I am in my seventh year as Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works. During this time I have traveled to our 38 Civil Works districts nationwide, toured our research and analysis centers of expertise, and visited our five overseas Army Corps of Engineers districts.
The Corps of Engineers Civil Works program touches the lives of nearly every American. If you live near a waterway, chances are there is a levee, a floodwall or a lock that reduces the risk of flooding. Maybe you fish at a Corps lake, camp at a Corps recreation site, or a port in your state is dredged and maintained by the Corps.
The Corps has faced many challenges in the past, Mississippi and Missouri River floods and Hurricanes the scale of Katrina, Isaac, and Sandy. The future is sure to present more - strong and volatile weather due to climate change and what to do as our infrastructure continues to age. We will meet these challenges by preparing, protecting, modernizing, and partnering with our stakeholders, and by doing so, protect the American people.
PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE
The Corps is the first line of defense against disasters and climate change. The work that the Corps did to get communities back on their feet after Superstorm Sandy was incredible. We placed on identified beaches in Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia to restore dunes and berms enough sand to fill the Empire State Building 24 times. We faced challenges like unwatering (removing water from where it is not supposed to be) five subway tubes, two Amtrak tunnels and three of New York City's primary roadways, including the longest coastal tunnel in North America. We removed 475 million gallons of water, the equivalent of 720 Olympic size swimming pools. We rose to overcome these challenges, and we inspired other agencies and organizations that worked with us.
When response transitioned to recovery, we were ready. We made sure shoreline project repair and restoration began as soon as possible. We identified a set of structural, non-structural and programmatic measures to manage risk and promote resilience for approximately 31,000 miles of coastline, from New Hampshire to Virginia.
We are rebuilding in a way that addresses existing and future risks and vulnerabilities and promotes the long-term sustainability of communities and ecosystems. Extreme weather events are being factored into our planning and we are pursuing innovative approaches to prepare communities for the impacts of coastal storms.
Sustainability must be key when preparing for the future. We are improving our sustainability by increasing renewable energy by 25% of agency total consumption by FY 2025, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 20% by FY 2025, and reducing GHG emissions from agency non-tactical vehicles by 30% by FY 2025.
For four years now the Corps has executed an internal Sustainability Awards Program to recognize and reward excellence for helping us reach our sustainability goals. Winners are selected in six categories, all of which go on to compete in the annual GreenGov Presidential Awards Program. The Corps has received 3 Green Gov Awards in the last 2 years.
PROTECTING FOR THE FUTURE
We are also restoring and protecting our Nation's waters for the future. In an historic step to protect the clean water that Americans depend on, the Army and the Environmental Protection Agency finalized the Clean Water Rule in the spring of 2015, clarifying what waters are protected under the Clean Water Act. The rule is based on sound science, public input, and is consistent with the law and Supreme Court rulings.
We are also protecting by restoring ecosystems. The Obama Administration has invested $2.2 million in Everglades restoration. Of this total, $985 million has been invested by the Corps' to restore America's Everglades. The 18,000 sq miles is the largest restoration project in the world and there have been 10 groundbreakings of ecosystem restoration projects since 2009. By restoring more natural flows through the Everglades we will help mitigate the impact of climate change by recharging aquifers and preventing salt-water intrusion. In advance of congressional appropriations, the Corps has worked alongside our partner, South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), and not let bureaucracy slow us down. Together we are re-examining completed Corps projects with designs that did not address climate changes and are updating the Central and South Florida projects with the new sea level rise projection.
We updated the system protecting New Orleans as well, and factored in 50 years of sea level rise. Since Hurricane Katrina, the Corps has provided New Orleans with the highest level of risk reduction in its history with the Hurricane and Storm Risk Reduction System. To date, we have spent $12.6 billion, making sure New Orleans is protected for the next climate event.
The Los Angeles River is the backbone of an 870-square-mile watershed. It once anchored a system of riparian and freshwater marsh habitat that carried seasonal rains and subterranean flows across the coastal plain to the Pacific Ocean. Over time, a cycle of urban development, flooding, and channelization has diminished aquatic and riparian habitat, reduced plant and wildlife diversity, and disconnected the LA River from its historic floodplain and nearby significant ecological zones. This past year, the Chief of Engineers signed a report recommending the ecosystem restoration of an 11-miles stretch of the Los Angeles River from Griffith Park to Downtown Los Angeles; California.
The plan includes restoration of habitat within 719 acres within and adjoining the river.
This year we also memorialized a path forward towards the critical restoration of the Caño Martín Peña ecosystem in Puerto Rico. Caño Martín Peña is a 3.5 mile long natural tidal channel located in the heart of the San Juan Bay Estuary that provides a vital connection between the San Juan Bay and the San José Lagoon. The accumulation of debris and the encroachment of housing and other structures in recent years has prevented water from flowing properly through the canal, significantly degrading the natural habitat in San José Lagoon. In addition, untreated sewage that enters the canal cannot be flushed out and heavy rainfall causes this contaminated water to infiltrate adjacent communities, posing serious health threats to residents.
The restoration involves the dredging of approximately 2.2 miles of the eastern end of the canal, which will provide significant ecosystem restoration benefits that protect the adjoining communities from the future effects of climate change.
Without federal assistance, it was expected that the Caño Martín Peña would continue to deteriorate, resulting in a complete blockage of the canal. Thanks to the hard work of the Corps and our partners, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the Corporacion del Proyecto ENLACE del Caño Martin Peña, we will restore this aquatic ecosystem.
MODERNIZING FOR THE FUTURE
This past year the Corps updated the 1988 handbook, "Synchronizing Environmental Reviews for Transportation and Other Infrastructure Projects" ("Red Book"), which was originally written to promote effective and efficient interagency coordination for the National Environmental Policy Act and other regulatory reviews, and provide a means for concurrent reviews. The updated Red Book improves and modernizes synchronization by providing information to facilitate more widespread adoption of the concurrent review practice.
The Corps also looked to the future by modernizing our planning program SMART Planning. We have implemented This more time efficient, and cost-effective upgrade will eventually be an agency wide standard. Since time is of the essence with climate resilience measures, this modernization is perfectly timed.
In late 2011, the Obama Adminsitration launched the We Can't Wait Federal Infrastructure Projects Dashboard, where the federal permitting and environmental review process are tracked for expedited high priority infrastructure projects; projects that will create a significant number of jobs, have necessary funding, and where the steps remaining before construction are within the control and jurisdiction of the federal government. The Charleston Harbor Deepening Study is an example of success with both the Administration's expedited "We Can't Wait" infrastructure streamlining initiative and the Corps' new SMART Planning process. The original estimated time and cost for the study and associated environmental reviews and permits was more than 7 years and $20 million dollars. The Corps' new planning process, along with close collaboration with state and Federal partner agencies, cut that timeline and cost nearly in half, to 4 years and around $11 million.
Looking to the future, to keep our Nation competitive, the Corps has been deepening ports to accommodate the larger ships that will be traveling through an expanded Panama Canal. Of the eight Corps projects listed on the aforementioned Obama Administration's "We Can't Wait" Dashboard, five of them are ports:
-- Miami Harbor
-- New York/New Jersey Harbor
-- Charleston Harbor Post-45 Deepening Study
-- Savannah Harbor Expansion Project
-- Jacksonville Harbor (Channel Deepening Study)
All of these port related activities will be completed this summer.
PARTNERING FOR THE FUTURE
Partnership and leveraging relationships and resources is critical for success in the future. We have fostered, strengthened, and expanded on our partnerships with communities, tribes, states, and stakeholders.
One example of a fulfilling partnership is the Veterans Curation Program. Created by the Corps in 2009, at labs in Alexandria, Virginia; and St. Louis; and one in Augusta, Georgia. It is an innovative program that has helped over 200 veterans of all services gain a variety of new skills. The veterans spend five months learning modern archiving techniques, including processing, photographing, rehabilitating and rehousing prehistoric and historic artifacts. Artifacts range from stone tools and projectile points, to pottery sherds, clay smoking pipe pieces and military insignia, which have been discovered by archaeologists at more than 400 Corps projects over the last century. Over 150 of them have since found permanent employment or enrolled in university and certificate programs.
Our veterans have done more to forge our national identity throughout history through their service and sacrifice for the nation. The Army Corps of Engineers is proud of its long tradition of service to America. The Veterans Curation Program demonstrates the Corps and this Administration's commitment and long term investment in veterans, partnerships, and historic preservation.
This summer a new lab will open on the Colville Reservation, in Washington state. The Corps, in partnership with the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, is creating a tribal Veterans Curation Program laboratory. This facility will employ Native American veterans. They will be processing the Chief Joseph Dam archaeological collections, which are significant to the Tribe and the Corps.
We have a constitutional Federal Trust Responsibility to tribes. Federal agencies strive to protect Indian rights and people from adverse impacts of our programs, projects, and activities, and ensure that Indian nations are given opportunities to participate in, and receive the benefits of, federal water resources programs.
The Corps recognizes and respects the reserved rights of the Tribes and our obligation to consult whenever our actions may impact Tribal rights, interests, and culture. We will continue our meaningful partnership and collaboration with the Tribes of this Nation.
Our relationship grows stronger with our District and Division Tribal Liaisons. The Tribal Liaison Program has helped us meet our Federal Trust Responsibility to tribes. A Tribal Nations Community of Practice has been established in the Albuquerque district, so that Corps employees can share information and expertise across the organization with the goal of fulfilling our Federal Trust responsibilities. For example, this year the Albuquerque District and Zia Pueblo entered into a watershed assessment, under the Tribal Partnership Program. The assessment will address the public concerns expressed by the Pueblo including habitat degradation, water availability and agricultural uses, and sedimentation and erosion problems within the Jemez River watershed and is a recent success in expanding our partnerships among Native American communities.
We continue to consistently deliver innovative, resilient, risk informed solutions to the Nation's most complex water resource challenges.
Through preparation, protection, innovation, modernization and partnerships, we will continue to reduce flood risks to communities, continue to provide the world's most reliable marine transportation system, and restore aquatic ecosystems, all adding value to this great nation.
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