House Adopts SEEC WRRDA Extreme Weather Provision
Washington, D.C.—Today, the House passed H.R. 3080, the Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA). The conference bill authorizes 34 water infrastructure projects and eight project modifications that provide for navigation of our waterways, flood protection, and environmental restoration.
These projects face an increased number of threats from extreme weather events such as floods and hurricanes. As Hurricane Sandy demonstrated and the recent National Climate Assessment detailed, areas in the northeastern United States have already seen a 71 percent increase in the amount of precipitation during periods of very heavy rainfall. Climate change will further exacerbate these types of events, resulting in significant damage to our communities.
Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC) Co-Chairs Gerry Connolly, Steve Israel, and Paul Tonko, along with SEEC Vice-Chair Rush Holt and Congressman Peter King, wrote to the WRRDA conferees to request that they adopt language in the conference report to study the risks extreme weather events pose to our nation’s infrastructure and provide recommendations for building techniques to reduce their impact. This language was ultimately included into the final conference report.
Following passage of WRRDA in the House, the co-chairs said:
“We are pleased conferees have included this important language in the final WRRDA legislation.
“Building weather-resilient infrastructure projects is common sense: it saves money and saves lives. Every $1 we invest to reduce the impact of natural disasters yields $4 in future benefits. As our climate changes and extreme weather events become more powerful, these benefits will only continue to grow.
“It is critical that we understand the nature of the risk posed by extreme weather events to our infrastructure and we equip ourselves with the tools necessary to adequately address these challenges. This study will allow the Army Corps of Engineers and non-federal partners to do just that, thereby ensuring that our nation’s water projects are built to withstand the extreme weather events.
“We commend conferees for the inclusion of this language and look forward to the results of this study.”
Letter to the conferees below.
November 18, 2013
The Honorable Barbara Boxer The Honorable Bill Shuster
Chairman, Committee on Environment Chairman, Committee on Transportation
and Public Works and Infrastructure
United States Senate United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20510 Washington, D.C. 20515
The Honorable David Vitter The Honorable Nick Rahall
Ranking Member, Committee on Environment Ranking Member, Committee on
and Public Works Transportation and Infrastructure
United States Senate United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20510 Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Chairman Boxer, Ranking Member Vitter, Chairman Shuster, and Ranking Member Rahall,
We congratulate you on the successful, bipartisan passage of your respective water resource bills. As you work toward developing a conference bill, we strongly encourage you to include language that would provide for a study and recommendations of extreme weather risk reduction techniques for water infrastructure projects.
During House consideration of the bill, we submitted a bipartisan amendment that would have directed the National Academies of Science to produce such a study and recommendations, mirroring section 11002 of the Senate-passed bill. Though this amendment was not considered in the House-passed legislation, we believe it merits inclusion in your conference report.
Both the House and Senate bills acknowledge the role water infrastructure projects play in reducing flood and storm damage from natural disasters. In fact, the Senate committee report aptly states that the objective of the bill is to authorize “water resources projects related to flood and storm risk reduction.” We can best accomplish this commendable goal by fully studying and understanding construction techniques that reduce the risk of damage from extreme weather events. These recommendations will better inform the Army Corps and non-federal entities about the best practices available to make our water infrastructure systems more resilient to these events and to ensure tax dollars are more effectively invested.
Extreme weather events, such as Hurricane Sandy, are demonstrating the need to plan for events once thought to have a one-in-500 chance of occurring. The devastation these events bring to our communities through destruction of property, disruption of business, and loss of life should be enough to compel Congressional action. We must do all we can to protect our communities from these dramatic impacts. One way to do that is through adopting weather-resilient infrastructure practices.
According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), “a dollar spent by FEMA on hazard mitigation (actions to reduce disasters) provides the nation about $4 in future benefits.” A study by Stanford and Loyola Marymount universities found a possibility of even greater savings, estimating that “$1 spent on preparedness is worth about $15 in terms of the future damage it mitigates.” The federal government should develop policies and encourage investments to incentivize preparedness planning that enhances community resiliency, preserves natural buffer systems, and improves public safety.
This legislation provides an important opportunity to do this. We respectfully request that you keep Section 11002 in the conference report and thank you for your consideration of our views as you work toward resolution on this important jobs and infrastructure legislation.
Sincerely,
_______________________________ _______________________________
Gerald E. Connolly, Member of Congress Steve Israel, Member of Congress
_______________________________ _______________________________
Peter King, Member of Congress Rush Holt, Member of Congress
_______________________________
Paul Tonko, Member of Congress