News Release
| Release Number: | 02-019 |
| Dated: | 2/11/2002 |
| Contact: | Matt Rabe, 503-808-4510 |
Portland, Ore.-The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Fiscal Year 2003 (FY 03) budget, as transmitted to Congress by President George W. Bush, includes $4.29 billion for civil works projects for the nation's water resources. These projects will help to maintain and manage navigable waterways, effectively operate flood damage reduction and multiple-purpose projects, and restore and regulate wetlands and other important environmental resources across the nation.
At the local level, the Corps' Portland District is expected to receive about $137 million of the national budget to fund work in the Rogue, Willamette, Columbia, and Cowlitz river basins.
Fisheries
To increase the survival of migrating salmon and steelhead trout, Congress has authorized the design, testing and construction of new or improved fish bypass facilities. One of the Corps' biggest construction programs is the Columbia River Fish Mitigation Project, encompassing three dams in Portland District and five others in the Corps' Walla Walla District along the Columbia and Snake rivers.
In FY 03, proposed funding for the Columbia River Fish Mitigation Project is $98 million. Subject to regional priorities for the funds, Portland District could receive about 70 percent of this amount to fund research and improvements to fish passage facilities at John Day, The Dalles and Bonneville projects, and to participate in systemwide evaluations.
At Bonneville Lock and Dam, a major portion of the proposed funding in FY 03 will go to the continued construction of the juvenile fish surface bypass system at the second powerhouse. This surface bypass will compliment the other bypass systems in place at the second powerhouse.
The funds will also support ongoing evaluations of other adult and juvenile passage and survival concerns.
At The Dalles Dam, the Corps will continue to work on a new system that would block the upper portion of the turbine intakes at the powerhouse to improve survival of juvenile fish by guiding them into a sluiceway system to pass the dam. Another important study will help Corps biologists and engineers to obtain a better understanding of the dynamics of the spillway at The Dalles and its effect on juvenile fish survival. Improvements to the adult fishway also would be continued.
At John Day Dam, the Corps will continue development of extended screens and surface bypass systems and continue work on adult ladder issues.
At Elk Creek Dam, on the Rogue River, construction was halted in 1988 as a result of a legal challenge, and in 1995 the Corps began to evaluate cost effective and biologically sound methods to manage the project. FY 03 proposed funds of $1 million will be used to operate a temporary fish collection and transport facility, provide project security and maintenance, and monitor water quality. The Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) will conduct a review in the fall of 2002 of the Corps' plan to remove a section of the dam for fish passage.
The Willamette River Temperature Control Project on Cougar Lake in the Willamette Valley is budgeted for $6 million. The Corps will use the money to complete installation of gates and construction of a diversion tunnel, and to initiate construction of an intake tower that will allow the Corps to draw water from different reservoir elevations and thus control downstream river temperatures. Replicating pre-project water temperatures should improve conditions for spring Chinook salmon and resident fish in the McKenzie River.
The Corps is continuing work on fishing sites for Native American tribes, which have treaty-fishing rights on the Columbia River. At a proposed budget of $5.8 million, the Corps will design and construct treaty-fishing sites at the Bonneville, The Dalles and John Day pools. Twenty-three of the scheduled 31 sites will have been completed by the end of FY 02; construction will continue on five more sites through FY 03.
Hydropower
The Corps has been producing power at Bonneville Dam since 1938 when its first powerhouse came online. Today, hydropower projects in Portland District collectively produce an average of 29.6 million megawatt hours of electricity annually, or about enough electricity for 30 million homes for one month, for a wholesale value of $494 million. Hydropower production at the Corps' multiple-purpose projects is directly funded by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), which markets the power generated by the federal projects. In FY 03, Portland District will receive about $48.3 million from BPA for routine operation and maintenance at these hydropower projects.
During FY 03, work will continue on the second phase of the Bonneville Major Rehabilitation Project, which involves replacing the windings of six generators and replacing ten turbines. Portland District will receive a proposed $8.9 million for this work. Depending on future funding, the plan is to complete the second phase of the project by 2008. Upon completion, generation capability will increase enough to provide electricity for 16,000 more homes in an average year.
Another $3 million is proposed for major rehabilitation work at The Dalles Dam during FY 03, including rewinding nine generators, replacing blades on two turbines, refurbishing the blades on the other units, and upgrading other powerplant features. Completion of this work, scheduled for 2010, also is dependent on future funding.
Environmental Restoration and Protection
The Amazon Creek Restoration Project is slated to receive a proposed $500,000 to continue work that began in 2001. One of the largest wetland restoration projects of its kind in the nation, the project will reconnect about 398 acres of adjacent wetlands to Amazon Creek in Eugene, Ore. Efforts target restoration of wet prairie habitat and providing a critical ecological and hydrological corridor between extensive wetland restoration areas in West Eugene and wildlife habitat areas at Fern Ridge Lake (managed by the Corps and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife), Willow Creek Preserve (managed by The Nature Conservancy), Bertelson Slough (managed by the city of Eugene and the Bureau of Land Management), and other locations throughout Eugene.
The proposed Civil Works budget also funds studies of identified water resource problems and possible solutions that will benefit the region. In conducting the studies, the Corps will compare alternative solutions, determine the costs and benefits of alternative plans, and recommend specific courses of action to Congress, which may then authorize and appropriate funds for construction of a recommended project.
Under the auspices of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 and the Clean Water Act, the Corps regulates construction and other work in navigable waterways and has authority over the discharge of dredged or fill material in wetlands and other aquatic areas. Portland District will receive a proposed $2.45 million in FY 03 to help carry out its regulatory mission.
Studies
Portland District will spend a proposed $1.16 million on studies at five different projects. Funding in the amount of $300,000 will be used to complete the reconnaissance phase and initiate a feasibility study for the Lower Columbia River Ecosystem Restoration Project. This is a comprehensive study of wetland and riparian habitat restoration and stream and fisheries habitat improvement.
The Corps' Tillamook Bay and Estuary Ecosystem Restoration Study is intended to promote ecosystem restoration and flood damage reduction at Tillamook Bay and in the five rivers that feed the estuary. At a proposed budget of $266,000 in FY 03, the Corps will continue a feasibility study, which evaluates modifications to existing flood plain features, stream channels, and the estuary to restore natural wetlands, estuarine and coastal habitats, and reduce flooding to provide long-term solutions through ecosystem restoration.
The Willamette Basin Review Project feasibility study is funded at $100,000. The original scope of this study called for the Corps to analyze the feasibility and impacts of modifying operation and storage plans for its 13 Willamette Valley reservoirs to better serve current and future water resource needs in this heavily populated region. The study was initiated in response to increasing demands placed on Corps reservoirs for municipal and industrial water, irrigation and recreation. The provisions of a forthcoming Willamette River biological opinion will likely impact the scope of this study.
The Corps will receive a proposed $150,000 to continue the Willamette River Floodplain Restoration Study. Through this study, the Corps is evaluating opportunities to modify existing floodplain features that may further reduce flood damages by increasing natural flood management capability. Corps reservoirs in the Willamette Basin control only 27 percent of the Willamette Basin drainage. A restored floodplain could help absorb excess floodwaters, slow the velocity of the water, and create new habitat for a variety of plants and animals--including endangered fish species.
The Willamette River environmental dredging study focusing on the lower Willamette River will identify and address non-site-specific containment sources and cleanup of sediment contamination where necessary at a proposed funding of $249,000.
Operation and Maintenance
The Portland District Operation and Maintenance program includes navigation, flood damage reduction and 19 multiple-purpose projects as well as the sediment retention structure built in response to the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption, the Willow Creek project near Heppner, Ore., and Willamette Falls Locks at Oregon City, Ore. In FY 03, about $54.8 million is proposed for all operation and maintenance (O&M) activities.
One of the Corps' O&M missions is maintaining waterways for commercial use in the Columbia and Willamette rivers and along the Oregon and southern Washington coastlines. About $31 million is proposed to fund hydrographic surveys and channel maintenance, including monitoring navigation structures such as jetties and dikes.
Navigation projects, in the proposed budget, in Oregon and Washington include the Mouth of the Columbia River and the Columbia River from the mouth to The Dalles. Along the Oregon Coast, channel maintenance proposed funding is at Umpqua and Siuslaw rivers; Coos Bay, Yaquina Bay, and Port Orford.
Willamette Falls Locks at West Linn, Ore., has a proposed operation funding of $344,000.
About $5.2 million is proposed to fund the operation, inspection and maintenance of flood damage reduction structures (such as dikes and levees) and the Corps' reservoir projects in the Rogue and Willamette river basins. The initial investment in flood damage reduction projects throughout the District, including reservoir and bank protection projects, was $1.2 billion. Flood damages prevented since those projects were constructed are estimated at more than $24.1 billion.
The day-to-day operation and maintenance of the Corps' multiple-purpose projects, including navigation locks and recreational facilities, has proposed funding of $18.2 million in FY 03.
The Corps is committed to serving its customers, the people of Oregon and Washington, through the Corpswide Civil Works program.
Details of the Presidents proposed FY 03 Civil Works budget can be viewed at www.usace.army.mil.