Arkansas Water Projects Pass Congress

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Members of the Arkansas Congressional Delegation today announced that an annual spending bill containing millions of dollars in federal funding for Arkansas water projects has been finalized by Congress. The FY 2004 Energy and Water Appropriations Conference Report passed the House and Senate last night, and is now expected to be signed into law by President Bush.

The six members of the Arkansas Congressional Delegation who fought for the projects announced today are as follows: Senators Blanche Lincoln (D) and Mark Pryor (D), Representatives Marion Berry (D 1st), Vic Snyder (D 2nd), John Boozman (R 3rd), and Mike Ross (D 4th).

The legislation provides $5 million for the Delta Regional Authority (DRA), an increase of $3 million over the Bush Administration's original budget proposal. The DRA is a resource for coordinating federal, state and local initiatives for economic development in the Lower Mississippi Delta region. The DRA provides grants to its nine member states to boost development in Delta communities and to encourage private sector investment in the region.

The legislation provides $150,000 to Lyon College in Batesville for laboratory instruments and equipment to be used for instructional purposes for faculty and student research at the Derby Center for Science and Mathematics. In addition, the legislation authorizes the Corps of Engineers to increase depth from 9 feet to 12 feet in sections of the McClellan Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System.

At Senator Blanche Lincoln's request, the House and Senate Conferees have directed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, using previously appropriated funds, to continue construction of the water withdrawal features of the Grand Prairie Irrigation project. This important irrigation project protects groundwater resources within a 1.4 million acre area, which includes nearly 50 percent of all rice production acreage in the nation.

The annual Energy and Water spending bill includes funding for civil works projects of the Army Corps of Engineers, the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation, most of the Department of Energy, and a number of independent agencies. The legislation includes funding for key Arkansas water projects at various stages of development, and the following (listed by project type) were increases over the President's budget requests due to efforts by members of the Arkansas Congressional Delegation:

Planning & Investigations

• Arkansas River Levees, $200,000. This funding would be used to complete the study of two levees in question and prepare plans and specifications for the Van Buren Levee and Floodwall system. The floodwall and levee was one of those identified in the 1991 Arkansas River Basin, Arkansas and Oklahoma, feasibility report, which determined that rehabilitation of 13 levees in Arkansas would be justified to bring them into compliance with Federal standards;
• Red River Navigation, Southwest Arkansas, $150,000. A feasibility study initiated on March 24, 1999 to investigate the potential to extend the navigation from Shreveport/Bossier, LA to Index, AR is scheduled to be completed in September, 2003. This effort would expand the economic opportunities for the region through increased transportation and shipping. FY04 funding would be used to initiate preconstruction, engineering and design.
• Hot Springs Creek Study, $31,000;
• White River Comprehensive Study (AR & MO), $1 million;
• White River Minimum Flows, $150,000;
• White River Navigation to Newport, $150,000;
• Southeast Arkansas irrigation project (Boeuf Tensas project), $250,000;
• Pine Mountain Lake, $150,000 for water supply planning;
• May Branch, Fort Smith, $100,000 for flood control planning;
• Dark Hollow, North Little Rock, $200,000;
• Arkansas River Navigation Study (AR & OK), $1.2 million;
• Bayou Meto, $500,000.

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