Click here to watch Ranking Member Capito’s questions.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, participated in a full committee hearing on the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2024, and current and future projects critical to states like West Virginia.
HIGHLIGHTS:
LOOKING AHEAD TO WRDA 2024: “I want to reemphasize, not just to those in the room today, that this is a process we’re beginning very early so that we can be successful again. As Senator Cramer said, it's something that I think we're all dedicated to, to completing this in the two-year time period. So, I would make sure that our fellow senators are listening to their Corps projects and to their water projects and improvements that can be made so that we can incorporate these into what I think will be an aspirational, good 2024.”
ON IMPACT ON PAST WRDA PROJECTS: “I will say with some of the improvements we've made over the last two to four years, we're seeing things changing and projects getting done and getting to completion. And these are not inexpensive projects, as you know, they're very, very expensive, but they're life changing. So thank you all very much.”
ON THE NEED TO IMPROVE PERMITTING PROCESS FOR CORPS PROJECTS:
RANKING MEMBER CAPITO:
“One of the other issues that we've run in, again, onto the permitting…and certainly, Mr. Blanchard, you may know this. I know we have a project going on on the Ohio River right now. It's not just the Corps. It’s Fish and Wildlife, it's State DEPs. And the better coordination of those. We've tried to formulate through the highway program, One Federal Decision, where there is a lead agency. Obviously in the Corps projects the Corps is going to be the lead agency. But I mean, are you finding this issue as well, the moving from agency to agency while the Corps is spearheading this, or is this not an issue?”
CHRIS BLANCHARD, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF COOPER CONSOLIDATED:
“Yes ma’am, we find the same, that there are continued challenges when there's so many agencies involved in permitting process in general. And you know, there's a good reason for a lot of that, but there certainly is an area of improvement.”
Click HERE Ranking Member Capito’s questions.
Click HERE to watch Ranking Member Capito’s opening statement.
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