By TIM ALEXANDER

Illinois Correspondent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Illinois Corn Growers Assoc. (ICGA) was quick to laud Reps. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.) and Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) for taking U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials to task for what Davis called the “unacceptable” lack of funding to upgrade and modernize locks and dams on the Mississippi and Illinois rivers.

The comment came during a March 15 meeting of members of the U.S. House Transportation Committee Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, which was attended by Davis and Bustos, along with R.D. James, representing the Corps as assistant secretary of the Army For Civil Works, and Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, commanding general and chief of engineers for the Corps.

The two officials gave reports on future water resources development, along with an explanation of the process by which the Corps develops projects and activities. The testimony was solicited to help members develop a Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), which the committee will consider later this year.

When it came time for Davis to interview the Corps panel, he pressed James to account for the delay in supporting the Navigational and Ecosystem Sustainability Program (NESP), which has been approved by Congress for 10 years but is still awaiting funding.

James said the Corps would prefer to further study NESP before endorsing funding for the program, which is a long-term plan for navigation improvements and ecological restoration for the Upper Mississippi River System that will span 50 years.

“I think it is unacceptable that the Corps has taken a position to do another study before we can even get to pre-construction and design,” Davis said. “(NESP) has been studied, I think, more than any other Corps project in your agency’s history.”

The program enjoys wide bipartisan support, he told James, adding, “Can you commit today to work with me and my colleagues to get the pre-construction engineering and design back on track as soon as possible, so we can get these critical navigation and ecosystem restoration projects to actual construction?”

Bustos, whose sprawling district encompasses the northwestern area of the state and parts of both rivers, said people throughout her district would line up to tell the Corps officials how locks and dams on the Illinois and Mississippi have outlived their usefulness.

Regarding NESP, “the navigation and environmental aspects of the program are critical to (Rep. Davis’) district, to my district (and) to our region,” she said.

James indicated he would be willing to work with the Illinois lawmakers towards getting NESP back on track, though officials at ICGA remain skeptical. “Actions speak louder than words,” noted its Special Projects Coordinator Lindsay Mitchell, in a press release.

NESP was created to reduce commercial traffic delays through lock and dam expansion, while restoring, protecting and enhancing the environment, according to the Corps’ Rock Island District website. Its primary goal is implementation of an integrated, dual-purpose plan to ensure the economic and environmental sustainability of the river system.

“NESP does not directly affect authorization and funding of other programs affecting the needs of the Upper Mississippi River System, but management of NESP will be integrated with the management of other programs to enhance efficiency and effectiveness across programs,” according to the website.

Authorized by the WRDA of 2007, NESP enjoys the support of the National Corn Growers Assoc., American Soybean Assoc., Agricultural Retailers Assoc., National Assoc. Of Wheat Growers, National Barley Growers Assoc., National Grain and Feed Assoc., Waterways Council, Inc., a number of state commodity groups, the Illinois Farm Bureau and several major agribusiness and manufacturing companies.

“A big thank you to Congressman Rodney Davis and Congresswoman Cheri Bustos for remembering the importance of our locks and dams to farmers, manufacturers, Illinoisans and even the rest of the world, as farmers continue to buy and sell in a global economy,” Mitchell said.

Davis also pressed Corps officials to better explain their announced plan for combating Asian carp in the waterways; specifically, how they will go about selecting non-federal partners for Corps projects.

“I have a concern that the Corps may be rushing towards an authorization for a project for $250 million that actually may be a solution in search of a problem,” he said. “Specifically, I am concerned that following the Corps’ release of the tentatively selected plan, an entity outside the state of Illinois could be chosen as the non-federal partner for this project. Unfortunately, this possibility has apparently been alluded to be leadership at your Chicago district office.”

Though James admitted he had recently spoken to the Illinois attorney general about that subject, he was unable to provide a definitive answer as to whether the Corps could be directed to disregard potential out-of-state non-federal partners for projects to control carp populations.

“This is something the state holds the trump card on,” he explained, “but I don’t think we can recognize a sponsor of a federal project outside of a state boundary, including the earth under the water.”