The biennial Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) is underway for 2024. It is expected to be considered by the House of Representatives in the May–June time frame, with the hope of enacting a final law by September.
The Senate’s process is already underway, considering Members’ WRDA 2024 requests. As stakeholders worked to identify their priorities, Waterways Council, Inc. (WCI) focused specifically on an issue that is presenting significant challenges to the future of the inland waterways’ construction program.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) allocated $2.5 billion to inland waterways lock and dam priority navigation projects across the system, funding seven projects to completion. However, given the challenges of inflation, supply chain delays and a lagging workforce, those navigation projects now require additional funds to be considered on the path to completion.
WCI’s WRDA 2024 request is to adhere to Congress’s intent in IIJA to complete those construction and major rehabilitation projects and that they be funded 100% by the federal treasury and not cost-shared as the rest of navigation projects currently are via a fuel tax on towboat operators.
Ensuring the cost of these projects remains 100% federally funded will allow the nation to realize economic return more quickly, reduce the supply chain’s environmental footprint and address uncertainty in global agriculture and energy markets.
America’s inland waterways remain critical to the nation’s supply chain. They are a competitive conduit to American farmers who help feed the world, shippers, manufacturers, steel and energy producers, agribusinesses, constructors, towboat operators and consumers.
The nation must continue to invest in inland waterways’ locks and dams and channel maintenance to create and sustain jobs, strengthen the US balance of trade in the agriculture sector, keep the lights on with US energy products and modernize our inland waterways transportation system to remain world-class.