Date: 2010-12-01
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I am pleased to rise to support H.R. 6184. a bill to extend through the end of 2016 the authority of the Secretary of the Army to accept funds from nonFederal public entities for the consideration of permits under the Clean Water Act and the Rivers and Harbor Act of 1899. This language is modeled after language included in the Water Resources Development Act of 2010 that was favorably approved by the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure in July of this year. And while I am disappointed that the larger water resources development bill is not likely to be enacted before the end of this Congress. I support the efforts of the gentleman from Washington to provide a 5year extension of the Corps section 214 permit review authority. The authority expires at the end of the current calendar year. and this legislation will continue the program through the end of December Madam Speaker. I support the inclusion of several commonsense reforms to the 214 program contained in this legislation which aim at addressing the potential conflict of interest that arises when a permittee can contribute funds to a government regulatory agency for review of its permit application. As chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment. I have joined with my chairman in carefully monitoring the implementation of this authority. While it is very popular for those that have used it. there has been an ongoing concern that allowing a regulated entity to pay the costs of its regulator could affect the objectivity of that regulator. In May of 2007. the Government Accountability Office issued a report that expressed concern with the overall implementation of this section 214 authority. This report recommended several improvements to increase the overall transparency and impartiality of Corps permit reviews conducted with outside funds. Many of these recommendations are codified in H.R. 6184. including the requirement that any permit reviewed under the 214 program undergo a higher order review by the Corps district commander or an appropriate designee. In addition. this legislation requires the Corps to publicly disclose. including on the Internet. copies of all final permit decisions that are reached utilizing the 214 authority. In my view. this additional level of public disclosure will provide an appropriate safeguard to ensure the integrity of the Corps regulatory authorities. as well as the integrity of the 214 program. In carrying out this authority. the Corps should make every effort to have these records easily accessible to the general public and disclosed in a timely manner. Finally. this legislation clarifies the original intent of the 214 program to be available only to public entities for projects that are for a public purpose. The May 2007 GAO report highlighted one Corps district that had utilized the 214 authority to process a permit for a private development project. This is inconsistent with the intent of this program. The amendments made by H.R. 6184 clarify this point and ensure that only projects for a public purpose may be reviewed using this authority. I support the passage and quick enactment of this extension. and I reserve the balance of my time.