Infrastructure
Total Cuts: $6 billion

For nearly two centuries, the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) has been a way for lawmakers to bring government-funded construction projects back to their home district. The agency constructs water infrastructure projects dealing with navigation, flood and storm damage reduction, and environmental restoration. In many cases, however, the projects the Corps pursues are undertaken not because they serve the national interest, but because of a lawmaker’s political power. Many Corps projects are economically wasteful. By focusing on structural solutions like dams and levees, the Corps often ignores alternatives that are just as effective but less costly for taxpayers. Over the last several years, Corps projects have been criticized by the National Academy of Science, Government Accountability Office (GAO), and even the U.S. Army Inspector General. While there are many questionable Corps projects, some deserve special attention because they are solely the product of political calculations in Congress, and are especially wasteful of taxpayer dollars.

Cuts Include:

St. Johns Bayou Basin/New Madrid Floodway Project – Missouri
Cut: $80 million

Inner Harbor Navigation Canal (Industrial Canal) Lock Replacement Project – Louisiana
Cut: $1.1 billion

Upper Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway Navigation Expansion Project
Cut: $2.1 billion

Grand Prairie Area Demonstration Project – Arkansas
Cut: $110 million

Delaware River Deepening Project – New Jersey and Delaware
Cut: $230 million

Fort Worth Central City Project – Texas
Cut: $81 million

Dallas Floodway Extension
Cut: $160 million

Environmental Infrastructure
Cut: $1.4 billion

Dare County Beaches, North Carolina (Bodie Island Portion)
Cut: $830 million
 

Infrastructure
Total Cuts: $6 billion

St. Johns Bayou Basin/New Madrid Floodway Project – Missouri
Cut: $80 million**

Any notion the St. Johns/New Madrid Floodway project was a good idea was washed away when the Corps responded to record flood heights threatening Cairo, Illinois by blasting the Birds Point levee on May 2, 2011, sending the Mississippi River cascading down the 130,000 acre natural floodway. The New Madrid Floodway is one of the last remaining natural floodways on the river, yet for years the Corps has sought to build levees and pumping stations to cut it off from the river. This flood protection project would actually increase flooding risks while inducing development in the floodway; costing taxpayers millions more in damages the next time the floodway is operated.

**Cut number is the balance necessary to complete the St. John’s Feature and the full cost of the MRL Closure Feature.

Inner Harbor Navigation Canal (Industrial Canal) Lock Replacement Project – Louisiana
Cut: $1.1 billion

The Industrial Canal is a manmade waterway running through New Orleans that connects the Missis-sippi River and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. For years Congressional representatives from Louisiana have earmarked federal funds to continue the Army Corps of Engineers’ efforts to replace the existing lock with a longer, deeper lock suitable for ocean-going vessels. This in spite of the fact that increased barge traffic and traffic delays predicted by the Corps have not only failed to materialize, but traffic has actually decreased. In addition the original Corps economic analysis found the deep draft lock was not the most economically beneficial project for the lock, but recommended it be constructed because of the willingness of the Port of New Orleans to shoulder a higher share of the costs. The Port has since pulled out of this agreement, leaving federal taxpayers holding the bill.

Upper Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway Navigation Expansion Project
Cut: $2.1 billion

Despite continued decreases in barge traffic, cost-overruns, and a history of wildly exaggerated eco-nomic assumptions, the Army Corps of seeks to spend billions constructing new and enlarged navigation locks on the Upper Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway. The Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway Navigation Expansion Project is mainly just a fix for occasional barge transportation delays that occur at river locks during high traffic times. The Corps of claims that seven brand new, longer locks, at the low, low price of more than $2 billion, will solve our rush hour problem and also prepare for a ridiculously optimistic increase in barge transportation on these waterways. In 2000, the U.S. Army Inspector General found that Corps economists were ordered to exaggerate the demand for future barge traffic, and several Corps officials were slapped on the wrist. In addition, the National Academy of Sciences has consistently criticized the Corps’ plans to build the new locks, saying that the Corps should pursue cheaper measures like scheduling, tradable lockage fees, and helper boats, before even contemplating spending money on new or expanded locks. By implementing these alternative solutions taxpayers could get improved efficiency of the Upper Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway at a fraction of the cost.

Grand Prairie Area Demonstration Project – Arkansas
Cut: $110 million

The Grand Prairie Area Demonstration Project is a subsidized pump to provide subsidized water to grow subsidized crops and would be a first-step by the Corps of Engineers into the agriculture irrigation business. A century of unsustainable irrigation for rice farming in eastern Arkansas has left the area’s main irrigation aquifer severely depleted and is now threatening the region’s deeper drinking water aquifer. Rather than promoting proven efficiency and conservation techniques on the area’s farms, the Corps of Engineers proposes building a pumping station and 650-mile long canal and pipeline system to draw water from the White River.

Delaware River Deepening Project – New Jersey and Delaware
Cut: $230 million

Despite opposition from the states of Delaware and New Jersey, the Army Corps of Engineers continues to pursue the uneconomical deepening of the Delaware River’s main channel. The project, which would increase the River’s depth to 45 feet from 40 feet for 105 miles, is intended to attract deeper draft cargo ships. In reality the ships aren’t going to come and the reduced transportation costs for a handful of oil refineries does not offset the heavy price tag of the project. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has repeatedly criticized the Corps’ economic assumptions underlying this project.

Fort Worth Central City Project – Texas
Cut: $81 million

The Central City project is just one portion of a larger project know as the Trinity River Vision, the total cost of which has increased to nearly $1 billion. The Central City Project is an Army Corps of Engineers flood control effort to reroute the Trinity River in Fort Worth, Texas through construction of a new dam, a 1.5 mile long bypass channel, and numerous flood gates in order to create an urban waterfront community. The Army Corps of Engineers is slated to pick up $110 million of the $435 million Central City tab, with other federal and local taxpayer sources making up the rest. The Corps should better utilize its flood control dollars, rather than spending millions on speculative development.

Dallas Floodway Extension
Cut: $160 million

Neighboring the Fort-Worth Central City project (below), the Dallas Floodway Extension, Trinity River Project is a Corps flood control project on the Trinity River. Under this project the Corps seeks to extend existing levees while cutting a 600-foot wide swath (swale) through the Great Trinity Forest. The project’s principal economic justification is increased flood control for downtown Dallas. Yet, most of these benefits could be obtained for a fraction of the project cost by simply raising one of the existing Dallas levees and conducting a voluntary buyout in flood prone neighborhoods. This would provide the most effective flood protection for the area, with dramatically less impact to the floodplain.

Environmental Infrastructure
Cut: $1.4 billion

The Army Corps of Engineers’ Environmental Infrastructure program duplicates and undermines other more cost-effective and accountable governmental programs. Under this program, Congress designates a state, city, or county for environmental infrastructure funding, which includes municipal water supply, drinking water treatment, and wastewater treatment projects. Congress then provides grants for 65% of the costs for unspecified water projects in these areas with no strings attached. The necessity, value, and effectiveness of these projects is difficult to determine because they are not subject to standard economic analyses. The water projects funded under this program are not the legislated primary mission areas for the Corps (navigation, flood and storm damage reduction, and environmental restoration), but instead directly compete with those missions for limited funding.

Dare County Beaches, North Carolina
(Bodie Island Portion)
Cut: $830 million

The Dare County Beaches project would pump sand to maintain a 14.1 mile stretch of beach in North Carolina’s Outer banks for fifty years. This project costs more than $1.6 billion, with approximately $94 million in initial construction and more than $1.5 billion in “future nourishment” activities = pumping of sand onto the beach after waves inevitably remove it. More than half of the cost will be borne by federal taxpayers.

Note: Figures are the balance needed to complete the projects according to resources produced by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Fort Worth District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Memphis District, , Corps of Engineers – New Orleans District, , U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Philadelphia District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Wilmington District, Nicollet Island Coalition