The President’s Budget for fiscal year 2017 (FY
2017) includes $4.620 billion in gross discretionary funding for the Civil
Works program of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), including nearly $74
million for Seattle District programs and projects.
"The 2017 Civil Works budget for the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers reflects the Administration's priorities to support and improve
the Nation's economy, protect the American people, and restore our
environment," said the Honorable Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary of
the Army for Civil Works. "This
Budget supports the core mission areas of coastal and inland navigation,
reducing flood and storm risks, and restoring aquatic ecosystems.
"The Budget enables the Corps to responsibly carry
out its important missions, while advancing key Administration initiatives to
increase renewable energy production, reduce greenhouse gas impacts, combat
invasive species, and increase community resilience in the wake of natural
disasters," said Darcy. "The
Budget continues to reflect the tough choices necessary to put the country on a
fiscally sustainable path."
New federal funding in the Civil Works budget consists of
$3.59 billion from the general fund, $951 million from the Harbor Maintenance
Trust Fund, $45 million from Special Recreation User Fees, and $34 million from
the Inland Waterways Trust Fund.
The FY 2017 funding will be distributed among the
appropriations accounts as follows:
• $2.705
billion for Operation and Maintenance, including $32 million for Seattle
District operating projects, and $17 million for navigation projects and
evaluations
• $1.09
billion for Construction, including $22.350 million for Mud Mountain Dam fish
passage
• $222
million for Mississippi River and Tributaries
• $200
million for the Regulatory Program
• $180
million for Expenses
• $103
million for the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP)
• $85
million for Investigations, including $500,000 for Seattle Harbor
• $30
million for Flood Control and Coastal Emergencies
• $5
million for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works
The FY 2017 Civil Works program is also provided
approximately $845 million in funding from additional sources not included in
the Budget, bringing the FY 2017 total program funding to $5.465 billion.
The FY 2017 construction program includes $22.35 million
for one high-priority new construction start, Mud Mountain Dam, WA, an Aquatic
Ecosystem Restoration project in response to a Biological Opinion for endangered
salmon.
The FY 2017 Budget includes $1.934 billion for the study,
design, construction, operation and maintenance of inland and coastal
navigation projects. It funds capital
investments on the inland waterways based on the estimated revenues to the
Inland Waterways Trust Fund. The Budget
gives priority to coastal harbors and inland waterways with the most commercial
traffic. It also funds harbors that
support significant commercial fishing, subsistence, or public transportation
benefits.
The FY 2017 Investigations program as a whole is funded
at $92 million, including $7 million from the Mississippi River and Tributaries
(MR&T) account, to fund studies to determine the need, engineering
feasibility, and economic, environmental and social return of potential
solutions for water and related land resource problems. This includes $6.7 million for work on
proposals to deepen and/or widen ten high and moderate commercial use U.S.
harbors and channels, including $500,000 for Seattle Harbor.
The Budget also funds completion of 12 studies and
designs, one of which is in the Preconstruction Engineering and Design (PED)
phase. These studies comprise four
ecosystem restoration studies, four navigation studies, and four flood risk
management studies.
There are no new study starts included in the FY 2017
Investigations program.
The Investigations account also includes $26 million for
Corps' efforts, in conjunction with state floodplain management authorities, to
provide technical and planning assistance to enable local communities to reduce
their flood risk, including non-structural approaches. The Budget continues to invest in the
development of interagency teams known as Silver Jackets to provide unified
federal assistance in implementing flood risk management solutions.
The FY 2017 Construction program is funded at $1.154
billion, including $64 million in the MR&T account. The construction program uses objective,
performance-based guidelines to allocate funding toward the highest performing
economic, environmental, and public safety investments.
The Budget funds 33 construction projects, consisting of
seven dam safety assurance, seepage control, and static instability correction
projects; six projects funded to address a significant risk to human safety
(includes one completion); five additional project completions; one new
construction project; and 14 other continuing projects.
By program area, the 33 funded construction projects
consist of 17 flood risk management projects (two funded for completion), nine
aquatic ecosystem restoration projects, six commercial navigation projects
(three funded for completion), and one hydropower project (funded for
completion).
The FY 2017 Budget includes $239 million for safety
modifications on seven dam safety, seepage control and static instability
correction projects and $3.3 million for interim risk reduction measures for
dams with a significant risk.
The FY 2017 O&M program is funded at $2.856 billion,
including $151 million in the MR&T account.
For O&M, the Budget emphasizes performance of existing projects by
focusing on those coastal harbors and inland waterways with the most commercial
traffic, as well as safety improvements at federal dams and levees based on the
risk and consequence of a failure. The Budget also funds maintenance work at harbors that
support significant commercial fishing, subsistence, or public transportation
benefits.
The FY 2017 O&M program also funds the completion of
28 master plans and water reallocation studies at Corps projects.
Collaborating with federal, non-federal, state and local
partners, the Corps completed the North Atlantic Coast Comprehensive Study
(Comprehensive Study) in 2015, a report that developed a universal Coastal
Storm Risk Management Framework that identified a set of structural,
non-structural natural, nature-based, and programmatic measures to manage flood
risk and promote resilience for approximately 31,000 miles of coastline, from
New Hampshire to Virginia.
The FY 2017 aquatic ecosystem restoration program is
funded at $375 million with $336 million from Construction, $20 million from
O&M and $19 million from Investigations.
This program supports restoring aquatic habitat to a less
degraded, more natural condition in ecosystems where ecosystem structure,
function, and processes have been degraded.
Priority aquatic ecosystems supported by the Budget include the
California Bay-Delta, the Chesapeake Bay, the Everglades, the Great Lakes, and
the Gulf Coast. Other ecosystem efforts
include the Columbia River and priority work in the Upper Mississippi and
Missouri rivers.
The Corps will continue to work with other federal, state
and local agencies, using the best available science and adaptive management to
protect and restore these ecosystems.
The FY 2017 Budget funds Recreation at $267 million, with
approximately $255 million in the O&M account and $12 million in the
MR&T account. The Corps is the
nation’s largest provider of federal recreation opportunities, with 370 million
visits to Corps’ lands and waters per year.
The FY 2017 Regulatory Program is funded at $200 million
and will improve the protection of the nation’s waters and wetlands, while
providing greater efficiency in permit processing.
The FY 2017 FUSRAP program is funded at $103 million to
continue remediation activities at 20 sites contaminated by the Nation’s early
efforts to develop atomic weapons.
Based on the Corps’ contribution to the response and
recovery of communities after natural disasters strike, and the inevitability
that there will be more, Emergency Management is funded
at $35 million in FY 2017, with $30 million in the FCCE
account for preparedness and training to respond to floods, hurricanes, and
other natural disasters, and $5 million in the O&M account.
The FY 2017 Civil Works budget press book is available at
http://www.usace.army.mil/Missions/CivilWorks/Budget.aspx, under the heading
Program Budget: Press Books.