Good morning. I call this hearing to order. President trump has made improving our nations infrastructure a top priority. And this committee is continuing its effort to highlight our nations infrastructure needs. As i stated infrastructure is critical to our nations prosperity. In personal meetings i have met with members of this committee, both sides of the aisle, and i will tell you that infrastructure is always listed as a top priority. It is a priority because it is a driver of the nations economy and it impacts every community. This committee has a long history of working together in a bipartisan way on infrastructure issues. I want to continue that tradition. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has sweeping jurisdiction over our nations infrastructure. Our last hearing focused on highways and roads and the needs of rural water systems, all of which within this committees purview. Recent natural weather events in the last month in california and in other western states are highlighting the need to focus our attention on our levees and dams and other structures that prevent catastrophic flooding in both rural and urban communities. Earlier this month, more than 180,000 people were evacuated in california because storms caused serious damage to the oroville dam, the tallest dam in the United States. The potential threat of dam failure is a serious concern. A concern to state officials and to People Living downstream of oroville. Any future Severe Weather event could make the situation even more critical and it is raising questions about the readiness of our flood prevention infrastructure. Dams and levees across the country need to be modernized and maintained if we are to prevent future disasters. So i believe any infrastructure bill this committee develops should consider the need to maintain and modernize these structures. Winter weather events arent just affecting california but occurring across west hitting towns big and small. These events include ice jam flooding in northern wyoming, long the Big Horn River, in the towns of warland, manderson, grabl, a grabel and towns to the south. This past month, the ice jam floods damaged over 100 homes in warland, a city of roughly 5,000 people. These floods have serious and lasting impacts. In the past, blocks of ice the size of cars sit on for weeks on playgrounds in front lawns. The river ice damages everything from public structures like Water Treatment plants and public parks to private homes and small businesses. These ice jams are regular occurrences, harming small towns, not just in wyoming, but in other parts and states from the dakotas to upstate new york. For these small towns, the cost of cleanup and repair is an enormous burden from which it takes months to fully recover. In certain instances, flooding could be mitigated by the army corps providing more flexibility and allowing towns to take the steps they need to protect their communities. Our committee has jurisdiction over the environmental laws that impact the modernization of infrastructure. Oftentimes in rural states, federal one size fits all rules can be can have absurd results on the ground. If remanufacturinge iremoving a dirt can make a difference in reventing a catastrophic flood, a town shouldnt have to go through a length ty bureaucratic process while the town floods. Bureaucratic red tape should be cut where peoples lives and property are on the line, which is always the case when were talking about flooding. Dams and levees are the most Common Infrastructure to address flooding. New technology can also help mitigate the threat of flooding including ice jams. I include language in title one, this was enacted last congress, creating an army Corps Pilot Program to develop cost saving technology to address the threat of ice jams. The Program Needs to be implemented. I also would like to note that in the past two bills, this committee provided Additional Authority to the corps and fema to help to address deficient levees and dams. It is time to implement these authorities. I would like to hear what else this committee and the army corps can do to improve existing infrastructure, building new infrastructure, reduce red tape and develop Life Saving Technology and materials to prevent flooding. With that, i want to turn to Ranking Member carper for his statement. Thanks, mr. Chairman. Thank you very much for bring us together. We welcome all of you. Glad youre here. Could be a lot of different places, but important you be here. We look forward to your testimony and to the opportunity to ask some questions. Just have a good conversation. The chairman and i talk a lot about mike enzis 8020 rule. And mike enzi is a senator from wyoming. And he talks about the 80 20 rule, ted kennedy used to run help, and i would say to him how does the most liberal democrat and one of the most conservative republicans get so much done, provide leadership to the committee, he said we believe in the 8020 rule. I said whats that . We degree on 80 of the stuff, we disagree on 20 of the stuff and what we focus on is the 80 where we degree. And senator barrasso and i agree on a lot. We agree on the need to invest wisely on infrastructure. Fortunately it is it is not a partisan issue as we heard last night in the president s state of the union address. Though it was preciously short on how to pay for stuff, which is always the challenge, how to pay for stuff. Easy to figure out how to spend the money, not so easy to figure out how to pay for it. Democratic senators continue to push for consensus on infrastructure. We are one of the few Senate Committees here and epw really talking about working on a bill and bipartisan comprehensive way and intent on doing that. I applaud our chairman for his leadership there. I believe that members on both sides of the aisle feel an urgent need to move forward on a package in a thoughtful way. Rather than kick the can down the road, something were good at here. And as a recovering governor, i judge any legislation that makes these kinds of investments by asking a simple question, that question is how does this proposal, whatever the proposal of the day is, who does it create a more nurturing environment for job creation and job preservation . Thats what i ask. And in addition to answering that question, i also believe something lincoln used to say, asked a long time ago, what is the rome of government . And he replied, the role of government is to do for people what they cannot do for themselves, wise words. Flood control investments are not ones that average citizens can make for themselves as you know. And not only do the construction of dams and levees create jobs, but these investments can also support local economies and help drive commerce and put our communities on a path to civility. One of the things that businesses need most is predictability and certainty and they dont need floods and the kind of havoc that can create for community and for their businesses. So it is important that we make investments because when dams and levees fail, they can result in the loss of life, as we know economic destabilization. As we work and economic devastation, but as we work through this hearing, another oversight and infrastructure oversight and policy decisions, i think that we will struggle with maybe two central points. And one is what is the role of federal, state and local government in addressing these infrastructure concerns and also are the three levels of government up to the challenge. Are the three levels of government up to the challenge. Something called the Mckenzie Global Institute has a 2013 report that you may be familiar with, said we need to invest between 150 and 180 billion a year more in infrastructure at large. Just to make up for years of underinvestment that is hindering our country on a multitude of levels from limiting economic dproeth growt threatening our safety. This report looks at all components of infrastructure, but this message of drastic need is easily applicable to what were talking about today and thats Flood Control. Same report found that one of the best ways to invest and get the most out of our dollars is to maintain existing infrastructure, probably doesnt come as a surprise to any of you. Whether it is a bridge or dam, our government has a fundamental responsibility to make sure that those structures are sound and continue to serve for their intended purpose. Including protecting the lives that are impacted by the bridge or a dams very existence. As i mentioned earlier, Infrastructure Investment is critical for our economy in part because the jobs we create from the construction and the restoration work as well as displace workers we can bring back into our workforce. They want to work, they can do this work, and lets turn them loose. But just as important are the lives and property that pare protected by the project. Looking forward to flaring friends from california, the secretary of Natural Resources john laird on his experience with the oroville dam and californias nationally recognized flood safety program. I think it is critically important that we learn from each others experiences and we have that shared knowledge, take that shared knowledge forward from through the legislative process. In closing, the Critical Infrastructure of our country is aging. And in need of significant Capital Investment to help our economy continue to grow. 2013 infrastructure report card issued by the society of Civil Engineers gave us a d as in dog to roads, drinking water, waste water, infrastructure. And in a lot of ways levees received a d minus, bridges about a c plus. And as we hear testimony, im interested in hearing how our witnesses think about the roles of Different Levels of government, where there are gaps that need to be filled and it relates to protecting investing in and maintaining Critical Infrastructure like levees and dams. The concept of shared responsibility has been an overarching theme in many conversations and im sure well continue that conversation today. And i also hope to hear some thoughts on concept of natural Infrastructure Protection as it relates to flood safety. Finally, while the traditional forms of infrastructure like roads and ports are essential to our economy, i feel we need more investment to protect our natural infrastructure as well, such as our shore lines and wetland systems and thank you to the all you do in that regard. Without these protections, risks to man made infrastructure increase and in many cases become unmanageable. Im interested in three final liz, im interested in how the federal government can be more efficient and got the most out of every dollar of federal investment and want to know how we can make sure the most critical investments and ensuring we maintain the assets we have first before building new assets we cant afford. No one size fits all approach to fix our problems, have to work across the aisle and i encourage under the leadership of this man here we will. With that, i would ask unanimous consent to the testimony of american rivers be submitted to the record. Without objection. We have a number of guests here. Senator ernst, can you introduce your guest to the committee . Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for holding this important hearing today and thank you for working with me to extend an invitation to a great iowan on the panel today. I am pleased to introduce the mayor of cedar rapids, mr. Ron corbett, to this committee. Mayor corbett has been working tirelessly on behalf of the citizens of cedar rapids, securing state and local funding to rebuild his community after the 2008 flood. And what they have done is truly impressive. But critical assistance from the corps is also needed to complete cedar rapids flood Risk Management project and this is something mayor corbett has been leading the charge on for years now. Cedar rapids and communities across my state are in need of corps assistance, but have run into hurdles trying to navigate the bureaucracy within the corps and omb. They just point fingers at each other, and it is an issue that were trying to work through and resolve. Not just for the people of cedar rapids, but for many communities across the state of iowa. And the nation. So we continue working through this, we also note that the city of des moines also has important levee work that needs to be done and cedar falls has been working on a 408 permit application that still isnt approved. In addition, how the Current System is set up to calculate the economic benefits of Flood Control projects places iowans at a disadvantage. The current metrics that the corps and the administration use prioritizes building beaches in front of multimillion dollar ocean front homes, over protecting the people of cedar rapids because the calculations are based on property value. Cedar rapids is iowas second largest city. And its success is critical to the economic wellbeing of the entire state. They have endured two significant flooding events in eight years that have cost billions of dollars in devastation and recovery aid. The corps has some discretion on help and simply made the decision to forgo the assistance even though the community worked with the corps to develop a project to address that flood risk. And worked with congress to get it authorized. So i look forward to the discussion today and mayor corbett, thank you, i know you will be detailing for this committee cedar rapids very, very important story. Im eager to continue my conversation with you, general semonite, thank you for being here today, to see if we can move forward on this. Thank you very much, mr. Chair. Thank you, senator. Senator harris, i can invite you to introduce your guest . Thank you, mr. Chairman and Ranking Member carper for scheduling this important hearing as recent events in my home state highlight the necessity of congress support in assisting our state and local partners to maintain, repair and upgrade our nations aging infrastructure and when it comes to Critical Systems that could threaten the Public Safety of all americans. It is my distinct pleasure to introduce the secretary of the california Natural Resources agency, john laird. Secretary laird has over 40 Years Experience working in public service, ranging from a budget analyst for then u. S. Representative jerome walidy. A local elected official as santa cruz city councilman and mayor and state legislator where he chaired the california Budget Assembly committee. In his current role, as secretary of Natural Resources, he manages californias ecological and cultural resources, water reserves and supplies and state wide environmental policies. Within his agency, he oversees 30 sub departments including the California Department of Water Resources, which is the lead Agency Working around working a to repair oroville dam and to prevent catastrophic flooding. Mr. Chairman, last week, secretary laird and i had a chance to tour the oroville dam together, and he had an extraordinary understanding of the technical needs of the dam and levee infrastructure, and i also wanted to comment that as he and i both noticed, it is an extraordinary example of the dam of the federal, state and local agencies coming together to meet a need in terms of a crisis of its proportion. We saw folks from the National Guard, the United States navy, fema, and California Emergency Services together with the local sheriff, butte county sheriff who came together to meet the need and they did it in a seamless way. It goes without saying that secretary laird has Extensive Knowledge of the needs of the nation, and the needs that we should consider when it comes to sufficiently maintaining the infrastructure and the flood management systems. This combined with the budgetary experience at all levels of government should help congress find and leverage funding str m streams to fund the replacement of the aging struck u chur. In california alone approximately 1,400 dams and nearly half of those are designated as quote high hazard potential dams by state officials. Realizing the devastation caused by a aging dam infrastructure california has invested 11 billion in Flood Control management in the past decade to protect nearly 7 million people, and 580 billion worth of assets which include buildings, farmland and crops that are at risk. The need for improvements are not solely in california. For example, in states like wyoming, we have invested more than 1. 2 billion of their states funding for Water Infrastructure improvements, water storage and supply project, recycled and Wastewater Management and treatment and drought and emergency relief water programs since 1975. In addition, according to the association of state dam safety officials, it is estimated that nonfederallyowned dams throughout our nation represent 96 of all dams in the United States, and would need more than 60 billion to sufficiently repair, which is onethird of the cost that is urgently needed to repair the high hazard dams identified by the association. This demonstrate s ths that the is great across our nation. And that is why i greatly appreciate the chairmans willingness to continue prioritizing