Washington, D.C. - Congressman Reid Ribble announced that the House passed the final Water Resources Reform and Development Act (H.R. 3080) today by a vote of 412-4.

“I am pleased that the House and Senate were able to agree on a reform-minded, fiscally responsible water resources reform bill. The final bill speeds up project delivery for Army Corps work and streamlines environmental reviews without eliminating them.  WRRDA also improves Congressional oversight over the Army Corps,” said Ribble.

“WRRDA includes several important reforms that will particularly benefit Northeast Wisconsin and the Great Lakes region.  The bill puts us on a path to using the full Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund for maintenance and dredging, and allows the Great Lakes region to collectively compete with other navigation systems for limited funds.”

Congressman Ribble championed the following provisions in the bill:

•    Harbor Maintenance.  Currently, merely half of the $1.8 billion paid into the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund each year is actually used for maintenance and dredging of our nation’s ports and harbors.  WRRDA solves this problem by increasing harbor maintenance expenditures each year until Fiscal Year 2025, when 100 percent of Trust Fund dollars will be used for maintenance activities.

•   Great Lakes Navigation System.  Presently, the five Great Lakes must compete with one another for project funding, even though they operate as an interdependent system.  WRRDA fixes the problem by designating the Great Lakes as a single navigation system, which will allow the Great Lakes to work together, not against each other, for funding.

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