The inland waterways system, and the barging and other industries that depend on it, won a major victory when Congress gave overwhelming approval to a 2024 water resources bill and sent it to the White House for presidential signature this week.
The legislation, known as the Thomas R. Carper Water Resources Development Act of 2024, passed the House on Dec. 10 and the Senate on Dec. 18, and is expected to be signed soon by President Biden.
The bill helps the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintain and improve the country’s inland waterways infrastructure, ports, harbors, and flood and storm protections. A final version of the bill, which had been negotiated by members of the House and Senate over the past few weeks, passed both chambers as members rushed to close down their legislative calendar for the year.
Two of the bill’s most significant provisions relate to how the federal government finances inland infrastructure and port dredging going forward.
In an adjustment pursued by the barge industry and its customers, Congress agreed to permanently shift the federal cost-sharing formula for inland waterways construction and major rehabilitation projects to 75%, reducing the share to 25% from the Inland Waterways Trust Fund (IWTF), which is financed by a diesel tax on the barge industry. The current formula is 65% federal, 35% IWTF.
This change is expected to lead to lower project costs, speed up project timelines and make more money available for critical lock and dam improvements along the nation’s navigable rivers, advocates say.
Specifically, with annual trust fund revenues of $115 million, the new cost-share formula will allow for $460 million in appropriations, an increase of $131 million above the current 65/35% formula, according to the Waterways Council, Inc., an industry-supported group that advocated for the change and calls it a major win for river infrastructure improvements.
Work on modernizing the aging, often failing system has accelerated in recent years, leading to completion of several projects that have languished for decades, and allowing others to reach key construction milestones. This is due to steady funding commitments from Congress, including for President Biden’s infrastructure package that included money for river infrastructure.
In a big win also for the nation’s ports, the legislation authorizes increased investment in harbor maintenance and port dredging by making significant changes in the depth thresholds the government uses to fund such projects. For construction dredging, the Corps of Engineers will now fund 75% of construction dredging projects for depths between 20′ and 55′, up from the previous cap of 50′ depths. For operations and maintenance dredging, the Corps will fully fund projects up to 55′, up from the current 50′ threshold. Proponents say the new depths will allow ports to accommodate the increasingly large-sized containerships and make them more globally competitive.
Additionally, the bill authorizes 21 new projects totaling $10.7 billion, including flood risk management in Louisiana and New York’s Staten Island and restoration work in Florida’s Everglades.
Once signed by the president, this bill continues a steady track record of Congress enacting water resources legislation every two years since 2014. Continuing this biennial legislative pattern gives the Corps of Engineers a high level of predictability and allows for more effective planning and development of water resources projects.
“WRDA 2024 makes much needed reforms at the Corps of Engineers to streamline processes, reduce cumbersome red tape and get projects done faster,” Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said in a statement.
It also provides a bright moment of bipartisanship in Congress.
“Amid the extreme partisan acrimony in Washington, D.C., it is refreshing to see Democrats and Republicans continue to work together to advance legislation to maintain and improve our nation’s critical water infrastructure,” said Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the Soy Transportation Coalition, Ankeny, Iowa, whose members rely on efficient barge transportation to move their products.
About 48% of U.S. soybean exports are carried by barge primarily to export terminals along the lower Mississippi River, and “barge transportation is one of the predominant reasons U.S. soybean farmers are so competitive in the international marketplace,” Steenhoek said.
