WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator John Cornyn announced that the following Texas priorities he advocated for have been included in America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2020, the water infrastructure bill that passed the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee yesterday.
Sen. Cornyn’s priorities that are included in America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2020 are as follows:
- Authorizes the Jefferson County ecosystem restoration project.
- Authorizes the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, Brazos River Floodgates, and Colorado River Locks navigation project.
- Authorizes the Matagorda Ship Channel Improvement Project in Port Lavaca.
- Authorizes the Houston Ship Channel Expansion Improvement Project.
- Authorizes the Chacon Creek flood risk management project.
- Authorizes project modifications for the Port Arthur flood risk management project.
- Authorizes a feasibility study for the Chocolate Bayou flood risk management project.
- Authorizes project modifications for the Houston-Galveston navigation project.
- Expedites completion of the decision document for the Raymondville Drain, Lower Rio Grande Basin flood risk management project.
- Expedites completion of the decision document for the Port of Corpus Christi navigation project.
- Requires completion of the review for the Lake Whitney Reallocation Study for inclusion in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) annual report to Congress recommending projects for authorization.
- Requires completion of the review for the Aquilla Lake Reallocation Study for inclusion in the USACE’s annual report to Congress recommending projects for authorization.
- Requires completion of the review of the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) Watershed Assessment to determine problems, needs, and opportunities within the LRGV for inclusion in the USACE’s annual report to Congress recommending projects for authorization.
- Authorizes the USACE to repair and restore the eroding embankment at Lake Waco.
- Directs the USACE to assist El Paso County with a proposal to modify the authorized funding level for a water related infrastructure project.
- Assists Harris County Flood Control District in streamlining benefit-cost analyses for projects.
- Directs the USACE to identify specific engineering and maintenance deficiencies for levees across Texas and the nation, and to describe recommended remedies to correct each deficiency to ensure that critical levee performance is being achieved.
- Reauthorizes of the Rio Grande Environmental Management Program in Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado through 2024.