Chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Chair of the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment Grace F. Napolitano (D-CA), and Congressman Jesús G. "Chuy" García (D-IL) yesterday pressed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to finalize its implementation of modernized Principles, Requirements, and Guidelines (PR&G)—the criteria that the Corps uses to evaluate the benefits of a project.
In the Water Resources Development Act of 2020 (WRDA 2020), Congress directed the Corps to issue final agency procedures necessary to implement the new PR&G, which will maximize sustainable development, promote environmental justice, transparency, and meaningful engagement, and consider the full range of benefits for future water resources development projects. In January 2021, Chairs DeFazio and Napolitano urged the Corps to swiftly implement key provisions from WRDA 2020—including the modernized PR&G—in order to give the Biden administration the tools it needs to meet its resiliency and climate goals.
“In WRDA 2020, acknowledging that the Corps had still not implemented the PR&G into its missions, Congress included a provision that required the Secretary of the Army to issue final agency procedures to formally adopt the PR&G for the Corps,” the members wrote. “This legislation included a 180-day deadline for the issuance of these procedures, meaning they are now more than seven months late. We urge you to complete this work, now twice statutorily required, and implement these long-awaited updates.”
The members continued: “The impacts of the PR&G are not as simple as ‘modernization’ alone. These updates will allow the Corps to fully identify the national, regional, environmental, and societal benefits of future water resources development projects. They will promote better investment of federal funds by analyzing a broader range of long-term costs and benefits. The PR&G will increase community engagement and collaboration, leading to stronger local support and more desirable outcomes. They will also promote the consideration of climate change, extreme weather, and resiliency in studying and planning Corps projects. Project consideration will, in short, be far more inclusive and flexible.”
The members concluded by underscoring the importance of finalizing implementation of the PR&G in order to achieve the goals outlined in the Biden administration’s Build Back Better agenda, which includes being more comprehensive, more inclusive, and more economically, socially, and environmentally responsive to local needs.
The full letter can be found here.
