Chairman Capito Asks Army Corps Leaders about WRDA Implementation, Project Cost Overruns

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, led a hearing to conduct oversight of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) with Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, Adam Telle, and the 56th Chief of Engineers and Commanding General, Lieutenant General William H. Graham, Jr.

During the hearing, Chairman Capito questioned Assistant Secretary Telle and Lieutenant General Graham about the delayed implementation of provisions included in prior Water Resource Development Act (WRDA)s, and cost overrun issues on projects.

HIGHLIGHTS:

ON IMPLEMENTATION OF WRDA PROVISIONS:

Chairman Capito:

"Many provisions provided in prior WRDAs have gone largely unimplemented. Section 1102 of WRDA 2024 requires that your office develop and submit a plan to Congress on the implementation of not just WRDA 2024, but prior WRDAs. This plan must identify provisions that will require implementation guidance or appropriations. So, my first question is, when can we expect the list of WRDA 2024 provisions to be finalized?

Adam Telle, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works:

"My office, and I know General Graham, under his leadership of the Corps of Engineers, takes very seriously the work of this Committee. I'm committed to following the provisions in WRDA, following the law. This committee has expressed frustration over the speed of implementation of the laws that you have enacted, and as you point out, Chairman Capito, we owe you a plan about how to get that done."

ON COST OVERRUN ISSUES:

Chairman Capito:

"On the cost overrun issues, this is just a consistently huge issue. We included several provisions intended to provide the Corps with more time and resources to better study possible solutions, the needs that might be on the front end, and you sort of mentioned this. Our intent was for the agency to then spend less time reworking project plans after they have been authorized for construction. However, we do not want these provisions to be interpreted as directive from Congress to the Corps to go back to the days when the agency spent years or decades studying a single project. What additional steps are being taken to address these cost overruns?

Lieutenant General William H. Graham, Jr., 56th Chief of Engineers and Commanding General:

"Every time we don't deliver a project on schedule, I get an email from the district engineer who explains what happened, and then we have some very pointed discussions on what was the root cause. The vast majority of the root causes are, we didn't know enough."

Click HERE to watch Chairman Capito's opening statement.

Click HERE to watch Chairman Capito's questions.

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