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The Waterways Restoration Act Would Solve Many Problems 



Most provisions of H.R. 4289 do not affect the entire PL-566 program but add a new. strong 

 environmental restoration component to it. H.R. 4289 proposes what would be the best changes to occur 

 to that program since its inception. 



Section 3. of H.R. 4289 strikes the existing requirement that at least 20 percent of the total 

 benefits of the program be directly realized by agriculture and rural communities, thus making urban and 

 suburban projects eligible. This country today is experiencing chronic overproduction of most subsidized 

 agricultural commodities and increasing scarcity of functioning wetlands and waterways. In this scenario, 

 there is no justification for continuing to operate this program as an additional subsidy that stimulates 

 further overproduction on marginal, flood-prone lands of subsidized agricultural commodities at the 

 expense of valuable public water resources. 



Section 4.(m) sequesters not less than 20 percent of the total amount appropriated to PL-566 for 

 the purposes of the Waterways Restoration Program. This requirement assures that no less than one-fifth 

 of the funds appropriated to PL-566 would be used for environmental restoration, but allows unlimited 

 room for that portion of the program to grow. WMI believes this minimum requirement is critical to 

 ensuring that SCS and program proponents implement the Waterways Restoration Program. If the new 

 program is added only as another option to be selected voluntarily, at the discretion of project sponsors, 

 it likely would receive the same consideration as PL-566's easement acquisition authority. 



This 20-percent requirement is a rallying point for fostering broader environmental interest in and 

 support of PL-566 into the future. WMI has testified for years against appropriations for PL-566, and 

 supported the Administration's recently stated intentions to phase out the program by FY 1996. 

 Furthermore, we do not intend to support the existing program or its appropriations until strong, virtually 

 irreversible changes are made such as those embodied in H.R. 4289. Once such changes are legislated, 

 environmental organizations will be much more willing to begin supporting the program. However, if the 

 20-percent minimum is weakened or if the Waterways Restoration Program is added to SCS's budget as 

 a separate line item, broader support for PL-566 likely will not be forthcoming. 



This Waterways Restoration Program, as a component of PL-566, sets a primary purpose of 

 achieving ecological restoration. This purpose is in constructive contrast with the primary purpose of PL- 

 566-to prevent floods. Likewise, the descriptions of projects eligible for funding under the new program 

 are laudable. 



One of the most important elements of the Waterways Restoration Program is the elimination of 

 structural projects from eligibility for funding from that program. Based on the forty-year track record, 

 WMI believes such a legislative prohibition is essential to force needed changes in the entire PL-566 

 program. 



H.R. 4289 creates a needed oversight mechanism to ensure only environmentally and economically 

 sound projects are considered for funding. It would create in each state an Interdisciplinary Team with 

 authority to review projects, make recommendations and elevate them for further review, if necessary. 



Such an interdisciplinary oversight mechanism is long overdue as a way to effectively step down 

 federal guidance to the local level. Checks and balances are needed to ensure that traditional PL-566 local 

 project sponsors, which currently have authority to decide what type of projects will be designed, are 



