Congress has unique opportunity to address the issue and we are encouraged by the senates stated commitment to complete this year and we look forward to working with you in identifying ways in which we can address challenges in section 404 permitting program for Public Safety infrastructure. We would also like to address funding needs because without word and army corps our counties would not have been able to accomplish the multitude of projects that we have been able to carry out in several decades. Finally, we encourage congress to provide framework of meaningful consultation between the army corps of engineers on pending rules and policies that directly impact us. We believe that this will solve many conflict that is now exist between army corps and governmental programs and today we can work to make partnerships stronger. Thank you for the opportunity to testify and id be happy to answer any questions. Thank you very much, we appreciate your being here today. I would like to turn to mr. William friedman. Thanks so much for joining us today. Thank you, good morning, charm barrasso and members of the commit. I want to thank you for the opportunity to provide remarks on americas Water Infrastructure needs and challenges. Im william friedman, Cleveland Port authority which we short port of cleveland because the full name is a mouthful. Port of cleveland anchors Major Economic contributor the state and local economy. Drives 3. 5 billion in annual Economic Activity in our community and supports 20,000 jobs in our community as well. Im also speaking on behalf of the American Association of port authorities, apa, the chairman elect of legislative policy committee that sets policy for members. My remarks today will provide examples of Water Infrastructure needs faced by public ports and recommendations for legislation to improve core of engineers navigation. Apa members find existential for future. Partners are commit today this challenge can plans to invest upwards of 15 billiondollar between 2016 and 2020 in portrelated facilities. Its imperative that related infrastructure be part of any broad Infrastructure Investment legislation the committee develops. Apa has identified 66 billion in potential water slide and landslide investments that would help ensure benefits from anticipated 155 billion in portrelated capital Infrastructure Investments. The water slide consists amount of full use of trust Fund Revenues over the tenyear period and Harbor Maintenance to restore navigation channels and 6. 2 billion for federal share of cost share improvements authorized in 2014 and 2016 and projects that are currently being studied that will get authorized in the coming years. Apa believes a significant federal investment would grow u. S. Economy and supporting jobs, enhances America Competitiveness and generate additional tax revenues. I provided to info graphics which senator car per had pointed out in the outset of the hearing, those are both available to you. They look like this. The first provides details of 66 billion needs and the second info graphic highlights port related projects that can benefit from infrastructure legislation. Turning to werta its important that it be passed on twoyear cycle asset enableses both small policy changes and navigation projects to be authorized. I look forward to the next word of legislation to continue making these improvements in the legislation and with point out apas threekey Priority Issues for the next as follows, first, 2014 was landmark legislation establishing a path to full use of the Harbor Maintenance tax revenues for its intended purpose which is navigation channel maintenance. 2016 adjusted the annual funding approach so that progress is made for use each year. We are grateful for funding targets, we are grateful they are currently being met by congress through the appropriations process, however, we maintain that the ultimate solution is for full revenues to be provided directly to the core of engineers. My fellow apa members are working on approach that approaches revenue use that includes industry supported spending formula. Number two, authorize and proceed to construct navigation project improvements recommended in chief of engineers report, this includes authorization report for the major rehabilitation on the great lakes and number three, past word include streamlining of core of engineers, study process for channeling improvements and that has worked well. We think additional streamline improvements can be made in upcoming, apa will submit a list of specific improvements to the committee soon. I commend the Committee Leadership for identifying and i urge you to develop and pass Infrastructure Investment as earliest possible time. I would be happy to address any questions you might have for me. Thank you very much of your testimony, mr. Friedman, we look forward to your questions real quick, i would like to turn to Nicole Carter, Congressional Research services. Thanks for joining us. Chairman barrasso, Ranking Member car per, my name is nicole, thank you for invitingtous testify. Committee requests that we focus on legislative process for Water Resources Development Act and related issues in 2018. Ly i will start with executive reports and end with broader context for Water Research and infrastructure deliberations in 2018. Congress is often involved at the project level when it comes to u. S. Army corps of engineers, Congress Authorizes the court to perform specific projects to improve navigation, reduce flood damage and restore ecosystems, new core studies and projects in statute, omnibus bill, prior to providing federal funding. Most authorities or previous dont require reauthorization, a small number of time limited authorities and authorizations of operations end in 2018 and 2019. Authorization, however, does not guaranty federal appreciations for the project. Although congress does not appropriate funds, word of provisions may affect the use of appropriations, for example, have provided targets for Navigation Trust funds and have established the nonfederal, federal flit of project costs. The timing of a werta has varied, marked end of long stalemate between congress and executive branch regarding cost sharing and user fees, since werta, congress aim today avoid long delays between planning and execution of projects. By enactment of werta in 1986 until the early 200s since then enactment has been regular. Eleventh, 112th congress how to develop a bill without activities, commonly referred to earmarks. In response 113th congress developed new reporting processes that will i discuss later. The 113th congress enacted the Water Resources reform and Development Act of 2014. It expanded nonfederal opportunities to lead core studies and projects and authorize 34 new construction projects. The 114th congress enacted the next werta in december 2016, it authorized 30 new Core Construction projects as well as dozens of studies, werta2016 was a water authorization bill that covers infrastructure issues including activities and epa. All 64 new Core Construction projects authorized in werta2014 and 2016 had completed report by the asians chief of engineers. Since werta2016 five chiefs report that is recommend authorization of new projects have been completed, two projects of texas, two in florida and one in new york. An additional 12 to 18 chief reports may be completed by the end of 2018. Congress also uses werta to authorize significant changes in previously authorized projects. The court completes in appropriations for the savannah harbor expansion project. Werta2014 created new process and requirement for the secretary of the army to annually collect and report on publiclysubmitted proposals for studies and projects. The most recent report delivered in march 2017, it colludes public proposal for feasibility studies and modifications to existing projects. The next deadline to congress is february 2018. Many topics may shape deliberations on water resource infrastructure in 2018 such as the use of two Navigation Trust funds and the safety and operation of core dams and levies. Infrastructure initiate i initiative, how it may relate core projects and reinvestment in federally aging infrastructure. Nonfederal expectations an partnerships, what will the federal government expect of nonfederal project responsors in coming years and what can nonfederal entities expect from the federal government in terms of partnering and financing of projects . Three, floods. Recent disasters including 2017 hurricanes are raised numerous questions like how effective and efficient are current processes for identifying priority, federal investments to nations flood, thank you, this concludes my statement. Thank you very much, ms. Carter, we appreciate your testimony, there may be questions in a little bit. I would like to welcome steve cochran, restore mississippi delta coalition, thank you so much for joining us today. [inaudible] i want to thank senator cassidy for coming here this morning. I dont know if you noticed it but he has a bad cold and so i particularly appreciate him being willing to come out here today, i want to thank senator kennedy from our state as well, both of them do diligent work on behalf of our states vulnerable coastal communities. For the record, im steve cochran, associate Vice President of Environmental Defense fund and restore the mississippi delta. We are a coalition of three national organizations, the National Wide Life Federation and coalition to restore Coastal Louisiana and the lake baisn foundation, for over ten years the coalition has worked together across the louisiana coast in addition to my own written statement which is submitted for the record, Coalition Members national wildlife, also submitted written testimony and i hope the committee can give them due consideration as well. This morning i would like to take a little bit about challenges in my home state. Louisiana, as senator cassidy said, we have a coastal crisis. As Congress Begins to look at werta, i want to focus on possible solutions from what we believe our lessons from the front. Louisiana coast since the 1930s has lost about 1900 square miles, as senator car per knows, that loss is roughly the state of delaware. Without action u we are projected to lose up to another 4,000 square miles within the next 50 years. The losses have dramatic implications for millions of people and their communities along the coast for nationally Significant Energy and infrastructure for globally significant port facilities and world class habitat that supports countless wildlife species including recreational fisheries. While its unique, challenges are reflected across the country. As the committee knows 2017 senator car per pointed this out earlier set the record for wealtherrelated damages across the country majority which were from hurricanes and floods. As you would imagine, we spent a lot of time in the delta thinking about solutions, so from that perspective, here is general concept that is we would recommend as you consider werta, first, coastlines are complex system in each area requires carefully considered measures to adopt a changing conditions. Second, no engineered or natural structure is 100 effective against all storms but Structural Solutions can be rendered far more effect in concert with natural processes. And third are critical infrastructure, they need to be restored so that they can be used specifically to reduce the impacts and costs of floods and storms. Now n louisiana, state and partnerships have used the concept, concepts constructing their own approach. Louisianas master plan for sustainable coast is a document which guides comprehensive state Planning Initiative based on cutting edge science and modeling, its driven by priorities, recognizes fine identity finite funding and enjoys bipartisan support. Its updated every five years to incorporate the latest science and reflect progress. Each update must be approved by the state legislature and each of three iterations over 15 years have been approved unanimously. Giving communities a voice in their own future. We strongly recommend that other states examine the mast e plans approach as useful guide. As for details, gray projects like rock shorelines or levies are complemented with restored wetlands, barrier islands, oyster reefs. These combination of these measures are organized to create a multiple line of defense as you can see my colleague holding here, you see the array of various approaches that can be married together both structural and and natural to really provide the sort of multiple lines of defense, thats true along rivers, its true along coastlines and this this kind of thinking that we would recommend to committees and project that is support incentives built into the system going forward. The next chart is just simply a specific version done specific to louisiana, where you can actually see how it works in our setting. These charts are in the written testimony and you can look at them in more detail that way. Now, the natural aspects of these are really been beneficial because they have so many cobenefits. Oyster reefs, grow oysters, while the storm surges, that can be stopped by wetlands, wild wetlands maintain significant habitat. Maritime swamp and supporting vast numbers of wildlife and commercial species. So its the things together that we really think make the most sense particularly as we have limited assets and finite resources going forward. One final element i want to tell you about, senator cassidy mentioned was the version, unique, approach, originally authorized to make point in werta2007 under different name, it would take 2500 cubic feet, strategic times in the cycle deliver to wetland in western side of the river and in doing so it would use the power of measure to build and sustain tens of thousands wetlands of acres, they will in turn provide buffering for the levies which inside of which are communities and the industry that we depend upon so you get the mixed of natural infrastructure protecting built infrastructure, protecting our communities and coast, is that combination that we think makes the most sense. Now, its a wonderful approach for us but i have to add here that these kinds of projects are not without challenges. In this case, because of the projects essential nature of work, the state has decide today fund it entirely on its own through resource that is came through the deep water horizon penalties, those, of course, are federal permitting as they should be and i want to underscore importance of perspective of Environmental Review and even our opposition to some of the forms of streamlining that we have seen, however, the federal permitting timeline of nearly 5 years for the urgent already longstudy project is unacceptable given urgency that we face and in this case, some delays stem from several factors including the challenges some agencies confront in accounting for what happens if no action is taken at all. Now, given the urgency of this crisis and the challenges associated with it, it may be that a target legislative solution is required which have done carefully and without damage to the underlying statute we support. Here and elsewhere we are encouraging permitting agencies to work cooperatively and find ways and consolidate the permitting timelines and in louisiana deploying multiple license lines of defense but to be successful, it needs reliable, effective federal partner that can provide timely and appropriate resources and stay focused on solution as the Committee Moves forward with authorization we encourage you to think about that formula for the rest of the country as well, i went a little bit long and thank you for your patience. I will start with you, if i can, many stakeholders who work with the core of engineers have commented and maybe complained a little bit about the process that it follows to get from identifying a Water Resources problem to implementing a solution and can be long and costly delays, for example, in the west, there are many water supply challenges that havent yet been solved such as remove and water supply needs, drinking water, irrigation, all from single reservoir. As a result the water supply is becoming scarce and more expensive. Could you please share any thought that is you might have as to how to improve the processes so the water resource projects are operated more efficiently . Thank you, senator, we actually have a number of suggestions but in the interest of time im going to limit it to two. First, improve the inner governmental collaboration between the core and local governments, the core has a lot of Technical Assistance that is very valuable to local governments but the processes an permits that they have often prohibit or slow down projects from moving forward and secondly congress may want to consider doing requiring the core to do a regulatory efficiency assessment of corp. Processes and have corp. Submit to congress the results of this with potential alternatives on how theyre going to address it. Thank you. And you said you are going to share two additional ones that you would like to add in writing we would be happy to receive those. We would be happy to do so. Thank you, mr. Robinson as well as mr. Friedman, ports and inlands are important to life blood of economy, every year over a trillion dollars worth of goods move through ports and inland water ways and to every basic corner of the United States and around the world. Can you talk a little bit more about the importance of inland water ways and how their management impacts your ability to transport goods allowingtous keep jobs at home and help us to more effectively compete globally. Senator barrasso, speaking on behalf of tulsa, oklahoma, just in that segment of the waterway 53 miles, there are 8,000 jobs, theres been 5 billion invested annual payrolls to the counties and to the cities, 320 million annually, in community of 39,000 people, most of the manufacturers in that community, muskogee, they depend on reliability of water way and they depend on transportation cost savings for delivering and receiving goods on the water way, its critically important to the economy of rural america, we are not investing in the in the system like we should be, therefore, we are encountering delays and not a good situation in rural america. Mr. Friedman, would you like to add . Yes, thank you for the senator chairman barrasso. A unique waterway system where we are all inner connected as ports and we trade with one another both within the system domestically and also the International Waterway where we connect to all parts of the globe, so the partnership that we have with the army corps under werta to keep harbors dredged is a critically lifeline for big cities like cleveland, detroit, chicago as well as a number of rural communities, its critical for agriculture, for heavy manufacturing, steelmaking which takes place in cleveland iron work from minnesota as primary examples of types of trade in the region. And we have many cargoes that flow in and out of the heartland through the st. Lawrence seaway, exports from american manufacturers and imports like specialty steel that we rely on in the appliance Manufacturing Sector and other Manufacturing Sectors. So i think in total the number for the entire system is Something Like 227,000 jobs both on the u. S. And the canadian side of the seaway and the great lakes, so making sure that we continue to get word right and steamline the process, authorize new projects and get to full use and full spend of Harbor Maintenance tax is critical for us. Thank you, senator car per. Thanks, let me start off with Nicole Carter if i could, excellent testimony, very helpful. A question for you if i could, given our current operating environment with recently passed tax reform which reduces over ten years about 2 trillion, state of our curve lg infrastructure with the grade of d and we are talking about the kind of situation we face with our ports and rivers and so far, its just as bad with roads, highways and bridges, but with limited numbers of chiefs reports and backlog of corps projects, what are the big issues that we should tackle on the next lottery Resources Development act . Thank you for the question. This has resulted upon additional projects being led by nonfederal entities and trying to understand how well are those projects and processes working for the nonfederal entities as well as delivering in projects would be part of the process to understand how to incorporate a core projects into a larger investment package. Basically right now that process consists as nonfederal entities often providing the funds up front and essentially signing an agreement that upon the availability of appropriations they may receive some reimbursement, gao recently did a study that identified that theyre about 4 billion projects like this in the country and that about 400 million has been reimbursed, we dont know the total amount that requires to be reimbursed. How well those are working, how well those federal entities want to make investments and what they can expect in the way of the federal government partnering in those investments if they do choose to lead rather than wait for the corp. Thank you, thank you very much. I will turn next to mr. Friedman, thanks very much. Is the kyle river still catching on fire . No, sir, we are coming up on 50th an anniversary of infamous fire and im help and proud of what we have been able to achieve since that dark day. I was a student at Ohio State University around that time and we used to talk about fish fries up in the river. Wrong kind. [laughter] question for you if i could, the total volume of cargo ship by water is expected to more than double by what it was just 17 years ago in 2001. Ships continue to get bigger, you see more congestion at docks, only few u. S. Ports currently have. How do we ensure that ports are effectively distributing and receive goods as ships continue to grow in size, is it policy of funding, policy issues or funding issue, is it both and is it a if it is a funding issue, what can we do with how how do we go about doing more with less . Thank you for the question, senator, i will try to address that. Yes, its certainly a funding issue and policy both, you heard me say, epa is asking for 66 billion over the next ten years to address many of those issues that you just spoke to deepening water side projects and keeping up with the ships that are, of course, enormous today as well as some landslide projects and once the cargo comes off of the ship at a port or moves onto that ship it can get to that port efficiently from an inland point, so we absolutely need a federal partnership. I would also point out that theres already what i would call a Robust Public Private Partnership in place because our port authorities work very closely with private sector Port Terminal operators and ship owners who invest heavily in our ports and partnership with our ports and with our federal government, leverage, the federal dollars will leverage additional private investment and go towards those sorts of Infrastructure Projects which theres no direct payback on, so we look forward through this next round of werda and infrastructure discussion youll be having this year to ensuring that we have a plan in place to fund those important needs at our ports. All right. And in my Opening Statement i mentioned that the corps faces a rather a sizable map as you try to service 200 billiondollar requirement and more with annual budget that hovers around 4. 5 billion, think about that, think about. 200 billiondollar, if you will, requirement to meet and annual budget 4. 6 billion. We are just we know it costs a lot of money, we know how economically important it is in our country. We are just not spending the money, we are not investing the money and we can do streamlining from now until the cows come home. We have done a lot of smart streamlining money and we are prepared to do some more u. For the federal government to do it share, to do its part, and thats not something that requires responsible interview. Thats the 800pound gorilla in the room. Thank you. Senator inhofe. I think senator carper brought up something that is significant and is very unique, and that is in this area where were trying to bring in private sector money, we actually had to pass the bill and a provision into the law to allow that to take place. I cant think of any place else in government where he had to ask permission to let the private sector pay for something. That was something that was good. Mr. Robinson, i again appreciate your being here so that we can make it very visible to people that we have problems on this inland waterway. I can remember back when i first came to congress, i would go up to some of the Eastern States and see the problems theyve had with her old ports thinking, well, were pretty fortune in oklahoma we dont have those problems. Now we do have those problems. Enough years has gone by with outlived the lives of some of our ports. And so we have to address that. We had a subcommittee meeting that i chaired not long ago on transportation and infrastructure, and some suggested in the cost share of the inland Waterway Trust fund it should be changed in some way. One suggestion was from 15 from the trust fund and 85 85 froe general fund. Are you familiar with a suggestion . Yes, send and off i am. I think it probably needs to be an adjustment. The problem as senator carper acknowledged is not doing more with less. Weve been trying to do that forever. Its not working. We need to do more with more calm and do it efficiently and in a businesslike manner. And those of us have been down there and observed the problems that we have in some of these relatively new ports that carry our goods and services, our nations of system directly touches 38 states has been brought out big its not just the coast. Three of our ports go through senator boozman state, and then two more ports are in oklahoma. In the fast act for the first time, and ive been through all seven of them since 1987, that we were able to have a freight provision and that freight provision left a lot of the authority up to the states as to how to expend that and so forth. Ive asked the question, would allowing the states to use fast act freight funds on our waterways, if they chose to do it, with that be a valuable tool to address the issues and the needs of our inland states . I think so, senator inhofe. I think we need more tools and that would be one of them. The question would be whether states are so focused on their highways needs, roads and bridges, how much effort for how much expenditure they would allow from those funds for waterways. And the other question is what with the use those funds for . When they use it to cost share new projects . If that were the case i think theres a real need to cost share projects. Theres not enough money and the inland Waterway Trust fund to do that. Perhaps this data equated to pick up a little bit of the load there. So yes, i think that its that what happened unless somebody does something. Thats exactly right. Youve got to get aggressive and coming with the state, decide what the alternatives are. And what percentage perhaps might be appropriate for that. Because i look at sources and i run out of ideas. Anyway, thats something i think we can do and something that doesnt affect us here in the federal government as much as it does in the state government. I also think the Water Infrastructure financing act that this congress authorized in 2014 is another tool that could be used. Its leveraged because the federal government is getting the money back. Its a loan to think thats another one for the tools at our disposal. Tiger program. There is a variety. We can get together and decide what we want to do on the state level. Ms. Ufner, the counties and cities are facing a lot of issues when comes to Water Resources and trying to aggressive these. I know other states, not just the the state of oklahoma had some of these problems. In the city of bartlesville oklahoma the community is going and needs additional water storage. We had water storage as a result from one lake in that city, and as a result increased the rates to the customers over 100 . But when we try to open up another one, and im not sure youre familiar with this particular issue that went to the corps of engineers and increased, they had a rate increase of 3000 which obviously that particular city of bartlesville was not able to do anything. When asked the gao to investigate how the corps comes up with the prices, they reported back that they couldnt because the agencies recordkeeping was so bad and buried they could that actually study of the agency arrived at the numbers. Does that shock you . I almost feel like thats a trick question, senator. No, its not a trick question. Its a straight question. I want to talk about it because we have new people coming in and without hearing already with the Civil Division with the corps of engineers and to recognize changes have to be made but not if we all sit around and keep quiet and dont talk about it. I think that you hit a strong point on the head. Theres a lot of information that is not available out there, and its something that we need to figure out and Work Together to do it. My time is expired but that something we need to address. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator in half. Senator whitehouse. Thank you, chairman. Appreciate the panel being here. Particular welcome to mr. Friedman. Rhode island has two ports that were investing in an proud of and where the home of large shipping agencies which is one of the worlds best ship servicing agencies. Were keenly interested in ports and am interested in your take on what Sea Level Rise infrastructure impacts our portal looking at. I think our ports are keenly interested and concerned about Sea Level Rise of what they can do in partnership with local, state, and federal government to enhance resilience is. We heard mr. Cochran speaking to earlier. I think we would look toward this wrda bill to increase our ability to work in innovative ways with the army corps of engineers. I think you should find in a lot of the new and interesting ideas tend to bubble up from those of us who are on the ground at our local force and communities, and we need the ability to sit down with our Army Corps Districts and Work Together on those solutions. We are engaged in those discussions with the Buffalo District of the corps, which oversees cleveland. Believe it or not weve had coaster resiliency issues in cleveland. Superstrong sandy did a tremendous amount of damage to our breakwater and other structures in our port. So were looking at ways to dredge material, for example, to fortify our port. Is it fair to say that the concern of americas ports about Sea Level Rise goes beyond the actual seashore itself, that you can raise peers and seawalls and so forth, but if the sea is infiltrating through come for instant Water Systems and public up behind if it is flooding access roads and assert to get good in an out of the ports are matters that are of equal concern to the actual shoreline itself, is that correct . No question, senator. Our port are literally on the front lines of this issue and they are very concerned about the upland impacts of Sea Level Rise as well as being inundated right on the docks. Theres a question all our ports are focused on the question and i think theyre all working very hard to figure out how do we mitigate going forward. Ms. Ufner, your here on behalf of all counties but if i could direct your attention to coastal counties. Could you tell us what youre hearing from coastal counties about the infrastructure hazards and risks and problems and challenges that they are seeing related to Sea Level Rise and storm surges and so forth . Well, its even broader than Sea Level Rise and storm surges. Where deathly getting the flooding in the coastal counties. Counties. I also work very closely with our gulf states counties and parishes caucus, and especially with the hurricanes that have come through this past fall. They are increasingly focusing on how to address those issues, because the weather events have been getting more severe and the population growth within those communities makes it even more essential that the communities can address these issues at the level. My view on this is that this is this is a problem that coastal communities face, counties and municipalities, that very often those counties and those municipalities dont have a lot of resources to do the planning. I see your head nodding for the record, yes, good. Its also my view that a lot of the fema mapping has proven itself to be wildly inaccurate. And so you have counties that account on the federal government for planning as to what Sea Level Rise and flood risk looks like and are being given Bad Information which puts it again back on the community to try to reach its own better planning process, but without the resources its really hard to ask a local community to take on the task like that. Is that a fair description of the problem as you see it as well . It is. Counties derive a large part of the income from property taxes and state set the limit of how we can even raise property taxes. So it sets an ugly cycle do we find for something, try to strengthen our local communities . Thats why the federalstate partnership is so valuable to u us. Ive got just a few seconds left. Let me make one point to my colleagues. I think that as were beginning to address these wrda issues, what are the areas in which we can become more efficient more helpful to the army corps would be to try to find a good honorable and transparent way for congress and this committee to be able to assert its own priorities in the process. Offenses me with such shovel projects in one side of the wrda bill and we shoveled money in the other side of the wrda bill and how the army corps of engineers connects that money to those projects is a giant black hole. I think we need to fix that. I know weve been through a problem, it marks the receipt a lot of justified criticism. Our response was to abandon this responsibility entirely. Think that was an overreaction and that we can and should in this committee trying to frame out and honorable, transparent, proper way for these properties priority to be met under our supervision rather than just throw it off to the army corps of bureaucracy. I hope that statement was not unwelcome and i appreciate the extra time. It was very welcome. Senator wicker. Thank you. Mr. Friedman, lets talk about the Harbor Maintenance trust. I noticed in your testimony you advocate for use of hmt revenues over ten years. What weve been doing as has been pointed out is weve been taking in more hmt revenue and sort of set it aside and making the deficit look better by not spending it for its intended purpose. If we take your recommendation and restore over a ten year period the full use of these revenues, will that get us where we need to be in terms of meeting our funding needs . Thank you, senator wicker pick tickets as part of the way there but not all the way there. If you look at the numbers that apa has submitted in the infographics, and they can provide more detail, we are calling for full spend every year of the revenues brought into the trust fund, and spending the roughly 9 billion surplus that has been built up, as you just mentioned. And then on top of that we would need additional monies through an infrastructure built to reach the 66 billion which we identify as the full need. So we would certainly be folded maintaining our harbors at that point if we fully spend the Harbor Maintenance trust fund, catching up with the backlog if we use the surplus, and then for some additional water site improvements such as deepening, which was mentioned earlier, some of our largest harbors for the larger ships, some of the big container ports, and then some critical landside multimodal connection to the infrastructure dollars, that, we think that gets is to agree need to the estimation . So at your hope the the pret infrastructure plan which should be outlined to us and to the public within a couple weeks or perhaps at least within a month, that 1 trillion infrastructure plan will be the third step in getting us what we need to be to meet our needs . We hope so, yes. I hope so too. Thank you for the start, and senator carper, or use graphics. Senator carper showed a bigger copy of this, but illustrative examples of port related investment needs, and a notice you have three rail project him one being the mississippi rail relocation project and Marine Terminal project at pascagoula mississippi. Thats the only city in the United States that rhymes with hallelujah. [laughing] you might type that away as asa fact to be learned today. Also, cross harbor realtime in new jersey and port arthur rail project. How are we doing in rail access to ports . And why are we not were we need to be . What had been some of the challenges in getting that rail to the port . I think weve made Good Progress in the last 20 or 30 years or so, improving our mail access to ports. Intramodality for the whole concept of putting a condition onto a train is not that old a concept, and so many of our ports had to be retrofitted with the kinds of rail connections that would be functional for them. The granddaddy of all those would be the alameda corridor project in Southern California which consolidate all the rail lines in a cut as so to a limited grade crossings. When you see those which projects on somewhat smaller scale, many of our ports, thats been a good Publicprivate Partnership between ports themselves, between the federal government that we do need more. We are seeing increased volumes to and from our ports. Its tickling port for export. We tend to think about Computers Come into our ports, but where i am in cleveland with think a lot about and we need those strongwilled connections from the hinterland into the port in order to move exports which quite often are heavy and bulky products that we make in the u. S. Thats why in that 66 billion weve included those critical rail connections. In some cases its a title kludges. In some cases its rail bridges. Some cases its great crossings, more track in order to mention those trained strange azimuth t of the force. Thank you. Quickly, mr. Cochran, this loss of light in louisiana is something unfamiliar with as a nextdoor neighbor. Truth of the matter is its, im not advocating doing away with the Flood Control but its actually Flood Control over the centuries and decades that has caused the absence of sediment and the loss of land, is that correct . One of the significant factors, yes, sir. Just the point i would make is no one would advocate the solution to the problem, go back to the wild days we used to have that cause the sediment. I appreciate you and your testimony of thinking of different ways, innovative ways to address something that we cant change back to the way it used to be. And i appreciate that. Also let me just say, i understand that were all for streamlining permitting. You have some doubts about some of the suggestions at the other end of the table. Were going have to come together across the isle aislen ways we can streamline the permitting process. So im glad to see a consensus among all five of our witnesses, i believe, that we need to address that. I hope we can work on nuances that can be a happy solution and a winwin for all parties. I just would offer, and appreciate that. I think the key is what you again if i can which is sitting down together, sitting down together. One of the things weve been lucky enough and may be threatened enough in louisiana to do is to recognize that hurricanes and other things, theyre completely nonpartisan. We need to be, too, as a figure this out. So looking at how to make the system better, how to make underlying protections do with their tended to do but to do so in the most efficient way, thats a great conversation to have. Senator jones ran. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Ranking member. Im very grateful for holding the ceiling. Its important work our committee does to draw up the new Water Resources Development Act this year. My state in europe has a wide range of diverse Water Infrastructure needs and challenges. We are ecole sustained threat but threat but impacts of Climate Change, coal systems and Sea Level Rise. Were also great lakes state constantly challenge by aquatic Invasive Species like asian carp that has the potential to destroy our fisheries it cannot stop from gaining a foothold in the great lakes basin. We have the largest and busiest port on the east coast which is essential to international commerce, and with a number of small ports and harbors across our state that important to the local economies and need to be properly maintained. We can address all of the challenges without a a strong investment in the army corps, but funding is on the part of the dirt we need to ensure we are investing our federal dollars so that we are more resilient in the face of these challenges. I was very disappointed that the Trump Administration chose to sin the flood Risk Management Standard Limited by the Obama Administration which required federally funded projects to incorporate best available and actionable science on Climate Change and Sea Level Rise and build above the base for elevation levels. If we are spending as are in the northeast billions of dollars to build infrastructure to protect our communities, it defies logic that we would leave taxpayers exposed to the types of catastrophic losses we saw after super storm sang in the, and more recently hurricane harvey, arm and maria are not building to withstand the current and future flood risk. So to ms. Ufner, what are the consequences to counties and local governments and their taxpayers if we fail to properly assess risks, both current and future, when planning to build in floodplains . Thank you, senator, for your question. Ultimately, counties are responsible for our Public Health and safety of our communities. Probably if you look at whats happened in Santa Barbara county, california, within the last day with the flooding that is due from the wildfires, theres only limited things that you can do after a wildfire to address the risk. But it demonstrates that when floods happen, people die, homes disappear, roads are gone, memories are gone. And this is something that local governments want to prevent, and you want to be there to help with their residence. Are we doing enough to ensure that we are adequately protecting ourselves and our assets from future storms and floods . And what could we be doing better . Its a combination approach. It is the responsibility on the local governments. A lot of our local governments, though they have limited income and Technical Assistance to follow through with these projects, and thats what you really look to the army corps of engineers and other federal agencies to bring the Technical Assistance, a deity, the modeling that communities can use. Weve been working with our counties on best practices that they can use in their own communities to build their resiliency at the local level. What else could we be doing . We just keep on going in the direction were going. And the way we could use it is a it a step on the latter that we can help the communities that are out there really being aggressive, they are trendsetters and they the ones that we learn from on what may work in other communities. Thank you. To mr. Cochran, what needs to change in terms of army corps policies and procedures to allow for greater use of natural, naturebased solutions, to mitigate flood risk on our coastlines . One of the things i want to point out is that this multiple lines of Defense System chart that we used early to illustrate the integration of hardened infrastructure natural infrastructure is actually based on a chart that the court put together following in its posts and effort as it did a a comprehensive coastal studies in the northeast. So i think that is both a positive sign that too often what we do is learn about these things after the fact and this is a postsandy study and and not a presandy study. One of the things we need to really encourage within the corps is to take the learnings that have occurred in this post sandy situations and really wee sure that they penetrate across the corps, cost bitterest divisions not just single in one place all the entries of coastal and inland can get the benefit, clear benefit of this kind of thinking, this kind of an approach. Because from that comes actual information and data so that you can do the kind of comparisons that let you select the things that will work best, not just take one old system because thats way weve always done but integrate these things that they can become not only protected but sustainable in the process. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator gillibrand. Senator ernst. Thank you, mr. Chairman. A number of my coastal colleagues have mentioned the detriment tarkington so forth, and i would just offer them the opportunity to come inland a little bit. Iowa has about 1000 miles of coastal setback in either direction. But regardless of those larger scale affects it come from hurricanes, we do a Flooding Issues in iowa that occur on a much more regular basis than those when hundred year floods or 500 year floods that are recorded out there. Senator whitehouse mention that black coal that exist within the army corps of engineers. We get the projects in one side, and as he said the finding in from the other side. And i tend to agree with the senator in that there is a black coal and we need greater transparency. Part of that black coal i feel is the benefit to cost ratio. Mr. Cochran, in your testimony you encourage congress to direct the corps to modernize that bcra, the benefit to cost ratio analyses because you believe the estimated costs are often inaccurate. And that priority of mine has also been to modernize the bcr metrics so that more communities, particularly our rural ones, have an opportunity to get the projects funded. We have a flood mitigation project in cedar rapids, iowa, that is authorized by wrda in 2014. It was mentioned for prioritization in wrda in 2016 but has not received any funding due to the low bcr the results from i was relatively low Property Values. And i know that that is true in other areas as well, and maybe mr. Cochran in louisiana, too, because your Property Values are the also. Do you have any thoughts about the beach of metrics could be modified so that projects like this flood mitigation project in cedar rapids has a better chance of receiving funding . One of the recommendations that we have is really a focus on making sure he can attack take account for the range of benefits that you can, in fact, when you doing protection and a lot of that has to do often with the benefits of wetlands, the benefits of setbacks and things like that that you used to in your river mean situation that dont get account for any benefits when you get into the cost benefits. There are some land there but they dont look at the benefits associated with it. This kind of benefits we get those, so a true accounting for the benefits of natural infrastructure, for the benefits there really needs to be done and he will end up benefiting these discussions along the waste your talking about because it gives true picture that one that is just landed towards an old way doing things. Part of the challenge people added with these analyses is a real lack of transparency. Its difficult understanding exactly what the neighbors where the number scheme from or how they got there and no real requirement in a way that allowed people to justify to vacation that conversation we think thats a final piece of this. Data transparency, real accounting for real benefits, those things together really can make a difference. Again going back to the black coal that senator whitehouse was referencing, so thank you. I think thats important and hope we are taking a look at the bcr as we move forward. Ms. Carter, the army corps component of the program that was established by wrda in 2014 has yet to get off the ground. Thats the army corps portion. The epa has already implemented their portion. What are some of the challenges that the corps the corps facin implementing this program, and at this current pace, how long will it take for the corps to catch up to where epa is . Thank you for the question. Indeed, the program has not been funded. Part of what is been going on is that the corps has no real history with the loan or Loan Guarantee program pics of developing the guidelines and the understanding how will those projects be scored in terms of the risk to the government have been some of the primary challenges. So as basically as those issues get worked through without a congressional or administration involved in those discussions of how do you score the risk as those progress been funding could be provided in the corps kurds are set providing these s and loans guarantees which could assist with projects like flood levees were committed could potentially proceed on their own to be able to perform those projects. Those are the main ones is that the ability to understand the scoring of it. Would it be helpful since epa already has an established process, would it be helpful then if the corps could determine those projects and then find those through epa . I have not looked at that as an option but i believe there is some legislation that affect to that effect. We have an expert that covers the wfia program any questions for the record you like to provide for us we are happy to answer. I appreciate it. Thank you much. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Senator boozman. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I dont have a question for you ms. Carter, but we do appreciate all of your knowledge and you all do a great job. Probably are not think enough isis would try to get things together, to give yourself a big pat on the back. Those types of comments on what keeps us going, so thank you. We do appreciate you. Mr. Robinson, to capitalize on americas changing economy its clear that necessary Infrastructure Improvements must be made in our inland waterways and ports. Arkansas and oklahoma have been working for years to deepen the mclellan kerr Arkansas River Navigation System so barges and boats can carry larger loads. I think about 40 greater load. So its very, very significant. Senator inhofe and i both understand, and we appreciate his leadership, but also the National Significance of the 12foot channel versus what we have now, and were going to work really hard in wrda 2018 o try to get that accomplished. Can you explain what the 12foot channel would be a benefit . Well, as you said, senator not just for arkansas and oklahoma but for the country as a whole. Let me give you an example. You know Scott Mcgeorge with pine bluff sand and gravel operating in iraq were there, the closest rock quarry to new orleans in the country. And so Scott Mcgeorge and pine bluff sand and gravel were not able to compete when new orleans needed rock desperately. So as a nation we paid more for that rocked him he otherwise would have because we werent willing to deepen the channel. We started the gym but we didnt complete it. We didnt go forward with it. Along that line, i have great concern in the sense that as recently as 2016, bob portis expressed concern that the critical backlog on the in carnes was of that nature. The number has now ballooned to 143 million in less than two years. If we continue to kick the can down the road and did not address the critical backlog, talk about that. Talk about how the effect of it, if we actually do shut the system down. Again, not only for arkansas and oklahoma, but for the rest of the country. Also, according to the u. S. Army corps of engineers, 58 of locks and dams are passed their life expectancy. Talk about if we can do some more things, the positive effect. Locks and dams are 47 years older i realize the locks and dams on the rest of the system in the nation are older than that but one of the reasons that the backlog of critical maintenance is growing at such an alarming rate is because we are nearing the end of 50 your life that most projects like that have from an engineering standpoint it so we discovering new things every time we dewater a lock, and we do that quite often in order to make sure were keeping up with the maintenance that needs to be done. Unfortunately the funds are not available to the domains even when we know they need to be done. If the mkarns were shut down as a result of failure of the system in one way or another, then we calculated the cost and oklahoma would be 2 million a day day. Thats a significant cost to shippers, reports and Terminal Operators and to the nation. Its just not a good way to do business. These projects were justified on expectations that the benefits would exceed the cost. Theyve done that. There are significant earnings to the government, to the federal government that go into the treasury. Its not a matter of not enough benefits and revenues. Its a matter of using those revenues for other purposes. Mr. Friedman, a top priority for the chairman and Ranking Member for the entire committee is passing a wrda bill. We went through a time from 20072014 where we had a gap. 2014, 2016, we got back on track. Can you talk about what it means to certainty with having a wrda bill every two years to address these problems . Thank you send it to. Yes, its critically important for the pork industry, maritime industry to have a wrda reauthorized every two years or on a regular cycle. Because adjustments need to be made to the new construction start authorizations as projects are designed and then being built, that as we know the corps, army corps has been plagued with projects that string out for many, many years, adding cost. It hurts the competitiveness of the nation if we cant complete these harbor improvement projects, complete these evenings. So gap of seven years is very, very harmful. It also gives us an opportunity to address the issue that was brought up in terms of transparency answer opening up the decisionmaking process at the corps, the socalled black box which we think would be good for all stakeholders to be able to input to modernize the benefit cost ratio, to make sure we are funding the best projects for the nation. So apa is strongly in favor of getting back to the regular order on wrda. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator boozman. Senator carper. Thank you, sir. A question again for you, ms. Ufner, dealing with stakeholder involvement. I think we all realized that stakeholder and project sponsor collaboration with the army corps of engineers is essential to solving our Water Resources challenges, which are many. This collaboration helps to limit the cost of missed opportunities, promotes better planning, provides better transparency, result in more fiscally and of our mentally sound projects. A question for you, if i could. How can the army corps at that its efforts to promote integrated planning in management . Please. And youre talking integrated planning from the concept of Environmental Protection agency, but using it also within the army corps of engineers . Yes. And basically how to, its a big issue for us with water issues, whether in the corps or the army corps to address clean water act issues in a holistic way, and that essentially includes potentially i dont want to say bundling projects, but its a way for us to look at what is the most important thing. We are still many of clean water act goals in the corps or epa, but we can do it in much more affordable way, and that something that weve been supporting within the realm of the clean water act. Thanks. I want to go back to something i said earlier in my Opening Statement, and it going to ask you to join in and airplane, up to about 30,000 feet. Then id like for you to just react to what im going to repeat, what i said earlier. As the 2017 Hurricane Season illustrated our nations need, i spent some time in puerto rico, spend some time in the virgin islands, spent some time in houston and saw the gun of devastation were going to pay for a long, long time. As the recently departed Hurricane Season illustrated, our nation needs to be resilient for the next or a flood and event because it is coming. Know what estimate the total cost for extreme weather and climate events exceeded 300 billion which is a new record, not a matter of if but our next extreme weather is coming but when. The corps navigation and flood Risk Management activities account for more than 70 of the agencies annual civil works appropriations. But the corps has four shares jurisdiction as an over any number of critical Civil Works Programs including an final stewardship, include hydropower, recreation, Emergency Management and water supply. Unfortunately, the mid1980s, federal funding for new project construction major rehab began to decline steadily. With this trend the corps and actions have shifted to maintenance, rehabilitation of existing infrastructure and the backlog of deferred maintenance has continued to grow ever since. As a result, much of the corps infrastructure is not exceeding its useful life plan. If you are sitting on the side of the dais as members of this committee, what would you be doing about it . We will start with you, steve, please. I think the situation you described is incredibly debilitating to the people who work at the corps of engineers. They are, many of them, quite skilled, quite talented, quite able and get the vision of what it would to be and what they need to be is completely overwhelmed by a backlog of things that theyre not getting done. And so it does seem to me that with, its essential to find a way to overcome the backlog, not by doing all the projects, frankly. Thats not going to work but by creating a new vision that actually does, we talk a lot in louisiana but getting ahead of the next dorm, the same way you talk about in your Opening Statement. Thats critical because of what you always playing catch it. Thats what the corps is doing now. Thats all they can just play catch up. I dont actually mean this, but we should either give them a real job to do or we should just get rid of them so that, because the way it is right now, mr. Robinson said earlier, everybody has learned how to do more with less. Thats just business as usual. If you do that long enough you give up on what you really need to do. I think thats what the corps has done. All right. Thank you for that. Ms. Carter, please. Crs has no opinions are reactions, but one of the topics that may be of concern in the future is damn and levee safety issues. The corps to become at the next few months with reports related to some of the Infrastructure Investments needs and that area. And including related to i walls which are one of the pieces infrastructure that failed in new orleans and contributed to the cost of the federal government for Emergency Response and recovery. Figuring out how aging infrastructure like that fits in the package in the long run will potentially help or hinder the governments witness to manage the risk. Well, i will ask you to react what i said earlier, just repeat it, please. Absolutely, senator. With my apa hat on i will repeat what i said, which is our ports want to see the continued Movement Toward full use and spend the Harbor Maintenance trust fund. That would make a tremendous difference for us, and were grateful for the progress that congress has made and youve made in that direction. Recently, the numbers are remarkable from where we were five or six years ago. Then we would again submit our waterways, our Water Infrastructure needs to be viewed very high priority in any upcoming infrastructure legislation thats passed out of congress. And then just speaking for myself, if i were on your side come in your shoes, i sort of think back to when the army corps, the days when the army corps was building some of the greatest public works projects no demand, the panama canal, our great games and other waterways and waterworks, and he think we need to get back to sort of that spirit of we can do this. We have to find it but we have to do it. We can address these issues at a do think sort of share the view that without enough funding, theres not much the corps can do. They are fighting this backlog perpetually but rethink which s thinking on a bigger scale to address these problems and make that a national priority. All right, thank you. Julie . Thank yous and did it two thoughts on that. Well, several thoughts. There is such a backlog within the corps and the need within the communities are so huge. There are communities that would love to partner with the koran projects but theres no funding. They dont meet the costbenefit analysis. The Technical Assistance the corps offers is so valuable. Having said that, theres a lot of challenges within the corps within the processes, the bureaucracy, complex requirements that make it very difficult, even if counties you want to partner with them, that they may go to other federal agencies first because it makes ten years through the corps as opposed to seven years somewhere else. All right, inks. Last word, scott. Hate to beat a a dead horset the Civil Works Program in the country for many, many, many years has delivered significant benefits to the country, and revenues to the treasury. Revenues far in excess of the cost of the program. Its time to reinvest some of those earnings back into the system instead of using up the principal, the capital that was originally invested. All right, thanks. Good words of wisdom. Thank you all. This is been a coherent and we appreciate very much which is added. Thank you all. A couple of questions. Mr. Friedman, when you talk about the dates of the panama canal, the path between the seas i read it. They come in about the time, the complexity from the bureaucracy, all of those things and how long, the title is the path between the seas, panama canal, so it did expand 40 for your plan. The issues, you know, plan to cure a major disease that was killing a lot of people during the time of construction sews a remarkable achievement and is over 100 years ago. So thanks for bringing that up. Ms. Ufner, several projects and programs passed in the water act, important to reduce flooding, ice jam prevention, mitigation pilot program. In your view how important is preventing flooding the Economic Health of World Community . Reiterate what we mentioned before, it is immeasurable. Communities are responsible, counties in particular, are responsible for health and Public Safety. And we take many measures to ensure that our public is protected. We are the first on the scene of any emergency, flooding disasters. And when the result in deaths and or damage to our economies, ultimately impacts the National Economy so it shoots that we are able to address this longterm advocate the steps that we need to get there in the and together. One of the things i did mention yet, i continue to advocate maintaining this, too often for agencies, gauges used to monitor snow debts, soil moisture to inform agencies like the chorus to potential Flooding Issues of god as well. In your opinion is a more that can be done to better predict flooding and drought than what we are doing . There is definitely more that can be done. What we hang from our counties is that the needs the available data, and that is reliably updated. We hear this a lot about the data used for nfip or also Flood Elevation data that is not readily available and or updated it and for communities to make sufficient decisions in their communities they need the most uptodate information. Thank you. Thank all of you. Some members may ask senator carper . Thank you, mr. Chairman. I have a question but im not going to ask about but i want to flag it for mr. Cochran with regard to manage it. We believe this now and go live now for discussion on National Security if one of the speakers at the moment security advisor to president george w. Bush, frances townsend, the American Bar Association Standing Committee on law and National Security is the host of this conversation. Its just getting underway. Broadcasting this live as it is time ever that recently as question we ask that you please identify yourself both so that our speakers know who you are as well as will our audience. Another of the missions of the aba is a nonpartisan as well as bipartisan fashion to talk about highlight and advance the interests of National Security law. And do so in two ways. One, to stand up for the principle of physical security, but do so consistent with our National Security values. Thats the essence of what the aba Standing Committee of National Security is all about. Thats also why im so pleased today that our speakers, our discussions in fact, our two people who spend their entire careers doing just that come standing up for the physical security of the United States but doing so in a manner consistent with our values. Our discussants are harvey, and frances housing or i will try and get if go to the bios, but then i realized that they held collectively together every single job at the department of justice and the fbi going back to 1910. [laughing] in harveys case. [laughing] in friends, not quite as long. So instead what i thought i would do is i would let them introduce themselves but i want to day one thing about each of our discussants. First, about