| Army Corps of Engineers releases president's civil works fiscal year 2004 budget
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
U. S. Army Corps of Engineers
Contacts:
Ms. Mona Thomason (206) 764-3600
Mr. Les Soule (206) 764-3699
Mr. Bruce Sexauer (206) 764-6959
Mr. Brian Applebury (206) 764-3432
Feb. 7, 2003
SEATTLE—The Seattle District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could receive an estimated $56 million for fiscal year 2004 civil works if the president’s proposed budget is approved by Congress. Approximately $43 million will come from national Corps programs. Still to be determined amounts will come from federal agencies under the environmental support for others program, and local sponsors in cost-shared projects.
The district’s civil works boundaries cover 99,000 square miles and include 4,700 miles of shoreline. Boundaries include the Columbia River system upstream of the confluence with the Yakima River, much of Washington, northern Idaho and western Montana.
The district’s civil works budget for 2004 falls into five program categories.
1. General Investigations — A requested $1.7 million would fund studies, design, coordination, and data collection. Current ongoing district projects include the following:
· Chehalis River Basin — Projects would combine flood control and environmental restoration and protection throughout the Chehalis River basin: $310,000.
· Lake Washington Ship Canal/Water Conservation — Multiple agencies interested in the project that includes ecosystem restoration: $446,000.
-more-
· Puget Sound Near Shore Marine Habitat Restoration – Project looking at restoring marine habitat along the Puget Sound shoreline with full coordination of project design with interested federal, state and local agencies: $350,000.
· Skagit River Flood Control — Project looking at ways to reduce flood damage in the Skagit River valley: $350,000.
· White River-Puyallup Basin – Basin-wide ecosystem restoration and flood damage reduction study: $250,000
2. Construction General — Under this section, $10.9 million will continue ongoing construction projects. Of this amount, $9.5 million will be used to restore ecosystem restoration and municipal/industrial water supply at the Howard Hanson Dam , and $1.4 million will be used to continue the dam safety assurance project at Mud Mountain Dam on the White River, near Enumclaw, Wash. An estimated additional $8 million will be used to continue the development of the nation’s water resources as part of the popular Continuing Authorities Program. There are 35 ongoing projects in the areas of flood damage reduction, navigation, beach erosion, environmental restoration and emergency bank protection. Seattle District received the only Construction General new project in the entire nation this year. The Chief Joseph Gas Abatement project will modify the spillway of Chief Joseph Dam to make the project more salmon friendly and increase power generation flexibility in the Columbia River Basin.
3. Regulatory Program — A requested $4.1 million would go to the district’s permit program for regulating dredge and fill material in the waters and wetlands of Washington state.
4. Flood Control and Coastal Emergency — Approximately $500,000 would fund preparations for response to and recovery from disasters.
5. Operations and Maintenance — An estimated $30.1 million budget would fund the operation and upkeep of existing projects which include hydropower facilities, locks and dams, recreation areas and navigable waterways. Additional estimated funding of $34 million would come directly from Bonneville Power Administration for the hydropower portion of the district’s multipurpose projects.
FY 2004 Civil Works budget information, including a state-by-state breakdown, is available on the Corps’ World Wide Web site: www.usace.army.mil/civilworks/cecwb/budget.
# # #
|
This site is 508 Compliant
