The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers delivered to Congress its Fiscal Year 2024 Work Plan for the Army Civil Works Program May 10, 2024.
“The FY 2024 Work Plan for Army Civil Works continues this administration’s ongoing commitment to fund crucial infrastructure projects and build resilience in a changing climate. Its investments in our coastal ports and inland waterways will strengthen the economy and help maintain our farmers’ competitive advantage in the global marketplace. Resources are also dedicated to ensure the resumption of full operations at Baltimore Harbor, re-opening a critical port for the nation’s trade and commerce,” said Michael Connor, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works.
On March 9, 2024, President Biden signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024, Public Law 118-42, of which Division D is the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024. The act provides $8.681 billion in appropriations for the Army Civil Works Program. Today, the Army is announcing the FY 2024 Work Plan, which will fund studies and projects in 50 states, four territories, and the District of Columbia, including communities with environmental justice concerns.
Of the $8.681 billion in appropriations provided for the Army Civil Works Program in the act, approximately $8.2 billion is appropriated across five accounts ― Investigations, Construction, Operation and Maintenance, Mississippi River and Tributaries, and the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program.
The Joint Explanatory Statement – Division D report, Title I – Corps of Engineers – Civil, Department of the Army (Joint Explanatory Statement) that accompanies the act allocates approximately $7.581 billion of the total for these five accounts to specific Programs, Projects and Activities. The Army is responsible for allocating the remainder in these accounts, approximately $1.1 billion to specific Programs, Projects and Activities, consistent with the categories, subcategories, and other direction provided in the act, the Joint Explanatory Statement, and applicable law and policy.
The remaining $484 million in the FY 2024 Civil Works appropriations provides funding in the Expenses, Regulatory, Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Program Account, and Flood Control and Coastal Emergencies accounts, as well as funding for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works.
The Army Civil Works Program funds the planning, design, construction, and operation and maintenance of water resources projects, with a focus on the highest performing work within the three main Civil Works mission areas: commercial navigation, flood and storm damage reduction, and aquatic ecosystem restoration. It also funds programs that contribute to protecting the nation’s waters and wetlands, generating low-cost renewable hydropower, cleaning certain sites contaminated as a result of the nation’s early atomic weapons development program, and preparing and training for emergency responses to natural disasters.
The FY 2024 Work Plan being announced today includes funding for 284 projects and studies, in 50 states, four territories, and for multiple Tribes. These investments are currently assisting local communities to improve their resilience in the face of global climate change and are
providing improvements to boost coastal ports and the inland waterways. With this funding, the Army has also engaged with environmental justice communities in the development of a strategy targeting underserved and overburdened communities’ needs.
The additional funding not allocated by the Joint Explanatory Statement to specified Programs, Projects and Activities in the five appropriations is subdivided into numerous categories and subcategories within these broad areas, including:
· Commercial Navigation: $827 million
· Flood Risk Management: $23 million
· Other Authorized Project Purposes: $128 million
· Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program: $300 million
· Environmental Infrastructure: $18 million
· Environmental Restoration or Compliance: $16 million
· Donor and Energy Transfer Ports: $368 million
Ongoing work eligible for consideration for the additional funding generally includes Programs, Projects and Activities that can attain a significant milestone, complete a discrete segment of work, or produce significant outputs in FY 2024.
The Work Plan identifies the Programs, Projects and Activities within the Civil Works Program that will receive FY 2024 funding and how much each will receive. With the total funding for this fiscal year, the Work Plan funds to completion the preconstruction engineering and design phase for eight projects or separable elements of projects, and construction of seven projects or separable elements of projects.
Preconstruction Engineering and Design Funded for Completion in the FY 2024 Work Plan:
· Ecorse Creek, Michigan
· San Juan Metro Area, Puerto Rico
· Coastal Texas Protection and Restoration Study, Texas (Bolivar Peninsula ― East Bay on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway feature)
· River Des Peres, Missouri
· New York & New Jersey Harbor Deepening Channel Improvements, New York and New Jersey
· Willamette River Environmental Dredging, Oregon
· Tacoma Harbor, Washington
· Alaska Regional Ports (Port of Nome Modification), Alaska
Construction Projects Funded for Completion in the FY 2024 Work Plan:
· McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System, Three Rivers, Arkansas
· Brunswick Harbor Modifications, Georgia
· Little Wood River, Idaho
· Melvin Price Lock and Dam, Illinois and Missouri
· Magnolia, Ohio Dam Safety (Construction)
· Chickamauga Lock, Tennessee River, Tennessee
· Norfolk Harbor and Channels, Craney Island, Virginia (Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund)
The act also provided funding for a limited number of new studies and new projects, including those proposed in the budget. The Work Plan includes three previously unfunded studies within
the Investigations account, and one previously unfunded project within the Construction account.
Previously unfunded studies within the Investigations account in the FY 2024 Work Plan include:
· Shingle Creek and Kissimmee River, Florida
· Wailupe Stream Watershed, Hawaii
· Columbus, Kentucky
Previously unfunded projects within the Construction account in the FY 2024 Work Plan includes:
· Metro Louisville, Kentucky Flood Protection System
Additional details regarding the amounts provided to various programs, projects, and activities may be found at: https://www.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Budget/.
