In connection with the FY12 Budget, the Administration proposes changes in the way federal navigation activities are funded.  The Administration will work with Congress to reform the laws governing the Inland Waterways Trust Fund to support increased investments in safe, reliable, highly cost-effective, and environmentally sustainable inland waterways, while ensuring that commercial navigation users meet their share of the costs of activities financed from this trust fund.  The Budget proposes to increase revenues paid by commercial navigation users sufficiently to meet their share of the costs of activities financed from this trust fund in future years. In addition, legislation will be proposed to expand the authorized uses of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund so that its receipts are available to finance the federal share of efforts carried out by several agencies in support of commercial navigation through the nation's ports.

The FY12 O&M program is funded at $2.445 billion, including $131 million in the Mississippi River and Tributaries (MR&T) account.  The Budget emphasizes performance of existing projects by focusing on the maintenance of key commercial navigation, flood and storm damage reduction, and other facilities.

The FY12 construction program is funded at $1.558 billion, including $78 million in the MR&T account.  The construction program uses objective, performance-based guidelines to allocate funding toward the highest performing economic, environmental, and public safety investments.  The priorities of the Corps' aquatic ecosystem restoration program are coordinated with, and informed by, interagency collaboration to restore nationally significant ecosystems including the California Bay Delta, Chesapeake Bay, the Everglades, the Great Lakes, and the Gulf Coast.

The Budget funds 92 construction projects, consisting of 10 dam safety assurance, seepage control, and static instability correction projects (includes one project completion); 20 projects ranked on the basis of life-saving benefits; two additional project completions; two new starts; and 58 other continuing projects.

By program area, the 92 funded construction projects consist of 55 Flood and Storm Damage Reduction projects (three budgeted for completion), 16 Commercial Navigation projects (including five continuing mitigation items and four dredged material placement areas), 19 Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration projects (including three projects to meet Biological Opinions), and mitigation associated with two Hydropower projects.

Among the ongoing construction projects in the FY12 Budget are: the South Florida ecosystem restoration program, which includes the Everglades ($163 million); Olmsted Locks and Dam, IL & KY ($150 million); Wolf Creek Dam, Lake Cumberland, KY, seepage control ($132 million); Columbia River Fish Mitigation, WA, OR & ID ($128 million); Herbert Hoover Dike, FL, seepage control ($85 million); Center Hill Lake, TN ($79 million); Missouri River Fish and Wildlife Recovery, IA, KS, MO, MT, NE, ND & SD ($73 million); Bluestone Lake, WV ($70 million); and New York and New Jersey Harbor, NY & NJ ($65 million) .

The three construction projects funded for completion in the FY12 Budget are: Crookston, MN ($1.25 million), Dover Dam, OH ($5 million), and Santa Paula Creek, CA ($2.1 million).

The FY12 construction program includes two high-priority new construction starts: Hamilton City, CA ($8 million), and Raritan to Sandy Hook (Port Monmouth), NJ ($3 million).

The FY12 Budget includes funding for both initial construction of projects to reduce storm damage along the coast and periodic renourishment of such projects.  The FY12 program supports 10 such projects, of which three are initial construction and seven are periodic renourishment.

The Budget funds activities for large-scale ecosystems including the California Bay Delta, Chesapeake Bay, Columbia River, Everglades, Great Lakes, Louisiana Coast, Missouri River, and Upper Mississippi River.  The Corps will continue to work with other federal, state and local agencies, using the best available science and adaptive management, to protect and restore these ecosystems.  Environmental sustainability of these ecosystems also helps to support positive economic growth in the surrounding communities.