Transcripts For CSPAN2 Officials 20240702

We will call the committee to order. I ask unanimous consent that the chairman be authorized to declare recess any time during todays hearing. That is so ordered. As a reminder, members insert a document in the record please email them. At this point i will recognize myself for the purposes of an Opening Statement. We are here today to discuss the initial federal response to march 26, 2024, Early Morning incident involving the cargo vessel and Francis Scott key bridge in baltimore, maryland, which resulted in the subsequent collapse of the bridge. The first one at all and six workers who sadly perished. I want to express our condolences and offer prayers to the families and their loved ones. I also want to express our appreciation to the harbor pilot and the Maryland Police authority who saved countless lives close in the bridge prior to the incident and all the First Responders who were obviously involved in that process. Finally, i want to commend the federal, state, and local officials working that night to clear the wreckage and debris and obviously continuing that effort to reopen the shipping channel that supports the port of baltimore. The committee continues to receive updates from federal agencies responding and investigating the incident including those testifying here today. Hours after the collapse, President Biden announced his intention for the federal government to pay for the initial cost of reconstruction the key bridge. We received a letter officially, requesting that we authorize the money to repair the bridge. Ive personally spoken with governor moore on several occasions. The federal Highway Administration Emergency Relief Program, within hours of receiving the application the federal Highway Administration approved 60 million in Quick Release funding which it said represented 5 or so of the initial total project cost of 1. 2 billion. This funding is expected to assist with Emergency Repairs to restore essential travel, to minimize damage from the remaining facilities as well as repairs necessary to restore the highway to the predisaster condition. Under the program the federal government reimburses state qualifying workout 100 federal cost or first 270 days. After that initial 270 days, states are reimbursed at 80 to 90 rate depending on the classification of the program, which the program also provides flexibility to allow for reimbursement up to 90 in some cases. This past friday, may 10, the federal Highway Administration committee had designated a portion of 695 that includes the bridge as part of the interstate system effective april 25. That means they will be guaranteed up to 90 . All that is to say that while the president s request has been received and under consideration, Congress Still has roughly 6 months to act before any cost share changes might occur. Despite initial estimates of 1. 2 billion to rebuild the bridge, reports now indicate the state of maryland estimates the bridge may cost between somewhere between 1. 7 billion and 1. 9 billion. Its important we have a firm estimate before we take any further action on the cost share. In addition, the company that owned the ship must make sure the government actively works to recover any money that is owed. That could offset the bridge funding or be used to make companies that work and rely on the harbor to remain whole. So for those who wish to go see for themselves the committee will continue to facilitate visits on a regular basis. At this stage we need to make sure we are not forgetting to let other agencies complete your investigation. We will ensure that numbers of congress have all the information that is available to them. I want to thank all of our witnesses for being here today. I look forward to the testimony. I did talk to the governor just this morning about the hearing coming up. He is pretty optimistic about the litigation moving forward. I mentioned that in my Opening Statement but it sounded very interesting and promising. Thank you, chair graves for holding the hearing. I want to thank the officials for joining us. First, i want to express my sympathies of the six transportation workers that lost their lives on the job maintaining this important piece of infrastructure. This is a reminder why safety always has to be the top priority in transportation. Safety and workers, traveling public and the residence. This is an incredibly complex debris removal challenge. It supports significant Regional Economic and Global Shipping and loss of essential Freight Movements and roadway mobility in the midatlantic region. I want to commend you and the team and your leadership and the tireless efforts of the women and men under your command for their work to safely remove the debris and return the channel to the operations that currently exist under extremely challenging circumstances. It became clear when i visited the site last month. I want to thank the coast guard for the partners on the unified command especially maryland state police. For guiding many members of the congress in our various trips to witness the damage. I look forward to hearing the latest updates today regarding the cleanup and the estimated timeline for reopening the channel. We also need to learn what resources and authorities will be needed from congress as the full costs become more concrete. The coast guard has expended significant 2020 for operation support funds. We are grateful the coast guard always does what it needs to get the job done. It is reasonable to expect service to absorb these costs without impacting the coast guard ability to perform other missions. The service must be made whole. Currently fiscal 2020 for operations and maintenance funds are being used for the channels. If not replenished it will impact planned repayments once this is complete and in future years. These amounts are not submitted upon response. Last week there was an ounce reprogramming in 20 million of unused funds to continue work. This level of reprogramming is unprecedented and demonstrates the absence of funds provided by congress to get out of water and not the vessels of the port can reopen and continue. I urge the koran the coast guard to communicate early and often what you need to ensure support is uninterrupted and to do so in partnership with the legislative branch. Beyond the Immediate Response i look forward to hearing from the federal highway administrator about the timeline to replace the bridge and the role the federal government is playing in the process. Congress has established the Emergency Relief Program in 1968 as part of the federal Highway Program to provide for the reconstruction of highways and bridges in the event of a disaster. Congress understood that estate cannot be expected to cover the costs of an unforeseen emergency loss of a structure out of the budget. That is true today. Officials estimate it will cost up to 1. 9 billion to replace the bridge. Theres a lot of estimates out there and its a broad range. I would not really call them estimates at this point frankly. D. O. T. Has provided 60 million in emergency relief funds. Prior to collapse the Bridge Service 34,000 vehicles a day. This has increased crossings and other tunnels by 18 . Truck drivers carrying Hazardous Materials must at 25 miles to get through baltimore on alternate routes. The committee has a role to help rebuild this economic artery quickly and efficiently. I want to welcome the committee chair. Congratulations on your reconfirmation last night. The ntsb a thorough investigation of the catastrophe will help to answer questions that will sure ridges, save lives and protect americans. I look forward to what you are able to share based on the preliminary funding which was released yesterday afternoon. Thank you to each of our witnesses. I look forward to what you all have to say. I yield back. I ask unanimous consent that these statements be included in the record without objection. That is so ordered. I ask unanimous consent for the record. The hearing will remain open until such time that the witnesses have provided answers. Any questions may be submitted in writing that is also sorted. I also ask unanimous consent that the record remain open for 15 days for additional comments by members or witnesses to be included in the record of todays hearing. Without objection that is so ordered. The written testimony has obviously been included in the records of the Committee Asks that you try to limit your oral remarks to five minutes. With that, vice admiral, you are recognized for five minutes. Thank you for being here. Thank you, chairman, Ranking Member, numbers of the committee. Good morning. Thank you for your remarks about the coast guard and opening remarks. I look forward to the opportunity to testify. In the early hours of march 26 the container shipped only and collapse the Francis Scott key bridge. Six individuals lost their lives. Baltimore loss to landmark part of its skyline and the region suffered a blockage of crucial waterways. We continue to honor the memory of those victims. Today at the 51 day point over 6000 tons of steel and concrete have been removed from the wreckage field. Access has been restored to the port of baltimore with more than 35 large commercial vessels sailing through a limited Access Channel and 375 additional commercial recreation vessels have used temporary Access Channels. The first of which was established six days after the collapse. Hazardous materials aboard the motor vessel were stabilized as was the ship itself. Our report today that unified command believes it will be re floated and removed from the site early next week is what they are looking at. Particularly notable, countless steps in the operation have been completed without single worker injury. These had been made possible through rapid mobilization with strong coordination and partnerships. The unified command formed in the first few hours per the National Response framework. Our National Doctrine for response disasters and emergencies. The coast guard, army corps of engineers, maryland state police, maryland transportation authority, Maryland Department of the environment and the owners and operators have effectively leveraged each others jurisdictions, authorities, and capabilities to get us where we are today. The coast guard is proud to be part of this response. Our women and men serve on the front lines of a nation whose Economic Prosperity and National Security are inextricably linked to Maritime Transportation systems. We exercise six of the 11 statutory missions in this response from the early hours of the search and rescue response to restoring vessel traffic with navigation. This commission disservice to activities to ensure that safety, security and stewardship of waterways but we are also continuously exercising operating a mating with federal, state, and local industry partners. One prime example you mentioned is the fantastic work on the quick notification by the pilots to the mta dispatch which saved countless numbers of lives. The work is not done. The unified command remains sharply focused on the full restoration. Active investigations continue in parallel with the response including the coast guard marine board of investigation, our highest level of marine casualty investigation, to determine the causal factors and support the development of preventative recommendations. Our investigation is in cooperation with the ntsb which has taken the lead on the Safety Investigation and the coast guard investigation is also moving concurrently and separately from the department of justices criminal investigation. While we look forward to the results of the investigations, its evident looking more broadly that the size and complexity of ships has grown over the years, placing greater demands on the marine transportation infrastructure that may not have kept place with the increased risks these vessels posed. It is time to more broadly understand these risks. So as deputy commandant for operations, i will be convening a nationwide board of inquiry under title 46 u. S. Code led by my assistant commandant rear admiral wayne are in. We will assess the efficacy of Risk Management tools, evaluate how recently they have been used in major ports and establish a holistic National Level approach to develop risk profiles, identify ways to address vulnerabilities and propose actions to reduce the risk of major incidents. The sport of inquiry is a necessary step to bolster the resiliency and ensure the safe and secure and efficient flow of commerce on waterways. Thank you for this opportunity and for your enduring support of the coast guard. I look forward to your questions. We have Major General graham. Thank you for being here. You are recognized for five minutes. Chairman, Ranking Member, distinguish members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today and discuss the Emergency Response by the u. S. Army corps of engineers of the collapse of the Francis Scott key bridge. Please allow me to begin today by offering heart l condolences to families of six individuals lost in this tragedy. From the outset we were committed to supporting efforts to recover their loved ones. Thoughts and prayers continue to be with them. Soon after this tragic event Maryland Governor wes moore declared a state of emergency and we activated the district Emergency Operations center. The stateoftheart survey vessels which usually serve to verify the depth and with the federal channels were deployed to support the initial search and rescue dive operations. We joined a multi Agency Effort across all levels of ever meant to form a unified command. Ive been in a good many disaster responses over the years and this unified command team led by captain David Oconnell is one of the best ive ever seen. The guidance from the president was clear from the beginning. Clearing the wreckage from the channel was the top priority. We needed three things to execute this mission. Authority, funding, and the right contracting capacity. Authority, we used the authority for the baltimore channels project and authorized the army corps to maintain and construct a 50 foot deep channel which was fully blocked by the wreckage. Funding, we used available fy 23 and 24 funding for that project. Additional funds as we discussed earlier by Ranking Member larsen have been provided through internal emergency programming actions using unused funding just from Harbor Maintenance and trust fund projects. The army corps has not used this emergency reprogramming authority at this scale for over 15 years. The third thing we needed was contracting. The army corps has a standard Interagency Agreement with the supervisor of salvage and diving. They are true worldclass professionals. Have contracting tools to give us access to superb salvage companies. In this case the contractor they are using is don john marine from newark, new jersey. The army turns to them option often to leverage their expertise. I last worked with them during hurricane in response in central florida. They have helped us pump the upper Kissimmee River backwards for a few days saving around 12,000 home south of orlando. They are True Professionals who know how to deliver outstanding results. With these elements in place we embarked on the complex task of determining how to clear approximately 50,000 tons of concrete, asphalt, and steal from the river. That is over 200 statues of liberty where the material. After extensive analysis the army corps in collaboration with partners developed an ambitious but feasible timeline to clear a 35 foot deep Access Channel by the end of april and restore the full 50 foot federal navigation channel by the end of may. Certified by the coast guard, the limited Access Channel was opened to traffic on april 25, one week ahead of schedule. It can support approximately 70 of the port traffic, tarp particularly the carriers that are so critical to baltimore. We executed the most difficult task removing the section of bridge that had collapsed on the bow of the dolly. We used Precision Demolition to cut the bridge away from the ship. Operations continue to remove the dolly from the southern edge of the channel. This will facilitate the removal of the remaining bridge wreckage from the river. We remain on track to open the full 700 wide by 50 foot deep federal channel by the end of may. In closing, we are tremendously proud to be part of the stellar unified team which was mentioned earlier safely removing wreckage from the channel allowing the port to resume its role as a key supply chain and vital economic engine. Thank you, chairman, Ranking Member and members of the committee. I look forward to answering your questions. Thank you. Matt, you are recognized for five minutes. Thank you chairman, Ranking Member and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. The collapse of the Francis Scott key bridge on march 26 was a tragic event for baltimore, maryland, and the entire nation. While the collapse was shocking we must not lose sight of the devastating impact the tragedy has had on the victims and their families. The six victims were fathers, husbands and friends in their homes and communities and valued members of the construction workforce. We will always mourn these individuals who lost their lives while working to strengthen our Transportation System. I want to thank the Emergency Responders who acted quickly to save lives. Ive had the opportunity to visit the side of the bridge collapse. While i have been engaged in a number of bridge related incidents in my career, ive never seen anything at this scale. Its a Monumental Task to clean up the site and rebuild. Yet, as i appear before the committee i have a great feeling of optimism, witnessing the ability of industry and Government Entities to Work Together in times of calamity like they have done since the bridge collapse. Immediately following this catastrophic event, the federal Highway Administration internally and externally work to support the response. President biden has been clear in the commitment to reconstruct the bridge. Undersecretary buttigiegs leadership, we are actively coordinating with other operating administrations and offices within the you United States department of transportation, the Maryland Department of transportation, state Highway Administration, city of baltimore, u. S. Coast guard, u. S. Army corps of engineers to manage traffic and reconstruct the bridge. We are actively supporting the ntsb investigation of the collapse. The investigation has been in direct communication with the maryland d. O. T. Regarding all possible options for reconstructing the bridge. It is committed to supporting these efforts of the bridge can be reconstructed as quickly and safely as possible. Its critical that we reconstruct the vital connection for people and goods traveling along the east coast ensuring that the i695 corridor is open, operational, and safe for the traveling public at the earliest possible moment. On march 28, within hours of receiving the request for funding assistance from maryland d. O. T. , fhwa announce the Immediate Availability of 60 million in wic relief emergency release funds. These funds serve as a down payment toward initial costs, additional emergency relief funding will be made available as work continues. The administration is asking congress to join it in demonstrating a commitment to Recovery Efforts by authorizing a 100 federal cost share the bridge consistent with catastrophic bridge collapses. Fhwa continues to provide wide range and Technical Assistance to maryland d. O. T. Providing procurement for debris removal to reconstruct the bridge quickly and safely. Fhwa is also working to ensure that the new bridge will be dealt to current Design Standards in accordance with all applicable federal laws. On march 26, 2024, the day of the collapse fhwa met with transportation liaisons from the u. S. Army corps of engineers, coast guard, fish and wildlife, National Oceanic and atmospheric administration, the council on Historic Preservation and epa to discuss emergency procedures and consideration to expedite the review and permitting process for future reconstruction. Fhwa continues to meet with agencies to discuss permitting. Thank you to the state and local and federal entities that continue to respond to this event. Whether it is this scale and complexity or the comparably smaller incidents on 95 in philadelphia and 10 in los angeles im proud to lead an agency that is playing a part showing the country what can happen when the government and industry come together with a common goal. There are no democratic roads or republican bridges. Transportation unites us. Fhwa will continue to do everything we can to support the response and we will not rest until this event has created a new bridge. We will be happy to answer any questions. Chair. Thank you. Good morning chairman, Ranking Member and members of the committee. With me today is the lead investigator on this accident, the acting director of marine safety and other dedicated ntsb staff. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today to discuss the Ongoing Investigation into the collapse of the Francis Scott key bridge. On behalf of the ntsb i offer heartfelt condolences to the families of all those who were lost in this tragedy and our deepest sympathies to those who were injured or otherwise impacted i the event. I also want to thank our numerous federal and state partners for their support on scene and throughout this investigation. Yesterday we released the preliminary report showing that the dolly experienced four total Power Outages. Luminary information indicates that the march 25 blackout were mechanically distinct from those that occurred on march 26. Two were related to routine maintenance in port. Two were unexpected tripping of Circuit Breakers on the accident voyage. On the 25th, a blackout occurred when a crewmember mistakenly closed an engine damper while he was working on the exhaust system in port. This effectively blocked the engine exhaust gas from traveling out of the vessel stack causing the engine to stall. Vessel power was briefly restored but insufficient fuel pressure to the online generator caused the speed to decrease. The breaker opened and a second blackout occurred. While recovering from the second blackout, the crew switch to a different transformer instead of breakers. From those that had menus from several months. Switching breakers is not unusual. It may have affected operations the next day on the accident voyage. The configuration of the breakers remains under investigation. On the 26th when the ship was about. 6 miles from the bridge, one highvoltage and one low voltage breaker that were powering most of the vessel equipment and lighting unexpectedly tripped. As a result, the vessel lost main propulsion. Bridge equipment also lost power and the voyage data recorder lost system feeds. Bridge audio continued to be recorded. The crew was able to briefly restore power to the vessel, but another blackout occurred when a different breaker tripped. At this point the ship was about. 2 miles from the key bridge. The crew regained electrical power right before the dolly peer 17 but they were unable to restore propulsion. The ship had an emergency generator which automatically started following the first blackout on the 26. However, the generator only powers systems like emergency lighting, navigation, radio equipment, alarms, and a steering pump that allowed for low Speed Limited writer movement. It does not power propulsion. Without the propeller turning the writer was left ineffective. They were essentially drifting. We are still investigating the exact time the emergency generator started. Going forward, this is a complex investigation. Our investigators have been on scene consistently since the accident. In fact, they are on board the vessel as i testify today. Its unprecedented to be there that long. We will continue evaluating the design and operation of the Power Distribution system including breakers, examination of damage to the vessel will continue when the ship is clear of debris and move to a facility. We are also working with maryland as they assess protection on other bridges and we are examining protection improvements that have been made following other bridge collapses resulting from marine vessel strikes that we have investigated in the past. Lastly, there are a lot of questions regarding the fuel. Our investigators found the ship was running on low Sulfur Marine Gas Oil at the time of the accident which it had been using since march 21. We directed an independent lab to test all fuel stored on the ship including the fuel that was seen burned at the time of the accident. Test results did not identify any concerns related to the quality of the fuel. Thank you again for the opportunity to testify. I look forward to answering your westerns. Thank you. We will turn to questions. I will let rick ask the first one. Think you. I appreciate that. The first question is for the administrator. You said when you look at reconstruction of the bridge you look at current standards and system of law. Does the current law allow in a circumstance like this a rebuild of a different kind of bridge in order to be eligible for federal or for the cost share . You can build one under current standards and that could be in violation with law under the circumstance that allows you to use. Thank you for the question. I think what we are examining and working with maryland d. O. T. On, the original bridge was built in the 1970s. Its a trust bridge which was common at the time. Today most of the bridges that are being replaced our cable bridges. A different standard so we will want to hear from the ntsb on the final results of that investigation, but under the law what we want to do is replace the current standards. Maryland d. O. T. Will be allowed to do that. Admiral, the court has expended significant resources in the recovery effort. Theres no mechanism, the coast guard there is no mechanism for the coast guard to recoup that funding. They are not typically reimbursed for this kind of work. With a Workforce Shortage of about 10 , you are closing the downgrade stations with the coast guard not because of this incident that what is happening with the coast guard. We passed the coast guard authorization that gets us to the 14 1 2 billion dollars for 25 and 15 billion for 26. We are not near the goal of 20 billion for 2030. So this appropriation for the key bridge, how is the coast guard thinking about being part of that to get some Cost Recovery. I dont want to get ahead on the plans. The way have articulated first of all weve been expending operating funds like for Emergency Responses and other things. We have been keeping close tabs on those. So far we have spent about 20 million of direct and indirect response. What we have seen in these events and others like it, we do what we call burn readiness. We have to have other assets around the area work harder to cover for the aircraft people that are working these. We mobilized now. On average we have had about 200 individuals at the command post per day. That has gone down. We are mobilizing them from around the country. In fact, most of them are from outside baltimore right now. Theres opportunity cost from the command that provide those individuals. I think what this exposes, you know as well, this is becoming more and more brittle as we fail to have the budget reaching that 20 billion a year the coast guard has articulated. Reaching the 3 billion a year on improvement double what we actually receive in order to get the necessary capitalization. This manifests in a whole bunch of different ways for asking for Additional Support for appropriations to the future. Last week we appropriated 20 million including 1 million out of my district and from prioryear funds. Do you have an estimate of how many more dollars you might need, and second, how are you thinking about supplemental appropriations or Cost Recovery . Ranking member larsen, thank you for that question. We certainly want to get ahead of the administration. Right now we have been able to use the project funds as Opening Statement indicated. The dredging work that we plan to do this year will still need to be done. The emergency reprogramming, most of that money so where does that money come from. This happens when it was a very favorable environment. We were able to go back to those funds. A good example of what some of that might be. A contractor might put a claim on a project or request for equitable adjustment. A few years later those claims have been adjudicated. If we did not have to pay that request we would unobligate those funds. Mr. Chairman, if i can indulge for a moment i want to let the chair know. I will need to absorb that report and just the data point of the committee. The skagit river bridge collapsed in 2013. That cost a total of 19 million. It took us two years to recover that. We should not be waiting. It will have to take place first. I will be dead by the time we get the money back from the ocean carrier. It is a data point for folks. Mr. Chairman, thank you for your testimony. I want to start by acknowledging the workers that lost their lives as a result of the collapse of the bridge. After the collapse President Biden came out and said it was his, quote, intention that the federal government will pay for the entire cost of reconstructing the bridge. Further he had directed his team to move heaven and earth to reopen the poor and the bridge as soon as possible. We have a series of questions here as we try to under canned understand the mechanics. If you would give me a yes or no response in the interest of time. While the bridge was located on i695 prior to the collapse it was not considered part of the interstate. Rather that was maryland highway. The bridge had never previously received federal funding, is that correct . I understand federal highways has received a request to designate the bridge as interstate. Is that correct . Yes. This will now be 90 . Is that correct . Yes. Instead of 80. What we are talking about is adult of 10 for a bridge that previously never received any federal funding. Yes. In your testimony you mentioned authorizing 100 federal cost share would be consistent with past catastrophic bridge collapses. How many times has congress authorized a 100 federal share for a fully collapsed bridge . I think the Reference Point we are using is the i35w collapse in minnesota. This is a reimbursement program. Correct . That is correct. As i understand that you are financing process generally individual states that the Program Office as a process to make sure projects are ready to receive funding and work can be completed by the time. Is that correct . It does not matter if the project is getting 80 , 80 , or even 100 . It is based on project progress or delivery. Correct . Yes. I just want to be clear that nothing will move faster if this is 100 funded versus 90 whether the state contributes money or not. The process is still the same. Correct . Can i deviate from this for a second . Go ahead. Yes. However, this is the second largest request weve ever received, 2. 2 billion for katrina was the first one 1. 7 to 1. 9 billion. The 10 delta is about 172 190 million for the state of maryland that is programming the multiyear and multidollar program. It may not be this project but may have impacts on other projects. In the time i have left lets talk about the Regulatory Regime we apply here. Are we going to expect any kind of waivers or anything like that on any Regulatory Compliance measures that would be customary on any other construction project . Sir, we would not waive that or any of the environmental requirements but what we have done is coordinated with the agencies who issue permits. Its our intention because it previously existed in this relative footprint that it would be likely a categorical exclusion which would minimize. Expand on categorical exclusion . When you go through you can either do a full Environmental Impact statement. We can get to a finding of no Significant Impact on environmental assessment, categorical exclusion is the more timelimited finding. We would use that as here because we are putting the bridge back in relatively the same spot. That is not necessarily, because you are using the construction would there be some associated studies. It is relatively in that same footprint but will probably is different peers. Thats why i cant say definitively. It is what we are working towards. It sounds like there will be a great ability of restoring traffic and commerce, Everything Associated with the bridge . Im not sure flexibility is the right word. I think attention from sister agencies and understand the desire to move quickly. Im all for that. I hope in the future other projects are given the same consideration. Because time is money and i understand that is certainly the case here but there are a lot of other projects pending that have caused millions and Regulatory Compliance fees that have really been delayed as a result. Thank you. I yells back. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Administrator bhatt, the department of transportation data shows that traffic crashes rose 29 in alternative routes in the weeks following the key bridge collapse. The same data shows that it now takes between two and four times longer for drivers to travel those alternative routes. That traffic means trucks are delayed in reaching their destinations, commuters are late getting to their jobs, or home to their families. There is more air pollution and wasted fuel. How has the loss of the key bridge hurt Traffic Safety and reduced mobility for drivers in the baltimore region . Thank you for the question. I think, we saw in philadelphia after 95, we have the bridge collapsed. There was all kinds of traffic moving through neighborhoods trying to find their way. I think a similar effect is happening in baltimore. Usually when you have an impact where you remove a significant piece of infrastructure, traffic seems to level out after a while. That is not happening in baltimore to the same extent. I think it is just because of the criticality of the artery. Its part of the northeast corridor. Its important for maryland and baltimore but also the northeast corridor. There are trucks and vehicles moving through neighborhoods that would normally not be on. That is why it is so critically important that we move as quickly as possible. Administrator bhatt, it is clear that we need to restore commerce to the port of baltimore and rebuilt the bridge. To improve safety and mobility. The full maryland delegation has proposed legislation to provide 100 federal share of the cost of the new bridge. I wholeheartedly support this legislation. What affect with the 100 federal share have on efforts to rebuild the bridge quickly . Thank you for the question. I have spent a lot of time running state duties in my career. Ive been on the private side. This job works on bridges across the globe. I would just say with the benefit of the 100 share, it just removes an element of uncertainty. Right now i think maryland, i have to commend maryland d. O. T. They have been consummate professionals through the process. Right now, what they are contemplating is an er shortage that we have told them about that we have 3. 7 billion in unmet and the federal Highway Administration has about 870 million available for nationwide er efforts. We believe we will have the er funding and the uncertainty of 90 versus the one hundred versus 80 uncertainty and as you plan these multiyear, multibilliondollar construction programs, not knowing whether that one hundred 70 million is going to be there does it impact things right now at this moment, they will move forward but as they are projecting out and trying to build their construction program, other contractors, an element of uncertainty would be helpful and to clarify on the hundred obviously any Insurance Payment, the Ranking Member had mentioned would be reapplied so i can with certainty guarantee this will not be one hundred federally funded eventually because we will recruit all the Insurance Payments as possible and go back to the er funds but as the Ranking Member mentioned we dont want to wait through litigation and ntsb investigations issues for that. Thank you, i yield back. Thank you, mister chairman for putting this together, thank you, witnesses, last week the army corps modified congressional offices they would be utilizing the emergency reprogramming authority to reprogram to reprogram approximately 33 million of previously appropriated operation and maintenance Harbor Maintenance trust fund dollars for recovery costs after collapse of the key bridge, nearly 1 million reappropriated from florida, without any request or input from congressional delegation from the state or the people, the recovery effort in baltimore is important this reprogramming of funds represents a blatant disregard for florida and desperately needed improvements to our Water Resources and infrastructure. General graham, if these funds were deemed in excess, why did the core let these funds sit for years and not act towards projects locally in florida and will the core plan to reimburse itself for these Fund Collapse . Thank you for that question. The example i used earlier of some of the funds we had set aside when a contractor put a claim that was from jacksonville and it was from jacksonville district and it was jacksonville harbor. In this case those funding, 300 some thousand dollars are no longer needed for the jacksonville harbor project so those funds in particular that we had set aside for a need and that need didnt materialize we will not seek recruitment for those. We did do this emergency reprogramming work very rapidly. As i stated in my Opening Statement we havent used this authority at this scale for 15 years and we are a little clunky at it in terms of notification to you and your staffs. If, i will use jacksonville district as an example, if there are some of those funds that they do find a need for we will figure out a way to make sure the projects continue. Your first comment on some of those old funds that have been sitting out there for a while why havent we cleaned up the book sooner, youre absolutely right, we should have. You know better than most the gulf states fought against a unified command structure response throughout the deep horizon oil spill, National Institute for support included the states effort that resulted in political and social nullification of the oil spill, the structure and governance. The press reports that meetings with maryland state officials and a number of staff, there were trips to the wreck site that maryland embraced the National Incident command structure and worked well within that structure. The National Incident command structure still and efficient mechanism for coordinating federal interagency and state, local, federal interactions such as the dolly . I cant agree more with your statement. As chief of staff on the deepwater horizon spill and being someone who has been witness to the terrific work in the unified effort of this one, it has been very different in terms of cooperation and collaboration. Underpinning that is the absolute necessity and benefit of the incident command system under the National Incident Management System framework that has served this response incredibly well. It is the doctrine of the us, and any agency, army corps, state can come together with a common lexicon, a common way of planning to come together and make this work but also would like to highlight a real difference that has made a difference and that is elected leadership and operational leadership has been connected in a very constructive way, from governor moore to mayor scott to members of congress from the maryland delegations, theyve taken it upon themselves to get regular updates and great interest in the progress and the response, they have handled for unified command a lot of Public Affairs and external communications in a constructive way and actually provided trade space for Operational Response to continue without pressure and being rushed, its very constructive. Thank you very much, yield back. Mister cohen. Thank you for holding this important hearing of the federal response to the Francis Scott key bridge collapse in maryland. I further extend my condolences to the 6 individuals who lost their lives during the collapse, i think our esteemed witnesses were appearing here today especially administrator Shailen Bhatt who was in memphis monday. Appreciate your coming, the urgent need to replace it. That, as you well know, is a National Treasure to have transportation going across the country on i 40, the i 40 bridge problem last year shut down. And the same problem in the new mandarin earthquake fault. Which is predicted to occur, it has been predicted for 20 years but it is going to occur more likely sooner than later. As you all look at the damages to the key bridge which was cost partially because it wasnt built to withstand that large of a boat. Could have been, peers could have been buttressed, made it more stable. Is that correct . Can you answer . Thank you. Yes, good to spend some time with you in memphis looking at that bridge. One of the things we are waiting for, it was great to see the pulmonary report from the ntsb but we are going to be working closely with the ntsb just to figure out exactly what types of protection might be needed for bridges, what could have been possible but i dont want to step into the ntsb realm. Please. Thank you. For the key bridge, we are obviously, there were two dolphins on the east side, two on the west side, rather small, the vessel sort of bypassed the dolphins. What ended up striking the peer was the starboard side of the bow that hit maccallum. The peer protection around the column is timber, concrete, a little bit of steel, but is close to the peer itself. Other structures that we are looking at have peer protection that comes out farther so a vessel cant get to the column. Other dolphins are much larger, so we are looking at other structures across the United States to see what might be good models. The key here is you have a bridge that was opened in 1977 and over time, its not the bridge thats getting larger, not the waterway this getting larger but the vessels that are getting larger, not just with but height with containers so it is important that states another bridge owners are looking from a Risk Assessment standpoint, what is now going through, what is the vessel traffic and how is our infrastructure protected. With the bridges built after 1977 in the fashion they would have withstood such an impact . You have to thank you for the question. It is an important question. State dot partners to identify all the bridges that are subject to seagoing vessels, the great lakes region, large traffic on the mississippi and other waterways. What this region has done is driven home the need to look at many bridges which are older and look at the protection, we rely on ntsb recommendations and theres a lot of force in different analogies of the force, equivalent of a rocket ship taking off. We just want to be careful in our consideration of how we protect and build bridges in the 20 First Century as they deal with these new potential threats. I would like to urge you as i did in memphis that we need to look at preventative measures so we dont have another Francis Scott key bridge disaster. Earthquakes would cause that. Theres no place in the United States more vulnerable than the new mandarin fault and the bridge that was built before there were seismic standards, that part of the bridge so i hope that you will look in terms of this disaster of bridges we fund on the partisan infrastructure bill that might be susceptible to hate to give god responsibility but disasters that are caused by other than man. I yelled back and thank you for coming. Thank you. I will begin to offer my condolences to the family. It underscores the circumstance, how potentially horrific, almost than imaginable what might be seen as mundane work can end up being at a critical moment. It is unimaginable if you can imagine yourself at 2 00 or 3 00 in the morning going to hundred feet into the water, steel and concrete crashing around you, the Francis Scott key bridge was a tall facility that never received any federal funding prior to the collapse, right . Yes, sir. How much revenue did the state of maryland receive or generate from the bridge on an annual basis . I would have to double check. I dont want to give you a false i didnt know if you would have a different figure than i do. I have 56. 8 million in 2023 for your reference. That is what they were taking in. Under the current law and under this administrations plan the bridge would get one hundred shares of the federal shares of the federal government would pay 100 of that and while you say that this is consistent with bridge collapse emergencies in the past, i think you are referring to the i 35 collapse, that was not a toll bridge, that was part of the interstate system so my questions, i guess, center around payment for this. I think we can all agree that we probably shouldnt wait for the Insurance Companies and litigators to work it out but maryland had insurance on the bridge, didnt it . I am aware of one policy maryland has for 350 million. So that should, by all rights you would assume be action than to go towards paying for a portion, whatever portion of the bridge reconstruction it would pay for, right . Absolutely. I have yet to go through and figure out what is in there but whatever portion of that 350 million would apply. When you say consistent with past emergencies the relief fund is 3. 7 billion behind, 35 trillion this month in debt at the federal level. I wonder if you think it is fair that the american taxpayer should not only pay to reconstruct the bridge but then paying tolls after which to use the infrastructure they just paid for in their taxes because you are going to set a new precedent, is that the precedent we are going to set or is there a plan to recoup the cost of reconstruction of the bridge and according to the figures we heard upwards of 2 billion, a bridge that is really cost 60. 3 million. Is there a plan to recoup that and send that back to the Disaster Relief fund that continually needs massive infusions from the general fund to stay afloat. I appreciate your interest so let me just try to quickly go through that where this was a maryland State Facility before designated as part of the interstate system. They were free to collect their tolls and use them for the port of baltimore. Now that this has been federalized at this facility, as part of the interstate system, they have to use those for title 43 eligible funding whether it is the maintenance of the existing bridge or other highway purposes in maryland so the american taxpayer will benefit from these tolls, if its a preexisting tall facility Going Forward, for eligible expenditures. I understand that they would be used for surface transportation in maryland but you are asking taxpayers across the country to pay for it and if you are from Washington State you will likely never travel across the bridge but you will pay for it and as long as we are setting precedent it would be appropriate at least to consider reimbursing through the tolls but Emergency Fund or Transportation Fund for the entire country before all the money goes back to the state that is going to be receiving it where the bridge resides which arguably can be said was not prepared to withstand the traffic impact that it had, meanwhile it is right there, not like it was a surprise that the bridge is there and ships are going under it and this could happen. With that in mind, with the time that i have already expended and expired i hope you would consider a plan to reimburse the taxpayer under horrific deaths right now, cant afford the groceries, gas bills, day care bills for the cost of this bridge for which one state has been receiving all the money for its entire existence and his apparent going to receive all the money for the tolls for the rest of its existence and with that, i yield the balance. Mister garamendi, you are recognized. Thank you, mr. Chairman, thank you for the hearing, witnesses. Vice admiral in general, you and your teams and the support organizations you contracted with, doing extraordinary work and we thank you for that. The issue before this committee was laid out by the chairman in his opening remarks and i would just that we have an opportunity to clarify the responsibilities, some of which we heard from previous members just a moment ago. A couple things here. First of all, the notion, President Biden is correct, we will put up the full cost of reconstruction. That legislation should be written and then such a way that the federal government will be reimbursed for any money received and the liability issues, 350 million the state of maryland had as an insurance policy on the bridge as well as whatever other payment may come from lawsuits against the shipping company and owners of the ship itself we should, this should be the work of this committee as to carefully structure the legislation so that the federal government, ponying up the one hundred at the outset would be fully reimbursed by any revenues. My colleague raised an interesting point about tolls. We should consider that and how that fits into it and keep in mind the entire interstate system where tolls are collected in various places across the United States so those are things that are out there. Theres also one other issue i want to encourage this committee to deal with in addition to recovering whatever money might be available from lawsuits and that is the limit of Liability Act of 1851. It seems that precedes even the law in arizona which go with a different issue. That limited Liability Act as to change. And i would urge the committee to take up this issue. I intend to present to the committee at the appropriate time a piece of legislation to do so, so that the owners of these vessels would be held responsible for the cost of their mistakes. That right now, would hold that the owner of the ship would be limited to 40 some Million Dollars even though the ship is worth 90 million or more in the damage is somewhere around 2 billion not including cost of recovery issues and expenses that the coast guard and the army corps of engineers are now incurring so my point here is to raise this policy issue and the work of this committee as we go forward. The chairman correctly pointed out that we dont need to do much for the next couple months but this year we have to pass legislation to clarify the ability of the federal government to receive any funds that are available from various lawsuits out there and that this committee should since its our jurisdictional area deal with this 1851 law that limits the liability of the ship owner to any accident and problem they may cause. I dont know if this is an appropriate question for the general and the vice admiral but youre welcome to jump in if you like if you might comment on this issue of how we might structure legislation to recover whatever damages may be in the future from insurance or losses. You can look for help. You referenced that and taken a lot of the happy to share the time. Under the existing law as it states, any insurance monies recouped for any er event across the country go directly back into the er fund so the Ranking Member mentioned the 19 million bridge, 16. 6 million that was recovered through insurance, after the incidents. Whether is 350 million insurance policy maryland has existing or post investigation or post legal activity going on for as long as that may be, we will recover all that money and send it back in but as you point out, there is some question about how much liability is out there. Thats a question that should be addressed to the coast guard you might want to comment on. Gentlemens time is expired. Thank you, mister chairman and thank you to the witnesses for being here and your testimony. I think theres definitely some resentment among my colleagues and the American Public about this incident, the perception is really frustrating, youve addressed some of these but i would like to ask my questions. If you zoom out, the singapore flag vessel crashes into and completely destroy the historic bridge, killed 6 construction workers and is now trying to avoid liability for the incident. People have a lot of questions. Is it safer foreign flagged vessels to operating us waterways or other bridges safe . Ive heard a number of questions wondering whether there bridges are safe. Was this incident a result of foul play or negligence. What can we do to prevent this from happening again, and who is going to pay for this thing, and i appreciate you offer coming and answering questions. My first question is for [speaking in native tongue] 11 if it if anyone else has thoughts please jump in. This whole response is a Great Team Effort but im told the coast guard is doing a great job leading the way in the unified response in baltimore so i want to thank you and the coast guard, your commitment, and all the hard work you in the coast guard have done. You know better than most, the gulf states fought against the National Contingency plan unified command structure response throughout Deepwater Horizon Oil spill a few years ago in the gulf of mexico. The National Incident commanders report concluded gulf states resulted in the political and social nullification of the Oil Spill Response doctrine and structured governance. It appears from press reports, meetings with maryland state officials and member and staff trips to the wreck site, maryland embraced National Incident command structure and the responses worked well within that structure. The National Incident command structure still an effective and efficient mechanism for coordinating federal interagency and state local, federal interactions during incidents such as the dolly collision . First offered complement to the coast guard. I have to acknowledge the leadership of the army corps of engineers, colonel butler, jim harkins, jeff donahoe, the state incident commanders, fantastic leadership team. To answer your question, the incident command system is a fundamental principle by which this incident has response has been successful. It is part of us doctrine under the National Incident Management System. Its how we respond to hurricanes, oil spills and other incidents like this. We now have a great deal of practice in the United States since deepwater horizon in doing this. This incident has a tight connection between operational commanders who are running the incident, elected leaders who all shared the same objectives, elected leaders took the time and effort, members of congress, to to keep uptodate with what was going on and provide the trade space to allow them to get on with the response. Second question i would like to address to Shailen Bhatt. I want to talk about the path forward from here for the key bridge. Whats the plan to replace the bridge . My constituents are not willing to pay for this thing. In my view the company or the country responsible for the incident should be footing the bill, not the us taxpayer. The us is ultimately going to pay for this bridget better come out of funds that weve already allocated. President biden and Speaker Pelosi authorized trillions for infrastructure, including bridges, the last thing i want to do is vote to spend another one or 2 billion on a new bridge. Talk to me about what you see as a path forward here on payment for this thing. In terms of the rebuild path. Maryland dot plans to issue their bop post memorial day, select a preferred team in august and looking at construction, completion in 2028 and in terms of payment, right now theres a pulmonary estimate of 1. 7 to 1. 9 billion, 350 million Insurance Payment we are working through to see what level of that would be applicable and any funds are recovered through legal activity or insurance will go back into the er funds. We dont have a path to getting there right now in terms of what is eligible. Im out of time so i yelled back, mr. Chairman, thank you all. Mister johnson. Thank you for holding this important hearing and thank you to the witnesses for appearing and thank you for the work that youve been doing to ameliorate the harm that has been caused by this bridge collapse and i also want to offer my condolences to the families of the 6 construction workers who were killed in this bridge collapse. I would like to commend the quick work of the Police Officers who made sure traffic was stopped and no other people were on the bridge who could have been killed as a result of this collapse. I also want to recognize the collaboration between state and federal officials and agencies to address this situation and i want to get at this issue of perhaps there being some people in the country who are not inside the state of maryland to resent having to pay for this bridge reconstruction. Shailen bhatt, can you tell us how this impacts interstate commerce . Thank you for your condolences and the question. Ive been the secretary of transportation in delaware, colorado, deputy and kentucky, and what is so critically important for the Transportation System is you can drive from new york to los angeles across the system because it is set to standards and that standard we learned the port of baltimore is that highway system is tied into ports, the busiest port in the country, their jobs are impacted, there are movements being impacted, neighborhoods being impacted, so this is not just an issue for maryland but for the northeast core door and national economy. Its actually having an impact on prices for consumer goods. Is that correct . That is something under the leadership of secretary buttigieg weve been looking closely at. Many of the goods that move through their. Theres a lot of call that move through that port. A lot of automobiles and farm equipment, to the extent theres a lot of that traffic has been diverted, i dont want to get outside the federal highway lane to other ports but theres a lot of movement of goods from ships that have diverted back to maryland, and that adding cost for those vehicles to be finished at the plants nearby so supplychain is important. When is it projected assuming funding is in place that the bridge can be rebuilt and reopened . The projected schedule right now is for a progressive Design Build Team to be selected this summer and for construction to be in next year through 2,028. Thank you. It would be 2029 before the bridge was reopened for traffic. 2028twenty nine. It will be a progressive design throughout the schedule as we go. Thank you. Chairwoman jennifer homendy, with respect to the causation of this cargo vessel losing power, and that causing it, this vessel to drift into the bridge, are there any concerns, does the fact that there was no, there seems to be no redundancy in terms of the basic power of the vessel, there is no redundancy. It is cut off, there is no secondary situations that would kick in. Am i correct on that and if i am correct what are the implications as we move forward . There is certainly redundancy in the electrical system and the Circuit Breakers, they switched Circuit Breakers after the Power Outages in port. With respect to the emergency generator, it would not allow for regaining propulsion. It focuses on the critical portions of the vessel which would be radio communication, lighting. If you had any sort of, if you wanted to regain propulsion through any sort of emergency generator it would literally take 6story generator on a vessel to do that, there is redundancy in cruz ships but vessels, the dolly is not unlike other vessels. I think here is really determining for us what happened with the electrical system on the accident, what happened in those two blackouts which is why we have been working closely with hyundai who manufactures the equipment, to try to replicate some of the electrical problems that were seen that day, and continue looking and testing each of the components. Thank you. I yelled back. I want to join others in wishing condolences to the families of those who were lost in the bridge collapse and i find it remarkable, the incredible action of the Law Enforcement community that stop traffic, could have been much worse than it was. Last week i went out to the bridge and admiral gill reith and captain odonnell and lieutenant carter absolutely remarkable. Colonel, your district commander down there was awesome. I met her in new orleans, she and her team did a great job, folks in dhs were really good, incredibly thorough briefing and gave lots of comfort that things were under control and i appreciate all the efforts underway down there. Administrator, i want to make sure i understand something, you said earlier whats being done on this bridge is consistent with what has been done in other bridges in the past, is that accurate . Thank you. Im trying to think of what i said. You said consistent with historic bridge disasters but theres not another bridge that where they designated that it would be part of the interstate system. We only learned that it was not part of the interstate system in light of this event. That is an anomaly. I want to be clear on that. And secondly, you talked about the use of categorical exclusions whether you do alternative arrangements. In the past, minneapolis bridge, i 35 bridge, similar things have been done. Can you cite environmental damage or destruction from that approach as opposed to the regular thing . Trying to think through your question citing environmental damage by the expedited approach, i cant cite environmental damage. I cant either. Major general graham, you recall after Hurricane Katrina the levees were built using alternative arrangements. Dear member any environmental damage or destruction caused from doing the alternative arrangements . I dont think so. I think it worked out well. My message to you on this is right now, the average road project takes seven years and three or four months. The white house has released new rules in line with attempting to be in line with the fiscal report on ability act and failing on other things, that would significantly shorten it. My message, this shouldnt be the exception. Environment of damages havent resulted from using categorical exclusions or alternative arrangements. I dont know what the traffic impacts our. We have a bridge at home that is the source of the fourth worst traffic problem in america, the Mississippi River bridge, i tend going through california to florida, fourth worst traffic in america. We have taken seven years to narrow a new bridge alignment down to 32 alignments. You cant make this stuff up. This is outrageous. We have emergency there as well. Let me be crystal clear. I fully support, fully support federal funding upfront, lets get this thing built, get it done as quickly as possible, i fully support categorical exclusion or alternative arrangements guy ive been in touch with the governor of maryland and appreciate them reaching out, but this is a major anomaly. We got a toll, we got a responsible party, this isnt a Natural Disaster and i think we need to hold the responsible party accountable. We had a similar situation in louisiana in the 90s, the brightfield incident came and crashed into the riverwalk in louisiana, japanese built vessel run by chinese in liberia. I want to ask you real quick, can you think of any similar incidents with jones act vessels that have occurred like this . Not from deep draft vessels, certainly. A number of towing vessels. Barges and minor incidents. Are you aware of anything . One thing i want to point out for the record, jones act vessels, us build, us crude, us flags, we go to annual inspections, night and day difference and that Something Else we need to consider here. Lastly, this bridge is not going to be built back exactly like it was it will be wider, you have shoulders, a different configuration, different title influence, bumpers, dolphins and other things protecting the pierce structures. Is that correct . Yes, sir. I want to make sure we are noting this is a different bridge being reconstructed with effectively waving or providing alternative arrangements and chemical exclusions underneath, yelled back. Excuse me, thank you, mister chairman. Like everyone here i offer sympathy to the families of those who were lost. These people represent the invisible folks who are on the front lines who provide safety, security in our infrastructure and the harbor workers and Police Officers who made the situation much less terrible. Than it really was. I went to ask the chairwoman and administer Shailen Bhatt about something that was pointed out in the study of the bridge, seems like it didnt have a reliable fender system i believe it is called to protect the peers from the crash and i want to review bridges and other major ports to determine whether or not they have those fenders in place. If not, is there an existing program with funding that might be used to retrofit those other bridges and be sure they dont have the same problem we can be proactive about . Thank you for the question. We have been recommending, we recommended back in 1988 that the coast guard and federal highways evaluate the adequacy of protection on bridges over navigable waterways in us ports and harbors. That recommendation is close to an acceptable, the coast guard said they did not have the authority to take action on that evaluation. One thing i will say that i hope we walk away from this in considering is the federal government states, the bridge owners, they need to evaluate current structures and make sure if you have navigable waterways that you are doing a risk analysis to ensure safety, to ensure there is adequate peer protection. In this situation we are looking at peer protection, the dolphins, the protection around the peers themselves, looking at different bridges across the United States to see how those have been improved over time. In this situation you have a bridge that began operations in 1977 and if it was built today it would be built differently. That has to be taken into consideration. I will say i am very encouraged by what the admiral all announced at the board of inquiry, looking at ports across the United States to make sure there is adequate protection and i assume it will include the structures including bridges so thats great. Administrator Shailen Bhatt . Would you like to comment . Yes. We are working closely with the ntsb and respect their thoughts and guidance. And any bridge tragedy after minnesota reached out to figure out those critical purchases, we got a pulmonary list to identify, deep draft vessels and barges and examining threats doing costbenefit analysis that are quickly deployable and how to get these bridges protect and update Design Standards. Can you use the acronym bh st, rehabilitation, and construction program. Is that available with any funding to retrofit something if they dont meet what they are talking about . Yes. 12. 5 billion allocated for discretionary grant funding, 30 billion on the formula side. Seismic protection, retrofitting, this is something we are going to look into as state partners apply to those funds. If you find any problems with the program that wont allow it to work towards retrofitting in a situation like this or make it more difficult, will you let us know so if we need to make changes, we can address those . Yes. I yield back. Thank you, gentle lady yields back. I want to extend my condolences to the family and all those who were injured in this tragic happening. Specific to other core projects towards efforts at baltimore harbor, these funds were appropriated in fiscal year 2020 or earlier, and those authorized projects. That is accurate. This created a bit of confusion beyond members of the committee, back home for example the wellington district, those funds were repurposed. More at city harbor and thousands of dollars redirected from their maintenance accounts. Can you provide the committee with the amount of reprogram dollars, the list of the project you are reprogramming those funds from and which districts those projects are in. Absolutely. The question everyone has on their mind, how much money is sitting out there that is in an account appropriated in 2020 or earlier that has been left unused, i would like to know the answer to that question too. And following up, does the core plan to use section one hundred one authority again in the future and if so are there any limitations to the number of times the core can utilize that authority in a specific timeframe. Probably. We need to use emergency reprogramming again. We have not used that authority at this scaling 15 years. We understand Congress Parts it is put specific amounts on projects that you intend to be used for these projects, stated earlier, most of these funds were the result, did savings, the result that we held onto additional money to federal claims with contractors, relatively a good news story that we saved the taxpayers money. To your statement on our accounting procedures do those need to be looked at so those funds are not sitting out there, absolutely, and we are committed to that. Following up, these funds are on their way to be reprogrammed to those districts, what is your plan . And if so, what would the timeline be . Make sure i understand the reason quickly. And to return them. We need some of these, we work with them to be sure those projects can be delivered. Whenever district has a disaster of some sort at some point, i suspect that all those Army Corps Districts around the country would like to have a little flexibility to tap into funding allocated to projects in their jurisdiction, which is why i asked that question. With that, mr. Chairman i yield back. North carolina yields back. Made a visit to the Francis Scott key bridge with a number of colleagues to see it firsthand. The coast guard has an obligation to respond to all marine casualties but incidents of this size have an outside impact on resources. This incident comes at a time of strained resources and a 10 Workforce Shortage. What the strain responding to the bridge collapse and how can Congress Help and what is the impact on the workforce . We have mobilized people from across the country, activated reservists to staff command posts and respond here, used cutters in small boats from around the area, helicopters to do this response. There is an immediate area impact. What we know is for unplanned incidents like this where we mobilize a lot very quickly, there are readiness impacts that happen beyond the initial site, in terms of going into what is likely to be a severe hurricane season, the main thing here is in order for the coast guard to reconstitute and be ready for the next one we need to have continued and enduring support from congress. We spent about 20 million in direct and indirect costs but we know our readiness and the waterways management field is brittle, we are support short navigation, theres a cut around seen as a patrol commander that is 62 years old, the coast guard cutter sledge. We are working to recapitalize that class of cutter and this is repeated again and again in terms of aircraft recapitalization support for our people. Admiral [speaking in native tongue] 11, there are minimum Global Standards for shipping practices. The us flag vessels are subject to Higher Standards and scrutiny, one of several reasons it is unacceptable that we rely on flag of convenience vessels to carry 98 of our international cargo. A small minority of my colleagues believe the jones act should be repealed. I am not one of them. How would your job of ensuring safety in us waters be made more difficult, us vessels sailing coastal waterways and in land rivers supplanted by ships with foreign mariners. Your question is related to coast guard implications of safety, the jones act is with us for 100 years, its pretty foundational to how maritime commerce was in the United States, the coast guard worked very hard to provide equivalent level of safety from foreign flag vessels and established standards but what i can really say is the jones act is crucial for Maritime Security elements in terms of industrial shipbuilding capability in the United States coast guard and for us flag military and public vessels as well. We would not want as way, shape or form to use the Maritime Security elements of the Defense Industrial complex through shipbuilding. Jennifer homendy, it is common practice for american mariners working on us flagships to work on board a vessel for two to three months at a time, on a flag of convenience vessel. In the case of that, the engineers have been on board for more than 8 months. The read berliner report showed one mistake by the engineer. Should we be concerned with the flag of convenience vessels which operate with large standards, operating in and around critical us infrastructure. We are still on scene and evaluating everything about this accident. They are adequate but too early to tell. What about standards, with lower standards of concern. We have to evaluate with this particular accident. What was in place and whether that was adequate or not. Beyond this incident, is there a concern . I will have to get back to you on that. I yield back. The gentleman yields back. The chair recognizes you for 5 minutes. I want to associate myself with the comments of concern for the families and prayers for a tragedy such as this and also thank the people that responded so well and are doing the work. In ensuring that our nations infrastructure is secure and maintained it is important to have uniform guidelines in place to know how infrastructure will be paid for and in my district when local communities reach out for assistance with grants to do road work, local cost shares at 20 . Recently my district, us 51. It is closed for quite some time, a sink hole opened up and local community, there will be a cost connected with that work. I expect the community to redesignate the road to be considered part of the interstate highway system to take care of that. On 695, it is not part of the interstate highway system and the incident that caused the collapse occurred in march and the Bridge Designation wasnt applied to be changed until april and are you aware of the change cost share requirement for this road . And is it normal . Normal for a road change to be designated after an incident . Thank you for the question. The first time i am aware of redesignating. Can you explain for the sake of the taxpayers who have issues, after repair to be identified, constituents i represent figure out how to do that. I am just trying to figure it out because we have uniform rules in place and we are to change the we are the ones you come to. I need answers. Didnt need to cut you off. Apologies to the community that had the sinkhole. Thats quite an impactful event for the community. In this case this portion of i 695 was part of the nhs. It was shielded as part of the interstate since it was built in the 1970s. For mapping purposes it was part of it. There were some standards and when they applied to have a designated, process of waivers and they got it from the 8020 share to the 9010 share. My assumption before this incident was that bridge and that section of i 695 was part of the interstate. This was at the request of marilyn to have it redesignated as part of it. We get those requests, there are parts of the interstate system that are shielded but not examples of alabama a few years ago. The admin a straight of rule doesnt require that. It does not. They would need to come in and say this is why the design exceptions, the curves or other elements and engineers doing this is why we would approve those exemptions. Youve got to understand the concerns of uniformity. I understand, believe me, im not arguing that whatever the cost is we are trying to recruit, several people questioning insurance is not going to pay off overnight. There will be arguments, all of that and we will fight for that and we need a fix quickly. Other communities around the nation have issues that come up, not having set standard on how it is we respond and get a response to our own communities makes it difficult when you do something that isnt normal in this situation and we have to do that. Appreciate that and with that i yield back. The gentleman yields back. I recognize mr. Garcia for five minutes. Thank you, madam chair and Ranking Member for hosting this hearing and thank you to all the witnesses. I want to echo the sentiment of other members remembering the tragic loss of life of six workers, all of them immigrants from mexico and central america, all of them seeking a better life in this country, meeting a very tragic fate. As we rebuild the key bridge must also advocate for stronger workplace protections for all, including immigrant workers. This brings me to my first question. Administrator bhatt, the construction workers were on the bridge at the time of the collision and one worker was collision and one worker was was able to run to safety. If there had been more time when the ships lost the power was reported and when the collision happened, is there a protocol in place for bridge worker evacuation in an event such as this collision . And its okay and you describe it . Thank you, congressman, for the question and for your concern for the workers. Obviously all work zone, work zones in america are dangerous places and we have rules in place for both the state or the city that is procuring the contract and for the companies that are out there. I want to defer to others here, but what i i learned through r discussions is that there was a Police Officer who was attempting to reach the work crew on the bridge to evacuate them but just given the proximity of the ship was unable to make it to the crew before the bridge was struck. Do you think think thes adequate . Sir, i would need to think about that and consult with some of our experts. Obviously this was an unprecedented event so i just wanted to evaluate that and get back to you for the record. Chair, how many other bridge structure theyve advance warnings systems and look at that part of our investigation. But i would just say from the time the pilots dispatcher called in dpa police and the bridge was ordered closed, with 52 seconds. 52 seconds. That was the time of, almost impossible to get inmp the situation to get a longer time. And if you just look at the time from the blackout to the bridge strike it was four minutes total. But i appreciate your question because it is really tragic what occurred and want to prevent that from reoccurring and thats our whole mission which is why we look at advanced Warning Systems as a. And thank you for that. And administrator bhatt if you could give activity would be great we appreciate it. The vice admiral gautier are, the dolly has been inspected by coast guard about six months prior to the incident with the key bridge. Its unusual that a major malfunction like this could occur with all previous indications of faulty systems after being cleared by inspection of only six months prior. What other requirements on foreign flagged foreign owned vessels to report any malfunctions to the coast guard when operating at a u. S. Port . The coast guard has requirement for any vessel that suffers an issue to notify what we call a reportable marine casualty. There are variety of qualifications, sort of circumstances by which you have to notify the coast guard of those casualties. Thank you much. Lastly very briefly to all of the panelists, like to chime in. Although the ntsb investigation is ongoing, conditions are forthcoming. Whats needed from congress if anything to improve worker safety . So ill speak first. Its critically important for us to have the fulsome result of the investigation i think before we move ahead with any sorts of implementations based on those recommendations. I will say so the coast guard is conducting a marine board investigation in coordination with ntsb in cooperation. If we find something in the near term that we think is important and urgent enough to do an advisory on, will go ahead and do that. Thank you. This could happen any of your districts, right . And i would say what you have navigable waterways, whoever rezoning, i keep reiterating this, if you only bridge, if the state owns a bridge or other entity on the bridge, look at the current structure. Do a Risk Assessment. You can do that now. You have to wait until issue and urgent recommendation or come to the conclusion of our investigation. Make sure youre ensuring safety for whats going through, through on the bridge were in the navigable waterways and out. Thank you. I yield back. Thanks for your indulgence. The gentleman yells back. The chair recognizes mr. Westermann for five minutes. Thank you, madam chair and thank you to the witnesses. And my firstse question is going to be for the coast guard and ntsb. Obviously everybody just about has offer their condolences to the families of the people who lost their lives but im thinking if i were a Family Member i would want more than condolences. I would have questions want answered in the first question is why . I think from information we received so far the explanation would be we had vulnerable infrastructure and we had a ship that lost power. What i think theres a deeper question as to why, and also what are we going to do about that so that it doesnt, we dont get a repeat incident . If the ship had a target export wouldnt have fit the bridge even after lost power tug . Were looking into this part of our investigation. I cant answer that right now. Its a question that we have but it is something were delving into. The same for the coast guard. We dont know whether there was sufficient time wouldve made a difference or whether wouldve added to the casualty or not. I hope that something youre looking into and looking at other places around the country where these large ships are passing by vulnerable infrastructure without tugs. I know mr. Graves talked about the ship in new orleans, and my understanding all the ships down there now have tug escorts. Mr. Bost, you here to discuss the need for a massive bridge reconstruction that were require years long effort and billionss of dollars on the american taxpayer. Meanwhile, those very taxpayers have been waiting for over two years for fhwa to perform repairs to a washed out railroad on White Rock Mountain in Franklin County arkansas in my district. This road provides access to four Service Concession or facilities not mention critical passage for Emergency Services in thed area. The project hasen already been funded but it is apparently so tied up in red tape that my office can even get a clear answer from your agency on when the washout will be filled. If fhwa is unable to reconstruct a gravel road in less than two years and counting why should we trust agency with billions in funding for project of this magnitude . Thank you, congressman. Im happy to go back and take a look and figure out exactly what is going on with the project and report back to you. Thank you. And this i guess will be for the corps, for mr. Bhatt, but theres an issue that happened in floyd bennet field which is National Park service sold in new york city. You may have ask what in will does that have to do with this project . Altered what it has to do. This administration used alternatives of arrangements to waive every neap and environmental regulation in the park service to build a migrant camp and he did that and less than two weeks. They waved all those regulations. Regulations. Im wondering if administration has the intent to use alternative arrangements not just cds but alternative arrangements to repair this bridge which is obviously very vital infrastructure . Sir, so were in post coordination with marilyn d. O. T. Were not going to waive nepa but it is our strong likely we will end up with a categorical exclusion because when replacing a bridge in relatively the same footprint that existed before. Does the administration have the Legal Authority to waive nepa fees to go be on the ce . Sir, spit the answer is and they can do that and its amazing to me that they would do it on a park Service Facility that a million visitors in new york city used to build a migrant camp, yet doesnt can be an option on the table to rebuild this vital piece of infrastructure and hope the administration would not only for the same luxury to Critical Infrastructure but also to a lot of smaller projects around the country that get tied up in the process when the administration has full authority to do that. Thank you, madam chair, and i yield back. The gentleman yields back. I recognize mr. Stanton for five minutes for questions. Chair. Thank you to each of the witnesses for your hard work and responding to this critical emergency in our country. And like a member of this when i do semideepest condolences to the families of the six human beings, the workers who lost their lives as result of this tragic incident. When the dali crashed in the Francis Scott key bridge in maryland, we saw agencies represented here today jump into action, but the road to rebuild his long and requires coordination between our local, state, and federal governments. As if a myself i understand how critical intergovernmental cooperation is for efficiency and speedy results. Administrator bhatt two minus and one of the was the federal Highway Administration responded to the disaster was by reclassifying the bridge as an interstate. Tell us more about the purpose of a reclassification and how will that help with speedy bridge repair . Thank you for the question, congressman. We received the request from maryland dotot shortly after the bridge disaster to reclassify, and so we went through the juvenile process that we do for a state dot those asking to come in. I think our assumption had been it was part of the interstates since it was shielded and was on maps that way. Going back, the difference will be that instead of being part of the nhs will be officially park, it is now officially part of the interstate and goes from 8020, share to a 9010. Thats great. Another porn action taken at the outset, Quick Release of Emergency Relief Program funds are reimbursable program. Anderson was 60 million that was released in march, sizable amount. How is that 60 million number decided . Thank you, congressman. So we have been in close contact with maryland dot from the early hours. A great example of quickly sunday may put to work. They had a contractor who could mobilize free quickly, had cranes in the area and while the army corps wasnt focused on the navigable channel, that 60 million is helping to clear wreckage simultaneously from the nonnavigable waterways. Obviously the cost would be significant above and beyond the initial amount. Tellsl us the role that emergeny Relief Program will play in additional funds for bridge repair and inti other federal highways programs that will likely be needed to utilized in this important work. Some of the thank you coxon for some the questions that come in the first 270 days, the Emergency Repair work is funded at 100, and the longer term permanent repair work is funded at 9010. Night again. Traditionally through this Program Initial estimate is run 1. 7 1. 9 billion for the bridge. It will be a fouryear construction and that is that critical piece where maryland will have the certainty that that federal funding will be available so they can move forward with their procurement. Thats great. Last its my understanding one of the primary roles of the federal Highway Administration currently is to also give Technical Assistance to the Maryland Department of transportation. Is anything you can share with us regarding those conversations as thehe federal partners to marilyn d. O. T. . Thank you. I do a direct as a federal highway staff data been on on site and in close coordination both in maryland and in headquarters that haveth been when meeting with them on the emergency work on getting the funding of the procurement, on the element of the Bridge Design that are going to be out there. I so it is a really Strong Partnership that exist. We appreciate the work of yourself, fha, all the other agencies represented today. Is critical we get the bridge refill as soon as possible not only for baltimore, city of baltimore, state of maryland, but the entire income of the trend of america. So thank you for the work youve already done and the work you will do on this important, important project. Thank you. I yield back. Thank you. The gentleman yield back and i recognize mr. Mast for five minutes for questions. Thank you, chairwoman. Thank you all for your testimony. Mr. Bhat, would this be an accurate way to categorize you, youre in charge of collecting the checks for the future project . Sorry. I mean collecting checks, you would charge for getting money for the project . Yes. Have your seat any money from any insurer yet . No, sir. Which injures have you sought monies from . So declared the insurance policy that would talk about is an interest policy for the Maryland Department transportation and so were working with marilyn d. O. T. To work through the elements of that insurance policy. Nothing for any insurance spcompany of Grace Ocean Private ltd . So the department of justice is leading efforts around come for the average for the United States to recover the funds. So thats not a federal highway function. Nothing also for you in terms of requesting anything from injures who charted that vessel from greece . No, sir. The federal Highway Administration role in this will be for debris removal in the nonaccountable waterways in the wake with marilyn d. O. T. To rebuild the bridge. We wont take back any insurance funds that come in and reimbure the er program. What has to probably just as told you to this point about how they requested monies from any of those insurers or any of the companies . Sir, i would not be able to comment on department of justice efforts. Im just not aware. They havent had any contact with you about requesting monies . You can, about your involvement, your conversation with them. Not necessarily what theyve done. Specifically sir, the only email that i received is from doj to reserve all of my emails for upcoming and likely years longem litigation. Why is a likely years long litigation . Again, sir, i can only speak to my efforts around, you know, bridge building and litigation that occurs when theres claims between a contractor and a when you dont feel that the product it meets, i can take years. So billions of dollars and International Maritime law, i can only assume will be a fairly lengthy process. Noneat of us are naive enough to say that Insurance Companies just rightly come out and offer as large payouts for things that are insured. We might be naive to say that. Its just not the state of the world. But in midst of this catastrophe i guess its a great were to categorize it, have you seen anything or heard anything from doj about these Insurance Companies offering anything or trying to say that they do not have liability for the . Sir, to be, i would need to come back to you. I would have to check with our chief counsel, our general counsel at d. O. T. And other agencies, but am happy to come back on the questions brought appreciate that. Have you heard anything about whether they have already executed into Business Interruption insurance for the vessel thats not in use right now . Sir, i am not aware of that. Okay. And a lot of these questions, again i appreciate you listening to, you dont have the answers for them. Madam chairwoman, i would encourage of this committee to get some of the other entities in your sins were talking significant across both sides of the aisle about the funding for this bridge, the timing for, the repairs of this bridge, things, peripheral to that. That we bring in theha Insurance Companies for conversation, the shipping companies for conversation about this as well. I would hopede we would do thatn the next maybe next week that we are in session, but its certainlync sensible talk you about this but also since the weve talked to the private entities involved in this as well. I thank you for your testimony. I thank you for your time and i yield back. Thank you. The gentleman yield back and i now recognize ms. Foushee for five minutes foras questions. Thank you and thank you to the chairs for holding this hearing and thankds you to the witnesses for being here with us today. The tragic events that took place in the Early Morning hours of tuesday 26 were a tragedy not simply for baltimore or maryland, but for the nation. I join my colleagues in morning lost in this catastrophic accident. While i have been hardened by the response of the Baltimore Community who have at last count already fund raise over half a Million Dollars to support the families of the key bridge victims, it is the responsibility of both the federal government and the private sector to enter Something Like this never happens again, which is at least in part why were here today. The Biden Administration, the state of maryland, the coast guard and use army corps of engineers, among others, have taken commendable initiatives and swift action in responding to this crisis. Something that is been highlighted by the witnesses here today. I want to thank all of you for being here. I know your time is valuable, especially in the midst of an ongoing situation like this. So my colleagues and i, we greatly appreciate your time and your testimonies. I think most. Of us on this committee understand that this matter is going to court expeditious bipartisan support here in congress if we can mitigate it best, we can get to the economic and the supply chain ripple effects of the fsk bridge collapse. However, i believe its worth noting that there also some significant road safety implications here as well as even further underscore this need for congressional support. With the port the longer at full capacity, commercial trucks are being forced to take road to residential areas that are not equipped for the kind of traffic. Homendy and administrator bhatt, can either of you speak to the Traffic Safety issues to other vehicles on the roads to pedestrians or to the residential road infrastructure that are either already emerged as result of tha fsk bridge closure or are at risk of emerging should access to the point may limit . Thank you congresswoman. Obviously there is, thank you for noting the traffic impact. In the interest of time i would highlight the hazmat traffic that come unity, hazmat maduros are not allowed in the tunnels through baltimore and so that was one of the critical elements of the Francis Scott key bridge was to provide hazmat material to move around. Now its happening is they are rerunning on the north side of 165 because the neighborhoods and its suboptimal from a writing perspective so thats just one example is an obvious as you mentioned there are trucks and other commercial vehicles that use high levels of traffic working their way through residential areas now as well. This is an issue that i would typically defer to federal highways just because we are just focus on investigation itself, so thank you. Thank you. I like many of my colleagues have been particularly concerned about the regional implications on unemployment that the bridge collapse and production of Port Operations are having on the surrounding community. As the state of maryland has estimated that 270,000 jobs will ultimately be impacted. Even so, ive been especially encouraged by the efforts thus far of the Biden Administration to support the plethora of temporarily displaced workers who could add the employment either directly or indirectly impacted since the events of march 26. For instance, the administration had an initial 3. 59 to the region via its this locator Workers Grant Program back in april to support temporary cleanup and recovery Employment Opportunities for those who have lost their jobs due to the fsk bridge incident with more support funds on the way. Vice admiral gautier and Major General graham, can you speak to the efforts of the u. S. Coast guard and the army corps respectively about the ongoing efforts to restore services and access to the port given the widespread ramifications such efforts will have on employment in the region . Let me go first because of what to do a shadow to the army corps of engineers commerce is flowing. The depth of the channel has been restored to 48 of 50 feet. Its narrower than what it typically is but a sufficient for coast guard to put one way vessel and tug escort controls traffic in and out. So we had seen over 35 deep draft vessels that of transited, over 300 smaller barges and of the things that a been able to transit in and out. I think what were seeing is the system is restoring itself to normal functions while we Work Together in unified command to make sure the full channel width and depth is restored. Working with the port and the state of maryland, open up as many alternate channels as we could, small craft, and we successfully got to larger and larger craft as vice admiral gautier say where applicant 35, now 40, 48foot gym to get those car carriers moving woodman committed to getting the full channel open by the end of this month. Madam chair, thats my tie. Ii yield back. Thank you. A gentlelady yields back, and i recognize mr. Yakym for five minutes of questions. Thank you, madam chair. I, too, want to offer my condolences to the families who lost loved ones in this disaster. I want to thank our what is is not being here but also for the tireless work that you under agencies have done in putting into the Recovery Efforts but also the investigative matters that youve undertaken as you look into this disaster even deeper, so thank you. Before you get to the questions about the topictt at hand, administrator bhatt, i feel the need to follow up on a conversation we had in december when you were before this committee. You may recall we discussed the nabby and see if i programs which have a combined 7. 5 billion at the disposal devote electric vehicle charging stations. As of december hearing navvy at spot just one charges are a linux user to use diastole charging stations expected those programs would bring online in 2024 and you promised to follow up with a quote very specific number. But inho march he said, set a response to convey no specific number if you noted hundreds ninth of dollars have gone at the door to build 7500 ports. There was no indication as to how many, if any, of those would be brought online this year. Thus far in 2024 nevi had been responsible for six charging stations come again with roughly 7. 5. At his disposal. Does appear to any Public Information for those completed cfi chargers. Administrator bhatt, a want to give you one more chance here, how many more nevi and see if i offended charging stations stations expect to be brought online for this year . Thank you, representative, thank you for the followup. So we are working close our state dot partners in cities across the nation, working with the joint office had a between department of energy and department of transportation. Since that time there been several states that have broughs online nevi chargers, in vermont, ohio, kentucky, utahsr going to have their first, so there are dozens and ill get you the specific number, but dozens were anticipating coming online just the next couple of months. 35 of those states have solicitations out, and then specifically on cfi, january 5 we rolled at 623 million in grants in january for cfi nationwide. And those, were working with Grant Agreement that to get those build vicious. So again just give me come, do you think will be brought online visscher total, just give it ballpark number . Probably in the hundreds to end the thousands range this year. And again i want to differentiate between dfc chargers and the level to chargers that are obviously replacing ones that are existing on the network. Thank you. I do want to make sure as a go throughout the balance of you we stay in touch on this particular topic as again with allocated 7. 5 billion and we are as a just a few months ago couple months ago we read eight total charges. Will to make sure the money thats been appropriated it is spent wisely. Turning our attention to the key bridge, administrator bhatt, i want to build on what mr. Bost talked about with his designation of the bridge as an interstate system. I share his sentiments that we should get this bridge we dont quickly but i believe we should be mindful of new precedence we set and establish as a go through this whole process. You mentioned a partkl of an alabama highway was redesignated as part of theen interstate system. Wh how long did the process take from application to approval . This was back dash back of it had to go back on exact, probably a few typically i think i was changing the mainline of the interstate with the bypass, so maybe not exactly apples and apples. Maryland has requested a raise act nativism as the interstate was made after the class, is that correct . Yes. Does your agency have the authority to retroactively designate damage or destroyed infrastructure as a part of the interstate system . I would havetr to clarify on exact authority and the retroactive piece. I just know we received the request after the incident and we went to our typical process and designate as part of the interstate. Is itwe any president or retroactively designating damaged or destroyed infrastructure as part of the inner success in . I would have to come back you on that. Im not aware. I would like to know if your agency was within its authority to retroactively designate this as an interested as opposed to its former designation as ast of the state highway system. Thank you. With that, madam chair, i yield back. Thank you. The gentleman yields back inau e recognize mr. Desaulnier for five minutes fororof questionin. Thank you, madam chair. And thank you to all the witnesses. Just horrible event. Ms. Psalmody, but for all of you, one to direct all of you. In 2007 visit i represent in the bay area there was a similar incident with the severed cisco bay bridge, second busiest toll bridge after the George Washington bridge in the United States but it is determined that does of interstate 80. What happened was the fender system in california have gone further, kept the bridge from being damaged but he still had to be shut down so that you and caltrans could go through and make sure itul was safe, plus it seismically vulnerable. So what do we do in cases like that, 2007 where Lessons Learned are looked at an sort of consistent with some of the other questions irrespective of whether as part of the federal highwayy system, just making Sue State Department of transportation that they know what the best practices are for their area . Well, for our role as part of an Investigation Agency we continue to share Lessons Learned as part of an investigation, including with the state department of transportation. Certainly we conducted a number of investigations involving vessel strikes on bridges and that shared those Lessons Learned and continued to do so, and to continue to advocate even for recommendation set of enclosed unacceptable. What i will say that the federal Highway Administration also has close contact with her stay partners to continue to highlight safety issues and rish assessment as well. And vice admiral, this happen very close to your admirals, regional home was beautiful and treasure island, but in that instance also they were required to have bar pilots come in. Suites, oakland is a fourth busiest port in the United States, a lot of traffic goes through their but again we get lots of bridges and the bay bay bridge closest to it. A lot of the operations of that port work closely with the coast guard to make sure that the management of the Transportation System works and it works properly in terms of the whole Transportation System. In this case i heavily traveled bridge. How did your department and the coast guard coordinate again on your experience around the world on how to make sure the structures that are run by state transportation agencies particularly if and not part of the interstate has the best information about the dangers of marine traffic and commercial marine traffic . Thank you, congressman. Im familiar with the costco that referring to him many years of operations there in the bay area. So we are doing a marine board of investigation. We just like we didnt costco bussard cany we do investigatin finds a fact and we recommend and take reveal actions based on that. What but here is a little bit different in terms of the system as you mentioned it. The coast guard does have a set of tools Risk Management tools that we gett together with stakeholders in any given port to evaluate the totality of the risk if something changes like a channel becomes deeper or for new bridge gets built and so on. When it comes to mind, port waterways risknd assessment one was in the baltimore but not since 2001. As a result of result of this incident the coast guard is initiating a board of inquiry under my signature which will look at how the coast guard does these assessments, howbo recent they are ingn the ports around e country and to examine the top ten ports forex some Lessons Learned, including bridge come bridge centering services so on together with stickles we can draw some conclusions and then move out with a refined toolkit two of the ports around the country. Coming back to ms. Psalmody. A recent report about human error on the boat remind you of some of our discussion about the aviation industry. Theres a lot of pressure on these companies to move product and show a profit. Are you concerned the same thing, that were not provided enough oversight to the people who are running the ships in the system and theyre being overworked certain missing things, whether its people who are mechanics repairing the ships are people who are operating the ship . With respect to what occurred in port on march 25, there was routine maintenance going on on the vessel and it was not something that stood out to us. I mean theres human error in everything we do, routine maintenance and do it for working on our cars and arc right sometimes we make mistakes. Mistakes. In this case a dampermeoo was cd and the engine failed. You know, in the situations the crew took action to get everything back up and running, and on the next day they were on a different set of breakers and a different transformer. So we look at that as part of the investigation, including any sort of human error that occurred on the 25th or the 26. I wasnt i wasnt inferring a plane on the crew park just pressure on the company to make profits. Thank you, madamno chair. Thank you. The gentleman yields and i recognize mr. Lamalfa for five minutes for questions. Thank you, madam chair. And appreciate the panels come here today. Ive been looking forward to this hearing on this topic here. We have a a lot of bridge histoy in this country, especially in years. In expediting the reconstruction of this is a critical, im certain, to baltimore, the eastern seaboard as it would be in any area of the country with an artery likea that. So what im especially interested in is what is being done, anybody on the panel wants to wait in, truly expedite this process. Because when you read about it, when to get information about it, it sounds like theres a lot of luminaries that are of course necessary with the demolition of the old bridge and such, but where i get frustrated is a bog down the studies and nepa and things of that nature with an already existing structure. This is not a pristine area. So what is being done to make a concurrent effort to do that stuff and get categorical exclusions but also at the same time be moving forward as quickly as possible. Some examples i have of successes as alluded to in california, there was thew, bay bridge, 899 earthquake, you kno, during the world series you may remember where about a 250ton chunk of that collapsed or on the show quickly they got that put back up, but it wasnt terribly long when they put their minds to it. On the obverse side of the coin you have actual replacement of the bay bridge took 24 years. You know, in 89 when you decided there was a problem with the bridge, it was decided, it wasnt completed until 2013. They started construction in 2002 and completed and 13 13 so thats an 11 year actual construction type but a 24 year decision to actually, and to completion. The 94 earth ridge, northridge earthquake knocked downrt significant chunks of freeway in southern california, and initial estimates i believe at the time by caltrans or others like oh, this is goingng to take three years, which put a giant cramp and what we needed movement in commerce in southern california. So the states and the governor, governor wilson, put out a call for shortening that timeline from basically three years to 140 days. One of the people involved was of this Company Called cc Myers Construction company. They get it done not done in just 140 days but 66 days with a a large incident, a large bonus possible. So on one hand, and then the macarthur maze im over time, but there was a problem there, at least that was the fire. Anyway, they get done in 27 days with the first of all is well with the cc myers company. Company. Unfortunately theyre out of business now. Mr. Wi myers passed. So what can be done as far as incentive to actually speed up the process and not take six years of paralysis of baltimore but set aside bureaucracy and get it done in three, but say . Realistically. So anybody on the panel. Soo congressman, and thank yu for your question and your examples that you provided. I would just say that we share your desire to reopen the bridge as quickly as possible. I was a federal highways work with maryland to get a cd for the debris removal in april so that they were not waiting around for an approval to get the debris out of the channel. We are working, going to issue their rfp later this month come hopefully get somebody under contract by august which is within five months of the incident and will hopefully be able to get them to a categorical exclusion and theyre looking at a four years of construction so the plan right now is for the bridge to be open in 2028, which i dont know if theres any other authority that we could exert to get that in any fashion. Okay, thank you. Currently the movement of goods and commerce is very important. So is or anybody, maybe miss comedy or others, look at me to providing a waiver for trucker hours . Whenever these two are three hours delays. Is her way truckers hours in a flexibility for time of duty on that as well as the building to use the tunnels there for ordinarily what trucks would be allowed to do. Thank you. That would be underused department transportation, as ncsa working with the state. They can make waiver requests for truck weight and also a measure of the trucker hours. All you have to get back to you for the Service House but certainly please look into that if locals are saying that would be helpful in order to complete, you wouldnt want to run out by two hours or something with wha the additional delay would be. But also is there an issue of the tunnel being available to all types of trucking and other restrictions on certain types of tracking that could be helpful . Could you had a waiver on maybe Hazardous Materials having a certain time of day that they could access it, for example, that maybe they cant otherwise . Just looking for ways for flexibility. Thats what i would be asking. Those possible thoughts you think . The gentlemans time has expired. Thank you. Can he enter that . Quickly. Happy to follow up with your office on those questions. All right, thank you. Thank you, madam chair. Thankth you. The gentleman yields back and to recognize ms. Sykes for five minutes for questions. Thank you, madam chair, and thank you to chairman graves and Ranking Member larsen for convening this full Committee Hearing today. Witnesses, thank you for test whenever working diligently toyo respond to the tragedy that struck the Francis Scott key bridge in march. I join my colleagues and expressing my sympathy to the femmes who lost loved ones and lives as well as the greater baltimore and maryland community. Coming from ohio this is really important. We have the nation secondhighest number of bridges, this is a very important conversation for us and even just last week we presented two checks to our county engineer and county executive for nearly 10 million to replace i decommission over over 70 year old bridge that is identified as Critical Infrastructure. So bridges to get in safety is very important to us in ohio 13 district and across the state of ohio but i want to highlight something different. Less than two months after this disaster struck in maryland the majority on this committee was able to organize andco hold a vy timely andab necessary hearing n the incident. This hearing and the Witnesses Today are a perfect example of federal government filling its role to the support state and local efforts of disasters with federal dollars and resources when theyre needed most. This partnership between governing bodies is what he hope to see more of when i was elected to congress two years ago. You can understand my disbarment went any over a year since the Train Derailment devastated the command of East Palestine and its weird like the majority on this community has not shown the same sense of urgency to discuss the suit rail safety in ohio. What about peoplee pile and eat palestine who had been begging as this question as to the majority who have been begging us to do something unreal safety pick even on the committee on transportation and infrastructure, subcommittee on railroads, pipelines, and Hazardous Materials the subcommittee would not hold a hearing to discuss the Norfolk Southern Train Derailment or the broader issue of real safety leading democrats to us a real safety roundtable without members of the majority present. And while i dont represent East Palestine geographically, i am the only ohio went on this committee and East Palestine that that come have a member of the United States house of representatives serving in congress. So i have no problem speaking up for my neighbors to the east of me. E since the derailment and East Palestine two Additional Trains had derailed in ohio alone and many others across the country, and theot communities local and state are still burdened with contaminated local waterways and some airways across the nation. Even more recently on march 2 of this year, three trains crashed in the real in eastern pennsylvania leaving at least seven crew members injured with estimate damage to the equipment and track to be about 2. 5 million. Emergency personnel responding to the scene found diesel fuel spill from one of the train cars but contaminant bones werefo deployed to clean up the spill before the situation worsen. It was by like i derailment of those three trains was not worse or anything like we saw in eastern ohio. Is very clear that the issue of Train Derailment is not going away and turning a blind eye to the issue is clearly not the path congress or this committee should take. Americans across the political spectrum including the former president the Bidenharris Administration all agree we must pass commonsense real safety legislation to prevent future Train Derailments and keep our communities safe. Proud ohio democrats and republicans came together to produce a bipartisan rail act last year and now it is time for house, the House Republican majority to pass the rail act to protect ohioans and communities across the country. The rail act would you limit effective measures to keep our communities safe, hold railroad corporations accountable and make sure no american living close to our 140,000 miles of Railroad Track passed without the threat of a toxic train drama in the backyard. And finally, i would like to take a moment to recognize the administration, our state and local partners in ohiora and Public Servants who are continuously uplifting East Palestine even though this committee and the United States house ofrs representatives has turned a blind eye and turn their back to the people of ohio, and i would also like to take a moment to recognize ms. Homendy and take her in risk of the National Transportation safety board foren the investigation into the cause of the Norfolk Southern train drama and the work investigating other accidents across the country with no doubt a less people than you fear people than you need. Your continued to to fill in the gap for congress, have refused to act, Holding Hearings and inn halls with residents in East Palestine, providing preliminary information that we could act upon and a sense that people in the administration in the federal government to care about them even if this committee and this congress has refused to. I look forward to reviewing the boards findings and hopefully considering the recommendations as a look to real safety in america, at thank you again for filling in the gap with this community. This committee has failed the people of East Palestine. Thank you, mr. Chair. I yield back. The gentlelady yields back and i recognize mr. Burlison for five minutes for questions. Thank you, mrs. Ahmadiyya. It was just mentioned about the derailment in East Palestine ms. Homendy. With that other do rev havef made the news but overall would not be accurate to say that trains and, ultimately they are more safe . Is by the safest Motor Transportation for goods and services, goods to be transported . For transportation come over 40,000 people are dying under nation roads. So as far as transporting goods and people come rail is entirely safe. This means a tragic doesnt occur and thats where we come in and investigate. I think it would be dangerous if we started trying to steer activity more away from rail because of these, because of these events. People we want more things to go on row. Right. How we people died in East Palestine . No one died in East Palestine. I think its a four note what might it have been environmental hazard, its important to recognize the actual numbers. Mr. Barrett . Mr. Bhatt, sorry. My question has to do with the Francis Scottto key bridge. Which has been a subject for this entire hearing. As i understand theres about 15,000 jobs that are dependent upon, on the port and another 140,000 that are linked to the poor. Many of individuals are worried they could lose their jobs because no longer have access because of the collapse of the bridge. How long will it take to construct the new bridge . Thank you, congressman, for the question. And yes, the port, thats part of the critical efforts of the army court and the coast guard to get that port reopen so that those jobs can resume. I think the bridge itself, once the port reopens, is on a 2028 schedule right now is the preliminary estimate to get that bridge back open. So pay for your estimate. What about the cost for the bridge . Right now the way the rfp is being structured it would be a progressive design build. See you go in and say this is the structure that we need to build, and then the benefits of progressive design build is they can bring a different element so thats what the cost and the schedule will update as a different elements come in. Right now its estimated 1. 7 1. 7 1. 9 billion. Have been any Environmental Concerns or any other issues that we might be able to look to cite any waivers that might expedite the construction of the bridge . Yeah, so on the environmental side to nepa, thats why we are likely going to get to a categorical exclusion because we are putting a bridge one existed relatively within the same footprint. We will work with our permitting agencies to make sure were not missing anything, that is our plan. And you serve as, you know, the head of transportation for the state of colorado prior to thise role, is that correct . And delaware. Okay. So in that both what is your experience, i know we just had a new role or executive order those put in place under this administration that requires project Labor Agreements for anything, i think its about 35 million, is that the cost . I would have to come back on the exact number. In your experience on both the state level and the federal level, to requiring project Labor Agreements to improve the timeliness of projects . Sir, i would need to come back to you with specific examples on the timeline. What about the costs . Again, sir, i do want to speculate. I want to come back with specific data. Im not trying to press on you come we had a great conversation before, but surely you have enough years of experience to understand the distinction and the difference between theto costs of a projec, whether or not a project Labor Agreement is required. Yeah. The one project i i would thik about, it wasnt a pla that was quite but we did to what i would call the first sort of local hiring preference in denver when we replace the i70 five deck. The goal is similar to what the administration is here is trying to createla goodpaying jobs and create a workforce for the future and ensure that were building the nations infrastructure and building out but if the tax payable going to get more bang for the buck, theyre getting more bridges, more roads. It would be without a project Labor Agreement. Again i want to come back to with specific data. I think the answer is yes. Thank you. My time has expired. Thank you. The gentleman yields back and o recognize mr. Menendez for five minutes for questions. Thank you, madam chair and quickly following up. Ive had the opportunity to visit the portal northbridge witches, registered new jersey, a critical important part of the Gateway Program mark the 50 completion of the project, part of being built by labor pickets ontime and on budget. So ibu thank my friends in lead for the incredible they do to continue to develop and build our Critical Infrastructure. I want to thank all of our witness a today for the testimony and ongoing work regarding the Francis Scott key bridge collapse. I want to join my colleagues in recognizing the six workers who lost their lives during this tragic accident, immigrants for making not just our infrastructure stronger but are nation stronger. My thoughts are with their families and the communities that they were a part of. New jerseys eighth Congressional District assumptive largest port on east coast. Following the collapse of the key bridge the port of new York New Jersey was ready to accommodate additional vessels to ensure our supply chain remain intact. This is thanks in large part to the Port Authority of new york and new jersey, dedicated teams, operators of our and incredible men and women who keep our region moving. Administrator bhatt, your testimony notes the federal Highway Administration will wor to ensure the new bridge is built to current Design Standards. Can you describe how Design Standards have changed since the key bridge was built in 1977 at the challenges posed by increasingly large vessels calling at our ports . Gns thank you, congressman, r the question. If you look at the bridge, it was a truss bridge, very strong and made a steal and that was the prevailing design at the time. When you look at many of, the truss bridges that are being replaced today, to being replaced by cable stay stae is for the most part. Theres a lot of advantages from cost, strength, you can Precast Concrete sections, bring them into place, so i think thats probably likely design that will come forward. With regard to Design Standards, obviously theres a vertical load and lateral load that we for and then i think specifically what the Francis Scott key bridge is brought for and what were going to be working for closer with chair homendy and i, echo or call to any bridge over to begin examining the bridges right now is what is the appropriate level of protection that we need to design so that we do have another similaris situation. Taking into consideration the size of the vessels that it comes to our ports and to our channels given that theyve increased in size over come definitely since 1977, that would be part of the analysis, is that correct . Absolutely, yes. Appreciate that. Port infrastructure Pillar Program provides grants to support efforts to improve port and related infrastructure and meet our supply chain needs. Between 20192023 this program received 9 billion in applications applications but only received 2. 25 billion and appropriations over five years in the Infrastructure Investment and jobs act. Mr. Bhatt, she would be doing more too invest in landslide infrastructure . Thank thank you, represe. Ive had it had a bunch of court this week, i serve on the port board in woman can go over and i would say there is a critical need for infrastructure i do including for the one that you mention. How would increase appropriations to the port of researchingg Dublin Program potential to help prevent future tragedies . I would want to consult with the folks at marad teacher specific answer to that question. Fair enough. Chair homendy, i understand your limits today much attention regarding this particular incident. Can detach and what features may be government on new and existing bridges to better protect them from potential effects like what we saw in baltimore . This is what were looking at as part of our investigation and working with marilyn to evaluate their other bridges and then were looking at other areas in the United States where ridge ownersat have improved bridge infrastructure after a vessel strike, including any sort of vendor systems, orbr protection, dolphins. Thats exactly what were looking at. We dont havee recommendation today on that but again i would stress that state and bridge owners should be evaluating, especially with older bridges, what is going through as far as come in their navigable waterways now, what is the risk and should address that. Quickly, follow up. You have sent a time when those recommendations might be made available just given the time imports of making sure the existing infrastructure throughout the country is uptodate . We often issued urgent safety recommendations and weth made in this case decide decidedt safety recommendation at any time including before we issue a finalco report. We are aiming for 18 months on a final report, but again we may have updates to the investigation that we release and we may issue urgent as a. This might make sense in this instance to ensure people feel secure when the crossing ptabs at these bridges. Thank you, madam chair. I yield back. Thank you. The gentleman yields back and recognize mr. Zeldin for five is for question. Thank you, madam chair, thank you all for being here today. Appreciate all of you and your hard work and dedication. Vice admiral, we have a town in my county named after you but we pronounce it a little different there in south mississippi. So go jay is way we will see it but just leave that to us. Anyway, as you know, when a few remaining United States shipbuilders is in my county district, huntington ingle, and what can we do, what can be done to encourage a greater use of United States flagged vessels to ensure that ships coming through our ports are held to the highest mechanical standard . Yeah, thanks, congressman. I i think i might be named after somebody who grew upgh in that town. [laughing] of the coast guard works veryto hard to assure that with the number of foreign flagged vessels that call in u. S. Ports every single day, that we maintain an equivalent level of safety. We do this through the International Maritime organization. Actually there meeting this week on a number of issues of emerging technologies. Weve donene things like work on the standard of training, watch keeping and certification for all mariners, u. S. And international. We want to do this in a way that doesnt disadvantage our u. S. Mariners so we can have the equivalent levels thatan Global Shipping and global cruise on vessels have to adhere to. Thank you. Ding harbor tug escorted ships through larger channels . If so, do you think this incident couldve been avoided . It may be, but we dont know yet. It is too early in the investigation to understand whether tugs would or would have not helped in this circumstance. Although what i will say is that there are some areas in some ports around the u. S. For example, under the verrazano bridge, and in the San Francisco bay area, those are typically made my harbor safety committees with all stake holders getting together to understand the totality of risk not just the coast guard and agreeing on what tugs might be in that area of risk. Very good. Administrator. I noticed in d. O. T. Appropriations budget request that there were no additional funds provided beyond the annual 100 million authorization in the emergency relief fund. Given the backlog of requests and unmet needs especially in mississippi. How do you april fulfilling the requests for all highway projects and this bridge . Thank you, congressman, for that question. I know omb was part of the tour of the site a few weeks ago. I dont want to get ahead of the administration, but i believe that generally speaking the e. R. Backlog has been backed up through supplementals historically and i believe that may be part of the discussion. Beginning with you, along with ensuring the process moves along quickly, how do you plan to coordinate with the state of maryland and other stake holders to ensure that prer proper funds are quickly. I know that delivering on time and on budget are always our target so were moving with great speed, working in close coordination with them to make sure that theyre hitting all of the time lines and set an aggressive schedule as well. Chair, its been reported the actions taken by the vessel and the state police who took swift action to minimize the casualties in the future. How can we better improve the communication between vessels, people on the bridge and Emergency Responders . Well, that is part of our investigation and well look at that. It was key. When pilots reached out to the dispatchers and the dispatchers called the mbta police, it was quick to shut down operations on the bridge and everyone just involved in that was, it was a heroic effort, certainly. So well look at that as part of our investigation to determine what should be the standard Going Forward. Thank you. And thank you all again for being here today and madam chairman, i yield back. Thank you. The gentleman yields and i recognize mr. Auchincloss for five minutes. Thank you, madam chair. Some of my colleagues today indicated their support for the concept of federal moneys being repaid through tolling on the bridge. I would associate myself with that concept and with interest in that concept. I think in general technology on Critical Infrastructure is an appropriate way to fund it in the long run and i would encourage the relevant agencies in congress to consider that not just for this bridge, but for all bridges Going Forward, as we think about how to responsibly fund Critical Infrastructure and address the backlog. Vice admiral, i appreciate your testimony and i appreciate also the unified response in baltimore that you have been part of and im concerned though about the strain on the coast guard and whether thats going to further exacerbate the services, challenges and operating with a budget and work force deficit. Since the surge in baltimore wasnt anticipated, there will be downstream effects in other Coast Guard Missions and statements. If the service does not receive additionals from congress, what are the operations for a place like massachusetts . Congressman, as you know, we search resources to the Top Priorities of the moment whether that be bridge collapse or hurricane response for search and rescue case. To your point, more often we do that and with insufficient budget to make sure that we can do things like recapitalize our assets and to close this urgent work force gap that we have in enlisted ranks. Our ability to do that is going to be eroded over time. So articulate the tradeoffs that we might have to make. What does congress understand about the tradeoffs . Take example your 10 and work force shortfall. If we dont have the resources im sorry recruiting and retention capability within the coast guard in order to get that back up to normal, then were going to have to continue on doing sorts of things that weve done like not completely staffing certain stations around the country where there might be some redundancies. We might not what does that mean for your mission sets . Can you not do, for example, Law Enforcement and Recreational Boating, legal fisheries. Well have to make tough choices to back off doing things we would normally do like some Recreational Boating boardings. Some fisheries boardings and lower priority aids to navigation around the country. Good, i think its important to be specific about the tradeoffs because i Want Congress to understand that you cant get something for nothing and we have to fund the coast guards vital 11 missions. I know, youre also conducting an atlantic access route study, one of the goals to increase the efficiency of traffic on the atlantic coast. How is the coast guard reevaluating this in light of the baltimore accident, and Going Forward . I think that baltimore is the sober reminder of consequences when you have large vessels and a mishap and you have some Critical Infrastructure and the results that weve seen. What were doing in terms of the port access route studies is exactly to prevent those sorts of circumstances. As we know, that there will be more fixed objects, ie, wind turbines, wind farms off shore starting in new england and then working down to other parts of the country, we need to have assurances that there are shipping lanes that will be free from the construction of off shore wind farms so that Maritime Transportation can continue at low risk to collisions. I appreciate that and i yield back. Thank you. The yeah yields back and i recognize mr. Williams for five minutes for questions and apologize for skipping you earlier. Thank you, madam chairman. Thank you all for being here and for your expert testimony. Ive read through the accident report, such as it is, and would like to follow up on some details of that, just to try to understand it and maybe, madam chairwoman, start with you. Do we know im sure we do. Are we looking at the manufacturers of hr1, one breakers, the transformer, the control system, you know, all of those things that appear in the switchboard cabinet, you know, in your report . You have the inspector thats taping those shut. Have we identified the manufacturer of all of those components, including the assemblies and things inside . Yes, so were currently working with hyundai who manufactured the components and theyre a party to our investigation and have come to baltimore to work with us, to do testing on board the vessels and our engineers are back on board the vessel today. So, i understand that hyundai would assemble the control system, the panel, if you will, like the panel shop would. But the individual components inside, whether thats a plc or a system or sensors, actuators, whatever those things are, are we looking all the way down into the components, the whole supply chain that made up those components . We are. And is there, when you help, you know, the transformer, the integrated controlled monitoring system, youre saying all of that comes from hyundai . Not every single feature or censor comes from hyundai, but if were looking for any sensors or pumps or components on the vessel, then we will work with whoever that manufacturer is. Is there an investigation into Cyber Security thats being evaluated for all of these components . Well, currently, we have no evidence at this time to suggest that this was a Cyber Security threat. It has been stated at unified command that the coast guard and fbi also did not believe this was a Cyber Security issue. We have a memorandum of understanding with the fbi that if there is any evidence of that, we have to turn this over immediately to them. Is there a criminal investigation going on at all . I am aware that there is some work being done by the department of justice, but thats not within the n. T. S. B. s purview. So, in a Cyber Security or a cyber attack, theres a lot of concern about embedded systems, embedded into, you know, whats called a realtime operating system or inside the control logic or inside the control elements there. That would require an enormous amount of sophisticated forensics to evacuate and i would think, which would require dismantling that whole switchboard and doing a component by component search. Is that kind of Investigation Underway . Our investigators have over 400 years of experience and in that accident itself and they go where the evidence takes them. As far as anything the department of justice or fbi is doing, thats not something i can speak to. Well, in terms of 400 years of experience, its probably just the last five that are relevant in terms of Cyber Security, particularly in industrial controls. My point though is, they have expertise on i understand your point and i have significant expertise as well. And so, you know, the point of my question is you know, as weve seen in embedded systems and in very integrated components from a wide variety of vendors that understanding the entire supply chain, understanding and evaluating things all the way down to the operating system, or even the bios and other systems deep in the system is critically important. As i read through the accident report, its not clear to me that anybody knows why those breakers tripped, why the transformer tripped off line, what dumped the bus and it seems like until would he know the origin of the actual accident, that all of these things should be taken as likely or at least possible, would you agree . This is a preliminary report and what we released yesterday was preliminary. We are still conducting our investigation and we go where the evidence takes us. And that includes a forensics on the actual components that are there which would require significant disassembly and evaluation, in my opinion. We will follow the evidence and anything securitywise if we find anything, we will turn it over immediately to the criminal authorities. Thank you very much. I yield back. Thank you. Thank you, the gentleman yields back and i recognize myself for five minutes for questioning. Youve all been sitting here for a long time and youve been pretty thoroughly questioned. I just want to wrap up with, is there anything any of you want to highlight for your respective agencies that will be helpful to this committee that you havent already started . Ill start with vice admiral gautier and move down the line. Congresswoman, a factual statement that this has been pretty thoroughly questioned. In terms of the ive been asked several questions in terms of about coast guard resources and i think it bears repeating from our perspective. Were incredibly proud of the folks in the field who have responded and theyve done an amazing job with their counterparts to do this. We cannot guarantee over time that the coast guard is going to perform at that level whether that be a search and rescue case, a patrol in asia or patrolling for the potential for mass migration in the caribbean without substantial support and enduring support from congress and appropriation side. In terms of recapitalizing our aging assets, and improving our Procurement Construction and improvement support from congress, that things that help the people in terms of training, that leads us to successful operations like this. So i appreciate the opportunity to convey that to you. Major general . New for that question and the opportunity to be here today. Probably two points, just like to wrap up with. We talked a lot about safety of the general public and i just want to commend the teams from the coast guard to the port to the various agencies, knock on wood right now. Its been amazingly safe operation. As probably some of the riskiest diving operations you can have. The divers going down, water you certainly cant see to the end of your fingers with. Were guiding them by sonar, really. Steel sticking out and they did it pleasingly safely. The job is not over yet and our commitment is to continue that Safety Record until the channel is completely cleared. Theres a lot on the resiliency of infrastructure. Three weeks after the dali hit the bridge and barges broke away on the ohio river near pittsburgh and bounced off two of the locks and dams that the corps runs on the upper reaches of the ohio river and the infrastructure withstood those strikes because it was designed to withstand those strikes. Right now were trying to stretch taxpayers dollars as far as we can and were looking at some of the gates on those infrastructures, to see if we go from steel to reinforced, if we build them from fiber reinforced polymer, will they withstand barge strikes as well as steel does. All of that is a shameless plug for research and developing funding that we agencies need to continue to advance the state of engineering. Thank you. Thank you. Shameless plug noted. Mr. Bats. I will end where i started. Ive been around a number of these bridge disasters or these disasters and just the confidence i feel that this response, whether by command or the army corps or the federal highways, all of the various partners of d. O. T. , i feel like its been an exemplary response, and a message to the american people, when disaster strikes, the government is there working closely with the private sector and appreciate the questions around the funding of the bridge and funding it, open to looking at the different methodologies that they brought forward and there is 3. 7 billion dollars including the bridge of unmet need across the country in red states and blue states and the e. R. Program as designated, we want to follow the law and it doesnt matter the color of the state. We are going to show up and make sure that the funding is available for the programs across the country. Thank you. First of all, let me thank this committee on a bipartisan basis. You led the effort to reauthorize, the ntsb as part of f. A. A. Reauthorization and thank you very much for that. You also led the way on fully funding the ntsb along with house appropriators for our request for fy24. We hope you will do the same for fy25. But, our fy24 funding came in a little bit lower. Again, we fully appreciate it bus it is higher than we receive now, but if you just look at this investigation, we have 12 people in our office of marine safety. And they need additional five. That doesnt include all the other modes within the ntsb that needs people and the supporting offices as well as dealing with unfunded mandates, Lab Equipment and training needs. So the 10. 7 million that we got in an increase in fy24 actually translated into a little over five. Because we had to take on a 5. 2 pay raise, well deserved, but we have to think about the impact on the smaller agencies there. So we have about five and we have to figure out, okay, what 11 positions out of the hundreds can we fund . So, for the office of marine safety itself. 12 people on their staff, half of way are dedicated to this particular accident, and they have over 60 other cases and what happens is those get pushed a little bit so they can focus on the next major one. So any support you can provide for fy25 is really appreciated. Thank you, one more really quick question, Major General graham, is there a timeline for when the full navigation channel will open . Our commitment is to have it fully opened by the end of this month, sooner, if possible. Okay, thank you. Im way over my time, they gave me the gavel. Nobodys stopping mement thank you, ill yield back. Are there any further questions from any the committee who have not been recognized. Seeing none that concludes our hearing for today. I would like to thank the witnesses for your testimony and the committee stand adjourned. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] today on cspan, theenate energy and naturalesrces commiteolds a hearing to examine the opportunities, risks and challenges of growing demand for electric power in the u. S. Ats impt on the electrical grid at0 a. M. Eastern. Then at on the house returns for general speecs followed by legislative business attwo. Members are considering several bills, including one to establish an inspections regime for the federal bureau of prisons. On cspan2, the senates back at 10 a. M. And will vote on judicial nominations for the u. S. District courtn arizona and on cspan 3 at 10 30, secretary of state, Antony Blinken testifies on his rect trip to ukraine, t ongoing war between israel a hamas and the president s 2025 budget request. And also, at 2 p. M. , a aring on roadway safety, including risks to pedestrians and cyclists with testimony from transportio policy advocates and localffials and watch our coverage onhe free cspan now video app or online at cspan. Org