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| | House-passed water bill has millions for Arkansas
Tuesday, Jun 29, 2004 By Alison Vekshin Stephens Washington Bureau WASHINGTON -- An annual spending bill containing millions of dollars for Arkansas water projects includes enough money to begin operating the Montgomery Point Lock and Dam this fall, state officials said Monday. Approved Friday by the House, the bill contains $9.1 million for the $262 million navigation project in southeast Arkansas. Lee Bass, project management chief for the Army Corps of Engineers' Little Rock District, said the earmark would ensure the agency can begin its operations even though other equipment is needed. Another $20 million is needed for a crane, crane barge and boat dock facility for equipment storage, but those items are considered auxiliary and can be funded later, Bass said. The money was contained in a $28 billion spending bill covering the Energy Department and the Corps of Engineers. The Senate was scheduled to begin writing a corresponding bill in mid-July. Located along the White River in Desha County about half a mile from the Mississippi River, the dam will allow the Corps to control water levels in the McClellan-Kerr waterway system. The $9.1 million amount parallels President Bush's request for the dam as part of his fiscal 2005 budget for the year that begins Oct. 1. Last year, Bush proposed $20 million for the project and Congress boosted the amount to $23.5 million. "We'll do what we're directed to do with the resources we're provided," said P.J. Spaul, spokesman for the Corps' Little Rock office. The bill also contains $35.5 million for continued operations of the McClellan-Kerr waterway system along the Arkansas and White rivers. The $669 million system consists of 18 locks and dams and controls navigation from the Mississippi River to the Port of Catoosa near Tulsa, Okla. An additional $3 million not requested by the president will go toward a project to prevent the Arkansas and White rivers from converging at several points over a six- to eight-mile stretch in southeast Arkansas, officials said. The bill also earmarks $500,000 for an Arkansas River navigation study, with half to be spent in Arkansas and half in Oklahoma. The corps will use the funds to produce a cost-benefit analysis and an environmental impact statement to assess the effects of increasing the river's depth from nine feet to 12 feet at various locations, Bass said. Among other Arkansas items in the bill, the Delta Regional Authority was earmarked to receive $2.1 million, less than half the $5 million amount enacted last year. The authority is a federal-state partnership created in 2000 to spur economic development in the impoverished region. -- 30 -- |
