The Sierra Club has a list serve on Army Corps issues <[log in to unmask]>. If you are not already on it, let me know if you want to join it. My email is <[log in to unmask]> ARMY CORPS: Senators press Obama admin for reform (Tuesday, November 17, 2009) Taryn Luntz, E&E reporter Six senators today asked the Obama administration to explain what the lawmakers claim is a lag in implementing congressionally mandated reforms of the Army Corps of Engineers. The reforms, which were written into the 2007 Water Resources Development Act, include instituting peer reviews of large or controversial Army Corps projects, conducting safety reviews for qualifying projects and strengthening the agency's environmental mitigation process. In a letter <http://www.eenews.net/features/documents/2009/11/17/document_pm_03.pdf> dated today, Sens. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), both of whom championed the WRDA provisions, ask the administration for a detailed explanation of the status of the reforms. "Three of the most significant of these programmatic reforms, independent peer review, safety assurance review, and mitigation reforms, became effective upon enactment," the lawmakers wrote to Jo-Ellen Darcy, assistant Army secretary for civil works. "We are extremely concerned that almost two years later, little progress has been made to implement these critical reforms." The letter also was signed by Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.). A spokesman for the Army Corps declined to comment on the letter. In a separate letter <http://www.eenews.net/features/documents/2009/11/17/document_pm_02.pdf> , the senators urge the White House to issue "clear directives" to the corps when the administration revises the agency's planning guidelines. The WRDA bill gave the Army Corps two years to update its 26-year-old principles and guidelines, mandating that the agency weigh environmental considerations, not just economic ones, when it considers projects. The Army Corps' rewrite process recently was pre-empted by a White House effort to revise the guidelines and expand their application to other federal agencies (Greenwire <http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/2009/07/14/archive/3> , July 14). "As the Council on Environmental Quality works to modernize the P&G, we ask you to ensure that any new P&G sets forth clear and compulsory policies that guide the Corps of Engineers as they plan and construct water resources projects," the lawmakers wrote to CEQ Chairwoman Nancy Sutley. "Among these should be clear directives to avoid adverse environmental impacts to the maximum extent possible, along with specific requirements that ensure compliance." The senators urge CEQ to require the Army Corps to use nonstructural and restoration approaches to water problems, rather than structural solutions such as dams and levees, whenever practicable. Such an approach "would provide the type of direction needed to preserve the natural systems that can protect communities facing catastrophic flooding, droughts and sea-level rise caused by climate change," they say. CEQ plans to release a draft of the new rules in the coming month, spokeswoman Christine Glunz said. Glunz declined to discuss its contents in detail but said the draft revision will reflect the congressional mandate to modernize the guidelines Click here <http://www.eenews.net/features/documents/2009/11/17/document_pm_03.pdf> to read the senators' letter asking for a status update of the corps reforms. Click here <http://www.eenews.net/features/documents/2009/11/17/document_pm_02.pdf> to read the senators' letter urging "clear directives" to the corps in the planning guidelines revisions. Want to read more stories like this? Click here <http://wwweenews.net/trial/ <http://www.eenews.net/trial/>> to start a free trial to E&E -- the best way to track policy and markets. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask] Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp