This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, March 14, 2013 - WASHINGTON – With federal funds shrinking but river commerce rising, Illinois lawmakers want to jump-start major infrastructure projects – such as rebuilding key locks and dams on the Mississippi River – by allowing public-private partnerships.
The Water Infrastructure Now Public-Private Partnership Act, to be introduced Thursday by U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill., would set up a pilot program for potential agreements between the Army Corps of Engineers and private entities as alternatives to traditional modes of financing, design, and construction.
Separately, Durbin and U.S. Rep. Bill Enyart, D-Belleville, are introducing a bipartisan bill that aims to strengthen efforts to maintain commercial river traffic during droughts and floods and also to lessen the economic problems to the region. Also sponsoring the bill is U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville.
That legislation, called the Mississippi River Navigation Sustainment Act, would expand the Corps’ options in dealing with low-water crises and direct the Corps to study how to coordinate better the management of the entire Mississippi River Basin – which includes the Missouri and Illinois rivers – during periods of extreme weather.
In separate statements on the public-private partnership initiative, Durbin and Kirk said it is crucial for the Midwest’s economy – and that of the nation as a whole – to find way to improve navigation on the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, even though federal budget constraints are likely to pose challenges.
“It’s clear we need a new model – one that speeds up the process of planning and constructing projects and brings to the table greater private investment,” Durbin said in a statement. “Our bipartisan bill will provide a new way to upgrade and maintain our water infrastructure investments even as we face severe fiscal constraints in Washington.”
The Durbin-Kirk bill, sponsored in the House by Davis and U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., may be offered as a committee add-on to the major water projects legislation being developed by the Environment and Public Works Committee. The bill would authorize a five-year pilot program to identify as many as 15 previously authorized navigation, flood damage reduction and hurricane/storm damage reduction projects for participation.
Once the projects are chosen under the pilot program, the Army Corps would be allowed to enter into innovative new agreements with private entities that could speed the projects by decentralizing their planning, design and construction. More private investment in water infrastructure would be a major goal. The bill would require an audit of all activities by the private partners, as well as a study by a non-interested third party.
In a recent report, the Corps estimated that a $60 billion backlog of such projects will take decades to complete without outside investment.
“At a time when the Army Corps of Engineers is facing severe funding shortfalls and a growing backlog of authorized projects, we need to explore new ways to bring private support to our public assets,” said Kirk.<
“This legislation allows important lock and dam and flood control projects the opportunity to engage in a public-private agreement for project management, keeping costs down and speeding construction.”
Sustaining river navigation in droughts, floods
On the river navigation bill, Durbin said, “We came close to economic catastrophe when ongoing drought conditions threatened to disrupt the movement of billions of dollars in goods along the Mississippi River” last year.
“Only through better than expected rainfall, the expedited removal of rock pinnacles at Congress’ request and some creative reservoir management was the river able to stay open.”
It was the first bill for freshman Enyart, who said in a statement that the initiative aims “to protect Southern Illinois jobs and minimize the economic impact of droughts or flooding" on Mississippi River traffic.
“Whether responding to the drought this winter or flooding years before, we must ensure the Army Corps of Engineers, Coast Guard, and local industry have the tools and accurate information they need to plan ahead and respond to extreme weather while maintaining river traffic.”
The legislation would authorize:
• A “Greater Mississippi River Basin Extreme Weather Management Study” by the Corps to coordinate management of the entire Mississippi River Basin better during periods of extreme weather. The study would include suggestions on the best ways to improve the management of the basin for navigation and flood risk management, taking into account the effect the management of the entire basin has on the Mississippi.
• Improving the tools used for Mississippi River forecasting. The Corps has reported that, during the low water levels, some manual river gauges (such as painted lines on bridges) were useless, making it more difficult to survey and dredge river depth. The bill calls for more automated gauges and better forecasting tools.
• More flexibility for the Corps in responding to river traffic and navigation issues outside of the authorized channel during low water periods. The Corps would get more authority to dredge to sufficient depths in fleeting areas and to maintain access to docks, loading facilities and other infrastructure.
• An environmental pilot program to enable the Corps to restore and protect fish and wildlife habitat in the middle Mississippi as engineers.
“The Mississippi River is crucial to commerce in this country, and our area has seen first-hand how floods or historic low water levels can completely stop the movement of goods and services,” said Davis. “It is imperative that we do all that we can to protect this vital artery so that we can keep our country moving.”