Transcripts For CSPAN3 Hearing Focuses On Water Resources And The Economy 20170511

The meeting will come to order. Since we to have members here that want to be recognized and introduced to everyone, and i happen to be one of those, i think we might go ahead before Opening Statements and do that before we lose someone. If we already know a Lieutenant General todd semonite, youre a regular here pim recognize at this time senator carden to recognize pete ran, introduce pete mr. Chairman, thank you very much. A pleasure to have the secretary here before our committee. Thats secretary of the of transportation in maryland but as i was telling the chairman, this is the third state hes been secretary of transportation. Hes directed the Missouri Department of transportation and the new mexico state highway department. He just cant hold onto a job. Were proud of the work he does in maryland. We have a pretty challenging organization in maryland where the secretary of transportations responsible for all modes of transportation and coordinating all modes of transportation. Mr. Rans done an outstanding job in directing that department. Its a very large budget. But he also serves as president of the American Association of state highway and transportation officials from 2007 to 2008, other positions in the National Leadership and were proud to have him before our committee. Thank you. Very good. Recognize senator Kennedy Merkley for your introduction. Thank you, mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing to invest in Water Infrastructure. Im pleased to introduce rick oshea from my home state of oregon to testify. Not only a port commissioner hes been a fisherman and small businessman for almost 50 years and is involved in many aspects of the fishing community. He owns and operates a fishing vessel peso 2 and owns a sacred sea tuna brand. He is chairman of the albacore position, president of aquatic rer sources, inc. , for Live Seafood Holding and shipping. He is chairman of fish cred, a statewide fishermans organization. Very few people know as intimately as rick the importance of maintenance for our small ports, our navigation channels, and our jetties. In fact, rick should probably be home preparing his boat for annual maintenance, but hes here on behalf of the fishermen whose lives and livelihoods depend on this funding to make sure they can get to safe harbor. He has crossed about every bar between San Francisco and canada, and hes here to advocate for the army corps budge tote make sure the small ports stay the economic driver of our coastal communities. Thanks for being here, commissioner. Appreciate it. Thank you. Welcome, commissioner oshea. Senator shelby, would you like to introduce your member . Thank you. Chairman inhofe, Ranking Member. Its great opportunity for me today to introduce jimmy line, who is the director and the ceo of the Alabama State Port Authority. Im glad he could join us today. Ive known jimmy and his family for many years and the work theyve done at the port of mobile, not only vital to our state but to the gulf coast region. He is the director of the Alabama State Port Authority. The port of mobile is currently the tenth largest seaport in import and export of Domestic Trade by the total volume. The ports largest commodities are coal, crude oil, steel, and petre petrole petroleum. Between 50 to 60 million tons of cargo moves through the port annually and that number continues to grow. Jimmy has continuously worked to meet the growing demands of a postpanama canal market. In 2014, the Port Authority submitted a request to the corps of engineers to consider increasing the depth and width of the mobile Harbor Channel to its authorized dimensions. The corps subsequent ly began a grr which examines potential ost costs and benefits associated with the deepening and the widening of the port. This study is expected to conclude in 2019. Mr. Chairman, the port of mobile provides access to nearly 158,000 miles of inland waterways serving the great lakes, ohio valley, upper mississippi, and Tennessee Valley ports. Simply put, the port serves as an economic driver for much more than just mobile. The new administration has made Economic Growth a top priority to ensure that our stris and businesses, big and small, can continue to compete in the increasingly complicated global marketplace. To facilitate this growth its important that Congress Make infrastructure legislation a priority. The corps plays as we all know an important part and role in modernizing our nations waterways. Core projects provide more than 100 billion annually in net economic benefits. I believe this demonstrates the job tree Carmelo Anthony yags and Economic Growth associated with such investments. Im thankful for the committee today and of your leadership, working to understand the challenges that were facing. Ill look forward to hearing the testimony of all the witnesses. Thank you. I wont say weve saved the best for last, that would sound selfserving, but we have mr. Grant humphries, the founder of carlton landing in oklahoma. Happy to have grant here. Ive known his daddy, curt, for longer than hes been alive, so its a pleasure having you here in the capacity of what youre successfully doing in oklahoma. He is a real estate developer, investor, home builder. About ten years ago grant began the process of founding and developing carlton landing at lake in oklahoma. Some of you may not be aware of the fact that oklahoma has more miles of fresh water shoreline than any of the 50 states. Did you know that, shelby . [ inaudible ] well, there we go. In carlton landing grant has embarked on an ambitious project which is already showing Great Successes, which he will be sharing with us. In addition, he is also the founder and principal of Traditional Home craft homes, a Home Building Company Providing custom and special production of homes and developing a project on the lake, hes become involved with a community of Late Developers in the region and can speak to his and others experiences with getting a project started. I welcome you here today, grant. Todays first transportation infrastructure subcommittee hearing is on a subject that is very important to our whole nation including my state of oklahoma. Our nations Water Resources provide you are a economy with a platform for the movement of goods to facilitate trade with the world and bring jobs and many other benefits to the communities that surround them. The u. S. Corps of engineers project generate over 109 billion annually in economic benefits and generate over 34 billion in revenue to the United States treasury. Unfortunately, like most of our infrastructure, our Water Resources are aging and in great need of repair and upgrades. Recognizing this need, the last two congresses have worked to authorize new projects and create reforms to provide more funding, federal funding, and also private investing, something we could dont not too long ago. Todays hearing will explain the benefits of our Water Resources provide to local and National Economies and examine the continued needs that must be met so that the u. S. Can remain globery competitive and provide jobs and other local benefits at home. In oklahoma, we know these benefits first handle. With ports along the Mcclellan Kerr arkansas 1 2 nation system connecting oklahoma with the mississippi rif and with the rest of the world, and over 220 army corps of engineers in our state, our citizens know the impact of our many water resource projects through cheaper goods, cheaper electricity, jobs, flood protection, and many recreational opportunities. The Mcclellan Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System is 445 miles long and spans arkansas and the eastern part of oklahoma. Between the point of muskogee and the tulsa port, oklahoma ports are are home to over 70 companies and industries shipping 5. Million tons of car fwoe with values of 2 56 dollars employing more than 6,500 oklahomans and creating an Overall Economic impact 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 locally and benefiting consumers who can stretch their dollars further. In addition to improving products and manufactured goods, other projects help our communities by providing for flood Risk Management, water storage, hydro power, and recreation. Every thoushzed use of a corps project allows the surrounding communities to realize a greater potential for Economic Development and improouchs the quality of life for those who fend on the infrastructure either directly or indirectly. The challenge before us today is to understand the full need for repairing and maintaining our current infrastructure and the need for new projects to ensure that the United States remains globally competitive and our communities continue to reap the benefits of the army corps infrastructure. Infrastructure. With the topic of infrastructure in the news during the election cycle and within the new administration, the time is now to work towards solutions to meeting these needs. So i thank our witnesses for being here today. I want to make one comment about the attendance here. This is taking place at the same time that were having the Senate Armed Services committee which i have been the Ranking Member, so it is difficult to be two places at once. They will be going back and forth. Senator cardin. First, mr. Chairman, let me say what a pleasure it is to be sitting next to you in this committee as we convene our first public hearing of the subcommittee. Senator inhofe and i came to the United States congress on the same day in the house of representatives, and weve been friends ever since. It is a real pleasure to serve with him on this subcommittee because ive going to let you in on a secret, the senator inhofe is one of the most progressive people i know in this country on infrastructure development. I always told him i would be glad to come to a state to campaign for him, but he told me he would prefer me to stay in maryland. But the two of us share a passion for the importance of Water Infrastructure, roads, bridges, Transportation Systems for the entire modernization of our infrastructure because both of us understand it means jobs. It means u. S. Competitiveness. It means america having the ability to compete globally. Thats what it means. We recognize the importance of the governmental part, the private sector part and putting this all together. I particularly want to acknowledge as my pleasure to serve as Ranking Member with the senator on the subcommittee. I think it is important that our first hearing deals with the role of Public Private sector in Water Resources because we need both. You heard senator inhofe brag a little bit about his state on water projects. Well, i could spend the next two hours talking about the state of maryland, and im not going to do that but i am going to compliment again secretary ron for the leadership we have in our maryland port. I had a briefing on the maryland port last week. We are doing extremely well. January 2017 the port of baltimore hit another record month. We are the closest to the midwest than any other east coast port, which gives maryland an advantage. We rank ninth overall in value of cargo and baltimore is wellknown for the cars that come in and out of that port, as the largest in the region, and we are significantly increasing our capacity on container. We handle a great deal. One of the facts i just have to put this in the record and brag, the journal of commerce rank port of baltimore as number one in the nation with container berth for three years in a row. Were pretty efficient and were proud of our efficiency in the port of baltimore. Under our state leadership we moved quickly, recognizing that the expansion of the panama canal would allow larger vessels to be able to be handled. We had to add the facilities in baltimore to be able to deal with that, and baltimore is only one of four eastern ports with a 50foot channel and a 50foot container berth allowing to accommodate some of the largest container ships in the world. On july 19th, 2016, the Cargo Carrier from taiwan was the first supersize container ship to reach baltimore through the panama canal. So were ready. Were ready. It is critically important to our economy. I got some members and this is going to be typical of just about every port in our country, but the business from the port generates 13,000 plus jobs, direct jobs with more than 127 jobs in maryland linked to the port activity. This is very important to our economy. 3 billion in wages and salaries, contributing more than 310 million into state and local tax revenues. So this is important business for a senator from maryland, it is important business for a 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 government plays. It is very important, the direct help of the Water Resources, and were going to talk today generally talk a little bit about the next important leg in maryland, which is midday on the dredging materials, and reclaiming of land. My predecessor senator was directly responsible for Popular Island which was a Great Success and 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 has already been studied and i think were on track but we will talk about it. We also need the roads, the bridges, we also need the rail and we also need the private sector. This hearing is an attempt to try to understand we need all of the above, and i hope that as a result of this hearing and further hearings that we have that we 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 weve worked so well together for so many years and that we work on things that actually become productive. I can remember confession is good for the soul, and if you will pardon me for bragging a little bit. When we had been having our meeting, it was the chairman on the republican side, it happened every tuesday. We had every tuesday at 12 15. When it comes my turn i always say now from the committee that actually does things, because we did. I would say to my friend, senator cardin, that we had the fast pass, we did the water act, we had the chemical act. Those are three of the four biggest projects or bills that were actually passed. So were used to accomplishing things. Now, what were going to do because we have five witnesses who have many such at senator capto and i have other committees at the same time, were going to try to get you to adhere to if you would the fiveminute maximum on your comments, and of course your entire statement will be made a part of the record. Well start with general semonite. Chairman, Ranking Member, im Lieutenant General todd semonite, and the 54th chief of engineers. Im pleased to be here to discuss the role of United States army corps of engineers and the water resource investments across the nation. The corps played a significant role in development of the nation Water Resources, and currently 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, 241 locks, 14,000 miles of levies and hydro power plants at 75 locations. This projects help provide Risk Reduction from flooding in our River Valleys and along our coast. Facilitate the movement of approximately 2 billion tons of waterborn commerce and provide up to 24 of the nations hydro power. There are about 250 million recreational visits a year to corps lands and reservoirs, making the corps one of the top federal recreation providers. Corps water resource investments bring significant value to the nation. For example, the United States Maritime Transportation industry supports approximately 2 trillion in commerce with over 2 billion tons of commerce moving through harbors, channels and waterways constructed and maintained by the corps. Approximately 98 of the United States overseas trade by weight and 99 by volume enters or leaves the United States through a u. S. Coastal port. The inland waterway supports this commerce by facilitating export of approximately 60 of u. S. Grain, 22 of coal and 22 of petroleum products. Core Risk Reduction management projects and activities provide resilient reduction infrastructure and prepare individuals an communities for potential floods. The corps is responsible for the construction and operation of 383 major dams and reservoir projects that regulates floodwaters in the nations major rivers and tributaries and is constructed over 14,700 miles of levies in partnership with local nonfederal partners. Additionally, the corps has constructed over 90 major coastal shoreline protection projects along 240 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 maintains recreation facilities at over 400 of its multipurpose projects. The corps has a long history of developing partnerships within existing recreation authorities. It leases about half of the 5,000 recreation sites at these multipurpose projects to the public and private entities, including private sector commercial operates, states and local governments. Private recreation sites include approximately 562 privatelyowned marinas, resorts, campgrounds, boat ramps, fuel docks, Convenience Stores and other public use areas. The corps has constructed much of this infrastructure in the first half of the 20th century and some of it is experiencing various stages of degradation and disrepair. In fact, approximately half of the corps lock and dam facilities are 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 infrastructure. Per in requirement, a significant portion of the Civil Works Program is devoted to maintaining these systems so they can continue to provide economic and environmental benefits to the nation and to address significant risk to safety. To support the current and future requirements of the nations water resource infrastructure the corps is exploring alternative financing and Funding Options including Public Private partnerships, also referred to as p3s, through an assessment of private policy requirements and application of project experience, the corps is seeking to demonstrate how a collaboration between a public and private sectors may improve the corpss able to deliver the nations infrastructure needs. The corps recognizes 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 order 2014, the corps provided a report to congress in spring 2016 capturing Lessons Learned from the exploration of p 3 concepts to date. As part of the journey, the corps was able to start the flood management progress in north dakota. We acknowledge the congressional direction in the recent 2017 fiscal appropriation language regarding the need for a more robust p 3 policy and we look forward to working with congress and the administration to develop this policy guidance. Investment also by the Civil Works Program reduce the risk of Flood Impacts in the communities throughout the nation, facilitate commercial navigation, restore and protect significant eco systems, generate lowcost renewable hydropower and support american jobs. Continued investment in Infrastructure Projects is an investment in the nations economy, security and employment and quality of life now and in the future. Thank you for the chance to testify about the corpss role in sustaining the Water Infrastructure and Economic Opportunities associated with our Civil Works Program. I am happy to answer any questions you may have. Very good. Thank you, general. Director lions. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Ranking member cardin and distinguished members of the subcommittee. My organization maryland state docks, state Port Authority is the nonfederal sponsor of the port of mobile as senator shelby mentioned is 10th largest sea port by trade. The committee understands 80 of consumption occurs outside our borders and ships carrying commerce are getting larger than our sea ports can handle. At mobile, wide body tankers are already servicing our terminals, albeit inefficiently. Despite our constraints weve attracted manufacturing and retail distribution investments including walmarts newly announced 2. 6 million square Foot International Distribution Center which is under construction now. But growth is unsustainable at our current channel depth and width. My organization has invested over 850 million in facilities and federal channel infrastructure. Two of our investments in the private Petroleum Terminals recently reported double digit cargo growth. Mobiles public and private terminals generate about 23. 5 billion in economic value and employ over 154,000 people. On the larger scale, u. S. Sea ports generate 4. 6 trillion in economic value. U. S. Sea ports will invest 154. 8 billion and create 1. 6 million jobs by 2020 and 82 of that investment will occur in u. S. Gulf. Ports are doing their part to grow 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 sea ports when grappling with infrastructure investments. Underinvestment and underfunding the corps Civil Works Program results in inefficient, poorly maintained 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, implement and maintain waterway infrastructure necessary for u. S. Commerce. I respectfully offer a few suggestions to achieve these goals. One, continue by annual 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 Works Program, provide line item insight into Program Progression and cost. Two, the corps should implement a strategic fiveyear budget cycle. Today the corps works on twoyear budgets that fail to capture any projects full capital need through implementation. For example, the corpss budget only addresses two of the threeplus 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 through completion. Three, provide full allocation of the Harbor Maintenance trust fund, available funds to guarantee year in, year out maintenance obligations. Fiveyear budgeting cycles could provide congress with specifics on longrange maintenance funding obligations while providing new insights into newly authorized project maintenance. Four, streamline the 333 rule waiver process. Complex studies require necessary science to comply with nepa and much of that science takes a year or more to complete. Corps guidance requires waivers be held until its tentatively selected plan is completed, adding up to a year to the project. Streamline the process and delegate the waiver Decision Authority to the Division Commander. Five, reduce or eliminate the external peer reviews. The corps 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 why rather than sound engineering, further delaying implementation. We agree we must modernize our ports and it will cost billions of dollars. As deepened and widened channed widened channels come online, there will be additional demands on the Harbor Maintenance trust fund, which eased significant gains and Asset Management for risk based analysis and performance based budget, but we acneed to take a longer view at identifying Program Savings by reducing bureaucracy. The Alabama State Port Authority thanks this committee for its leadership and recognizing the nexus between Water Resources and economic prosperity. I appreciate this opportunity. Happy to address questions. Mr. Humphries. Chairman inhoff, Ranking Member cardin, distinguished members of the committee, its a pleasure to be here today. As a Third Generation real estate and developer from oklahoma, you know, we have a pleasure of creating places that Foster Community and allow folks to live healthy and rewarding lives. Our families had a long history on the lake. Been there for over 45 years ago. Ten years ago, we began a new journey of creating a new town, carlton landing. The site we chose was a 1900 site on the same go where i learned to water ski as a boy. The land is connected to ten miles of shoreline thats owned or controlled by the corps of engineers. It is our entire it would be seen as a model for Good Development that con serves our natural assets, provides a boost to economies and provides places for people to live and create and play. We quorked close ly with the coe staff since 2007. To their credit, we found them access b bable, responsive, capable and committed. I have Great Respect for their authority and the critical nation of their mission. Heres our story. In 2008, we put together a master plan for carlton landing, which included 3,000 home, a town center, shop, restaurant, schools, churches, parks and trails. The vision was to create a complete lake Front Committee and since the corps controlled all access, we understood our ability to implement that would depend on working with the corps. We requested a minor zoning change. Just a four foot wide gravel chip trail. The it was suggested we partner with a conservative vegas group, so we partner wd a nature con ver vansy, then it was suggested we might have a smooth track to get approval if we were a public enter the i, so we went through the pros of taking the community and incorporating it into a public municipality. Over a three year time frame, the cores response to our request was professional, courteous, but always the answer no title 36 enhitted l the district commander to making change to a shore lib management plan. Due to the fact that the eis had not been updated since 1977, the previous district commander made promises to federal environmental agencies that no changes would be made until a new eis was completed, but they take funding and congress deferred that for several session, so we were informed private money could not be accepted. So, the lake was in a zoning gridlock and the local core staffs hands were tied. By the summer of 2010, it appeared our vision for carlton landing was dead in the water. In march of 2011, senator inhoff met with the tulsa district commander and within day, we saw a new tone. Forward motion was realed and there was a new mission to update. By april of 13, the eis was completed, a new plan was created and the rezone action we needed was completed. By 2015, the town of carlton landing had completed a lease of 420 acre of federal lands from the court and today, were working on dozens of projects still with core office trying to bring that vision to fruition. Ultimately, it took us eight years to obtain core permission to install a Community Boat dock with a gang weight attashed to our own land. Eight years. Somehow, despite the regulatory roadblock, we were able to start and create a lake town even though we didnt have lake access. So, while its true, the journey has been anything but easy. Unfortunately, our success came only after direct political pressure from the highest levels in washington. Woult involvement to unfreeze the process, i believe our efforts would continue to bear no fruit. In our case, the staff was well intended, but their hands were tried by past dmitmentes. T its unclear how much projects were effected, but issues such as a pettitrifies eis are a dea can i recall. It limits success only to those with political connections, deep pockets and the ability to wait through unrealistic time limit. Every private Sector Development project is absolutely depend dant on ab taning entitlements within a reasonable time frame. In preparation for today, ive received good feedback from developers across the country. Some have had a positive experience, but some, a very troubling experience. Some had experiences so difficult they had to walk away from the deal resulting in i guess is cant financial loss and i think thats more the norm than the exception. I appreciate generals no nonsense approach. I believe hes the kind of leader the corps needs to turn the ship around i also appreciate the work of the Water Resources development act. It gives clear direction and aims at right targets. Theres a a strong market for careful, strong, Sustainable Development on our lake, rivers and water ways. In a way that protects our natural as aets while maximizing natural value. To find the corpss rand scape in a way that works. Thank you. Thank you. Secretary roamen. Good afternoon, mr. Chairman. Ranking member cardin, members of the committee, thank you for invoigting me to discuss the roles of the public b and private sectors for our ports. Ports are the key links in u. S. Access to b xwloebl Transportation Networks and federal navigation channels provide that access to these facilities. I thank the committee for continuing to support Maritime Infrastructure and commerce, especially with respect to essential dredging projects that keep our shipping channels our highways safe and open for business. This is a high priority for the hogan administration, the Helen Bentley port of bolt balt more is an economic engine for our nation. As senator cardin mentioned. It generates 13,650 jobs. Its noteworthy that the average income for the port direct job is 16 higher than the average maryland salary. With ports america he is chest peek and the availability of a 50 foot container berth has positioned the port of baltimore to attract cargo growth associated with last years panama canal expansion. Our tonnage increased in the first eight months since the canal opened. The ports call business has increased significantly as these ships need deep water, too. Has been very responsive to a port, shippers and concerns about the process and has initiated performs. Because of these plans reform, word of 2014 and word of 2016, authorized nine major port projects that provide for improvements to acome dacommoda larger generation of ships and capital idaho on the opening of the improved panama canal. This inventory of new projects along with several ongoing efforts that repate ward of 14 produced an inventory of 11 prokts with a total cost in excess of 4 billion tlrs and a federal cost in xhesz of 2. 5 million. Out of the 11 projects to date, only two received federal funding and a third project was completed by a that could not wait for federal funding. The average proep ration over the la has been around 170 million per year. While this represents an increase over the administrations budget request for those year, it still requires about 15 years to clear the exist iing inventory. In the highly competitive world, economy, the low level of federal funding to construct improvements is hold iing ameri back and is unacceptable. It is not only navigation projects that are an issue, like most ports, it is critical that the port deliver 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 mid Chesapeake Bay island project that was authorized in word of 14 will use dredge material from the navigation champions to restore the james and Barren Islands and recreate a critical resource in the middle Chesapeake Bay. Like all projects, this project faces deauthorization in year 2021 if it does not receive federal funds for construction by that time. The mid bay project is critical because it will provide 45 plus years of dredge material placement capacity. Federal funding is essential to enable opening of the project i think the chairman and Ranking Member for their support of the mid bay project in word of 12014 and respectfully ask the subcommittee. And to ensure continued authorization for the project. And continue with the wort with larger ships call today, it is with depths and widths to facilitate efficient and safe maritime commerce. Maryland remains fully committed to working with our federal partners and the private sector to deliver sif, efficient and Cost Effective infrastructure in maryland and contributes to the 26 of gdp and 23 million american jobs attributable to all ports. Thank you again for the community to testify and i would be happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Commissioner. I appreciate the opportunity to speak here for small sports in the Pacific Northwest, oregon, across the country. My brother and i when we get ready to go fish, we simply our boat with enough provisions to be at sea for about two weeks at a time and spend that 200 miles offshore. Because our boats are small and slow, when weather is forecasted thats beyond our means to deal with, we have 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. When the weather is bad, any port is better than being at sea. Every port, whether theyre large or small, is is important. We have preferences though and the main reason we have pref ranss is because of bars. I understand that some people here may not be familiar with the term crossing a bar, but in the Pacific Northwest, understanding that term is, can be b a matter of life or death. The bars that term thats used for where a hump is formed in the entrance to the harbor. From the setment that drops when it comes up against the swells and tides of the ocean. During the tides, the river water speeds up and narrows at the hump and creates the pressure against incoming swells, those swells build and steepen and tip over. Become breakers a. And thats where the term breaking bar comes from, now, i didnt understand until i started coming back here and talking with people here, that breaking bars are pretty much unique can condition relative to the coast. Froms every bar is a breaking bar at one time or another. I couldnt really understand until i figured that out, why all of these small ports, budgets were zeroed out year after year, budget after budget. Administration after administration. And now, i know. So, i want to help you understand how important bar dredging is and the Pacific Northwest. Now, there 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 dominant swell. Thats been done many, many decades augugo all over the pacc northwest, but because a lombardy of fund, most of those jetties are in disrepair and are becoming more and more dangerous and less and less effective. Another way to minimize the deadlyness of breaking bars is to dredge that hump that i renered to. Every year, b sentiment coming downstream comeing up against te swell where the river proddens out develops that setment and characterize the Pacific Northwest coast. Theres one thing both these methods have in common and thats funding. The port does a great job b dredging our thate ining our ns and taking care of things given the resources, but insufficient funding is provided as is the case for small ports, the bar shallow breaks and lives are lost. Reason lives are lost is is because when those breakers are happening, a boat transiting that bar, that breaking bar comes up against a freak wave or a sneaker wave and this bigger and faster than the rest of the waves and the boat basically turns into a surf board, loses control and literally rolls over. And many deaths happen because of this. In oregon, there are 15 dmunts with small ports. In the port of ban within in 2014, we did a study, commissioned a study that found that 62 million of economic benefit is generated annually as a result of our access to sea. Thats maintained by the port dredge. Operation and maintenance of our infrastructure is a federal responsibility, con chronic understood funding for large and small is causing our Water Infrastructure to deteriorate impacting safety and reducing safety and americas competitiveness. Ive been encouraged by the recent efforts in congress to ensure all the moneys paid into the Harbor Maintenance trust fund every year is used to fund the core of engineerengineers. However, were concerned this will not happen p pi quickly enough. Many of our ports may have long since silted in by the time the money is made b available. Again, i preeappreciate this opportunity to talk with you and b i know it might be hard to understand, but if everything you have is wrapped up in your boat and your boat feeds your family, you go fishing. Even when everything is optimal, some of us dont make it home. Im asking you to give us the best chance we can to make it in and home to our families. Thank you. That was very informational. Wee going to have five minutes of asking questions and if there is a desire for a second round, we can do that. Let me start off general, youve been for this committee. Several time, bev been listening to the president and not just the administration now, but when he was campaigning, talking b about a very ambitious Infrastructure Program and id like to ask you, have you had conversations with the president or members of the administration concerning any of the details of what the plans are from his perspective . It its been a theme that you said, that Many Americans think of infrastructure as roads, airfields, brims, we need to continue to expand that dialogue to talk about coastal ports and inland water ways, and so, there is we have had several questions from the administration to my staff asking specifically, what are some things that are some significant challenges that youre 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 and so, weve been asked a lot of questions about what would be some of the studies or cases of how you could see where a Public Private partnership could take some of that burden off of the taxpayers. I think the third area we have asked questions, are there some things when it comes to processes or procedures where we can unincumber you and allow you to continue to do your job in a manner thats more efficient and effective. So, working through the assistant secretary of the army for civil work, we have provided answers to some of those questions. We dont know any outputs, we have been in a provide mode and dont know where thats going to end up. I think its important the public knows that this, these computations are taking place. Ive had a few conversations, also. I know this committee is going to be a very busy committee. You might remember in one of your early appearances in reference to the tulsa district, we had the rather unpleasant experience with the senior statement from the core of engineers that made the statement quote, if it were up to me, there would be no development unquote. I want dwrou get in the record right now, your response to that statement. The score of engineers seeing an active role and with respect to our recreation facilities and some numbers that i gave you, we would continue to endorse those. If there was a member of my staff who felt that that is not appropriate thats on me and ill fix that. I think its important to qualify though, that this there are some specific examples where the appropriate procedures by the private vendor were not followed. As a result, based on our procedures, we had to request that the right information. There could be some frustration with very cases that come up. Yes, that statement doesnt fit the circumstances however. Speaking of that, mr. Humphries, in your testimony, you talk about the difficulty in navigating the processes. Used in your Opening Statement that youd like to share with us. Right now, were going through a process. It is affected by flow adjustment, so the court has the right to flood our private property. Were trying to put a park into this area and so, doing some Erosion Control on a switch beach then a front lawn. This is a front lawn, a place we have been wanting to see built out from the very beginning. We ran into an issue where there is a 602 line as the elevation where you can develop down to that land and not have to worry about flood risk. Below that, we didnt realize theres also a 585 mineline, which is the top of the conservative vegas pool. Weve been working on this project for several months and it had to go through the local office to get to the tulsa office before we understand that just a couple of feet that we were wanting to do some impact and stabilization of the Erosion Control of the bank below 5 l 5 was going to bump us into a general permit adding four to six months on to the process. Had we known the lay of the l d land. I think thats good. No time to give the examples up there. Its a bureaucratic problem. I think everyone here knows that. Anything for the record that we can get from any of the witnesses will be very helpful for us to have while time is somewhat limited. During the course of these questions. Senator cardin. I want to thank our witnesses. I found the testimony to be very helpful. I support in the appropriate manner leverage iing the best t can. Also acknowledge the Multiplier Effect is as high at 221 on economic benefits. Because of the backlog of projects and the limiteded amount of moneys that are proepuated theres delays and those could cause projects that have been b authorized not to be funded when the timed prestrixs and could jeopardize those projects being done at all. I take it what were facing in marmd is not untypical as to what is happening around the country. I was a Division Commander in new york and championed mid bay in 07 and 08. Theres great poshl there. To put dredge material, these harbors and ports will continue to have more and more challenges. Land development and condominiums are taken to shores. Weve got to find a solution to be able to solve these issues. We recognize the lead time was necessary. We still had capacity at Popular Island. We knew if we didnt start the ball rolling, we would run out of capacity. I remember coming to Congress Many years ago with battled on where youre going to be able to put dredge material and it was politically impossible to find a location in the baltimore region to put dredge material on and then, i said my predecessor came up with Poplar Island and it became a win, win, win situation. Its now an environmentally restoration project turning wetlands and species to chesapeake and the location for significant amount of dredge material. Can you tell me where we are in regards to mid bay and how important it is that stay on track from the point of view of being authorized for the army corps and funded. As youve mentioned how important it is, the plan now is that mid bay would be coming on as Poplar Island which is popular with the public as this great facility the public goes to see wildlife and enjoy the area. As it is being fill, we need another place to go. Thats been designated add mid bay. The issues right now is that there had been a dmmp ordered by the corps to study placement of dredge materials, that has 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, then it has to go to headquarters for approval from corps of engineers headquarters, then funded, so all those things have to occur. Right now, were confident about approval of the dmmp plan, so the critical pieces are approval out of the core headquarters and then fundingened, funding, funding and we need to start with that and continue with that, to make sure that the country continues to benefit from the protectivity of the baltimore port. If its not, if it doesnt stay on schedule and its not ready, we run out of capps thety. Does that mean we jeopardize the ability to have the width and depth in our channels that are necessary for commercial activities . Zpl oh, 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. That cannot occur if the channel is filling in and if we have a major storm that comes up the bay, well lose the capacity of the channel much sooner. Thank you. Okay. Thank you for appearing here today and general, thank you very much. Its really good to see you again. And gien the topic of todays hear, id like to continue the conversation we have been having regarding the flood Risk Management project. Id like to share with those on the committee and panel and on the audience, the september 2016 floods which impakcte eed cedar rapids caused cedar rapids to lose 26 million in sales and production due to being essentially shut down for an entire week when they were evacuated due to the floods. As i have mentioned, the st city of cedar rapids is our second largest city and its critical to iowa. Now, there are products that cedar rapids produces and manufactures that have domestic and global impact, just to share with everyone, for example, breakfast cereal manufactures produce 13 of total u. S. Output. Also processes as much as 19 of the global oat crop in value added manufacturing per year. Wet corn accounts for 8 and the quantity of corn processed each year exceeds the size of the corn crop of canada, republican lick of south africa. These are all products and goods that somehow rely on the core for example. I did the statement for the corps that i think could aply that provides congress with more descriptions of the ratings systems used to evaluate projects and explain why certain projects were considered as less competitive. I also saw the provision that said in quotes, Administration Budget metrics shall not be a reason to disqualify a study or project from being funded. We think thats a great step forward. Can i take this as a sign they are looking to improve its system that calculates the economic benefits of Flood Control projects and will you commit to continuing to work to move the see darr rapids mitigation project forward. We are in awe of the people of cedar rapids. That is not a position that we should put americans in to be able to to fight for their lives. On other hand, this is a project which doesnt rise high when it comes to the current method for racking and sacking projects with respect to the ratio. We have to continue pushing because as i went through all oof those different examples of what passes through cedar rapids, the impact of the economics of the state is pretty clear and when youre comparing the cost of the property in iowa, its much lower than the cost of a property on the coastline of course. Youve got great, big beautiful Million Dollar homes, but that doesnt mean to a person living in iowa their home is worth any less to them. Its just based on what everybody else believes the value of o a home is. As a reminder, the assistance see ccedar rapids needs is justf the cost of damages it went through in 2008. I look forward to more conversations from the future and a way forward for the people of cedar rapids. Senator amerimerkley. 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 had spent, my question is if we had spent all of o the receipts from 2017, do you have enough Infrastructure Projects for those funds . Senators, theres a long list leadoff requirements. Most of the time, more the question i wanted to raise is these receipts from that go into the Harbor Maintenance trust fund are from the shipping. Given the state of their dredging, given the state of our locks and many, shouldnt we spend every dollar that comes in on maintenance of our Water Infrastructure . I think that a lot of different considerations go into the use of the Harbor Maintenance trust fund. I would just consider saying that we Will Champion full use of that where possible, but as far as exactly how that is expanded, theres obviously a lot of player there is. Thank you. Its appropriately diplomatically stated and i appreciate the point that yes, theres plenty of Infrastructure Project that is need to be worked on an mr. Align, i believe you said in your testimony that underestment in sea port channels and harbors result in inefficient channels and poorly maintained harbors. Using all of the maintenance frus trunst funds to scene and maintain and improve the infrastructure . Yes, i would as the general said, there are plenty of projects out there. A lot of projects that are marchly maintained or not maintained to their full depths. Weve got specially big problems up in the great lakes ports. We are fed by a river and river silt and some year, we have much more material to move than others. There are years that we are marginally able to take care of and sometimes, we have delays where we have to experience a narrow channel, where we have to go to one way traffic because the side of the channel have filled up and done have sufficient funds to get to it, so yes, i would support that. Thank you and mr. Goech, when youre looking at the ports on the oregon coast and we skip a year of drudging, in some of these is even skipping a single year sometimes a problem b for commerce and the safety of that community . Absolutely, case in froipoint oe road river, they missed a year of dredging. It was a wet year that year and now, its going to cost more than two years worth of dredging to get that caught up because it silted in so bad by li that now, they cant go in with a regular core dredge. Theyre going to have to farm out the job with a different kind of dredge that uses a pipe. To get the dredge in. This is just to get back to where you can do the normal project. Correct. And sometimes, you have a situation where the not obl is it boat coming in, but also the ability of the coast card to get out to do the rescue. Thats the case once again in on the road. I dont think theyre going to get the coast guard cotom in and help on this bad breaking bar because the coast guard doesnt have enough depth to transit. You could u fin. So you could find uses safety to the committee for spending some of the Harbor Trust Fund . You bet. Thank you so much for coming from oregon to share the perspective and i preeappreciate small port set aside. Thats been so important to oregons coastal economy and something we need to keep doing for all of our smaller ports around the country. Senator shelby. General, youve had a lot of experience before you got to your present position. Weve been talking about the n panama canal and its impact on shipping, its relevant to deeper ports and the gulf and so forth, tell us how important is modernization of the panama canal is and what impact it will or should have on all our ports, especially the gulf ports. Senator, i was there at the opening of the panama canal, i saw the first ship come through. I was amazed at the amount of volume that came through. The economic impact, what thats going to do both on the economy, the gdp, i think thats off the table on how much impact that will have. I think its a game changer. Now and in the future. If you dont have the ability to receive those, be able to take the roll on down, that will limit us on our able ility to b able to continue to expand internationally. It will hurt our trade. It will have an impact, sir. If a port is say 45 feet. 46 feet or 45 feet and some of the ships need 50 feet or close to it. If they cant put a full load in there, its not efficient, is it . Its like flying an airplane and because the runway or the distance and so forth, you cant deal with it. If a port is not of the right size, sfri is is going to go where they can find the best investment. The port of mobile as i understand it is is 45 feet. Its to go to 55 feet by law. It needs to be widened. When we have ships exceeding 140 feet beam, were restricted to one day, we have a lot of wide bodied tankers coming in that are 150, 160 feet wide. We have now post panama contain erships in, so were one way traffic there. Ships have to wait. Ships are expensive. Its costing money. Thats eventually effecting the cost struck of these ships when they have to build delays swoo and we have them that occur multiple times every week. Right now, youre your container fright has gone up tremendously, has it not . Were a relatively new container port. We had been a bulk port. Man fakihing the southeast has changed significantly. And could not be reliant on the west coast and east coast to officially move at all times, so theyre looki ining for alterna gatewa gateways. This is why walmart selected mobile for this International Distribution center. One of six big ones that wall marlt has in the country. As alternate gateways, they have the bigger ships coming and it is important. And more container freight. More of our container, grew 19 last year. I know you dont have a map. I wish you had a big map here to share with the committee and the people of where mobile is located geographically, where the panama canal is is and the proximity as the ycrow flies, g through the canal and look right at the gulf. Youve got a straight shot just about. Do now not . Its a straight shot and we we have grown, were an faint, if you would, container port. Weve had ships every week, and one of those shipping lines is going to the larger ships this year. Next year, the i feel confident that next year, well add a fourth line coming from asia. Can you share with us where the panama canal is and where it lines up as far as the port of mobile is is concerned. As the crow flies, a direct line. Theres clearly a proximity issue that mobile has that some other places dont have the advantage of. That grr you mentioned, were right on schedule now to have that done by november of 19. Putting about 9 million into that and dont see any significant problems with get ing that done. If the Congress Finds that on the priority, that will be well postured to be able to be deepened. 5055 foot channel in the wider challenge could be a game changer for the port of mobile, too, would it not . It would, sir, and again, the actual depth, we dont know that, that will be the result of the study, so i wont commit on what the depth would be. We know. Thank you. Thank you, senator shelby, senator duckworth. Thank you for convening todays hearing and i want to thank our witnesses for participate ng this very important conversation. As you know, our inland water ways system is a critically important component of the work and a barometer of gauging for the health of the midwest region and our nayesive species. The rivers provide Enormous Economic and recreational benefits and i believe Congress Must prioritize that protection of these resources, the river system. Would you agree this . Yes, i would. So, as you know, the mccook reservoir is 91 complete. It prevents over 114 million and carries a benefit to cost ratio of 2. 96 which is a high score for an army corps project. The damage we have sufed over the last three declarations. Clearly, the majority was all done and we will kobt to champion that reservoir to get appropriate funding. I recognize there may be other efforts to abandon this project. I just want to make it clear it is unaccept bable to leave my constituents at risk, especially when were so close to finishing. Stage two started ten years ago and were swrus asking to finish the b job. We dont see any significant other challenges. We feel very firm that that is a very smart project to finish. Wonderful, good news. Thank you. General, when it comes to combatting invasive species, threatening the great lakes, illinois may face the most daunting challenge in the need to effectively stop and control the asian carp. Without significantly disrupting water ways and harming our economy. Its a real balancie inact. I believe we can achieve these two objectives and i was very interested in reviewing the findings of the locke and dam study to inform our efforts to develop an effective solution. Its why and and many other stakeholders are deeply dispo t disappointed and surprised to delay this plan, a reversal without much transparency or explanation. It was widely reported this decision was the result of outside pressure from the white house, will you explain why the report was delayed and provide us with an updated timeline for its release . Senator, so you know that report was completed by us. Was prepared to go out for public comment. I dont know the details of what the cause of us being put on hold for that report, but we will hold until we are advised to release the report. Where is that guidance coming from . My hired headquarters, the assistant secretary out of the department of army. I cant elaborate above that. I just dont know. So, i need reach out to the assistant secretary for the army. I would think that would be the best answer, maam. Because i think its very important to move this forward so we can have something, some sort of a plan in place. Earlier this year, i joined some of my great lakes colleagues in the house and senate to economic reevaluation of the sioux locks project. Based on traditional methods, it was our understanding that they decided to use unique modes of transportation. The february 21st letter, which i asked unanimous consent for it to be entereded into the record, asked the court to calculate in a manner consistent with other core lock project e evaluations. Will you commit that you will do this and finish within a twoyear schedule . I do not know exactly the particulars of that one and im not prepared to answer that today. Sioux locke is very, very posht this to nation. We see National Security issues in there. Its an old lock. Weve got to get sioux locke prepared. I have to get back with you. Thank you. I yield back, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And really appreciate the testimony, gentlemen, today is very important commissioner, i really appreciate your testimony as a senator who represents thousands and thousands of fishermen and communities with small ports. Your testimony was particularly compelling. And i want to kind of shift the focus a little bit more north. Where im from, you know, general, we have a lot of interest in the arctic right now. I think a lot of people are waking up to that as a matter of fact. The arctic counsel is having a ministerial in fairbanks alaska starting tomorrow. Two days in alaska, all Foreign Ministers of the arctic nations are going to be up there and you may have seen in the ndaa, there was a requirement for the secretary of defense and secretary of Homeland Security to designate a strategic arctic port given our 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, i know were looking at all kinds of ports, but first, the port of gnome and as you know, the corps has had over a 100 year history in gnome, alaska and there was a focus on the deep water port draft study and theres been back and forth after shell left alaska on the oil and gas exploration. But there was two additional word of provisions just this past bill the wind act that came into law in december, so, can you commit to us now to and those were actually designed to help get the core focused again on gnome, that you can commit to having known this part of your work plan moving forward and getting moving forward again on the deep draft port study and work that was ongoing until we had the hiccup of some of those oil and gas issues. Senator, thanks for the question, we are actively working in gnome right now. The study was put on hold pending coordination with dod and Homeland Security. Gnome services 54 different communities throughout western alaska. And gnome area. We have sent letters out to the navy and Homeland Security to understand where their potential to be able to see if there is a fact there is an additional reason for them to be able to expand the port of gnome. Very focused on that, that are intended. I know we worked with your staff to get to the core moving again. If theres delays, i need to understand why when the law has been changed to get the court to move out on this issue. Ill come see you, lay this out and then im not exactly aware of the two extra provisions youre talking about right now. Were waiting for response back from a two departments let me come back and ill get with you. Well walk our way through this. Another area, potential port. What is the course of using Public Private partnerships for the port of spencer, which is also in the area . I dont know, we are interested in anything with a p3, the challenge is how do we put together the right package to continue to be b able to make it through the system. Section 119 of the win act amends the law related to the territorial partial cost share waiver to add federally recognized tribes as entities eligible for a limited waiver of can you give me a sense of the timing on that new provision and how youre looking at it. District of alaska has a lot of interest as you know. The cost share of 1154,000. This is to be able to say this is how you would then qualify thr that. Those tripes that dont have the amount of money to come into a study, we support that. We have to get the details together. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator sullivan. Senator cardin and i would like to make a few more comments, maybe have another round in case some other members come who have not yet been here. First of all, in general, one of the reasons that i brought this up and wanted to get in the record again on this in terms of the Late Development is just to make sure that everybody understands this is legitimate. In fact, i remember the first one was in oklahoma and georgia was immediately following that. That the corps got into that business. Another thing, too, that was really concerning me for so long, this monte dwomry lock and dam. You come down the mississippi river, youre familiar with it, im sure some of the others arent. If you take the district through arkansas and oklahoma, thats 445 miles that would be completely done away with and useless if we cant audly find the solution to this montgomery. Are we waiting now for what they refer to as the three river study . Is. Ill have to get back with you on this. There are several projects were continue to champion, but i dont know where we are on that one. Senator pose man and i dont need to take the time of the whole panel here, but were very much interested in that. Thats and that has been a problem. Montgomery point lock and dam and the depth issue. For aening lo, long time so, why dont we set up something and either get the two of us together with you and come to a determination. Sound reasonable . Sounds great, sir . And mr. Humphrey, the Opening Statement we talked about the development, like your development, what it means to surrounding communities. What it means to the economy. What it mean, what benefit rs there that people might not think about because i know there are great benefits. Benefits. Will you share your thoughts on that . Id be happy to. When we look at a project like carlton landing, we are in a rural area of oklahoma thats seen economy shift to the urban areas. Youve got great Natural Beauty but you dont have a lot of drivers so first and foremost, you know, we provide jobs in the construction industry, Construction Activity alone will typically have about 125 to 150 trades on site in carlton landing with the same number at any given time working offsite. In terms of economic impact, over the longer term, we expect to see over 2 billion, 2 billion of private investment in carlton landing as the master plan is built out so we expect carlton landing to be one of the more important economic projects for southeast oklahoma and also the growth of the oklahoma tourism industry. Im happy to serve on our states Tourism Commission and we think long term carlton landing could help bring dollars from outside of the oklahoma across state lines back into the oklahoma tourism business. Its not just a subdivision. We also enhance the quality of life of people that live in that area. We have the states first rural Charter School and about 80 of the kids that are attending our Charter School in carlton landing come from outside of carlton landing. Some driving as far as 30 minutes away and so these are kids that some come from Strong Families but some come from situations where their parents are incarcerated or in the foster care system and we are bringing them in and we are bringing them a new opportunity to look and see life with new options. So were excited about that. But all this together, you know, we see Development Activity and Community Building as something that has tangible and intangible benefits. Monetary and, you know, a lot of benefits to folks quality of life that you just cant put a number to so would you say that this is a very similar situation in terms of benefits is true up there with the your neighboring development up on sky tune who has done some great things. You see the growth of the Property Values from the time of the beginning of the Public Private partnership to what they have realized currently. You have seen a great growth where private investments coming in and like i said earlier, we need to set the table. Theres some policy procedures that need to take place that help developers understand the regulatory landscape. I had an opportunity to speak with general semonite before and well give our recommendations on and things that they could do with the existing regulations and just educating and laying out a game plan so that people understand what the process looks like to work with the court. You have done a successful work there. Thank you, sir. I noticed that we stalled just long enough to keep us open until senator markey so well recognize him. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And i arrive first to praise cesar and i thank you for the worda bill from 2014 because in that bill there was 216 million for the Boston Harbor deepening project so that we could accommodate the new super ships coming through the panama canal. And then i thank you for last years worda bill because then we added another 16 million to deal with additional complicating but necessary features that had to be built in so we thank you for both of that. Thats, you know, a perfect example of the way the committee operated under your leadership on all of those issues. And so, theres no construction yet, though, because theres no actual money yet up there. So, general, can i get your commitment that you would work with us to try to telescope the time frame thats it going to take in order for us to get the funding for that critically essential project for boston . Because without it, we are going to be a port that is not able to fully benefit from this change. So, senator markey, thank you for the question. I was a Division Commander in new york when we started that project back in 07. Theres a lot of value in that project. Clearly, the 17 budget is on the street but the 17 work plan is not and the 18 budget will come out in a couple of weeks so its premature for me to talk about where thats at. Congress has given us new starts that we can allocate that so i think as soon as we see where that plays out in the next couple of weeks well certainly be able to advise you on Boston Harbor but it is one of those projects we certainly see merit. The question is where does it fall on the priorized list of what is allocated money. But you know it well, though. That project. I know that project well, sir. I think thats going very helpful going online so i thank you for that. And secretary ron, do we need more direct federal spending to ensure americas ports can remain competitive in this new era . Thank you for the softball question. The answer is, obviously, yes. We have to we have neglected infrastructure across the board for decades and the answer is that, yes, we have to invest more and i, frankly, im confused to why we havent since infrastructure has always seemed to have been one of those things that both parties could agree to and that that was always critical to our national wellbeing. So the answer is, yes, we need aadditional federal funds even just in maryland. We have substantial needs that go well beyond the midday project. We, you know, 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 in to that global economy. We have needs for the next phase of construction at our Poplar Island project. We have needs at our c d canal. And so, theres so much there that we as a state do not have the capacity to address and, frankly, require federal investment to make that happen. Thank you. And i thank you. I thank everyone for all of their great work in this area. And its the obligation of the members of the senate to assist the communities which we represent. W. H. O. Are adversely affected by sea level rise, Climate Change to adapt to the new reality. And thats why ive supported environmentally responsible shoreline protection projects where sand is pumped on to beaches to protect against erosion. In fact, the code is so good in helping us to solve those problems after the hurricane and snowstorm. In the town of sandwich, general, in massachusetts, it tempted to use sand from the federal Cape Cod Canal to be dumped into the ocean to protect their town and federal requirements became a major obstacle. The army corps required the homeowner it is provide easements seeding 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 i just ask, general, do you believe its reasonable for the army corps to require Property Owners to provide easements in prop tieuty for beneficial use projects if the sand is only going to last for a few years . Wouldnt it be more appropriate for the easement to last as long as that sand remains on the beach, just as a kind of a practical way of dealing with the issue . So, senator, two things. I dont know the details of sandwich. Im very aware of the sand easement issue all through seven different states. Im not sure i have ever been asked a question of how long should an easement last. We can have that dialogue. I think what we are currently doing is following the policiment we have been consistent on is that if, in fact, federal dollars are going to put sand on a beach, normally those landowners have to be able to provide access back to for the local people to be able to get to the beach. Yeah. So i would just like to be able to work with the army corps on striking a balance, especially if that sand is once again just going to be washed away. Were always looking at options, sir. Thank you. Thank you, general. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Senator. Thank you, mr. Chairman, and thank you and the Ranking Member for holding this hearing. This really is an important thing that as we go forward and try to figure out some of our infrastructure problems. General, i was just visiting with senator inhofe and heard the comment about the three rivers situation that we have in arkansas with the white river. Hits the mississippi and stuff. I just want to reemphasize how important that project is. Thats one of those things that its not an if. Its a when as to when it will fail and probably, you know, up to a year as far as shutting down the Arkansas River which would be a real problem for arkansas and oklahoma. But really, the whole nation in the sense of being able to move goods and services. Senator, can i give a quick update there . I wasnt fast enough but basically we completed this is on the three rivers study. We did complete the alternatives milestone meeting in december 15. Tentative plan competed in 17. Right now, we have released the draft report for policy public and Agency Technical review. That was last april. And then right now we are looking at milestone decision scheduled for july of 17. Were working our way through this. We think a review board is scheduled right now for march of 18. And a chiefs report in june of 18 so thats the current milestone. Thats pretty aggressive but we do think theres great her it to continue to stay on time line and this has continued to get funding 15, 16, 17 and premature to talk about 18. We see a lot of value in that. Good. We appreciate that. And appreciate you pushing forward. Like i say, thats a matter of if and not when. In oklahoma and arkansas, we are experiencing these 500year floods about every 2 years and they really are playing havoc. The waterways have held up fairly well. This one really caused a lot of damage and in the process of working through that with you. Apart from that, there is a lot of concern in the sense with 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 ben filths and increasing cost. How if at all can Public Private partnerships help accelerate the delivery and create better value as far as the infrastructure . Do you have any ideas in the sense that with Public Private partnerships, would that help with that situation . Senator, definitely would and ill just give you a quick data point here. What it really does is allows us to put all of the understooding up front as opposed to afford it, we are able to see the upfront investment. Ill use the numbers that i use and one federal p3 study we have been able to push there, farlgo moorhead, if you go it the regular way, it takes us 16 years. The way we are doing it is 6 1 2 years. Since you say that, thats probably 20 or you know . It could be but a data point. Give me the 16 years . 16 versus 6 1 2. The federal share, the regular way would have been 850 million. The p3 way is 450 million. And then the other big thing, the regular way would have been up to 28 contracts. The p3 way is 11. So just remember the numbers. Probably half of what the normal process is. The challenge we have got to do and we have got to get the whole team to be able to synchronized as to how can we enable p3 in theres a lot of people to do big hand waves to say its merit but we have to be able to make sure through the different maze of the approval process that a p3 is able to see the light of day and we are having some challenges on how we can synchronize that better. Well, that that would be great news, and certainly, i know senator inhofe and senator cardin on this sub xhilt tee working hard in that regard. Well do the same thing and really looking forward to seeing how we can make that example happen all over the country versus what were experiencing right now. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator boozman. Senator cardin. Well, i again, thank me thank our witnesses. I think this hearing points out the importance for us, general, to take a look earlier in the process on the next worda bill. Senator markey is correct. In 2014 we passed the Water Resources development bill. Which was the first time we had done, i think seven years earlier before we passed the last one. We made a commitment to pass the bills every two years and we were able to do that in 2016 barely. One of the last bills passed by the by the congress. Leave the last few minutes of this to take you live now to the middle east policy council hosting a discussion today about cooperation between the u. S. And saudi arabia on counterterrorism. It got started just a few moments ago. Live coverage on cspan3. Moderated by dr. Thomas matir, executive director of the middle east policy council. To facilitate that discussion, we have placed index cards on each seat and would ask that if as the panelists are speaking you have a question, please write it on the index card and hold it up for our staff to collect. Dr. Matir will use these to guide the question and answer session. And now, it is my pleasure to invite his excellency boom amwalabi to the podium. Thank you, ambassador. Excellencies. Ladies and gentlemen. Distinguished guests. Its my great pleasure today to address this gathering on the issue of terrorism at our national and International Efforts in combatting and countering terrorism. Let me start by laying down a few principles that i believe are wellknown but are sometimes ignored or overlooked. First, terrorism and violent extremism is not confined to any particular race, religion or national background. Terrorism needs no adjectives. It is simply criminal. Attempts to attach labels of religion or ideology to it can only provoke more terrorism and add fuel to the fire. Second, while some may allege that numerous terrorist activities have been recently carried out by muslims, they conveniently overlook the fact that the vast majority of victims of terrorism are muslims. Third, much of the current threat rate of violent extremism and the linkages they make with islam, jihad or a war between civilizations, such rhetoric, in fact, feeds the divisions on which terrorists thrive. This, in turn, creates a vicious cycle that must be broken in order to have all of peace loving humanity gather forces to defeat the darkness of bigotry, tyranny and hatred wherever and through whomever they emanate. Let me now turn to saudi arabia and our experience in battling against extremism and terrorism. Saudi arabia has been a victim of terrorism ever since the attack on the grand mosque of mecca in 1979. In 2003, terrorists repeatedly struck at the heart of our capital riyadh. It was obvious that resting control of the holy sites of mecca and medina has been and continues to be the prime objective of terrorist organizations such as daesh and al qaeda. Therefore, by definition, saudi arabia cannot possibly be a source of inspiration, comfort or support to terrorist ideology. Secondly, saudi arabia has long recognized two facts. One is that the battle to defeat terrorism is a longterm process and the second is that it needs to be done on an international scale. In 2003, and throughout subsequent years, the late King Abdullah used to declare that this was going to be a generational battle lasting for 20 or 30 years. Saudi arabia also recognized that this war was not going to be won only on the battlefield. But rather, in the hearts and minds of people in villages, towns, cities and communities throughout the country. We recognized that we needed to disrupt