On September 18th, ASBPA Executive Director, Derek Brockbank, testified before the U.S. Senate Environment & Public Works (EPW) committee in the hearing, “Improving American Economic Competitiveness through Water Resources Infrastructure.” ASBPA explained the value of healthy beaches, dunes and wetlands to our coast, and spoke about how the Senate EPW Committee can support healthy coastlines:…
On July 10th, ASBPA Executive Director, Derek Brockbank, testified before the House Transportation & Infrastructure committee in the hearing “Water Resources Development Acts: Status of Implementation and Addressing Future Needs.” ASBPA called on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to manage the coastline to support four interconnected values: Protection from coastal storms, hazards and sea level…
The FY20 budget process is moving forward in the House of Representatives, with a few “mini-bus” bills that each include multiple appropriations expected to pass before July. Senate Majority Mitch McConnell leader has made it clear that the Senate won’t consider these Democratically led bills, and there has been very little effort in the Senate…
This episode of the Capitol Beach is an annotated “highlight reel” of presentations by the US Army Corps of Engineers at the recent National Coastal Summit hosted by American Shore and Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA). Most of the episode is Chief of Engineers, General Todd Semonite talking about how the Corps is changing to embrace…
With an FY2019 budget passed and another government shutdown avoided, we can begin to look toward the FY2020 appropriations. Process In normal years, the administration’s proposed budget would be out by now; it comes out shortly after the State of the Union. However, given the shutdown the proposal is unlikely to be out until mid-March….
Ten coastal projects that beneficially use dredge material have been chosen by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to be pilot projects as authorized by Section 1122 of the 2016 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA). After 95 projects were submitted by local communities and NGOs, on December 28th, USACE announced the chosen projects in the…
2018 Year in Review ASBPA’s 2018 Government Affairs agenda continued to focus on three main areas: 1) Federal Funding, including advocating for funding for coastal projects and coastal research, and changing policies and authorities to allow federal funding to be used for coastal resilience; 2) Expediting coastal projects through more efficient permitting and better integration…
The House and Senate have passed HR 5895, a “mini-omnibus” (a.k.a. “mini-bus”) of three appropriations bills, one of which is Energy & Water that includes funding for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). It is being sent to the president’s desk to be signed. The federal fiscal year ends September 30th, so this bill…
On September 10, House and Senate released America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018, which includes 4 titles related to water infrastructure. The first title is, essentially, a water resources development act (WRDA) that includes a number of provisions ASBPA supports (the remaining titles address clean drinking water, hydropower, and stormwater infrastructure financing, none of which ASBPA has…
UPDATE: Senate passes Energy and Water Appropriations Bill On June 25, the Senate passed HR 5895, the Energy & Water Appropriations Bill. The write-up below has been updated. ASBPA has been pleased to see the FY19 budget process moving forward. As part of the budget deal passed in February, Congress agreed to “spending caps” for…