Today the Corps of Engineers released its FY24 Work Plan for allocating funds provided in the FY24 Energy & Water Development (E&WD) appropriations bill, which funds the Corps’ Civil Works mission in addition to U.S. Department of Energy programs. The program scored two huge wins in the plan: record-level funding of $456 million for inland waterways construction projects and no cost-share requirement for that funding from the Inland Waterways Trust Fund (IWTF).
The Corps selected four inland construction projects to receive their appropriation from Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) funding. This increases the total amount of inland waterways funding provided from the BIL by $343 million for a total of $2.843 billion. Because none of the funding included in FY24 requires a match from the IWTF, approximately $160 million will be available for future use from the IWTF. This sets the inland waterways construction program up for future success by increasing resources available to address cost escalations. The Construction projects receiving funding in the Work Plan are:
- MKARNS Three Rivers: $103,170,000 (complete physical construction and fiscally close out the project)
- Navigation & Ecosystem Sustainability Program (NESP) Navigation: $75,000,000
- Lower Monongahela: $41,000,000
- Chickamauga Lock: $236,800,000 (complete physical construction and fiscally close out the project)
The Work Plan included funding for two inland waterway studies in the Investigations account: $800,000 to continue the feasibility study for Bayou Sorrell and $500,000 to initiate a study to evaluate deepening the J. Bennett Johnston Waterway, both in Louisiana. The Work Plan also provided $368 million for the Mississippi River and Tributaries (MR&T), including an additional $10 million for dredging the Mississippi River. Total allocations for MR&T channels and harbors are:
- Channel Improvement, Dredging, AR, IL, KY, LA, MS, MO & TN: $21,403,000
- Helena Harbor, AR: $580,000
- Baton Rouge Harbor, Devils Swamp, LA: $564,000
- Greenville Harbor, MS: $1,234,000
- Vicksburg Harbor, MS: $1,244,000
- Memphis Harbor, McKellar Lake, TN: $2,435,000
While the FY24 Work Plan offers great outcomes for the inland waterways construction program, without passage of the FY24 E&WD appropriations bill, the program could have faced devastating consequences of little funding, the mothballing of projects, and lengthening timelines for completion. WCI expressed its thanks to Congress for passage of the FY24 appropriations bill earlier this year. We thank the Corps of Engineers for their efforts on this Work Plan that significantly moves modernization of the inland waterways forward.
Learn more about the FY24 Work Plan here.
