To yourself about being in control. Cocaine is not hip, its hype. Anyone who tells you its okay is a liar. Watch American History tv every weekend on cspan 3. State and local water resource officials testify about the status of u. S. Water infrastructure and the benefits of passing a new bill which would designate specific repair or improvement projects. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held this hearing earlier this month. Good morning. I call this hearing to order. Today we highlight the importance of passing a new resource Water Development act, or wrda. Wrda authorizes funding for the Civil Works Program. In order to write good legislation we must consider the effectiveness, the status of their implementation as well as our countrys future Water Infrastructure needs. They have jurisdiction over much of the waters infrastructure including locks and dams and inland waterways and ports. Prior congresses have traditionally passed on a biannual basis going back to 1986. Unlike other contentious issues, historically republican and democratic members have been able to Work Together and pass word of legislation. To put it another way, this is legislation that moves. It does so because regardless of Party Affiliation we understand these kinds of investments are far too important to our economy and security to fall victim to partisan politics. They represent a Diverse Group of communities with different needs. Our committee has members that represent baltimore, maryland and anchorage, alaska. Wyoming, wilmington, delaware. And millions of other americans expect us to do our job to grow economies and to keep them safe. When it comes to rural areas in particular, many depend oncor projects for their existence. Congress must act to make it easy for the core to prevent flooding and modernize levies. Those that cause the Big Horn River to flood small Rural Communities such as grable, wyoming. Ice jams are a major Public Safety concern for towns that cant afford the out of control costs that come with severe flooding. And rural still face longterm supply and storage. Federal facilities out west continue to lose existing space as a result of sediment build up. This is a big problem for Western State economies with significant ranching farming communities and enlarging energy industries. I believe the corps and the bore bur bureau of reclamation need to Work Together. Ureau of reclamation n Work Together. Its my hope this committee will work forward to find solutions in a bipartisan way to meet our countrys infrastructure needs. Our nations ports, waterways are just as vite thool countrys economic well being. Goods, commodities go through these ports for export. In wyoming, the key component of making glass gets shipped out of the port of portland, oregon. We all have a vested interest in these ports. So i urge my colleagues to work with me in a bipartisan way to find these solutions in 2018. With that ill turn to the Ranking Member of the committee for his comments. Senator, carper. We welcome all of our witnesses. Youre good to take time to share your thoughts with us and its a really important issue and an issue we might actually be able to work on together and get something done. In past years working with senator Barbara Boxer have been good at showing us how this is done. So hopefully we wont screw up a good thing and with your help, that will be the case. I want to say this is extremely important authorization given we do it about every two years. In december. As we all know coastal issues are extremely important to delaware but as the chairman said in what i thought was a very good statement. You dont have to be on a coast, massachusetts or delaware to have a strong interest in this issue. It affects us all every day. But delawares economic reliance on the cores work is not unique. Over 99 of the u. S. Oversees trade volume and coastal channels that the core maintains. Additionally the inland waterways and locks form a think of it as a water highway. Connecting waterways and ports and providing direct access and provide Critical Infrastructure for the u. S. Military and work to reduce it risk to human safety and Property Damage from flooding. Flooding alone currently cost the United States billions of dollars annually. 2017 hurricane system illustrated, the nation needs to be a resilient one ready for the next storm or flood or drought event because they are coming. In fact just this week were told by noaa, in 2017 total cost exceeded 300 billion. If that seems like a lot of money, it is. A new annual record in the u. S. So clearly not a matter of if for the next extreme weather event is coming, a matter of when. The flood Risk Management activities account for more than 70 of the association. But the core has or shares jurisdiction over many other critical Civil Works Programs as well. Including hydropower, recreation, Emergency Management and water supply. Unfortunately in the mid 1980s, funding for rehabilitation began to steadily decline. With this trend the cores actions have shifted to operations, maintenance, rehabilitation of infrastructure and a back log has continued to grow ever since. As a result much of the cores infrastructure is exceeding its life span. We have a couple graphics here. One christine is holding up for us. Its provided by our friends from the American Association port authorities. A busy chart but a good one nonetheless. And everyone should have at your desk a copy of this. But about 66 billion in investment and port related infrastructure is needed over the next decade to ensure job growth. To ensure that u. S. Job creation Economic Growth continues over next ten years. I have another graphic also provided by the American Association of port authorities and as this shows investment in our Freight Network of ships, trucks and trains is essential to the safe and efficient movement of goods. Both into and out of the United States. And this serves as the backbone of our economy. Not just ships, barges, trains, trucks, its all the above and more. The American Association of Civil Engineers report card tells us a story with waterways receiving a grade of d. Deplorable. Representing an overall cumulative investment back log of nearly 140 billion and an authorized but unconstructed portfolio of another 60 billion. The core faces a sizeable math problem as they try to service that. Match that up with the annual budget around 4. 6 billion. The math just doesnt work, does it . Clearly we have a lot of important work to do. We need to work in a bipartisan fashion. In a smart, Cost Effective efficient way leveraging green and gray infrastructure solutions. Again, mr. Chairman. Thank you for holding this important hearing. We all look forward to hearing from our witnesses. I have something i want to submit for the record. Is that right . I want to submit for the record these letters of acclaim for the newest member of our committee. No, actually, this information deals with our hearing material. But i just want to say to chris, welcome aboard. [ inaudible ] senator harris came up to me yesterday and said im moving off your committee and i said i know were sorry to hear that. And she said im keenly interested in the issues and want to be part of your extended family. I thought we could work that out. But for attorney general and somebody you want to be on the Judiciary Committee if you can get there and shell still be part of our team. Thanks very much. Id like to welcome senator rand holland to the committee with you and senator carpen and since my mom grew up in maryland working at a summer job, i could tell you with two of you from maryland and this history that now we can make sure that the Chesapeake Bay is fully protected. Chairman, i will say no more. Thank you. Welcome to the committee. Were now going to hear from our witnesses. Were going to start with an introduction in a second but we have mr. Scott robertsson, and the associate legislature of the association of counties. The chairman elect of the association of port authorities. The National Policies specialist and mr. Steven cochran who is the associate Vice President for coastal protection, restore the Mississippi Delta Coalition and i believe senator cassy is going to be here in a few moments to help introduce senator cochran. I appreciate that and also for having the presence of Scott Robinson here. Hes spent a lot of time in this business and we have become good friends. One thing, building a little bit on what he just said. Its not just the coastal states were interested in. We are, in oklahoma, americas most inland warm water port. Now the problem is nobody knows it. And i remember when i was in the state senate many in fact in the 70s we conceived something we thought were going to tell the whole world were in oklahoma. And so the World War Ii Submarine veterans came in. They said if you can procure a submarine we can figure out a way to get it from texas to oklahoma. Were talking about a submarine. U. S. S. Bat fish. The length of a football field a huge thing. And all my adversaries were saying were going to sink inhoff with the submarine. And there it is in your port 300foot submarine that shows the world we are in fact an inland port. So anyway, scott, its nice to have you here. You have a tremendous background. Youve been at the point of muskogy for 28 years now with more than 1,000 acres of land in the jurisdiction the port is poised to continue its growth and provide several transportation options. Scotts been active in the waterway communities, serving on a variety of related boards and commissions including the National Waterways conference, the marine transportation system, National Advisory council. Arkansas, oklahoma Port Operators Association. So its great to have you here. Youll bring a lot of knowledge to this meeting and i appreciate it. Thank you very much for that introduction. Good to see you. I could spend my five minutes talking about you but i wont do that. Well extend dont feel limited to five minutes if youre going to talk but i want to remind all witnesses your full testimony will be made part of the official hearing record and except for mr. Robinson i would ask you to keep your statements to five minutes. So that we may have time for questions. Mr. Robinson . Members of the committee, it is han honor and privilege to testify before you today about the americas infrastructure needs in 2018. Thank you for this opportunity to contribute my thoughts. I am, as senator inhoff said port of muskogee, ive been there since 1990. Its one of two public ports in oklahoma and one of five in oklahoma and arkansas. I commend the committee for the work it has accomplished through 2014 and 2016. I hope to illustrate further in my testimony, the absence of regularly enacted wrda legislation between 2001 and 2013 caused serious harm along the mcclellan Arkansas RiverNavigation System which in the interest of time i will refer to as mcarnes. It is a 445 multipurpose waterway that runs through arkansas and oklahoma completed in 1970 at a cost of 1. 2 billion. It was the largest federal investment ever made in a civil works project. Connecting the two states, oklahoma and arkansas with domestic rivers, ports and terminals along the inland waterways of the United States and ports all over the world, via the port of new orleans and gulf of mexico. In 2015 there was a regional impact study conducted and published documenting the impacts, 8. 5 million in sales. 55,000 jobs, 289 million in taxes to the national economy. Youll find a copy of that in attachment 8 of my testimony. In attachment d you will find a letter signed by the president of the oklahoma arkansas Port Operators Association endorsing its priorities for the mcarns. You will find the briefing we made to the congress and to stake holders and congressional staffers in attachment b and c. I would like to take a few minutes to talk about infrastructure for the mcarns and give a glimpse of the water structure needs. Of the nation. Number one, priority was modification of an existing structure near the confluence of the mcarns and the Mississippi River, the Arkansas River and the white river trying to come together. Every time it floods, the corps has to spend money to fix the problem. A solution is imperative. The permanent solution will soon some out of a corps study. And costs shares by the state of arkansas. Once the study is completed, the melinda structure will face new start and cost share hurdles. Until then its at risk of failure. Number two, back log of critical maintenance. Theres a back log of deferred maintenance. 143 million of which is deemed critical by the corps of engineers. They define critical as having a 50 chance of failure within five years. In march of 2017 there were 42 such critical maintenance items. More alarming than that, the critical back log is growing rapidly. In his testimony in 2016, tulsa director expressed concern that the critical back log had reached 70 million. So thats twice as much today. The problem on the mcarns is no different than across the nation. We are fixing critically important infrastructure as close to failure as possible and in some cases after it fails and an on emergency basis. This is not an acceptable Asset Management strategy, this is a prescription for failure. Before 2014 and 2016 the congress in section 136 of the energy and Water Development appropriations act of 2004 authorized the deepening of the mcarns from 9 to 12 feet. In the 0 2005 water developme 2t and appropriations act, 7 million was appropriated for the channel deepening. 5. 5 million was used for design activities which reduced the project cost by a like amount. In 2009 the Court Expressed a 40 million capability but it never ended up in the president budget. Suffice to say being lost in the switch is not good. The committee can rescue the 12foot channel and restart the dilemma by including clarification language as and word 2018 adds follows Congress Finds that initial funding was provided and construction started on a 12foot navigation of the mcclellan arkansas water Navigation System as directed in section 136 of the energy and Water Development appropriations act, thereby meeting the new start requirements. According to the institute of Water Resources from 2010 to 2012, the army core off engineers provided a nationally economic net benefit of 87 billion in stimulated 27 billion in returns to the u. S. Treasury. 161 return in terms of economic benefits and 51 for the treasury. Waterways investment is a wise investment. If theres going to be a comprehensive infrastructure plan then my plea is that it not just be for roads and bridges but for waterways too. Not just for deep coastal ports and harbors but for inland waterways too. For efficient competitive movement of freight. To the extent waterway projects freight. And to the point they do private, then the Water Infrastructure act program created in wrda 2014 may be the tool necessary to track such investment. In projects for which the in land water way trust revenues are not sufficient to share. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. Wed be happy to answer any questions you may have. I realize i have gone over my time. If you want me to tell any of my sto stories, ill. Thank you. I would like to introduce senator cassidy your guests here today. The person Steve Cochran sitting behind me i gather hes on the next panel but thank you mr. Chairman for allowing me to introduce. And other members thank you for letting me introduce Stephen Cochran. Worked for many years in pursuit of a long Term Solution that will restore and protect louisiana incredibly fragile coastal system. Hes worked with former louisiana buddy rommer, mississippi delta, and Environmental Fund to speak to the integrated strategy that utilizes innovative approaches to restore wet lands and support coastal ecosystem. Now, coast stall louisiana is losing land as we speak. As we speak, there is something on the google map that looks green that if you had an updated google map would not look green but open water. So that the crisis we have. It poses a serious threat to ourm communities and nations economy. It has required our state to bipartisan comprehensive plan referred to as louisiana master plan for sustainable coast. 50 billion over 50 years plan to restore louisianas coast based on sound scientific and modeling princi