Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, I am Michael L. Davis, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works. I am here today to discuss the Army Corps of Engineers environmental restoration and protection mission and present the Department of the Army's views on S. 835, the Estuary Habitat Restoration Partnership Act of 1999. I will also discuss the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA), commonly referred to as the Breaux Act and S. 1119, which extends funding for implementation of CWPPRA.
ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS ENVIRONMENTAL MISSION
For over 200 years the Nation has called upon the Army Corps of Engineers to solve many of its water resources problems. Historically, the Corps has emphasized its traditional mission areas of improving our navigation and transportation system, protecting our local communities from flood damages and other disasters, and maintaining and improving hydropower facilities across the country. The Corps environmental activities have expanded over time with major changes in environmental law and policy, such as the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, which requires each Federal agency to assess fully its actions affecting the environment, and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972 (commonly called the Clean Water Act) in which the Corps was given a major responsibility for regulating the discharge of dredged or fill material into all of our Nation's waters, including wetlands. In recent years, however, pursuant to the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 1986 and subsequent WRDAs, the Corps has elevated its environmental restoration and protection mission to a status equal to its flood damage reduction and navigation missions. With an overall objective to link economic growth with protection of the environment, the Corps now uses its engineering, project management, real estate, and environmental expertise to address environmental restoration and protection opportunities.
The Corps has a powerful toolkit of standing authorities and programs that can be brought to bear to help solve environmental problems. Over the last decade alone the Corps has helped to restore hundreds of thousands of acres of habitat of many types, and which benefit thousands of fish and wildlife species. Examples include: 28,000 acres of habitat restored for the Upper Mississippi River (98,000 projected by 2005); 35,000 acres of restored flood plain under construction as part of the Kissimmee River Restoration Project in the Florida; and, hundreds of acres of coastal wetlands restored under authorities for the beneficial use of dredged material for ecosystem restoration.
On July 1, the Army submitted to Congress a comprehensive plan to restore the Everglades. The plan proposes the world's largest ecosystem restoration project, one which will help restore over 2.4 million acres of wetlands in the south Florida Ecosystem as well as improve the health of estuaries and Florida Bay.
We are especially proud of our efforts on all coasts in conjunction with the Coastal America initiative. Some examples of projects where the Corps led multi-agency, multi-level efforts (Federal, State, local and private) include: restoration of a coastal salt marsh area in the Galilee Bird Sanctuary, Rhode Island; the initial demonstration area for restoration of tidal wetlands in the Sonoma Baylands, California; the Sagamore Salt Marsh Restoration, Massachusetts; restoration of 1100 acres to provide riparian and submerged habitat at Poplar Island, Chesapeake Bay, Maryland; and, shoreline stabilization and submerged aquatic vegetation restoration around Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay. Our FY 2000 budget request includes study funds for 12 potential projects directed at protecting or restoring the benefits of estuaries, as well as funding for many other activities that would be beneficial to the environment in or adjacent to our Nation's estuaries.
SIGNIFICANCE OF ESTUARINE AND COASTAL AREAS
Throughout the world, estuarine and coastal areas serve as focal points for human use and development. These same areas also perform critical functions from an ecosystem perspective, providing habitat and food for myriad fish and wildlife species. Estuaries are unique in that they serve as a transition zone between inland freshwater systems and uplands, and ocean marine systems. There is an urgent need to protect and restore these ecosystems recognizing the economic, social, and environmental benefits they provide. In this regard, we would add as a purpose of the bill the need to promote a greater public appreciation and awareness of the value of our estuary and coastal resources. As with many environmental issues, future generations depend upon our actions today.
Legislation to expand the authority of the Corps to use its unique skills and experience to restore and protect estuary habitat would add to the Corps environmental portfolio. The authorities are being applied to achieve an economically and environmentally sustainable future for the nation and the world. Let me assure you that the Department of the Army is prepared to take a leadership role in reaching the goals of S. 835. Army would approach implementation of S. 835 in accordance with the policies and procedures which grew out of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 1986, subsequent WRDAs, and long-standing partnership and public involvement practices.
Additionally, Army would explore the possibility of using the existing organization and structure of the Coastal America partnership to jump-start restoration efforts. Coastal America has National and Regional Implementation Teams already in place, and many of the members of these teams would be the very same experts we would consult with under S. 835.
S. 835
I would now like to focus on the Department of the Army views on S. 835. The Department of the Army supports efforts to enhance coordination and efficiently finance environmental restoration and protection projects. The goal of restoring 1 million acres of estuary habitat by the year 2010 is in consonance with the President's Clean Water Action Plan and its goal of a net increase of 100,000 acres of wetlands, annually, beginning in the year 2005. We also agree with the philosophical basis for the legislation, that estuaries and coastal areas are being degraded rapidly, and that there is an urgent need to attain self-sustaining, ecologically-based systems that are integrated into surrounding landscapes. The proposed national framework, or national estuary habitat restoration strategy, to be completed at the end of the first year, should help partners identify and integrate existing restoration plans, integrate overlapping plans, and identify processes to develop new plans where they are needed. This framework document could help us maximize incentives for participation, leverage Federal resources, and minimize duplication of efforts. We support the requirement to publish the draft strategy in the Federal Register for review and comment to enhance public involvement. We believe that the legislation is consistent with the National Estuary Program (NEP), which was established to manage and protect aquatic ecosystems in coastal watersheds, and the National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS), which uses science to improve management of estuaries. The NEP and the NERRS strive to protect and restore habitat through consensus and initiatives which are community-based. The legislation also is consistent with the Coastal Wetlands Preservation Protection and Restoration Act, a unique multi-Federal and State agency partnership which is working to restore and protect approximately 73,000 acres of coastal wetlands in Louisiana over a 20-year period.
We are pleased to note that important changes that the Army requested at your Committee hearing held on S. 1222 last Congress have been incorporated into S. 835. These changes limit Federal assistance for each habitat project to 65 percent of project cost, strengthen the role of the Secretary of the Army commensurate with the need for accountability for appropriations received, and allow the Collaborative Council to consider, where appropriate, non-governmental organizations as sponsors for environmental restoration and protection projects. We also are pleased that the bill makes it clear that the term "estuary habitat restoration activity" does not include mitigation for the adverse effects of an activity regulated or otherwise governed by Federal or State law, or acts that constitute restitution for natural resource camages required under any Federal or State law.
While S. 835 is a bill that the Department of the Army could support, we urge the Committee to revise the bill to include the Federal agency participation on the Collaborative Council and establishment of the Regional Council structure set forth in the companion House bill, H.R. 1775. We feel that S. 835 could be revised to make it clear that non-Federal sponsors are responsible for providing all lands, easements, rights-of-way, dredged material disposal areas and relocations, as is required for Army civil works water resources projects. We also believe that the Secretary, not the Collaborative Council, should make the determination, in accordance with existing water resources policies, as to the acceptability and valuation of any in-kind contributions for local cost sharing. As is the case with essentially all water resources projects undertaken by Army Civil Works, the Secretary may consider giving non-Federal sponsors credit, towards their cost share, for lands, easements, rights-of-way, dredged material disposal areas and relocations required for the Federal project.
We urge you to consider expanding the geographic scope of the habitat protection and restoration activities proposed in S. 835 to include the Great Lakes region, which is widely recognized as a coastal region of the United States. This coastal region has many ecosystem problems that mirror those of more traditional coastal areas and has, for that reason, been included as a coastal region in the programs authorized under the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as amended, and in the Administration's Coastal America Initiative. We believe that the addition of a regional council representing the Great Lakes region, to include the States of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, merits serious consideration. You also may wish to consider including the islands and territories of the United States for similar reasons.
Many environmental restoration techniques and approaches are new, and when dealing with natural systems, there is a need to test new ideas, learn from successful and not so successful projects, and manage adaptively to adjust to ever-changing conditions. Environmental restoration efforts for the Everglades, the Upper Mississippi River System Environmental Management Program, and the Coastal Wetlands Preservation Protection and Restoration Act, all acknowledge, to varying degrees, the value of demonstration projects and adaptive assessment approaches. Adding to S. 835 a demonstration component with a cost share that is consistent with that applied to habitat projects, and a requirement for non-Federal sponsors to manage adaptively, would encourage the partners to try out new ideas and learn more about how to restore and protect estuary and coastal areas.
The Army Civil Works program plays a critical role in providing and maintaining water resources infrastructure to meet future needs in consonance with other national priorities and a balanced budget. We try to avoid creating false hope by not authorizing projects that we cannot reasonably expect to fund or complete within a reasonable time frame. In light of the $27 billion backlog of ongoing Corps construction projects, and other authorized projects awaiting construction, the dollar magnitude of new projects and programs in the Administration's proposal for WRDA 1998 was constrained. Thus, while we could support being involved in a program to restore and protect estuaries and coastal areas, we are concerned that this new program could impact on other new and ongoing projects and programs which have been carefully prioritized and evaluated for phased implementation over a period of years. We are committed to a sustainable long-term construction program and more timely project delivery to non-Federal sponsors.
We applaud the co-sponsors of S. 835 for their vision and leadership in this area. The Army supports S. 835 and looks forward to working with you and your House counterparts in enacting such legislation.
COASTAL WETLANDS PLANNING, PROTECTION AND RESTORATION ACT
The Army also supports S. 1119, which provides continued funding for the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA), an integral foundation to the implementation of more comprehensive, longer term solutions to the National problem of coastal losses. As I noted earlier, coastal wetlands are valuable resources because they protect against flooding, help maintain water quality, and provide habitat for myriad fish and wildlife species, many of them threatened and endangered. Coastal environments generate billions of dollars annually through such industries as tourism and sport and commercial fisheries. Coastal wetlands also provide infrastructure protection by reducing damage from hurricanes and other storms.
Louisiana's coastal wetlands provide habitat for fisheries, waterfowl, neotropical birds and furbearers; amenities for recreation, tourism, and flood protection; and the context for a culture unique to the world. Benefits go well beyond the local and state levels by providing positive economic impacts to the entire nation.
Approximately 40 percent of the coastal wetlands of the lower 48 states are located in Louisiana. Over the past 50 years, Louisiana has lost an average of 40 square miles of marsh per year. This represents 80 percent of the Nation's annual coastal wetland loss for the same period. If the current rate of coastal wetland loss is not slowed, by the year 2050 an estimated additional 640,000 acres of wetlands will disappear from the Louisiana coast. As a result, the Louisiana shoreline could advance inland as much as 33 miles in some areas. The loss of coastal wetlands is a national problem. However, Louisiana is a showcase for this issue. Economic losses are substantial and could run into the billions over 50 years.
By serving as a buffer to destructive climatic forces and the episodic impact of storms, Louisiana's coastal wetlands provide protection for the people who live and work there and the infrastructure that supports them - including 400 million tons of waterborne commerce per year 9the largest in the nation), natural gas valued at $7.4 billion per year, and petroleum products valued at $30 billion per year.
Concerns for wetland losses have prompted both Louisiana and Congress to act. In 1989, Louisiana established a dedicated Wetlands Trust Fund for coastal wetlands restoration. Congress passed the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) in 1990. Commonly referred to as the Breaux Act, it created a CWPPRA Task Force with representatives from the Department of Army, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Interior, the Department of Agriculture and the State of Louisiana. The Task Force provide oversight and develops, annually, lists of high priority projects focused on marsh creation, restoration, protection or enhancement.
To date eight priority lists have been formulated involving 81 active projects, 30 of which have been completed. When implemented, these projects will reduce the loss of coastal wetlands by 67,726 acres over the next 20 years. It should be noted, however, that the CWPPRA and the other Corps small projects authorities are only a partial solution. The current rate of wetland loss is staggering and projections are that only 23 percent of coastal wetland losses will be offset by gains accomplished under these authorities.
S. 1119 may be subject to the pay-as-you-go requirements of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, in which case the bill could have an appreciable impact on direct spending.
CONCLUSION
The Corps has been increasingly involved in recent years with efforts to protect and restore the benefits of estuaries and their surrounding habitat. We have enjoyed working with you and your staff on S. 835 and other legislation before your committee, including a 1999 WRDA. We look forward to continuing this relationship as work on this important legislation continues. The Department of the Army is also looking forward to working with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Departments of Commerce, Agriculture, Interior, and Transportation, and the non-Federal participants in the designated coastal regions, to restore and protect our nation's estuary habitat. You can be assured that Army Civil Works is committed to making partnerships work. Mr. Chairman, this concludes my testimony. I would be pleased to answer any questions you or the committee may have.