Trade groups praise Senate approval of water resources bill

Trade groups praise Senate approval of water resources bill    The American Association of Port Authorities and Waterways Council praised Senate confirmation of the Water Resources Development Act (S. 728).
   The AAPA said the bill “addresses a six-year backlog of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers programs, including navigation projects, policies and procedures necessary to keep pace with today’s burgeoning trade.”
   “America’s ports depend upon a regular, biennial cycle of new project authorizations to improve federal navigation channels to accommodate calls from a modern world fleet of deep-draft ships,” remarked Kurt Nagle, the AAPA’s president.
   The Waterways Council said the bill would authorize “critical U.S. Army Corps of Engineers waterways and natural resources programs” including seven lock and dam modernization projects on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers, and Bayou Sorrel on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.
   “The Corps of Engineers has been studying improvements on the Upper Mississippi River for the last 14 years, and the passage of WRDA represents a major milestone,” said R. Barry Palmer, the WCI's president.