Transcripts For CSPAN2 Hearing Focuses On Water Resources And The Economy 20170511

Infrastructure funding. And in land waterways have the impact of the panama canal expansion on us ports. It is an hour and 45 minutes. [inaudible conversations] the meeting will come to order. And i happen to be one of those. And i recognize that this time, senator cardin. And introduce pleasure to have secretary ron here before the committee. Secretary ron, secretary of transportation in maryland. As i was telling as a chairman, this is the third state, secretary of transportation. Department of transportation and new mexico state highway and transportation, cant hold onto a job. Very proud of the work in maryland. And the organization in maryland with the secretary of transportation is responsible for coordinating modes of transportation. Mister ron has done an outstanding job in directing that department, very large budget. He also served as american state transportation officials, 20072008 and national leadership, proud to have him before the committee. Very good. Recognize senator merkley for your introduction. Thank you, mister chairman and Ranking Member for discussing parts of investing in our ports and waterway infrastructure. I am pleased to introduce rick goche from my home state of oregon. Here to testify. Not only is he a port commissioner but has been a fisherman and small businessman for almost 50 years, involved in many aspects of the fishing community. He owns and operates a fishing vessel and owns a sacred season a brand. He is chairman of the commission, president of aquatic resources, Consulting Group of Seafood Holding and shipping. He is chairman of fish, crab, statewide fisherman organization. Very few people know as intimately as rick the importance of maintenance for our small ports, navigation channels and jetties. In fact rick should probably be home preparing his boat for annual maintenance but he is here on behalf of fishermen whose lives and livelihoods depend on this funding to make sure they can get to safe harbor. He has crossed every bar between San Francisco and canada and is here to advocate for the Army Corps Budget to make sure our small ports day the economic driver of our coastal communities. Thank you for being here, commissioner, appreciate it. Welcome, rick goche. Senator shelby, would you like to introduce your thank you . Thank you, Ranking Member cardin, great opportunity to introduce james lyons, director and ceo of state Port Authority, glad he could join us here today. I have known jimmy and his family for many years and the work he has done at the Port Authority, the port of mobile has not only been wilds to our state but the gulf coast region. Jimmy is, as i said, the ceo of Alabama State Port Authority, the port of mobile is the 10th largest us seaport, importer and exporter of domestic trade, total volume. The ports largest commodity as crude oil, steel and petroleum. In any given year 52 to 67 million tons of cargo moved annually through their support and the number continues to grow. James lyons continuously worked to meet the growing demands of post panama market. In 2014, the Port Authority submitted a request to the corps of engineers to consider increasing the depth and width of the Mobile Channel harbor, the core subsequent began general revaluation report that examines potential cost and benefits associated with the deepening and widening of the port, the study is expected to conclude in 2019. The port of mobile provides access to nearly 15,000 miles of in land waterways, in mississippi and valley forge, simply put, the port serves, and mobile. And to ensure the industry and businesses big and small, and the global marketplace. It is Important Congress make infrastructure legislative a priority. The core place as we all know, and modernizing the nations waterways, core projects provide 100 billion annually in net economic benefits, this illustrates job creation and Economic Growth associated with such investments. Im thankful for the committee today under your leadership, to understand the challenges we are facing and look forward to your testimony. We have mister grant freeze grant homefreeze. I have known his dad since longer than he was alive. It is a pleasure having you here in the capacity of what you are doing in oklahoma. He is a Real Estate Developer and investor and homebuilder. 10 years ago grant began the process of founding and developing in oklahoma and some of you are not aware of the fact, more miles of freshwater shoreline than any of the 50 states, did you know that . In carlton landing, he embarked in an ambitious project. And also the founder and principal of Traditional Craft homes. And special specific production homes, developing a project, grant has become involved in a community of lake developers in the region and can speak to his and others experiences of getting a project started. Transportation infrastructure subcommittee here on subject that is important to our own nation including oklahoma. The Water Resources provide our economy with a platform for the movement of goods, facilitate trade and bring jobs and other benefits to the communities that surround it. The corps of engineers projects generate 109 billion annually and economic benefits, and generate 34 billion in revenue to the United States treasury. Unfortunately like most of our infrastructure our Water Resources are aging and in need of repair and upgrades. Recognizing this need the last two congressman, congresses work to authorize new project and create reforms to provide federal funding and private investment, something we couldnt do not long ago. Today at sears will ask for the benefits of Water Resources provided to local and National Economies to be examined and the continued needs that must be met so the us can be globally competitive and provide jobs and other local benefits here at home. In oklahoma we know these benefits firsthand on the mcclellan arkansas connecting oklahoma with Mississippi River and the rest of the world. And spans arkansas and the eastern part of oklahoma. Between the port of muskogee and tulsa port, oklahoma ports are home to over 70 companies and industries shipping 5. 79 tons of cargo with the values of 22. 56 billion, employing more than 6500 oklahomans and creating an Overall Economic impact of more than 400 million to our state each year. The ability to move all kinds of goods without relying solely on one form of transportation keeps shipping costs low, benefiting companies that ship their wares regionally and globally and benefiting consumers who can stretch their dollars further. In addition to moving products and manufactured goods, other army corps projects help our communities by providing for flood Risk Management, water storage, hydropower and recreation. Every authorized use of a core project allows the surrounding communities to realize a greater potential for Economic Development and improves the quality of life for those who depend on the infrastructure, either directly or indirectly. The challenge before todays uss understand the full need for repairing and maintaining our current infrastructure and the need for new projects to ensure that the United States remain globally competitive and our communities continue to reap the benefits of the army corps infrastructure. With the topic of infrastructure in the news during the election cycle and within the new administration, that time is that worked toward Solutions Solutions to meeting these needs. So i think our witnesses for being he here today. I want to make one comment about the attendance here. This is taking place at the same time were having a Senate Armed Services committee which i have been Ranking Member so its difficult to be two places at once. They will be going back and forth. Senator cardin. First, try to let me say what a pleasure it is to be sitting next to you on this command as we can be our first public hearing of our subcommittee. Senatosenator inhofe and i camee congress on the same date in the house of representatives, and weve been friends ever since. Its a real pleasure to serve with him on the subcommittee because im going to let you in on a secret. Senator inhofe is one of the most progressive people i know in this country on infrastructure development. I told them i always told you id be glad to come to a state to campaign for him but he told me he would prefer me to stay in maryland. [laughing] but the two of us share a passion for the importance of Water Infrastructure, roads and bridges, Transit System for the entire modernization of our infrastructure because both of us understand it means jobs for it means u. S. Competitiveness. It means america having the ability to compete globally. Thats what it means and recognize the importance of the governmental part, the private sector part in putting this all together. I particularly want to just acknowledge my pleasure to serve as the Ranking Member with senator inhofe on the subcommittee. I think its appropriate our first hearing deals with the role of Public Private sector and Water Resources because we need both. You heard centered i enough braa bit about his state on water projects. Well, i could spend the next two hours talking about the state of maryland. Im not going to do that but am going to conflict again secretary rahn for the leadership we have and are maryland port. I had a brief on the maryland for last week. Were doing extremely well. January 2017 the port of baltimore hit another record month. Where the closest to the midwest than any other east coast port which is maryland, gives maryland an advantage. We rank ninth overall in value of cargo. Baltimore is well known for the cars to come in and out of that port as the largest in that region. Were significantly increasing our capacity on container, we handle a great deal. One of the facts, i just had to put this in the record to brag, the general of commerce ranked baltimore number one in the nation for container productivity for three years in a row with the port averaging 71 container movements each hour. Where pretty efficient and were proud of our efficiency in the port of baltimore. Under our state leadership we move quickly, recognizing that expansion of the panama canal with move our larger vessels. Him him baltimore is one of only four eastern u. S. Ports with a 50foot channel and a 50foot container berths allowing to accommodate some of the largest container ships in the world. On july 19, 2016, the Cargo Carrier from taiwan was the first supersized container ship to reach baltimore through the panama canal. We are ready. We are ready, and its critically important to our economy. Ive got some numbers and this will be typical just before in our country but the business of the port generates 13,000 plus jobs, director jobs, with more than 127 jobs in total in maryland are linked to the port activity. This is very important to our economy. 3 billion of wages and salaries contributing more than 310 310 million for state and local tax revenues. This is important business for a senator from maryland, its an important business for the senator from every one of our states and thats why were particularly pleased to have this hearing. I do want to just point out that we cant do this just by one of the stakeholders alone. We appreciate the role the federal, place. Its very important the direct help of the Water Resources and will talk today, general, talk a little bit about the next important leg in maryland which is the dredging materials and reclaiming of lance, my predecessor, send address our brains, was directly responsible for popular either which is been a Great Success and a model for the nation on allowing reclaiming of land as well as location for dredge material. We now need to move on to midday which are been studied and i think were on track but well talk about it but we also need the roads and bridges, we also need the rail and we also need a private sector. This hearing is an attempt to try to understand we need all the above. And hope as result of this hearing and for the things that we have that will be able to get the investments by the public and private sector so america can indeed be competitive in our port and Water Activities so we can get the job growth that the people of this country need. Thank you, senator cardin. Let me just say that we have worked so well together for so many years and we work on things that actually become productive. I can remember confession is good for the soul, and if youll pardon me for bragging a little bit, when we had been having our meeting with the chairman of the republican side, happens every tuesday. We had them every tuesday at 12 15. When it comes to my turn i always say, now from the committee that actually does things. Because we did. I would say to my friend, senator cardin, we had the fast act. We have the water act. We had the chemical act. Those are three of the four biggest objects or bills that were actually pass. We are used to accomplishing things. What were going to do because with eyewitnesses, we have many such a senator capito and i have other committees at the same time, were going to try to get you to adhere to if you would a fiveminute maximum on your comments. And, of course, your entire statement will be made a part of the record and we will start with general semonite. Chairman inhofe, Ranking Member cardin and distinguished member of the subcommittee, i am general semonite, commanding general of the army corps of engineers and the 54th cheech of engineers. Im pleased to be a to discuss the role of the United States army corps of engineers Civil War Program and associated value of water Resource Investment across the nation. The corps has a significant role in the dillman of the nations Water Resources and carly manages an Extensive National water resource infrastructure portfolio including maintenance of 13,000 miles of coastal navigation channels, 12,000 miles of inland waterways, 715 dams, 24 241 blo, 14,000 miles of levees and hydropower plants at 75 locations. These projects will provide Risk Reduction from flooding in our River Valleys and along our coast. Facility of the movement of approximately 2,000,000,000 tons of waterborne commerce and provide up to 24 of the nations hydropower. There are about 250 million 250n recreational visits a year making the corps one of the top federal recreation providers. Corps water Resource Investments bring significant value to the nation. For example, United States Maritime Transportation industry supports proximally 2 trillion in commerce with over 2,000,000,000 tons of commerce moving through harbors, channels and waterways constructed and maintained by the court. Approximately 98 a nice dates overseas trade by weight, 99 by volume enters or leaves the United States through a u. S. Coastal port. The inland waterway supports this commerce by facilitating the export of approximately 60 of u. S. Grain, 22 of goal and 22 of petroleum products. Corps Risk Reduction products and activities provide resilient Risk Reduction infrastructure and prepare individuals and communities for potential floods. The corps is responsible for the construction and operation of 383 major dance and reservoir projects that regulates floodwaters in the nations major rivers and tributaries, and is constructed over 14,700 miles of levees in partnership with local nonfederal partners. Additionally the corps is construct over 90 major Coastal Protection projects onto one of 40 miles of the nations coastline that provide storm damage reduction benefits to vulnerable coastal communities. Over the past ten years it is estimated on average the corps Risk Management reduction projects have prevented over 65 billion worth of flood damages to urban and Rural Communities across the nation. The corps maintained recreation facilities at over 400 of its multipurpose projects. The corps has a long history of developing partnerships within existing recreational authorities. It leases about half of the 5000 recreation sites at these multipurpose projects to the public and private entities, including private sector commercial operators, state and local governments. Private recreation sites include approximately 562 privately owned marinas, resorts, campgrounds, but rants, fuel docks, Convenience Stores and of the public use areas. The corps has constructed much of this infrastructure in the first half of the 20 century and some of it is experiencing various stages of degradation and disrepair. In fact, proximally half of the corps locked and dan facility for more than 50 years old and bring operations and maintenance challenges commensurate with their age. The corps dedicates a significant amount of its resources to maintain the key features of these locks and dams, hydropower facilities and other Water Resources and infrastructures. Per the harbors a significant portion portion of the Civil Works Program is devoted to maintaining the systems so they can continue to provide economic and financial benefits to the nation and to address significant risks to safety. To support the current and future requirements of the nations water resort infrastructure, the corps is export alternative financing and Funding Options including Publicprivate Partnerships, also referred to as p3. Through an assessment of private policy requirements and applications of project specific expense, the corps is seeking to demonstrate how a collaboration between a public and private sector may approve the corps ability to deliver the nations infrastructure needs. The corps recognizes the significant investments are required to sustain the performance of our Water Infrastructure portfolio to an acceptable level of risk, and we greatly appreciate the support from the congress in addressing these needs. As required in wada 2014 the corps provide a report to congress in spring 2016 capturing Lessons Learned from the exploration of petri concepts to date. As part of that journey and with the support of congress the corps was able to start the Fargo Morehead flood Risk Management project in north dakota. We acknowledged the congressional direction in the recent fiscal year 2017 appropriation language regarding the need for a more robust piii policy, and we look for to working with congress and the administration to develop this policy guidance. Investment by the Civil Works Program reduces the risk of Flood Impacts in the committees throughout the nation, for still the commercial navigation, restore, protect significant ecosystems, generate lowcost renewable hydropower and support american jobs. Continued investment in projects is an investment if the nations economy, security, employment and quality of life. Now and in the future. Thank you for the privilege to testify about our role in assessing the nations water resource infrastructure and Economic Opportunities associate with our Civil Works Program. Im happy to answer the questions you may have. Very good. Thank you, general. Director lyons . Thank you, mr. Chairman, Ranking Member cardin and established members of the subcommittee. My organization, state Port Authority is nonfederal sponsor of the port of mobile which senator shelby mention the tenth largest u. S. Seaport by total trade. Committee understand 80 of Global Consumption occurred outside our borders and ships carrying our commerce are getting much larger that are deepwater seaport can handle. At mobile, widebody takers are already servicing our terminals, albeit inefficiently. Despite our constraints weve attracted manufacturing and retail distribution investments including walmarts newly announced 2. 6 million squarefoot International Distribution center which is under construction now. But growth is unsustainable at our current channel depth and width. My organization is invested over 850 million in facilities and federal channel infrastructure. Two of our investments in the private Petroleum Terminals recent reported doubledigit cargo growth. Mobiles public and private terminals generate about 23. 5 billion in economic value end up with over 154,000 people. On a larger scale, via seaport generate 4. 6 trillion in economic value. U. S. Seaport will invest 154. 8 billion and create 1. 6 million jobs by 2020, and 82 82 of that investment will occur in the u. S. Gulf. Ports are going to particle the economy and we provide significant return on federal investment. Now the time has come for both the administration and congress to give equal weight to seaport when grappling with infrastructure investments. Under investment and underfunding for corps supports Program Result in an efficient port to maintain harbors, thereby increasing shipper costs, reducing our global competitiveness, aggravating the maintenance dredging backlog and adversely impacting our tax base and job market. We must endeavor to revise law and reform procedures to better plan, fund complement and maintain waterway infrastructure necessary for u. S. Commerce. I respectfully offer a few suggestions to achieve these goals. One, continue biannual review of the Water Resource Development act to further timely reforms. Also the corps should submit annually to congress a comprehensive report on its civil rights program, provide line item insight into Program Progression and costs. Number two, the course intimate strategic fiveyear budget cycle. Today the corps works on to your budgets that fail to capture any projects full capital need to implementation. For example, the course budget will only address two of the three plus years of an authorized study and provides no guarantees for project engineering and design or construction phase funding. Once authorized projects are in the pipeline, they should be budgeted and secured funds to completion. Three, provide full allocation of the Harbor Maintenance trust fund, available funds come to guarantee year in year out maintenance obligations. Five your budgeting cycles could provide congress specific some longrange maintenance funding obligations while providing new insights into new authorized project maintenance. Fourth, streamline the 333 rule waiver process. Complex that is required necessary sites to comply with nepa and much of that science takes a year or more to complete. Corps guidance requires waivers be held until extensive selected plan is completed. Adding up to a year of the project. The process and delegate the waiver Decision Authority to the Division Commander. Five, reduce or eliminate the external peer reviews. The court has qualified professionals capable of sound engineering and program delivery. Many external experts do not understand corps processes or mandates. The corps focuses on education, educating consultants on the y by then sound engineering, further delaying implementation. We agree we must modernize our ports and it will cost billions of dollars. As deepened and widen channels come online it will be additional demands on the Harbor Maintenance trust fund. Which the risk based analysis and performancebased budgeting but when you take a longer view towards budgeting and identify programs, savings by reducing bureaucracy. The Alabama State Port Authority thinks this committee for its leadership and recognizing the nexus between Water Resources and economic prosperity. I appreciate this opportunity and happy to address any questions. Thank you. Mr. Humphreys. [inaudible] chairman inhofe, Ranking Member cardin, distinguish note of the committee come is a pleasure to be a today. As a thirdgeneration Real Estate Investor and developer from oklahoma, we have a pleasure of creating places that Foster Community and allow folks to live healthy and rewarding lives. Our family has had a long history on lake eufaula we been there for over 45 years now. Ten years ago would get a jury of grade a new count on the shores of lake eufaula in southeast oklahoma. Recall a place carlton landing of the site which is of the 190e cove were i learned to water ski as a boy. The land disconnected to connected to ten miles of shoreline that is either owned or controlled by the corps of engineers. It is our desire carlton landing would be seen a as a model for e development. The kind that concerns a National Assets and provide a boost to real economies. And greets great places for people to live, work, creatively. Before i share us relative few words about the corps staff. We were close with the corps staff since 200 2007 and we buia good report. To their credit without them to be accessible, responsive, capable and committed. I have Great Respect for their authority and the critical nature of their mission. Heres our story. In 2008 we put together a master plan for carlton landing which included 3000 homes, townsend, shops, restaurants, schools, churches, parks and trails. The vision was to create a complete Lakefront Community and since the corps control access to the lake, from the beginning we understood that our ability to implement that patient would absolutely dependent on our ability to work with the corps. We requested a minor zoning change would allow us to walking trails to access the lake, just a fourfoot wide travel tips trail. It was suggested we partner with the Conversation Group so we partner with the nature conservancy. And then it was suggested that we might have a smoother truck to get approval if we were a public entity. So we went to the process of taking our Masterplanned Community and incorporating it into a public municipality. Over a threeyear time frame through all the steps the corps response of reasonable class was professional, courteous, but is always the answer no. Title 36 empowers the district command to use discretion in making minor changes to Shoreline Management plan. We discovered due to the fact that the eufaula had not been updated since 1977, the previous district commander at the Tulsa District Office said that promises to federal antimissile agencies that absolutely no changes would be made until a new eis was completed. But eis takes funding and congress had deferred that funding for several sessions. We were also informed private money could not be accepted. So the lake was in a zoning gridlock and the local corps staff stands were tied. By the summer of 2010 it appeared our vision was dead in the water. In march 2011 sender and off met directly with the tulsa district commander and within days we saw a newtown. Forward motion was realized and the corps staff was now on a new mission to update the eufaula eis. By april 13, the eis was completed and new Shoreline Management plan was cratered and the rezoning action that we needed was complete. By 2015 account of carlton landing had completed a longterm lease of 420 acres of federal lands hi and today were working on dozens of projects still with the corps office trying to bring that vision to fruition. Ultimately, it took us eight years to obtain corps permission to install a Community Boat dock with the gangway attached your own land. Eight years. Somehow despite the regulatory roadblock we were able to create a lake and even though we didnt have lake access. So while it is true we had success with the corps, the journey to gator has been anything but easy to unfortunately our success can only after direct topdown political pressure from the highest levels in washington. Without a forceful in a political involvement to unfreeze a process and create a door of opportunity, i believe our efforts would continue to bear no fruit. In our case the staff was well intended by their hands were tied by past commitments and regulatory gridlock. Its unclear how many projects are affected by the same structural barriers that a been established over time. But issues such as a petrified eis or frozen Shoreline Management plan are a deal killer for a private delivery. They should not be the case because it limits success only to those with political connections, deep pockets and the ability to wait through unmolested timelines. Every private sector develop a project carlton landing included is absolutely dependent upon obtaining assurances of entitlements within a reasonable timeframe. In preparation for todays hearing i have received good feedback from several developers from across the country. Some have had a positive expense with the corps but several have had a very troubling experience. Some have experiences of physical and to walk away from the deal resulting in significant financial loss. I think thats more the norm than the exception. I appreciate the no nonsense approach to a call pushing his mission probably his can of leader of the court needs to turn the shipper and create a culture of action that brings about the desired outcomes. I also appreciate the legislative work of the Water Resources department act that it gives clear direction and it aims at the right targets. In closing, theres a strong market for careful, smart, Sustainable Development on our nations makes, ribs and waterways. The corps is in position to either encourage or to hinder Economic Growth at the local level. If we are serious about attracting private investment in and around our Natural Resources in a way that protects our natural assets while also maximizing the value can i believe it is necessary to set the table for developers and create a Better Process to clearly define the corps regulatory landscape in a way that works for the private sector. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Humphreys. Secretary rahn. Good afternoon, mr. Chairman, Ranking Member cardin, members of the committee. Thank you for inviting me to discuss the roles of the public and private sectors for our ports. Ports are the key links in u. S. Access to Global Transportation networks and federal navigation channels provide that access to these facilities. I think the committee for continued to support Maritime Infrastructure and commerce especially dredging projects to keep our shipping channels, our maritime highways, safe and open for business. This ithis is a high priority fe hogan administration. The Helen Bentley port of baltimore is an economic engine, not just a maryland in the region but for our nation as senator cardin mentioned during his opening remarks that generates baxley 13,650 jobs and about 128,000 total jobs link to port activity. It is noteworthy that the average income of the port direct jobs is 16 higher than the average maryland salary. Our Publicprivate Partnership agreement with Ports America Chesapeake and the availability of a 50foot deep container birth has positioned the port of baltimore to attract cargo growth associate with last years panama canal expansion. Our tonnage increased 9. 3 in the first eight months since the canal open. The ports of call business has increased significantly over the same period as the ships need deep water, too. The u. S. Army corps of engineers have been very responsive to our port, to our shippers, carriers and congressional concerns about the planning process for general improvements and has initiated reforms that were included in because of these reforms, authorized nine major port projects that provide for channel improvements to accommodate the new generation of larger and much more economically Efficient Ships and capitalize on the opening of the improved panama canal. This inventory of new projects along with several ongoing efforts that predate wrda 14 produced an inventory of 11 projects with a total cost in excess of 4 billion, and a federal cost in excess of 2. 5 billion. Out of the 11 projects to date, only to receive federal funding and a third project was completed by a port that since he could not wait for federal funding. The average appropriation over the last eight years for coastal navigation construction has been around 170 million per year. While this represents an increase over the administrations budget request for those years, it still requires about 15 years to include the existing inventory. In the highly competitive world economy, the low level of federal funding to construct navigation channel improvements is Holding America back, and is simply unacceptable. It is not only navigation projects are at issue. Like most, most ports it is critical support deliver sufficient longterm dredge material placement capacity to support maintenance of its 50foot deep channel in terms of both depth and width to capitalize on anticipated growth and maintain our existing business. The midchesapeake bay island project that was authorized in wrda 14 will use dredge the true from the ports navigation channels to restore the chains and Barren Island and recreate a critical environmental resource in the middle chesapeake bay. Like all wrda 14 projects this project faces get authorization in calendar year 2021 if it does not receive federal funds for construction by that time. The midday project is critical because it will provide 45 plus years of dredge material placement capacity. Federal funding is essential to enable opening of the midday project by the time it is needed, and to avoid the authorization. I think the chairman and Ranking Member of their support of midday project and wrda 14 and respectfully ask the subcommittee to support report language in the next wrda to ensure continued authorization for the project. Additionally federal funding for corps dredging has been constrained over the last several years and continued constraints will negatively impact the port with larger ships calling today it is imperative that baltimores harbor and channels be maintained at fully authorized depth and widths on a yearround basis to facilitate efficient and safe maritime commerce. Maryland remains committed to working with our federal partners and the private sector to deliver safe, efficient and costeffective maritime commerce infrastructure in maryland that contributes to the 26 of u. S. Gdp and 23 million american jobs attributable to all ports. Thank you again for the opportunity to testify and ill be happy to answer any questions. Thank you, secretary rahn. Mr. Goche. [inaudible] Ranking Member cardin and all of the rest of the members. I appreciate the opportunities to speak here for small ports in the Pacific Northwest where i can cross country. I come little town called band in oregon, a population over 3000. Ive been a commercial fisherman most of my life. Now if is primarily for albacore tuna. My brother and i when we get ready to go fishing, we supply our boat with enough provisions to be at sea for about two weeks at a time, and we spent most of the time between 100200 miles offshore. Because unless a relatively small and relatively slow, when the weather is forecasted, its beyond our means to deal with come with to go into whatever port is closest to us. When the forecast is even worse, we have to sometimes just go downwind and take whatever port is on that trajectory. This is where the term safe harbor comes from, because when the weather is bad indie harbor is better than being at sea. So from a efficient mans perspective every port, whether their large or small is important. We have preferences of though and the main reason that we have preferences is because of bars. I understand some people wh thee may not be for my with the term crossing a bar, but in the Pacific Northwest understanding that term can be a matter of life or death. The bar is a term for what they hope is formed in the entrance to the harbor from the downstream sediments that drops when it comes up against the swells and sides of the ocean tides. During tides the river water speeds up and narrows at the home and creates pressure against the incoming swells. Those swells build and stephen and tip over and become breakers. Thats where the term a breaking part comes from. Now, i didnt understand and still i started coming back here and talking with people here that breaking bars are pretty much unique condition but is it to the rest of the coast, and in the Pacific Northwest every bar is a breaking bar at one time or another. I couldnt really understand until i figured that out, that why all of these small ports budgets were zeroed out year after year, i did after budget, administration after administration, and now i know. So i want to help you understand how important bar dredging is in the Pacific Northwest. The are a couple of ways to minimize the threat of a breaking bar. One is to build jetties that steer the current of the river a few degrees off the dominance well, and thats been done many, many decades ago all over the Pacific Northwest, but because of lack of funding, most of those jetties are in disrepair and are becoming more and more dangerous and less and less effective. Another way to minimize the deadliness of breaking bars is to dredge that home that i refer to pump. Every year set to come against them comes up against the swell where the river broadens out, drops that sediment that is caused by the heavy rains that are typical and characterize the Pacific Northwest coast. Theres one thing that both these methods have in common, and that is funding. In the portland district of the army corps of engineers does a great job of dredging our navigation channels and taking care of things, given their resources. But when insufficient funding is provided, as is often the case for small ports, the bar shall the brakes and lives are lost. The reason lives are lost it because windows breakers are happening, a boat transiting that bar, that breaking bar, ends up against a freak wave or a sneaker wave and is bigger and faster than the rest of the waves, and the boat basically turns into a surfboard, loses control and literally rolls over. And many deaths happen because of this. In oregon that are 15 community is with small ports, and every one of those communities the port is equivalent of an anchor business. Everyone sitting at this table understands that. In the port of bandon we did a study, commissioned a study that found 62 million of economic benefit is generated annually as a result of our access to see thats maintained by the port dredging operation and maintenance of our nations navigation infrastructure is a federal responsibility. However, anybody purports a small, large as well as our Water Infrastructure to degenerate, impacting safety reducing americas best i been encouraged by the recent efforts in congress to ensure that all the monies paid into the Harbor Maintenance trust fund every year is used to fund the corps of engineers. However we from small ports are concerned that this will not happen quickly enough. Many of our Nation Sports mad long since silted in by the time that money is made available. Again i appreciate this opportunity to talk with you. And i know it might be hard to understand, but everything, you have is wrapped up in your boat and your boat future family come you go fishing. Even when everything is optimal, some of us dont make it home. Im just here to ask you to give the best chance you can that we can make it in an home to our families. Thank you, commissioner goche. That was very informational. What w were going to do is have five minute sessions here, asking questions, and then if theres a desire for a second round, we can do that. Let me start off, general semonite. Youve been before this committee several times. Weve been listening to the president and weve been listening to him during his, not just the administration now but when he was campaigning, talking about a very ambitious infrastructure program. And id like to ask you, have you had conversations either with the president or with members of the administration will concerning any of the details of what the plans are from his perspective . Yes, sir. I think first of all the most important thing of those discussions has been a theme that all of you have already said, and that is that Many Americans take up infrastructure as roads, and airfields, bridges. We need to continue to expand that dialogue to talk about coastal ports and inland waterways. We have had several questions from the administration to my staff asking specifically what are some things that are some significant challenges that you are faced with on budgetary issues, and where could there be some of those projects that would be well served by additional infrastructure funding. I think the other thing though is the administration is very interested in potential for private Public Partnerships. Weve been asked a lot of questions about what would be some of the studies or cases of how you could see were a Publicprivate Partnership could take some o of the burden off of the taxpayers. I think the third area weve asked question, are there some things when it comes to processes or procedures where we can unencumbered you and allow you to continue to do your job and perhaps in a manner that might be a little bit more efficient and effective. So working through the assistant secretary of the army or civil works, we provide answers to some of those questions. We dont know any outputs right now. We have mean that in any provide more and we dont know exactly where thats going to end up. I think its important that the public knows that these conversations are taking place. Ive had a few conversations also. I know that this committee is going to be a very busy committee. You might remember in one of your earlier appearances in reference to the tulsa district, we had that rather unpleasant experience with a senior employee statement from the corps of engineers that made the statement quote, if it were up to me it would be no Late Development, unquote. I want you to get in the record right now your response to that statement. I think i will say the same thing i said last month. The corps of engineers certainly sees a very active role for private Public Partnerships, and with respect to our recreation facilities and some of those numbers that i gave you, we will continue to endorse those if there was a member of my staff who felt that that is not appropriate, then thats on me and i will fix that. I do think its important to clarify though that there are some very specific examples where the appropriate procedures by the private vendor are not followed. As a result, based on her procedures, we had request that the right information, for instance, design, permitting, that kind of stuff. There could be some with a specific cases that come up on that statement doesnt fit to the circumstances, however. And speaking of that, mr. Humphreys, in your testimony he talked about the difficult in navigating the various permitting processes with the corps of engineers. Are there any examples other than what you use in your Opening Statement that you like to share with us . Share. Right now were going through a process on private land that extends into the lake. And so its not part of the corps property but it is affected by these that. So the corps has a right of Letter Private property. Where trying to put a Waterfront Park into this area, its a doing some Erosion Control and a the swing beach and any performance lawn, this is the fault line of carlton landing, a place weve been wanting to see built up from the beginning. We ran into an issue where there is 602 line is elevation where you can develop down to that land and not have to worry about flood risk. Below that we didnt realize that theres also a 585 languages of languages in the top of the Conservation Program weve been working on this project for several months and had to go to the local office to get to the tulsa office into the Regulatory Office he fully understood that just a couple feet that we wanted to do some impact and stabilization of the russian control of the banks below 585 is going to bump us into a general permit adding four to six months onto the process. So that was something where had we known the lay of the land from a regulations standpoint at the beginning of the process, it couldve been avoided. I think thats good. Theres not enough time to get the examples out there, but a bureaucratic problem editing everyone up your nose at an angle at the table counter knows that. So anything for the record that we can get from any of the witnesses would be very helpful for us to have, well time is somewhat limited during the corps of these questions. Senator cardin. I want to thank all of our witnesses. I found your testimony to be very helpful. General semonite, i certainly support in the appropriate manner leveraging the best that we can between Publicprivate Partnerships, but i also acknowledge that the return we get from the public investment. Its the Multiplier Effect is as high as i understand 22 to one of economic benefits and 71 in revenues that are generated with u. S. Treasury. Its a good investment seven to one. I want to get to the point that secretary rahn made, and that is that because of the backlog of projects and limited amount of monies that are appropriated, there is delays. Delays could very well cause projects that a previous event authorized not to be funny within the time restrictions and could jeopardize those projects being done at all. I take it what were facing in barrel is not an typical as to what is happening around the rest of the country . Thats right. I think though it is more important to make sure to understand the National Ramifications of some of these projects that dont get done. Ill talk about this particular one, midway island. It it was a Division Command in new york who championed midday as went through the process back in 0 07 and only. Theres great potential. The challenge is that if we dont find a place to put dredge material, a strategic longterm plan, these harbors a portal continue more and more challenges. Baltimore is going to run out of land to put dredge material somewhere around 2027 based on current conditions. I could be of awfully or to an equation is a dont find it on the shores of the land and thats hard because condominiums and every thing else are taking the shores, if we dont do it inside the water when the sediment is okay to be able to dump inside the water, or if we dont build an island like midday we do any other option. All the benefits this committee is talked about on the economic peace, weve got to find some solution be able to solve these issues. I thank you for that and that is why congress authorized midday in 2014 because we recognize the lead time was necessary. We still had capacity at popular item, still it other capacity for dredge material but we knew if we didnt start that ball rolling we would run out of capacity. Mr. Chairman, i remember coming to congress and many years ago with battle on where youre going to be able to put dredge material. It was politically impossible to find a location in the baltimore region to put dredge material. And then my predecessor, senator sarbanes, came up with Popular Island and it became a win win win situation. If that an environmentally restoration project returning wetlands and species to the chesapeake and the location for certificate amount of dredge material. Thats running near its capacitively sought some time left and thats why midbay. Secretary rahn, can you just tell me just what you are in regards to midbay and how important it is that stay on track from the point of view of the authorized for the army corps and funded . Absolutely, senator. So what we are as far as midbay, and as you mentioned how important it is, the plan right now is at midbay would be coming on as Popular Island which is incredibly popular with the public as this great facility that people go out to the sea wildlife and enjoy the area. As it is being filled to its capacity and we need another place to go and that is, and thats been designated as midbay. The issues right now is that there been at dmm tp ordered by the corps to study placement of dredge materials. That is been going on now i believe since 2011. It should be completed hopefully sometime this summer, and at that point once we have an approved plan that has to go to headquarters for approval from the corps of engineers headquarters and then has to be funded. So all of those things have to occur. Right now were fairly confident about approval of the plan so the critical pieces are approval out of the Corps Headquarters and then finding, funding, funding we need to start with that and we need to continue with that to make sure that the country continues to benefit from the productivity of the baltimore port. And if its not come if it doesnt stand schedule and its not ready, we run out of capacity. Does that mean we jeopardize the ability to have the width and depth in our channels that are necessary for the commercial activities . It absolutely does. Right now we are seeing the benefits over the last eight or nine months, given the large ships that are making their way into the port. We can see that continually that we expected to grow. That cannot occur if the channel itself is still in both from depth and with and, of course, if you have a major storm that comes up the bay we will lose the capacity of the channel much sooner. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Chair. I think senator no, i was you. Thank you. Okay, thank you. I appreciate it. They can mr. Chair. Thank you, gentlemen, for appearing here today and general semonite, thank you very much. It usually good to see you again. And given the topic of todays hearing, of course i like to continue the conversation that weve been having regarding the cedar rapids flood Risk Management project. What id like to do is just share with everyone here today, those on the committee and, of course, those of you on the panel and then the audience, that the september 2016 floods which impacted cedar rapids where the cedar river crested at a level second only to the 2008, 500 flood event, caused cedar rapids to lose 26 million in sales and production due to being a center shut down for an entire week when they were evacuated due to the floods. And as ive mentioned to you before, the city of cedar rapids is our second largest city, and its success is critical to the entire economic wellbeing of the state of iowa. There are products that cedar rapids produces and manufacturers that have domestic and local impact, just to share with everyone, for example, breakfast cereal manufacturers in cedar rapids produce 13 of total u. S. Output. Industry in cedar rapids also processes as much as 19 of the global crop in value added manufacturing per year. Wet corn milling in cedar rapids accounts for 8 of u. S. Domestic ethanol production, and the quantity of corn processed each year in cedar rapids exceeds the size of the domestic corn crop of canada, the republic of south africa or the russian federation. Thats a lot of corn, folks. Is are all products and goods that at some point or another rely on the corps infrastructure to move. And with that being said, i did notice a couple of provisions that are mentioned here earlier, an omnibus Explanatory Statement from the corps that if they could apply to a Community Like cedar rapids. There seems to be new provisions in the corps work plan set provides congress with more descriptions of the Rating Systems used to evaluate projects and explain why certain projects were considered as being less competitive. I also saw the provision that set in quotes Administration Budget metrics shall not be a reason to disqualify us that our project funding funded. We think thats a great step forward. Can i take this as a sign that the corps and administration are looking to improve its system that calculates the economic benefits of Flood Control projects . And when you commit to continue to work to make sure that were able to move the cedar rapids flood mitigation project forward in fiscal year 2018 . Senator, thanks for the question. We have talked several times in we are and all other people cedar rapids that very heroic back in a flood fighting picked out a study position that we should put americans in to have to be able to fight for their lives. On the other hand, this is a project which unfortunately doesnt rise high when it comes to the current method for racking and stacking projects with respect to the benefit cost ratio. So we are committed to do everything we can to continue to champion that project and the court will do that. I dont know exactly how it is going to fallout and the rest of that process. Well, we do it to continue pushing because as i went through all of these different examples of what happened to cedar rapids on a daily basis, the impact to the economics of the state is pretty clear. And when youre comparing the cost of the property in iva, it is much lower than the cost of the property on the coastline. Of course you hav great big beautiful, milliondollar homes, but that doesnt mean to a person living in iowa that their home is worth any less to do and its just based on what everybody else believes the value of a home is. We do have two consider that, and just as a reminder. The assistance that cedar rapids needs from the corps is just 3 of the cost of damages that it went through in 2008. So we so we need to continue pushing this issue. I look forward to more conversations with you in the future, and a way forward for the people of cedar rapids. Thank you, general. Thank you, senator. Thank you, senator ernst. Senator merkley. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I wanted to focus for a moment on the Harbor Maintenance trust fund. In 2016 the amount spent was 80 of the incoming receipts. In 2017 that fell to 55 of the receipts. If we have spent, my question for you, general, is if we had spent all of the receipts from 2017, do you have enough effort such a projects for those funds . Senator, there is clearly a very long list of requirements. So we definitely have most of the time or requirements then funds available. And so the question i want to raise is, these receipts that go into the Harbor Maintenance trust fund are from the industry itself, from this should be. Given the state of our jetties, given the state of our dredging, given the state of our locks and many should we spend every dollar that comes in on maintenance of our Water Infrastructure . I think that obviously a lot of different considerations go into the use of the Harbor Maintenance trust fund. I would just continue to say that we Will Champion for use of that where possible. But as far as exactly how that is expanded, is obvious a lot of players. Thank you, general. Its appropriate diplomatically stated, and i appreciate the point that yes, there is plenty of Infrastructure Projects that need to be worked on. And mr. Lyons, i believe that you said in your testimony that underinvestment in seaport channel and harbors and the defunding the corps of a Program Resulting in efficient channels and fully maintain harbors come increasing cost report uses, reducing fuels global competitiveness, exacerbate maintenance of stretching backlog, all of which adversely impact the use tax base and job market. Mr. Lyons, which is about using all of the Harbor Maintenance trust fund to actually sustain, maintain and improve the infrastructure . Yes, senator, i would appear i believe since the general said that ther their play a projectst there are a lot of projects that are marginally maintained or not even maintained to their full authorized depths. We got especially big problems up in the great lakes, are harbor requires maintenance because we are fed by a river in river silt, and some years with much more material to move that others. There are years that we are very marginally able to take care of, and sometimes we had some delays where we have to experience a narrow channel, where we had to go to oneway traffic because of the size of the channel filled up and havent been able to get to that. Dont have sufficient funds to get to it. So yes, i would absolutely support that. Thank you. And commissioner goche, we are looking at the ports on the oregon coast we skip your dredging, in some of these ports that have Rivers Feeding them and still coming down the river, is even skipping a singly or sometimes problematic for the commerce and the safety of that community . Absolutely senator. Case in point on the rogue river, they missed a river of dredging and it was a particularly wet your that year, and now its going to cost way more than two years worth of dredging to get that caught up because silted in so badly that now they cant go in with regular corps dredge. They are going to have to farm out the job with a different kind of dredge that uses a pipe to even get the corps dredge in. This is like an extra eight and thousands of idly for Something Like that nature, just to get back to where you can do the normal project . Correct. And sometimes you have a situation where not only is it votes coming in but also ability of the coast guard to get out to do rescue . Yes, and thats the case once again on the rogue. Because i dont think theyre going to be able to even get the coast guard to come in to help on this bad breaking bar because the coast guard doesnt have enough depth to transit. So you could easily find uses important to the economy and to the safety of oregons coastal communities for spending some of the unspent Harbor Maintenance trust fund . You bet. Thank you so much for coming out from oregon to share your perspective. I really do appreciate the small ports set a thick of the 10 set aside. Thats been so important to oregons coastal economy and something we need to keep doing for all of our small ports around the country. Thank you, senator merkley. Senator shelby. Thank you, mr. Chairman. General semonite, youve had a lot of experience with the court before he got your present position to weave in talking about the panama canal and its impact on shipping, its relevance to deep reports in the gulf and support. Tell us how important the modernization of the panama canal is and what impact it will have or should have all of our ports, especially the gulf sports. Senator, i was a bear the opening of the panama canal i saw the first ship comfort and i was amazed at the amount of volume that came through, and a so if youve Economic Impact of what that is going to do both on the economy, i think thats off the table on how much impact that will have. Would you call it a game changes for shipping . Yes, sir. And now and in the future. And if you dont the ability to receive those and that everything the port will take the big ships come without a doubt, but if you dont have the second and third order effect to be able to take the role on down, and that will limit as i think on our ability to be able to continue to expand internationally. It will hurt our trade overall, will it not . It will certainly have an impact. If a port is say 45 feet, 4646 feet or 45 feet and some of the ships need 50 feet or close to it, and if they cant put a full load in there, its not efficient, is it . Certainly not. That means they a light load. Its like flying an airplane, a freighter airplane and because of the runway or because of the distance and so forth you cant deal with it. Thats correct. Okay. So it is a game changer, is it not . It definitely is. And if a port is not of the right size, that means that particular part of the country they cant receive that boat, that ship, then therefore, industry will go with a confined the best mr. Lyons, the port of mobile as i understand is 45 feet, is that right . Thathat is correct, it is 45 now. Its been authorized to go to 55 feet by law . Yesterday was authorized in the 1986 wrda bill. And it is also, needs to be widened, is that right, where two ships can move and they can move around . Yesterday our current channel is only 400 feet wide. When we had ships that are exceeding 140foot dean, we are restricted to one way traffic pick as i mentioned in my remarks, we have a lot of widebodied tank is coming and that are 150, 160 feet wide. We have now post panamax container ships come in so we are one way traffic david ships are expensive it is costing money that is eventually affecting the cost structure of the ships and have to build, and we have her multiple times every week. Right now, you mention your Container Freight is gone up tremendously, has it not, your business . Yes syndicator are a relatively new container port. We only open our Container Terminal in 2008. That had been a bulk port and handled Forest Products and coal and steel and products like that, but manufacturing in the southeast has changed significantly. Retail distribution is beginning to realize that they cannot be totally reliant upon the west coast and the east coast to efficiently move at all times. So theyre looking for alternate gateways. This is why walmart selected mobile for its 2. 6 million squarefoot International Distribution center, what of six big ones that walmart has in the country. So as alternate gateways, we have the bigger ships coming in and it is important. And a lot more Container Freight. A lot more, we grew 19 last year. I know you dont have i wish had a big mouthpiece to show where mobile is located, geographically bitmap. Where the panama canal is and the proximity as the crow flies from, go to the panama canal and you look right up the gulf. You have a straight shot just about the port of mobile, do you not . Its a straight shot. I had a fourth line from asia so asian trade is important to this country. The general says you know a lot about panama and the ports. Can you share your vision of where the panama can now is, through the port of mobile. As the crow flies. The proximity, just so you know, we are right on schedule to have that done by november 19th, putting 8 million into that and we dont see significant problems getting that done so if Congress Finds that is on their priorities that be postured to be able to be decent. 50, 55 foot channel would be a game changer for the port of mobile. It would. The actual depth, we dont know that, there will be the result of the study. I wont comment on the depth. Senator duckworth. Thank you, mister chairman, i want to thank our witnesses for this important conversation. Our inland waterway system is a critically important component of our nations work. Environmental and native species, the rivers provide Enormous Economic and recreational benefits and the congressman prioritize the protection of these resources and the river system. Would you agree with this . Yes i would. The mccook reservoir is approximately 91 complete, it prevents over 114 million in annual damages to the chicagoland area and carries a benefit to cost ratio of 2. 96 which is a very high score for an army corps project. Will you pledge that the core will work closely with my office and the illinois delegation to complete the project on schedule including fiscal year 17 funding so we can avoid the type of damage we have suffered over the last three disaster declarations . We see great merit in this. This is a life safety issue, this is a flood Risk Management project, clearly the majority of that first half works very well, we will continue to champion the reservoir to get appropriate funding. There may be other agencies, as it approaches the finish line. And leaving constituents at risk when we are so close to finishing stage 2, funding over twee 10 years ago and asking to finish the job. We dont see any significant other challenges, we feel very firm that that is a smart project to finish. Thank you. General, when it comes to combating Invasive Species flooding the great lakes, illinois faces the most daunting challenge stopping to control the asian park without disrupting inland waterway operations harming the economy. It is a real balancing act which we can achieve these objectives, and the brandon road lock along with Public Comments to develop an effective solution. That is why i and many great lakes stakeholders are disappointed and surprised by the decision to delay the release of this critical plan, a reversal carrying not much transparency or explanation, widely reported that this was a result of outside pressure from the white house, explain why the report was delayed with an updated timeline for its release. That report was completed by us and went out for public comment. I do not know the details of the cause of us being put on hold for that report. We were advised to release that report. That is something we are following guidance. Where is the guidance coming from . From my higher headquarters which is assistant secretary out of the debarment of army and i cant elaborate as to where it would be above that. I just dont know. I need to reach out to the assistant secretary of the army. That would be best. It is important to move this forward so we have some sort of plan in place. Earlier this year i joined my colleagues in the house and senate to highlight concerns about economic reevaluation of the sioux locks project, rather than calculating the transportation rate savings based on traditional methods used by the court for other locked project, the court decided to use unique alternative modes of transportation, never before used by the court for which to base its conclusions. The february 21st letter which i asked unanimous consent for it to be entered into the records, to calculate the project economic benefit in a manner consistent with other project evaluations which will you commit to do this and finish the reevaluation in the two your schedule . I do not know exactly the particulars of that one and im not prepared to answer that. Through lock is very important to this nation. We see National Security issues. It is an old lot, we need to get it prepared. I dont know the details you are talking about it have to get back with you. We will follow up on that and i yelled back, mister chairman. Thank you, mister chairman. Really appreciate the testimony, this is very important. I appreciate your testimony as a senator who represent thousands and thousands of fishermen in communities with small ports. Your testimony was particularly compelling. I went to shift the focus a little bit more north where i am from. We have a lot of interest in the arctic right now. A lot of people are waking up to that. The Arctic Council is having a ministerial in fairbanks, alaska starting tomorrow, all Foreign Ministers of the arctic nations will be up there, you may have seen there was a requirement for the secretary of defense and secretary of Homeland Security to designate a strategic arctic port given our increasing interest in the arctic, shipping traffic, Natural Resources, search and rescue, protecting the environment, theres a lot going on up there. I want to talk to you about two ports, we are looking at all kinds of ports but first the port of nome, the court has a 100 year history in alaska and there was a focus on the deepwater draft study and some back and forth, shell left alaska in oil and Gas Exploration between 2 additional provisions, this past and the past bill in december so can you commit us to those were designed to get the core focused again, that you can commit to having nome as part of your work plan Going Forward on the port study, that was ongoing until the pickup of some of those oil and gas issues, thanks thanks for the question, we are actively working in nome right now. The study was put on hold and in coordination with dod and Homeland Security based on 16, the benefit cost ratio is 1 so that is why there was a request. Also provisions that essentially said you have entire areas looks at in the bill, in the law now where Nome Services 54 different communities throughout western alaska in the nome area. That gives you authority to take another hard look. We sent letters to the navy, department, dod navy and Homeland Security to be able to make sure we understand where their potential use might be, we are waiting for that response back, i can tell you what we hear from that and see if there is an additional reason from both of them to expand the port of nome. I would like to get off with you because there are two specific provisions in the bill signed into law that are very focused on the vet that are intended and i think i know we worked with your staff on language to get the core moving again so if there are delays i need to understand why there are delays when the law has been changed to get the court to move out on this issue. We are working on implementation guidance to be able to see the best thing i need to do is come see you and lay this out. Im not exactly aware of the two extra provisions you are talking about now. The information i have got his we are waiting for a response from the two department as to what would be a strategic rationale to have known, not necessarily what you are talking about. It is a different issue. We walk through this. Let me ask about another area, another potential port in the area. What is the effectiveness of using Public Partnerships for the development of port spencer. I dont know on spencer, we are interested in anything with a p3, how do we put together the right package to make it through the system. Section 119 amends the law related to material partial cost share waivers who have federally recognized Indian Tribes eligible for limited waiver for army corps studies and projects. Can you give me a sense of the cores timing of that new provision and how you are looking at it, the district has a lot of interest thedistricthasalotofinterest provision and we welcome your engagement. This is for cost share of the first 450,000 mainly for native american tribes. This is something we will do, we are doing what the implementation guidance is, to say here is how you would qualify for that but those that dont have the money to come into a study we dont think should be disadvantaged. We support that, we get the details together to put it on the street and people know how to apply for that. Thank you, mister chairman. Thank you, senator sullivan. Senator cardin and i would like to make a few more comments in case some other members come who have not yet been here. First of all, one of the reasons i brought this up and wanted to get in the record on this in terms of the Late Development is to make sure everybody understands this is legitimate. I remember the first one was in oklahoma, enjoy the following the core got into that business. That was a long time ago. I want to mention another thing too that has really concerned me for so long, you come down the Mississippi River, you are familiar with it and others arent, you actually have a three river project. If you take the distance from mississippi all the way across arkansas to oklahoma that is 445 miles that would be completely done away with and useless and you cant find the solution to this. Are we waiting for what they referred to as the 3 rivers study . I have to get back to that. There are several projects we are looking to continue to champion but i dont know exactly where we are on that particular one. We dont need to take the time of the whole panel but we are interested in that and that has been a problem. The depth issue for a long time. Set up something and either get the 2 of us together with you and come to a determination. Sound reasonable . Sounds great, sir. And grant humphreys, we talked about Development Like your development, what it means to surrounding communities and the economy, what it means, what benefits that people might not think about because i know there are great benefits, will you share your thoughts on that . I will be happy to. When we look at a project like this in a rural area of oklahoma that has seen the economy shift to the urban areas, you have great Natural Beauty but you dont have a lot of drivers. We provide jobs in the construction industry, Construction Activity alone will typically at 125 to 150 on site in carlton landing, the same number at any given time working offsite selling logistics and support and in terms of Economic Impact over the long term we expect to see 2 billion of private investment in carlton landing is the master plan is built out so we expect carlton landing to be one of the more important Economic Development projects for southeast oklahoma and the growth of the oklahoma tourism industry. Im happy to serve on the state Tourism Commission and we think longterm carlton landing could help bring dollars from outside the oklahoma prostate lines back to the tourism is in this. Since the project is a new community we enhance the quality of life, the states first rural Charter School, 80 of the kids attending our Charter School come from outside of carlton, some driving as far as 30 minutes away, some come from Strong Families and some come from situations where parents are incarcerated in the system and we are bringing them in and giving them a new opportunity to look and see life with new options so we are excited about that. But all this together we see Development Activity and Community Building as something that is tangible and intangible benefits monetary and, you know, a lot of benefits to folks quality of life. Would use it is a similar situation in terms of benefit is true up there with your neighbor with development. Has done some really great things. You see the growth of the Property Values from the time of the beginning of the Publicprivate Partnership to what they realize currently. You have seen great growth, where private investment is coming in and like i said in my comments earlier we need to set the table. There is some policy procedures that need to take place that help developers understand the regulatory landscape. I had opportunity to speak with general simoni before and we will give recommendations on things they can do with the existing regulations and educating and making sure people understand the process. A Successful Operation and you spread a lot of goodwill. I notice just long enough to keep us open until senator marky got here and recognize him. I arrive first to praise caesar and i thank you for the florida bill, 2014, in that bill was 216 million over Boston Harbor deepening budget and we can accommodate the superships coming through the panama can now and thank you for a lot of work you have done because we added another system to deal with additional, complicating, but necessary features that are built in so we thank you for both of that. Perfect example of the way the committee operated under your leadership on all of those issues. There is no construction yet because there is no actual money yet up there. General, can i get your commitment that you would work with us to telescope the timeframe that it will take in order to get the funding for that critically essential project for boston . Without it we are going to be a force is not able to fully benefit from the exchange. Thanks for the question. I was a Division Commander in new york when we started that project, there is a lot of value in that project. Clearly the 17 budget is on the street but the work plan is not, the budget will come out in a couple weeks so it is premature to talk about where that is. Congress has given us new starts that we can allocate, as soon as we see where that plays out we can advise you on Boston Harbor but it is one of those projects we see merit in, the question is where does it fall on the actual priority list of what was allocated money. You know it well though. I know that project well. It will be very helpful, thank you for that. Secretary pete rahn, do we need more direct federal spending to assure americas ports can remain competitive in this new era . The answer is obviously yes. We have to. We have neglected infrastructure across the board for decades and the answer is yes, we have to invest more and i am confused as to why we havent since infrastructure has always been one of those things that both parties could agree to and that was always critical to our National Wellbeing so the answer is yes, we need additional federal funds even just in maryland. We have substantial needs that go well beyond the midday project. As a country that is so integrated into the Global Economy we need all of these assets that allow us to link in and in maryland we are very much linked into that Global Economy. We have need for the next phase of construction at our Popular Islands project, needs that are c d canal so there is so much there is that we as a state do not have the capacity to address and frankly require federal investment to make that happen. I think everyone for all of their great work in this area and it is the obligation of members of the senate to assist the communities we represent who are adversely affected by sea level rise, climate change, adapt to the new reality and that is why i support and environmentally responsible shoreline protection project where stand is pumped onto beaches to protect against storm surge and coastal erosion. In winthrop, helping us to solve those problems after the hurricane snowstorm. In the town of sandwich in massachusetts, attempted to use sand from the federal Cape Cod Canal that otherwise would be dumped into the ocean to protect their town, federal requirements became a major obstacle of the army corps, required the homeowners to provide easements, seating away their Coastal Property line forever even though the sand from this beneficial use project would only remain on the beach for five years and ultimately the town was unable to use federal funding for this essential shoreline protection project so can we ask the general, do you believe it is reasonable for the army corps to require Property Owners to provide easements in perpetuity for beneficial use projects if the sand is only going to last a few years . Wouldnt it be more appropriate for the easement to last as long as the sand remains on the beach just as a practical way of dealing with the issue . Two things. I dont know the details of sandwich. Im aware of the sand easement issue in 7 different states. Not sure i have been asked a question of how long should an easement last, should be correlated back to the stand was we can have that dialogue was what we are doing is following the policy we have been consistent on that if in fact federal dollars are going to put sand on a beach then normally those landowners have to be able to provide access for local people to get to the beach. I would like to work with the army corps on striking a balance especially if the sand is just going to be washed away. We are always looking at options. Thank you, mister chairman. Thank you, mister chairman and thank the Ranking Member for holding this hearing and this is an important thing as we go forward trying to figure out our infrastructure problems. I was just visiting with senator inhalf. I heard the comment about the three rivers situation we have in arkansas. I just want to reemphasize how important the project is. It is one of those things that is not if but when as to how it will fail. Probably up to a year as far as shutting down the Arkansas River which would be a real problem for arkansas and oklahoma and the whole nation in the sense of being able to move goods and services. A quick update. I wasnt fast enough when he asked me but we completed on the 3 rivers setting, we did complete the alternative milestone meeting in december, attended a plan. It was completed in 17, right now we release the draft report for Public Agency technical review, that was last april and now we are looking at milestone decision scheduled for july 2017, working our way through this, the review board is scheduled in march 2018 and another report in june 2018, that is the current milestone and it is pretty aggressive but we think there is great merit and we want to stay on timeline and this has continued to get funding, premature to talk about 18 but we continue to see a lot of value on that. We appreciate that and appreciate you pushing forward. It is a matter of if and not when, oklahoma and arkansas, we are experiencing these 500 year floods every two years and they are playing havoc. The waterways have held up fairly well, this last one caused a lot of damage. We are in the process of working through that. Apart from that there is a lot of concern, taxpayers, congress, about the inefficiency in the delivery of infrastructure investments, projects that should reasonably be completed in a few years typically last decades delaying public benefits, exponentially increasing cost. How is that all can Publicprivate Partnerships help accelerate the delivery and create better value as far as the infrastructure. Any ideas in the sense that Publicprivate Partnerships would help with that situation . It definitely would and a quick data point. What it really does is all the funding is up front as opposed to dragging it over the time we would be able to afford it through the federal government we are able to see that upfront investment. These are simple numbers, the federal study we have been able to push through, if you do it the regular way it would take 16 years, the way we are doing up there is 61 2. Since you say that it could be 20. I want to give you a data point. Give me the 60 years. 16 versus 61 2, the regular way would have been 850 million, the p3 way is 450 million and the other big thing, the regular way would have been 28 contracts, so just remember those numbers. Half of what the normal process is. We have got to get the whole team to be synchronized as to how we enable p3. A lot of people do bighand waves to say p3 has got married but we have to make sure that through all the different maze of the approval process that p3 is able to see the light of day and we are having challenges on how to synchronize that better. That would be great news and certainly on this subcommittee we will be working hard in that regard, we will do the same on the water subcommittee here and looking forward to seeing how we can make that example happen all over the country versus what we are experiencing right now. Thank you, mister chairman. Senator cardin. Let me thank our witnesses. This hearing points out the importance for us to take a look earlier in the process on the next word of the bill, senator marky is correct, 2014 we passed what Resources Development bill, the first was 7 years earlier before we passed the last one, we made a commitment to pass these bills every two years and we were able to do that in 2016, barely, when the last bills passed in congress. Not inadvertently jeopardized because of the budgetary scheduling that is being followed on these projects. I would just urge us to take an earlier luck are just the way we are going to authorize the next order bill so we can make sure we get it done next year. I expect he will be the next year. Its not going to be this year. If we could pay a little earlier attention. Secretary ryan, you are correct to point out that although maryland is concentrated for a midday come in many other projects around the nation, im glad that you mention the cml and cmd and we also have other projects, the Copper Island is not finished. We still have resources they are. General con i could mention our efforts to make sure you protect your coastline and hurricane protection. These are all programs that will require our attention as we look for ways to make sure we can modernize our infrastructure and lead to current challenges. We know that under the best of circumstances and the resources are going to be very come it very difficult on the public side. Its great to look for ways they can leverage and create more opportunities though i think this hearing has been very helpful. I want to thank all the witnesses for your testimony. I do, too. I thank you, senator cardin for your contribution here and your partnership. Weve been together doing this for a long time. I think all the witnesses for coming, particularly humphreys because i followed this development tonight used this as kind of a model of what can happen elsewhere. I commented years ago that are rarely known fact we have more massive freshwater shoreline in our native oklahoma than any of the 50 state and we have a lot that goes with that. He could make a great contribution there. I think other witnesses very match and we are adjourned. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] this morning from the Senate Armed Services committee holds a hearing and cyberstrategy and how the u. S. Should defend against and respond to statesponsored computer hacking. Witnesses include former director of National Intelligence, James Clapper and former cia and nsa director michael hayden. Live coverage at 9 30 a. M. Eastern on cspan 3, cspan. Org and the cspan radio app. Coming up today, the Senate Intelligence committee holds a hearing on worldwide press. Cia director mike pompeo, nsa director Michael Rogers and National Intelligence or come it didnt coast. Former fbi director comey is scheduled to appear, but director mccabe will testify. Live coverage comes at 10 00 a. M. Eastern on the span. Later today, a look at cooperation between the u. S. And saudi arabia on counterterrorism. Saudi arabias u. N. Ambassador in interior minister during the former u. S. Ambassador to saudi arabia on a piano light at 1 15 a. M. Eastern on the span. Senators came to the phone lines to talk about the firing of fbi director james comey pit remarks are in Senate Democratic leader schumer and transcendent. The smyrna Democratic Caucus met to discuss the circumstances of mr. Comeys dismissal by the white house. There are many questions to be answered and many actions to be taken. We would be pursuing several things in the coming days and weeks that we decided in our caucus and we will have more toe say about those next steps in the days ahead. But there are three things are caucus agreed must happen right away. Mr. R first, mr. Rosen time should not be going to appoint a special prosecutor. That responsibility should go to