Nearly $3 Billion in Budget Deal Slated for Olmstead Lock and Dam Project

Who said earmarks are dead? Tucked into yesterday's long-anticipated Congressional deal to raise the debt ceiling and end the government shut-down was this seemingly innocuous paragraph:

"Sec. 123. Section 3(a)(6) of Public Law 100-676 is amended by striking the occurrences of "$775,000,000" and inserting in lieu thereof, "$2,918,000,000."


PL 100-676 is the WRDA bill of 1988, which originally authorized the Olmstead lock and dam project at $775 million. The now-approved budget resolution more than triples the authorized expenditures for the cost overrun plagued project on the Ohio River. As you can see from the text of the joint budget resolution, it was not exactly a "clean" resolution, with various other individual funding provisions (including $186 million for Maritime Security - sec. 152).

With the ink apparently still drying in the budget deal, some have already referred to the Olmstead provision as the "Kentucky Kick-Back."

See also, my earlier post on the draft WRRDA bill which attempted to free the Inland Waterways Trust fund from essentially funding only the Olmstead project given its huge costs. Presumably funding Olmstead via the budget resolution solves the problem of Olmstead monopolizing the Inland Waterway Trust Fund.

Failure to Fund Water Infrastructure Cited by National Research Council

The National Research Council's latest report on water infrastructure funding finds the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers faces an "unsustainable situation" in maintaining national water projects at acceptable levels of performance. A press release announcing the report is attached here, and a summary of the larger report is attached here. The full report can be obtained in pre-publication format from the NRC's website. The NRC report states the familiar rallying cry that decades-old locks and dams threaten the inland waterway system, and the economic activity the inland waterways sustain. Somewhat distressing is the foreboding, but realistic, statement that despite calls for funding and repairs, gradual deterioration will effectively require discommissioning of locks and dams: "Parts of the system could be decomissioned and divested, but it is more likely that the lock and dam network will be modified by gradual deterioration rather than any planned decomissioning."

5th Circuit Reverses Self - Army Corps not Liable for Katrina Flood Damage

The U.S. Court of Apppeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans reversed its prior ruling that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was liable for Katrina-related flood damage. In an opinion filed yesterday, the same three judge panel that had previously held the Corps liable for some damages, reversed itself and found immunity for the Corps under the discretionary function exception. Under this doctrine, suits that are based on a government agency's, or employee's, performance, or failure to perform, a discretionary function, are barred. The latest opinion is attached here.