Ocean shipping: AAPA calls for members to 'urge override' for Bush's veto of the Water Resources Development Act

Jeff Berman, Senior Editor -- Logistics Management, 11/5/2007

ALEXANDRIA, Va.—Despite being approved by wide margins by the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate, HR 1495, the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2007, was vetoed by President George W. Bush late last week.

The WRDA was initially introduced in May and sponsored by Representative James Oberstar (D-MN), with the objective to provide for the conservation and development of water and related resources, to authorize the Secretary of the Army to construct various projects for improvements to rivers and harbors of the United States, and for other purposes. According to the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA), the bill would also authorize critically needed legislation to advance water resources projects throughout the United States, including those that would improve navigation, repair hurricane damage, restore wetlands, and prevent flooding. The AAPA added that it addresses a seven-year backlog of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers programs for initiatives like navigation projects, and policies and procedures that are needed to keep pace with today’s burgeoning trade.

The fact that President Bush vetoed this bill does not come as a huge surprise. Earlier this year, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said it estimated that this bill would cost $15 billion and possibly more including discretionary spending. The OMB noted that this bill increases the Federal cost-share for many projects, authorizes projects outside of the three main missions of the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) civil works program, and fails to ensure that projects yield high economic and environmental returns. It also noted that the additional spending authorized in this bill, such as provisions for local wastewater and drinking water infrastructure projects, is unacceptable.”

In September, AAPA President Kurt Nagle countered the OMB’s claim of excessive costs by pointing out that a main reason the bill’s price tag is so steep is because of its seven-year backlog, coupled with the fact that as maritime transportation and infrastructure projects have continually been delayed, project costs have increased over time. He also explained that these are projects that have gone through very detailed analysis and have been deemed to be critical to the United States beyond just the ports and maritime trade industries.

The AAPA said today it is asking its 86 member ports in the U.S. “to act quickly and decisively to ensure members of Congress understand the importance of voting to override the President's WRDA bill veto.” The House and Senate are expected to vote on overriding this bill early this week.

The AAPA said in September that there are several projects and provisions in this legislation that will augment port waterside infrastructure needs, including projects for navigation channel deepening, dredged material disposal and storage facilities, and policy provisions that will aid the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers implementation process. Among the policy provisions the AAPA said it supports are expanding the use of Corps dredges in the Pacific Northwest and also providing for joint federal/local legal liability for project cooperation agreements.

Nagle told Logistics Management that the biggest potential takeaway of this legislation is that it has finally been able to “break away” from at least a five year impasse, considering the WRDA legislation is supposed to be biennial.

“This allows for allows both for some projects to be authorized to move forward and also to take concrete steps to improving our water-side infrastructure to accommodate increasing trade being handled by larger vessels,” said Nagle. “And it has reached a settlement in terms of what the policies and procedures are…related to the Corps engineers moving forward on worthy projects.”

Nagle added that this represents a significant step in moving forward and allowing waterside infrastructure initiatives to take the beginning steps to keep up with the demands on the United States’ domestic maritime transportation system, as well as the country’s overall transportation infrastructure, with the maritime- and water-side being a major part of that as it relates to international trade.