Senator Lankford Applauds Passage of Water Resources Development Act

WASHINGTON, DC – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) made the following statement on Senate passage of the Water Resources Development Act, or WRDA (S. 2848), by a vote of 95 to 3: 

“An important part of good governance is the efficient management of our nation’s water infrastructure, and routine passage of the Water Resources Development Act helps to ensure that. I applaud Senator Inhofe’s tireless work on this important legislation. This bill authorizes essential navigation, flood control and restoration projects, many of them backlogged by the Army Corps of Engineers for years. Of particular interest to Oklahomans are provisions for the Port of Catoosa, federal authorization for the southeast Oklahoma water settlement, a property conveyance for the Grand River Dam Authority and study of the Tulsa levees, which are in need of repair. This legislation allows for continued efforts to ensure life and property in the area are properly protected. I am pleased that this bill directs the Army Corps of Engineers to complete, within one year, a previously mandated study to determine whether they hold non-essential properties on their inventory, so that we may begin turning over these non-essential properties to other entities and reduce the burden on the Corps’ maintenance budget. Finally, the bill makes Corps of Engineer reforms that let local sponsors improve infrastructure at their own expense, so they are not always waiting on federal government delays.” 

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