Some concerns in water infrastructure spending

Taxpayers for Common Sense has raised some concerns on water infrastructure spending in the economic “stimulus” bill.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructs large water projects (dams, levees, pumping sand on beaches) across the country. In the stimulus bill the agency receives $4.5 billion, nearly doubling their annual budget.

In FY08 the agency received $5.6 billion, the FY09 budget has not been finalized. The major areas of funding emphasis are doubled: construction ($2 billion stimulus; $2.3 billion FY08) and operations and maintenance ($2.225 billion stimulus; $2.2 billion FY08). Additionally, the Corps has received billions in emergency/supplemental funding to help expedite construction of flood and storm damage reduction projects in New Orleans and coastal Louisiana.

The bill provides little prescription as to what should be funded and where. Funding is supposed to go to projects that have already received funding, but considering the spread a little funding to a lot of projects approach Congress has taken over the years, that is hardly a limiting restriction. There is also general guidance to prioritize projects that can be executed quicker, can be completed in the next two years and are more labor intensive, but nothing requires that certain projects be prioritized or that concentrating construction resources on major rehabilitation instead of new construction. Read the full story.

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