Committee advances water resources act

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The U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee recently advanced the bipartisan Water Resources Development Act of 2018. The act provides improvements for dams, ecosystem restoration, flood protection, inland waterways, ports, locks, and other water resources infrastructure.

The bill also proposes U.S. Army Corps of Engineers civil works activities and provides reforms.

“How the government prioritizes, plans and ensures the completion of water resource projects is the difference between life and death in many cases,” Garret Graves, Water Resources, and Environment Subcommittee chairman, (R-LA) said. “We have to refocus the Corps of Engineers on moving dirt instead of pushing paper. This bill, together with the Disaster Reform and Recovery Act recently passed by the House, begins shifting from responsive bureaucratic delays to leaning forward, building projects, improving the resilience of our communities, improving our ports and navigation channels and restoring our coastal ecosystems.”

This is the third Water Resources Development Act approved by the committee. The bill follows the transparent process established under the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014.

The bill was introduced by Graves; Bill Shuster (R-PA), chairman of the committee; Peter DeFazio (D-OR), committee ranking member; and Grace Napolitano (D-CA), ranking member of the Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee.