House OKs bill lowering cost of Army Corps projects in NMI

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The House of Representatives took final action yesterday on a bill that will significantly cut the local cost of some water infrastructure projects in the Northern Mariana Islands, passing the measure 412–4. The Water Resources Reform and Development Act contains a provision added by Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) that will adjust the waiver of local cost sharing for Army Corps of Engineers projects on the islands from the current $200,000 to over $400,000. The bill also provides new eligibility for the Northern Marianas to receive funding to protect shorelines and areas vulnerable to flooding.

“The waiver of the first $200,000 of the local cost share for Corps projects was set in 1986,” explained Sablan. “And with inflation over the last 28 years the value of that $200,000 has been cut in half.

“The provision I added to WRRDA will require the Army Corps to recalculate the waiver amount, adjusting for inflation. So the waiver should be on the first $400,000 or so, once the Corps makes the new calculation.

“Or to put it another way, an Army Corps project will now be able to go forward in the Northern Marianas without the need for $400,000 in local funds.”

Recent Army Corps projects in the CNMI have included improvements to the Rota Harbor completed in 2008 and the ongoing Susupe-Chalan Kanoa Drainage Plan to fix flooding in those two villages. On the drawing boards are the Outer Cove Marina and the Saipan Lagoon Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration projects.

The 412-4 vote on passage reflects the bipartisan nature of the Water Resources Reform and Development Act. But it took over a year to bring the bill to this point. The Senate passed a version in May 2013 and the House in October, five months later. Then the bill sat, waiting for appointment of conference committee members to work out differences between the House and Senate bills.

In November 2013, Sablan joined 29 colleagues from both sides of the aisle in a letter urging Speaker John Boehner and Democrat Leader Nancy Pelosi to appoint conferees, which the two party leaders soon did. But it took another six months for the conference committee to find common ground and file their final version of the bill, H.R. 3080, which the House approved today.

The Senate may vote on final passage and send the bill to the President for signature by the end of this week.

“I am very grateful to Chairman Bill Shuster and to his Democratic counterpart on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Nick Rahall, who helped get our special provisions for the Northern Mariana Islands into the larger bill,” Sablan said. “They also both deserve congratulations for putting together a complicated package of legislation that only four House Members voted against.”

It has been seven years since the last water resources bill was enacted. (Office of the Delegate)