The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held a hearing on March 3, 2010, to review how well the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has succeeded in its implementation of the Water Resources Development Act of 2007 (WRDA). Some of the reforms in that legislation were designed to revise how U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would address environmental mitigation, external review of controversial projects and project selection criteria that account for sustainable development practices.
Testimony offered by the AGC-led Water Resources Coalition reported several key findings, including the following:
- While USACE has made progress implementing the act, the process has been slow and not transparent;
- The current draft Principles and Guidelines, originally tasked to USACE, but later transferred to the Council for Environmental Quality, failed to meet Congressional mandate and needs to be reworked;
- The Water Resources Coalition recommended that Congress should enact legislation to establish a national levee safety program; and
- Federal legislation defining the goals and standards for watershed managers should permit flexibility and accommodate regional needs.