Hooray for Port, but Army Corps remains challenge

Members of Florida's congressional delegation proved their mettle last week by amending a key bill to keep federal funding flowing into the Everglades Restoration and Port Everglades projects.

The amendment allows the port, as well as state and local governments, to get reimbursed from the federal government for any design, engineering and construction costs once their plans get approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the form of a Chief's Report.

The change is important because it prevents a lack of federal funding from stalling a deserving project. Continuity is essential for both Port Everglades dredging and re-plumbing the Florida Everglades if these projects are ever to be completed.

Any celebration by the delegation should be short-lived, though. There's still the matter of making the Army Corps more accountable for how it handles major water projects crucial to Florida's well-being.

U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, has embraced that role, largely because Port Everglades is located in her district. Ideally, that responsibility should be shared among Florida's 27 House members. The Corps' impact on our state is too important to let its oversight fall through the cracks.

Keeping closer tabs on the Corps should be a no-brainer. Since Congress ended budget earmarks, our representatives in Washington can no longer add projects to the budget to bring our tax dollars back home. Everything must first go through an agency. And when it comes to water projects — beach renourishment, port dredging and re-plumbing the Everglades — none can be funded without the approval of the Army Corps.

Better oversight of the Corps will be challenging. The agency is responsible for a wide range of public works projects throughout the world and with 35,500 civilian and military personnel, it is the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency.

The agency's duties are varied and complex, from supporting military units in the world's battle zones to maintaining direct control of dams, navigation locks and hydroelectric facilities.

The Corps' impact on Florida is huge, since it has oversight of coastlines, flood protection, ports, navigable waters and recreational areas. For a state that relies so heavily on water resources, there aren't many infrastructure projects that fall outside of the Corps' jurisdiction.

At times, though, the Corps has been more of an impediment than a partner.

For example, at one point its district planners used an economic model to evaluate the cost-benefit ratio of the Port Everglades project that officials in Washington deemed outdated. The mistake was discovered late in the port's review process, resulting in a do-over that caused an 18-month delay in the permitting process that began almost 17 years ago.

The good news is that the water bill, approved by the U.S. House on Wednesday, contains provisions that streamline the Corps' review process to prevent such lengthy and frustrating evaluations.

If approved by the Senate and signed by the president, the Corps must complete its evaluations within three years and spend no more than $3 million. The bill also calls for three levels of review, a change that should help our lawmakers keep better tabs on its bureaucratic processes.

Kudos to Frankel and U.S. Reps. Corrine Brown and Daniel Webster for taking lead roles on the amendment as members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

U.S. Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Fredrica Wilson and Mario Diaz-Balart also played key roles in obtaining support for the amendment with other House members.

"This was such a good example of how Congress is supposed to work," Frankel told the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, a summation rarely heard out of Washington.

The amendment is a good start, but the challenge of completing key projects remains. Florida's congressional delegation can continue its bipartisan streak by doing a better job of monitoring the Corps and making sure key projects are properly evaluated in a timely fashion.