CORPS OF ENGINEERS—CIVIL WORKS
The President’s 2009 Budget will:
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Enhance the performance of the Corps civil works program
consistent with sound science, public safety, and the needs of the
American economy;
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Emphasize investing in maintenance at key Corps facilities;
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Focus on ongoing projects with the highest returns
to the Nation and project completions;
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Provide resources to restore nationally and regionally
significant aquatic ecosystems;
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Enhance the Corps’ ability to plan for and respond
to natural disasters; and
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Meet the President's commitment to improve hurricane
and storm protection for New Orleans.
Improving Performance in the Corps Civil Works Program
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Supports the program’s
three primary missions. 1) Facilitate commercial navigation;
2) reduce the risk of damage from floods and storms; and 3) restore
aquatic ecosystems. The Corps conducts its work in partnership with non-Federal entities.
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Assesses project performance. Develops these programs using economic, environmental, and other
performance criteria to produce a greater overall return to the Nation
from the civil works program.
Maintaining the Nation’s Infrastructure
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Focuses on the performance
of existing projects. Gives priority to operating and
maintaining key water resources infrastructure across the Nation,
including multi-purpose dams, navigation projects, and levees.
Constructing the Highest-Performing Projects First
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Continues to propose a performance-based,
earmark-free construction program. Supports construction of the projects in the main Corps
missions that provide the greatest net returns for each dollar invested.
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Reduces the construction backlog. Focuses funds on completing projects that demonstrate a high return
within the main Corps mission areas that are already under construction.
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Requires $19 billion just to complete those ongoing
projects that are consistent with the program’s performance
criteria and $38 billion to complete all projects including congressional
add-ons.
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Focuses on the highest-performing projects, rather
than new starts, and thereby completes them sooner. This accelerates
the completion of such projects as the Oakland Harbor navigation channels in California, which will
be completed in 2009.
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Supports studies of those proposed projects that are
most likely to produce a high net return for each dollar invested.
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Proposes user fee for inland
waterways. Proposes to phase out the current excise tax
on diesel fuel for the inland waterways and replace it with a lockage-based
user fee.
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Additional revenue from the proposed fee is needed
to pay for ongoing and future construction, replacement, expansion,
and rehabilitation work on the inland waterways, consistent with the
required 50 percent cost-share for such investments from the Inland
Waterways Trust Fund.
Restoring Aquatic Ecosystems
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Source: Environmental Science Division, Conservancy of Southwest Florida
The Budget would help restore 90 square miles of endangered Florida panther habitat at Picayune Strand, west of the Everglades.
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Restores the Everglades. $185 million for the Corps to help restore the ecosystem of South
Florida, including the Everglades, an increase of $54 million over
the 2008 enacted level.
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Focuses on a small number of restoration projects
with direct ecological benefits, as recommended by the National Research
Council, with projects selected to evaluate the validity of scientific
assumptions regarding the effectiveness of current approaches to restoration
of the Central Everglades, thereby reducing uncertainty over time.
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Works in stages to restore, for example, natural hydrological
conditions in Everglades National Park. The first stage, which the
Corps is conducting under the 1989 Modified Water Deliveries to Everglades
National Park project authority, is the centerpiece of the current
phase of the overall South Florida ecosystem restoration effort.
The Corps will evaluate the success of this project, and incorporate
the lessons learned, before proceeding under the 2000 Comprehensive
Everglades Restoration Plan authority with further steps to improve
water deliveries to the park.
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Fosters Louisiana coastal
restoration. $20 million to protect and restore Louisiana’s
coastal wetlands ecosystem, an increase of $17 million over the 2008
enacted level.
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Supports Missouri River restoration.
Modifies the Intake Dam on the Yellowstone River to open
up the upstream habitat to the endangered pallid sturgeon.
Rebuilding New Orleans and Supporting Overall Response Capability
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Reduces vulnerability of New
Orleans to storm damage. $5.8 billion in additional emergency
funding in 2009 to provide 100-year storm protection to the greater
New Orleans area. The Corps has already provided a higher level of
storm protection for New Orleans than the area has ever had. The
additional funds, combined with the State’s cost-share, will
help keep the project on schedule for completion.
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Supports effective response
to emergencies. $46 million for activities, such as preparation, logistics, and training, to ensure
that the Corps is able to respond effectively to natural disasters.
Since 2001, the Corps of Engineers has:
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Focused resources on the highest performing
projects. The Administration has established principles and performance criteria to guide
and rank the allocation of funds among construction projects.
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Completed 70 construction projects. Allows the Nation to realize the benefits of completed navigation, aquatic ecosystem restoration,
and storm damage reduction projects. Significant project completions
through 2008 include inland waterways projects, such as Montgomery
Point Lock and Dam in Arkansas and an innovative flood damage reduction
project, Grand Forks and East Grand Forks in North Dakota and Minnesota,
which combined structural and non-structural approaches to flood damage reduction. The 2009 Budget
will complete funding for construction of the navigation and ecosystem
features of the Columbia River Channel Improvements project.
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Placed greater emphasis on existing infrastructure.
The Budget emphasizes maintenance of key Corps facilities.
For instance, the Budget has emphasized maintenance and rehabilitation
of facilities to improve reliability on three inland waterways with
the most commercial traffic: the Ohio River; the Mississippi River;
and the Illinois Waterway.
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Protected the environment. Through
its permitting process, the Corps Regulatory Program has helped protect
30,000 acres of wetlands.
Corps of Engineers—Civil Works
(In millions of dollars)
|
2007 Actual |
Estimate |
2008 |
2009 |
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Spending |
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Discretionary
Budget Authority: |
|
|
|
Construction 1 |
2,382 |
2,289 |
1,402 |
Operation and
Maintenance 1 |
1,975 |
2,244 |
2,475 |
Flood Control,
Mississippi River and Tributaries |
397 |
387 |
240 |
Flood Control
and Coastal Emergencies |
— |
— |
40 |
Investigations |
163 |
167 |
91 |
Regulatory Program |
159 |
180 |
180 |
Formerly Utilized
Sites Remedial Action Program |
140 |
140 |
130 |
Expenses |
167 |
175 |
177 |
Office of Assistant
Secretary (Civil Works) |
4 |
4 |
6 |
Total, Discretionary
budget authority |
5,387 |
5,586 |
4,741 |
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|
|
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Memorandum: |
|
|
|
Budget authority from enacted supplementals |
1,609 |
— |
— |
Budget authority from emergency request, Construction |
— |
— |
5,761 |
|
|
|
|
Total, Discretionary
outlays |
3,780 |
7,205 |
8,774 |
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Mandatory Outlays: |
|
|
|
Existing law |
156 |
27 |
28 |
Legislative proposal,
Recreation Program User Fee |
— |
— |
−9 |
Total, Mandatory
outlays |
156 |
27 |
19 |
|
|
|
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Total, Outlays |
3,936 |
7,232 |
8,793 |
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1 The 2009 Budget reflects a transfer of certain activities
from the construction program to the operation and maintenance program.
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