

Ben Jealous, Sierra Club, Executive Director

Dana Johnson, WE ACT, Senior Director of Strategy and Federal Policy

Paul Lau, SMUD, CEO and General Manager

Julie Nelson, Cheniere, Senior Vice President, Policy, Government and Public Affairs

Matthew Tejada, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Environmental Justice, Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights

11:15 am – 11:30 am

Break

11:30 am – 1:00 pm

Panel 2: From the Front-Line: Impacted Communities and their Challenges

During this panel, Commissioners will engage with members and representatives of overburdened communities impacted by FERC-jurisdictional infrastructure about the environmental justice challenges they face. The panel may include a discussion of the following questions:

Location-Specific Impacts:

1. Please describe your community and any environmental injustices you may have experienced, either directly or indirectly.
2. When assessing the impacts of FERC-jurisdictional infrastructure projects, what topics or areas of concern should the Commission more fully address or emphasize during our infrastructure permitting proceedings?
3. How can the Commission best facilitate engagement between local communities and industry during the earliest stages of the project planning process to avoid or reduce negative impacts, develop local community benefits, and implement community input with respect to other areas of concern?
4. What are ways the Commission can strengthen its analysis of local impacts without placing an undue burden of producing additional information on environmental justice communities?

Meaningful Engagement:

1. How can the Commission and industry better assure that stakeholders’ input in infrastructure application proceedings was received, reviewed, and addressed in environmental review documents and the Commission’s decisions?
2. In many cases, the Commission requires infrastructure applicants, certificate holders, or licensees to develop plans to protect public safety (such as Emergency Response Plans for liquified natural gas facilities). What steps should the Commission and industry take to provide opportunities for public participation targeted at ensuring community needs are evaluated during the development, implementation, and modification of such plans?
3. In addition to project-specific engagement, how else should the Commission work with local communities to improve the Commission’s infrastructure permitting processes and help connect communities to resources that support community participation in our proceedings?

Panelists:

Russell Armstrong, Hip Hop Caucus, Policy Director for Climate and Environment

John Beard, Port Arthur Community Action Network, Founder, President, and Executive Director

Amy Cordalis, Ridges to Riffles Indigenous Conservation Group, Co-Principal

Kari Fulton, Center for Oil and Gas Organizing, Climate Justice Policy Advocate and Educator

Roishetta Ozane, The Vessel Project of Louisiana, Founder, Director, CEO

1:00 pm – 2:00 pm

Lunch

Lunch will not be provided.

2:00 pm – 3:30 pm

Panel 3: Identifying, Avoiding, and Addressing Environmental Justice Impacts

This panel will discuss how infrastructure applicants, the Commission, and its staff can better identify, avoid, and minimize adverse impacts on environmental justice communities. The panel may include a discussion of the following questions:

Cumulative Impacts:

1. What lessons can the Commission learn from other federal and state agencies, environmental justice communities, industry, and subject matter experts on how to better identify, minimize, and avoid cumulative impacts in environmental justice communities particularly with respect to human health and climate change?
2. How can the Commission best consider factors that increase the intensity of cumulative impacts on environmental justice communities?

Identifying, Minimizing, and Avoiding Impacts:

1. How can the Commission better assess and characterize direct and indirect impacts as well as past, current, and future cumulative impacts and the vulnerability or resiliency of a community?
2. What guidance can the Commission provide to infrastructure project developers to help avoid or reduce negative impacts from new infrastructure development in environmental justice communities that are already overburdened? What indicators and thresholds should the Commission use to appropriately and accurately identify such communities early in the project development process?
3. How can Commission staff make better use of local, state, and region-specific impact information and community knowledge when conducting an impact assessment and developing methods to avoid and minimize potential impacts?

Panelists:

Aram Benyamin, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Chief Operating Officer

Uni Blake, American Petroleum Institute, Senior Policy Advisor

Gina Dorsey, Kinder Morgan, Director, EHS-Project Permitting, Operations Support Group

Al Huang, Institute for Policy Integrity, NYU School of Law, Director of Environmental Justice & Senior Attorney

Dr. Beth Rose Middleton Manning, UC Davis, Professor of Native American Studies

Carolyn L. Nelson, P.E., U.S. Department of Transportation, Director of Environmental Policy & Justice Division

3:30 pm

Closing Remarks

03/29/2023 at 09:30AM

Hearing page

Witnesses:

• Frederick J. Stefany, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisition
• Vice Admiral Scott D. Conn, USN, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Warfighting Requirements and Capabilities
• Lieutenant General Karsten S. Heckl, USMC, Deputy Commandant for Combat Development and Integration

The FY2024 Navy budget request is $255.8 billion, of which $1.5 billion (0.7%) is climate-related.

03/28/2023 at 02:30PM

Hearing page

Chair Shaheen

Witness:

• Merrick Garland, Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice

The Department of Justice FY2024 budget request is $39.7 billion, including $156.5 million for the Environment and Natural Resources Division

03/28/2023 at 02:30PM

Hearing page

Witnesses:

• Faisal Amin, Chief Financial Officer, Environmental Protection Agency
• Michael Regan, Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency

Statement by Administrator Regan on the President’s FY 2024 Budget:

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration released the President’s Budget for fiscal year 2024 to the Congress. The Budget requests over $12 billion in discretionary budget authority for the EPA in 2024, a $1.9 billion or 19-percent increase from the fiscal year 2023 enacted level. EPA will release the full Congressional Justification and Budget in Brief materials soon.

The President’s Budget makes historic investments to support the Agency’s ongoing work to tackle the climate crisis, advance environmental justice, protect air quality across the nation, invest in critical water infrastructure and increase support for our state and Tribal partners in their efforts to implement environmental laws, and continue to rebuild core functions at the Agency.

“EPA is at the center of President Biden’s ambitious environmental agenda and the FY 2024 Budget will ensure the Agency delivers bold environmental actions and economic benefits for all. Coupled with the President’s historic investments in America through significant legislative accomplishments, the Budget will advance EPA’s mission across the board, boosting everything from our efforts to combat climate change, to delivering clean air, safe water, and healthy lands, to protecting communities from harmful chemicals, and to the continued restoration of capacity necessary to effectively implement these programs,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “Importantly, the Budget also supports our work to center environmental justice across all of the Agency’s programs, ensuring that no family, especially those living in overburdened and underserved areas, has to worry about the air they breathe, the water they drink, or the environmental safety of their communities.”

Highlights of the President’s FY 2024 Budget include:

Tackling the Climate Crisis with Urgency. The EPA’s Budget prioritizes combatting climate change with the urgency that science demands. The Budget includes $5 billion, a $757 million increase over the 2023 enacted level, to support work reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, building resilience in the face of climate impacts, and engaging with the global community to respond to this shared challenge, while also providing resources to spur economic progress and create good-paying jobs. The Budget proposes a $64.4 million increase over the 2023 enacted budget to implement the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act to continue phasing out potent GHGs known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). It also invests $7 million in wildfire smoke preparedness.

Advancing Environmental Justice. The Budget bolsters the Agency’s efforts to achieve environmental justice in communities across the Nation by investing nearly $1.8 billion across numerous programs in support of environmental justice efforts. This investment supports the implementation of the President’s Justice40 commitment, which ensures at least 40 percent of the benefits of Federal investments in climate and clean energy, as well as infrastructure work such as Superfund, Brownfields, and SRFs, reach disadvantaged communities, including rural and Tribal communities. Additionally, this Budget will support activities creating good-paying jobs, cleaning up pollution, advancing equity, and securing environmental justice for communities that often bear the brunt of toxic pollution and impacts of climate change. The Budget also includes $91 million for technical assistance to support capacity building for communities to advance equity and justice.

Upgrading Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure and Replacing Lead Pipes Nationwide. The Budget provides more than $4 billion for water infrastructure, an increase of $1 billion over the 2023 enacted level. These resources foster water infrastructure upgrades, with a focus on underserved and rural communities that have historically been overlooked. The Budget funds all authorizations in the original Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act of 2021 and maintains funding for EPA’s State Revolving Funds at the total 2023 enacted level, which complements funds provided for water infrastructure programs in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The Budget also provides $219 million for two grant programs dedicated to reducing lead in drinking water and lead testing in schools (an increase of $163 million over the 2023 enacted level). It also funds other grants and loans to advance the goal of replacing all lead pipes. Ensuring Clean and Healthy Air for All Communities. The Budget allocates $1.4 billion to improve air quality and reduce localized pollution, reduce exposure to radiation, and improve indoor air for communities across the country. This includes $180 million to support the development and implementation of national emission standards to reduce air pollution from vehicles, engines and fuels. The Budget also supports $367 million to assist air pollution control agencies in the development, implementation, and evaluation of programs for the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and to establish standards for reducing air toxics.

Protecting Communities from Hazardous Waste and Environmental Damage. The prevention and cleanup of harmful environmental damage that poses a risk to public health and safety continues to be a top priority for EPA. In addition to an estimated $2.5 billion in Superfund tax revenue that will be available to EPA in 2024, the Budget provides over $350 million for the Superfund program to continue cleaning up some of the Nation’s most contaminated land and respond to environmental emergencies and natural disasters. The Budget also provides over $215 million for EPA’s Brownfields program to provide technical assistance and grants to communities, including overburdened and underserved communities, so they can safely clean up and reuse contaminated properties, as well as $20 million for the Alaska Contaminated Lands program. These programs support the President’s Cancer Moonshot initiative by reducing human exposure to harmful contaminants that are correlated with an increased risk for cancer.

Ensuring Safety of Chemicals for People and the Environment. The Budget provides an investment of $130 million, $49 million more than the 2023 enacted level to build core capacity to implement the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Under TSCA, EPA has a responsibility to ensure the safety of chemicals in or entering commerce. In FY 2024, EPA will focus on evaluating, assessing, and managing risks from exposure to new and existing industrial chemicals to advance human health protection in our communities. Another priority is to implement FIFRA to ensure pesticides pose no unreasonable risks to human health and the environment.

Tackling Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Pollution. The Budget provides approximately $170 million to combat PFAS pollution. PFAS substances are a group of chemicals that threaten the health and safety of all communities. This request allows the EPA to continue working toward commitments made under EPA’s 2021 PFAS Strategic Roadmap, including: increasing our knowledge of PFAS impacts to human health and ecological effects, restricting use to prevent PFAS from entering the air, land, and water, and remediating PFAS that have been released into the environment.

Enforcing and Assuring Compliance with the Nation’s Environmental Laws. The Budget provides $246 million for civil enforcement efforts, crucial funding for enforcement in communities with high pollution exposure, and for preventing the illegal importation and use of climate super-pollutant HFCs in the United States. The Budget also includes: $165 million for compliance monitoring efforts, including funds to conduct inspections in underserved and overburdened communities, and funds to rebuild the agency’s inspector corps; and $75 million for criminal enforcement efforts, which includes funding to increase outreach to victims of environmental crimes and develop a specialized criminal enforcement task force to address environmental justice issues in partnership with the Department of Justice. Restoring Critical Capacity to Carry Out EPA’s Core Mission. To position the Agency with the workforce required to address emerging and ongoing challenges, the Budget added nearly 2,000 Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) relative to the current level, for a total of more than 17,000 FTEs, to help rebuild the Agency’s workforce. Developing staffing capacity across the Agency would enable EPA to better protect our Nation’s health, while also providing avenues to strengthen and advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. Staffing resources would additionally fund a significant expansion of EPA’s paid student internship program to develop a pipeline of qualified staff.

The Budget makes these smart investments to address emerging and ongoing environmental challenges while creating good-paying jobs and improving our country’s long-term fiscal outlook.

Building on the President’s strong record of fiscal responsibility, the Budget more than fully pays for its investments — reducing deficits by nearly $3 trillion over the next decade by asking the wealthy and big corporations to pay their fair share.

03/28/2023 at 02:00PM

Hearing page

To members: Please submit requests to testify to Elizabeth Markus, at [email protected], by Wednesday, March 22, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. Written testimony will be due to the subcommittee by Friday, March 24, 2023, at 5:00 p.m.

All outside witness testimony must be received by April 14, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. ET.

The Department of Commerce’s Fiscal Year 2024 Budget proposes $12.3 billion in discretionary funding and $4 billion in mandatory funding. $6.8 billion is for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The budget also includes $97 million for NIST’s activities on Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability

The Department of Justice FY2024 budget request is $39.7 billion, including $156.5 million for the Environment and Natural Resources Division

The National Science Foundation FY2024 budget request is $11.314 billion, including $1 billion for the U.S. Global Change Research Program, $550.5 million for clean energy research, $30 million for the National Discovery Cloud for Climate, and $15 million for climate equity fellowships.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration FY2024 budget request is $27.2 billion, including $2.5 billion for earth science.

03/28/2023 at 01:30PM

Analyzing climate change and proposing solutions at the nation-state level can obscure the path forward, as ambition varies widely across countries and can change dramatically as soon as the next election. Furthermore, coordinating the actions of nearly 200 nations (including more than a dozen major emitters) presents its own challenges. Viewing climate solutions as sectoral rather than “national,” may be more productive and give a clearer of how to cut the most emissions in the fastest manner.

This webinar series, sponsored by American University’s Center for Environmental Policy (CEP) and the not-for-profit think tank Energy Innovation, reframes causes and solutions of climate change as “sectoral” issues.

Among the most evident sectors to most consumers, transportation and buildings both involve high expenditures on infrastructure to retrofit extant systems and build new ones. What are the successes and obstacles to date in these sectors? What is needed in these sectors to generate more effective climate mitigation?

Speakers:

• Sarah Baldwin, Energy Innovation
• Chris Busch, Energy Innovation
• Discussant: David Levy, Director of Planning and Zoning, Town of Vienna, VA (confirmed)
• Moderator: Danielle Wagner, Center for Environmental Policy, School of Public Affairs

Sara Baldwin is the Director of Electrification Policy at Energy Innovation Policy & Technology LLC®, where she leads the firm’s electrification policy practice area to advance economy-wide decarbonization through the electrification of buildings, transportation, and industry. She provides policy analysis and original research to support policymakers at the state, federal, and local levels. She previously served as Vice President of Regulatory for the Interstate Renewable Energy Council and as a Senior Policy Associate for Utah Clean Energy. Sara is a member of GridLab’s advisory board and hosts Energy Innovation’s Electrify This! podcast.

Chris Busch is Director, Transportation and Senior Economist at Energy Innovation, where he leads the firm’s Transportation Program and the firm’s carbon market analysis for regions including California and China. Chris previously served as EI’s California lead and in this role, he led development of the California Energy Policy Simulator to strengthen policies in all major sectors, accelerating decarbonization while delivering social and economic benefits worth tens of billions. Chris is an expert in energy economics and carbon pricing policy, and his research accurately predicted the buildup in excess tradeable permits in California’s cap-and-trade program. Chris previously worked for the BlueGreen Alliance, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

David Levy is Director of Planning and Zoning for the Town of Vienna, VA. He has extensive experience both in government and the private sector. Before coming to Vienna, he served as Assistant Director and Chief of Long-Range Planning for the City of Rockville, MD. Previously, he served as Assistant Commissioner for Land Resources in Baltimore’s Department of Housing & Community Development; and as a consultant with both ICF International (a global consulting and technology-services company) and PA Consulting (formerly Hagler Bailly); as Brownfields Project Coordinator for the Baltimore City Department of Planning; and as Special Assistant to the Mayor of Quito, Ecuador. He has been Chair of the Planning Director’s Technical Advisory Committee of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and Vice President of the Maryland Chapter of the American Planning Association. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) and of the Urban Land Institute.

Danielle Miller Wagner serves as the Program Director of the Center for Environmental Policy at American University, School of Public Affairs. She brings more than 20 years of experience working with local governments, universities, NGOs and federal agencies to facilitate collaborative solutions to complex environmental challenges. In her current role, Wagner works across the university as well as with a broad array of external stakeholders to research and communicate about data-driven equitable environmental solutions. Prior to joining American University, Danielle served as Program Director of Smart Cities Week, Brownfields Program Manager at ICMA and International Policy Manager at the GLOBE Program, among other positions.

RSVP

03/28/2023 at 01:00PM

Hearing page

Witness:

• Rostin Behnam, Chairman, Commodity Futures Trading Commission

The Commission requests $411 million and 764 full-time equivalents (FTE) to operate the Commission and advance priority initiatives in FY 2024. This request is an increase of $46 million, or 12.6%, above the FY 2023 Enacted Budget and includes an additional 5 FTE, or 0.7%, above the FY 2023 Congressional Spend Plan.

The Chairman’s office provides leadership to the Climate Risk Unit (CRU) which continues to evaluate the role of derivatives in understanding, pricing, and mitigating climate-related risk, and supports the orderly transition to a low-carbon economy through market-based initiatives.

03/28/2023 at 01:00PM

Toxic soot pollution affects millions, but it doesn’t need to be this way.

Right now thousands people are fighting hard to ensure the EPA doesn’t let big polluters off the hook when it comes to setting the strongest possible standards on soot pollution.

Join us at the EPA HQ for our final public testimony as the comment window on national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for particulate matter (PM) closes.

And please spread the word about this event demanding clean air and healthier communities now

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Headquarters 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

03/28/2023 at 11:00AM

Hearing page

To members: Requests to testify must be received by noon on Thursday, March 23rd. Please email the request to Scott Prutting at [email protected] with the Member’s name in the email subject line.

The Subcommittee is currently accepting only written testimony from outside witnesses, which should be emailed to [email protected] no later than 6:00 p.m. on April 17, 2023.

2024 Department of Energy Budget Justification: $52 billion ($32.5 military)

Bureau of Reclamation FY 2024 Budget: $1.4 billion

• The budget proposal includes a $49 million request for the Lower Colorado River Operations Program, including $16.8 million to build on the work of Reclamation, Colorado River basin partners and stakeholders to implement drought contingency plans. It also includes $2.7 million for the Upper Colorado River Operations Program to support Drought Response Operations and $200.3 million to find long-term, comprehensive water supply solutions for farmers, families, and communities in California. The budget includes $62.9 million for the WaterSMART Program to support Reclamation’s collaboration with non-federal partners in efforts to address emerging water demands and water shortage issues in the West.
• A request of $57.8 million advances the construction and continues the operations and maintenance of authorized rural water projects. The budget request also provides $35.5 million for the Native American Affairs Program, which provides technical support and assistance to tribal governments to develop and manage their water resources. 
• The budget includes $210.2 million for the Dam Safety Program to effectively manage risks to the downstream public, of which $182.6 million is for modification actions. Another focus area for infrastructure is $105.3 million requested for extraordinary maintenance activities across Reclamation.
• These funding amounts are included in the $1.3 billion budget request for Reclamation’s principal operating account (Water and Related Resources), which funds planning, construction, water conservation, efforts to address fish and wildlife habitat needs, and operation, maintenance and rehabilitation activities at Reclamation facilities.
• Additionally, funding of $33 million is requested to implement the California Bay-Delta Program and address California’s current water supply and ecological challenges, while $48.5 million is for the Central Valley Project Restoration Fund to protect, restore, and enhance fish, wildlife, and associated habitats in California’s Central Valley and Trinity River Basins.
• The request also provides $66.8 million for Policy and Administration to develop, evaluate, and directly implement Reclamation-wide policy, rules and regulation as well as other administrative functions.

U.S. Army Corps of Civil Engineers Civil Works Budget Justification

U.S. Army Corps of Civil Engineers Civil Works Budget Overview

For the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works Program, the Budget would provide over $7.4 billion in gross discretionary funding that would be distributed among the appropriations accounts as follows:

• Investigations $129,832,000
• Construction $2,014,577,000
• Operation and Maintenance $2,629,913,000
• Regulatory Program $221,000,000
• Mississippi River and Tributaries (MR&T) $226,478,000
• Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program $200,000,000
• Expenses $212,000,000
• Flood Control and Coastal Emergencies $40,000,000
• Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) $7,200,000
• Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works $6,000,000
• Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund $1,726,000,000
• TOTAL $ 7,413,000,000

• Increase Resilience to Climate Change. The Budget invests in improving the Nation’s water infrastructure, while incorporating climate resilience efforts into the Corps’ commercial navigation, flood and storm damage reduction, and aquatic ecosystem restoration work. The Budget invests in 45 projects and programs that would decrease climate risks facing communities and increase ecosystem resilience to climate change based on the best available science. The Flood and Coastal Storm Damage Reduction program is funded at more than $1.9 billion in the FY 2024 Budget. The Mississippi River and Tributaries program will fund ongoing work in the lower Mississippi River alluvial valley and its tributaries, with emphasis on the 1,600 miles of levees and related features on the main stem of the lower Mississippi River and in the Atchafalaya Basin. The Budget includes funding to continue studies intended to investigate climate resilience along the Great Lakes coast as well as in Central and Southern Florida. The Budget includes $35.5 million for technical and planning assistance programs that will help local communities, including disadvantaged communities, identify and address their flood risks associated with climate change. The Budget provides $64 million for operation and maintenance activities that are focused on improving climate resilience and/or sustainability at existing Corps-owned projects, $51 million to mitigate for adverse impacts from existing Corps-owned projects, and $26 million to install the necessary refueling infrastructure to support zero-emission vehicles at existing Corps-owned projects.

• Improve the Nation’s Infrastructure. The Budget invests in operating and maintaining the Corps existing infrastructure and improving its reliability. It also includes $665 million for construction of a dam safety project at Prado Dam and $235 million to help complete specifically authorized projects that have experienced cost increases since construction began. The Budget also supports more efficient investment in infrastructure by proposing to transfer ownership from the Corps to parties that are better suited to maintain it, where appropriate. For example, the Budget includes $350 million for replacement of the Cape Cod Canal Bridges and a legislative proposal that would allow the Corps to transfer funds to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to design and construct the Cape Cod Canal replacement bridges. The proposal would transfer ownership of these bridges to the Commonwealth, which would be responsible for their future operation and maintenance. Additionally, the Budget includes $235 million for a “Project Cost Increase Reserve” to help complete the Sault Ste. Marie (Replacement Lock), MI project as reauthorized by Section 8401 (6) of the Water Resources Development Act of 2022, which is Division H of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022, Public Law 117-81.

• Facilitate Safe, Reliable and Sustainable Commercial Navigation to Improve the Resilience of our Nation’s Manufacturing Supply Chain to support American Jobs and the Economy. The Budget invests in five projects that facilitate safe, reliable, and environmentally sustainable navigation at the Nation’s coastal ports and on the inland waterways. The Budget includes $1.726 billion in spending from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) to support commerce through U.S. coastal ports and over $1 billion to maintain and improve navigation on the inland waterways. These significant investments will facilitate safe, reliable, and environmentally sustainable commercial navigation at our Nation’s coastal ports and inland waterways. Within the HMTF total, the Budget includes $272 million for operation and maintenance of Great Lakes projects, $58 million for projects that support access by Native American tribes to their legally recognized historic fishing areas, $15 million for a construction project that will accommodate disposal of material dredged from coastal navigation projects, and $21.152 million for mitigating for adverse impacts from navigation projects.

• Support the Administration’s Justice40 Initiative through Investments in Projects that Benefit Disadvantaged Communities by Increasing their Resilience to Climate Change. The Budget invests in 23 studies, and in the construction of 33 projects to help disadvantaged and tribal communities address their water resources challenges in line with the President’s Justice40 Initiative—including funding for the Tribal Partnership Program. In the FY 2024 Budget, the Corps continued its commitment to the overall Federal effort to ensure that 40 percent of the benefits of Federal climate and clean energy investments will directly benefit disadvantaged communities that have been historically marginalized and overburdened and Tribal nations. Through the FY 2024 Budget, the Corps is securing environmental justice and spurring economic opportunity for disadvantaged communities that have been historically marginalized and overburdened by pollution and are experiencing underinvestment in essential services. The Corps contributes to this Justice40 Initiative through its studies and projects, and through specific programs, such as the Continuing Authorities Program, Planning Assistance to States, Floodplain Management Services, and the Tribal Partnership Program. The Corps is committed to achieving the broader goals of the Administration regarding equity and environmental justice and will continue to: 1) improve outreach and access to Civil Works information and resources; 2) improve access to Civil Works technical and planning assistance programs (e.g., the Flood Plain Management Services and Planning Assistance to States programs) and maximize the reach of Civil Works projects to benefit the disadvantaged communities, in particular as it relates to climate resiliency; and 3) ensure that any updates to Civil Works policies and guidance will not result in a disproportionate negative impact on disadvantaged communities

• Restore Aquatic Habitat where the Aquatic Ecosystem Structure, Function and Processes Have Degraded. The FY 2024 Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration program is funded at $653 million in the Budget. The Corps will continue to work with other federal, state and local agencies, using the best available science and adaptive management to restore degraded ecosystem structure, function, and/or process to a more natural condition. The Budget invests in the restoration of some of the Nation’s most unique aquatic ecosystems, such as the Chesapeake Bay, the Upper Mississippi River, the Great Lakes, the Louisiana Coast, and the Everglades. For example, the Budget includes $415 million for the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration (SFER) (Everglades) program ― which is an $8 million increase compared to the 2023 Budget level and $66.77 million for Columbia River Fish Mitigation.

• Invest in Research and Development to Solve the Nation’s Toughest Water Resources Challenges. The Budget provides $86 million ─ the largest request in Corps’ history ─ for research and development. The challenges of today and tomorrow are not like yesterday’s. From droughts and wildfires across the western states, to the increasingly frequent disasters faced by communities across the country, many of the 21st century’s water resources challenges are complex and interconnected. Our nation needs integrated engineering solutions based on the best available science and technology to solve our toughest water resources challenges today and in the future.

03/28/2023 at 10:30AM