Congresswoman Lois Frankel voted today for the bipartisan Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA). The measure overwhelmingly passed the House by a vote of 412 to 4 and will now go to the Senate for approval.

WRRDA authorizes the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to proceed on important water infrastructure projects – including those in Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Tampa, Jacksonville, and all over the nation.  Historically, Congress has passed this legislation every two years, but no bill has been signed into law since 2007, creating a backlog of projects across the country.  Without WRRDA, these projects cannot be eligible for future federal funding and cannot break ground.  Once authorized under WRRDA, projects can seek federal funds through the annual budget process, as long as the project has local matching funds.

“This is a major bipartisan effort that will promote millions of jobs and mean billions of dollars in economic impact for our nation.   I am especially excited to see the advancement of the widely-supported expansion of Port Everglades and restoration of our Everglades,” said Frankel.

Port Everglades is the 12th leading container port in the U.S. and is considered a South Florida economic powerhouse. It is in an international race to deepen the port in order to accommodate the larger post-Panamax ships. Its expansion, allowing for an anticipated increase in cargo, is projected to mean thousands of more jobs in the region and millions of dollars in economic impact.

The Florida Everglades is the largest subtropical wetland in North America and the source of drinking water to 7 million people.  WRRDA will allow several restorations projects to move forward with the 30-year plan to clean the water, and improve water storage and flow.

Also included in the WRRDA, because of a timely Chief's Report, is a dredging project first proposed in 1998 for the Port of Palm Beach. Port of Palm Beach is the fourth busiest container port in Florida, and the eighteenth busiest in the continental United States, and is a major nodal point for the shipment of bulk sugar, molasses, cement, utility fuels, water, produce and break-bulk items. It shares the Lake Worth Inlet with a heavily used recreational area known as Peanut Island as well as the Town of Palm Beach.

Due to this proximity and feared damage to the environment, marine life, and dramatic change in the character of the waterway, this project is a mired in controversy and threatened lawsuits. "With that said, because of the apparent lack of community support for the expansion of the Port of Palm Beach, my vote should not be construed as support for that project. Moving forward, our first priority should be to first do no harm, without degradation of our environment or quality of life,” said Frankel. "It should be a local community decision as to what uses dominate the intracoastal waterway in the Lake Worth inlet, and I urge the Port of Palm Beach, Town of Palm Beach, County Commission and other interested stakeholders to come to a joint resolution."

For the first time in history, Congress has not permitted itself to insert named projects in the WRRDA legislation, instead relying on completed Chief’s Reports to be the determining factor as to whether a project gets authorized.

To advance projects that have not yet received Army Corps approval, Congresswoman Frankel worked with colleagues to include a provision in the bill allowing those projects to proceed without federal authorization, using non-federal money once they receive the Army Corps Chief’s Report.  This will allow the Port Everglades expansion, and the Central Everglades Planning Project (CEPP), that have been stalled in the approval process to move forward, seeking Federal reimbursement at a later date.

WRRDA touches upon almost every part of our national economy. Nearly one-third of our Gross Domestic Product comes from international trade, with 99 percent of that trade moving through the ports.  Approximately $1.4 trillion worth of goods move each year through U.S. ports, and 30 million jobs are related to international trade, along with $200 billion in federal, state and local tax revenue generated by the ports.

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