Debbie says: I attended a workshop on this issue at the beginning of the
month in D.C. Sierra Club people were in attendance. There were two
regional staff, one chapter staff and three volunteers. Reform of the
Army Corps is a very hot topic in Washington D.C. right now as the
article explains.
washingtonpost.com
General Says Change Is Needed; Daschle to Co-Sponsor Bill
By Michael Grunwald
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 19, 2002; Page A19
The military commander of the Army Corps of Engineers told Congress
yesterday that "the Corps must change," and Senate Majority Leader
Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) threw his weight behind a bipartisan proposal
to overhaul the embattled public works agency.
In testimony at a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing
on changing the Corps, Lt. Gen. Robert B. Flowers expressed confidence
in the expertise and integrity of his agency. But Flowers also said he
was "very embarrassed" by several botched water projects, particularly a
$311 million Delaware River deepening excoriated recently by the General
Accounting Office.
In an unusual admission for a Corps leader, Flowers said that the
agency's internal planning and oversight had "eroded over time" and that
he was not opposed to legislative proposals for independent reviews of
Corps projects.
"We've had a couple of high-profile failures," Flowers said. "That's
unacceptable." He also suggested $5 billion in outdated projects for
possible deauthorization by Congress.
The Corps has enjoyed a warm relationship with Congress, and at
yesterday's hearing, agency supporters such as Sens. Christopher S. Bond
(R-Mo.) and James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) vowed to battle any changes that
might delay flood-control and navigation projects. Along with Sen.
George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio), they also warned that the Bush
administration's proposed budget cuts for the Corps could weaken the
economy and allow dangerous deterioration of aging levees, locks and
dams.
"I didn't pick this fight," Bond said. "But I'm ready and anxious to
join it with energy and enthusiasm."
But in a victory for environmentalists, fiscal conservatives and other
Corps critics, Daschle announced that he would join Sens. Robert C.
Smith (R-N.H.), Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) as
co-sponsors of a bill to revamp the Corps, calling it "a thoughtful and
justifiable response to the ongoing problems associated with the Corps."
Daschle said he was troubled by "cost-benefit analyses rigged to justify
billion-dollar projects, disregard of environmental laws and a pattern
of catering to special interests."
"We need a Corps that balances economic development and environmental
protection," he said.
The 227-year-old Corps has faced unprecedented scrutiny lately, and
Flowers yesterday acknowledged that it faces "a turning point." The GAO,
the National Academy of Sciences, internal Pentagon investigators and
the Office of Management and Budget have all detailed serious problems
with Corps economic analyses.
The agency has been forced to suspend work on the Delaware River
deepening and a similar dredging of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal,
and had to restart the biggest study in its history after top officials
were caught trying to skew data to justify billion-dollar lock
expansions on the Mississippi River.
Congress usually passes a bill every two years authorizing new Corps
projects, but Smith yesterday said he would block any bill that did not
include major changes in the agency.
Feingold, who is not a member of the committee, testified about their
bill, which would require independent peer reviews for all costly
projects, update agency guidelines to emphasize environmental
protection, and force local communities to pay larger percentages of
Corps port-dredging and beach replenishment efforts.
"I want the fiscal and management cloud over the Corps to dissipate so
that the Corps can continue to contribute to our environment and our
economy," Feingold said.
But even with the majority leader's support, any Corps overhaul will
face a battle on the Hill. Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.)
is a staunch opponent, and he recently signed a Bond letter -- along
with four other senators from Mississippi River states -- warning that
"so-called reforms" that hold up flood-control projects would create
serious hardships for low-income communities. The Corps is even more
popular in the House.
For many legislators, the Corps presents a quandary. For example, Sen.
Jon S. Corzine (D-N.J.) opposes the Delaware River deepening, and he was
appalled by the GAO's documentation of Corps miscalculations that
overestimated the project's economic benefits by 300 percent.
He said he was intrigued by the overhaul bill, and asked Flowers a sharp
question when the general seemed sympathetic to Bond's suggestion that
the agency should stop bothering with cost-benefit analyses. But Corzine
did say he objected to one portion of Smith's bill: the part that would
increase the local cost share for beach replenishment.
The New Jersey shore has billions of dollars worth of beach
replenishment projects.
C 2002 The Washington Post Company
*** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this
material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a
prior interest in receiving the included information for research and
educational purposes.
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