Congressman Cohen Votes for Water Resources Bill with Millions for Local U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Projects

WASHINGTON - Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9), a senior member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, today voted for the Thomas R. Carper Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2024, which includes major U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects for improvements in Tennessee's 9^th Congressional District that Congressman Cohen submitted and advocated for. Today, the House voted on the House Amendment to the bill, which represents the final version of WRDA as negotiated over recent months to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate versions.

The bill will return to the Senate for its consideration before it can be sent to the White House to be signed into law.

The measure includes the dredging of the Pidgeon Harbor, the only Mississippi River access for industries operating from the Pidgeon Industrial Park and authorization for the Hatchie-Loosahatchee Ecosystem Restoration project, which would reconnect habitats, enhance biodiversity, and provide critical ecosystem services across an ecologically significant 39-mile stretch of the Mississippi River near Memphis and approximately 146,000 acres. If successful, the measures from this Restoration Study will help connect the entire Lower Mississippi River floodplain, which is one of the largest floodplains in the world, comprised of approximately three million acres.

The WRDA bill also includes policy provisions advocated by Congressman including those to ensure cybersecurity, physical security, public safety, and stakeholder input before any use of remote operations at locks and dams and hydroelectric dams. It also includes some of the Congressman's environmental justice language affecting the Corps' approach to projects in disadvantaged communities.

Congressman Cohen made the following statement:

"This WRDA bill improves critical water resources infrastructure, empowers all communities to engage with the Army Corps, responds to emerging threats from climate change, bolsters local economies, and boosts U.S. economic competitiveness and supply chains.

"I am particularly grateful for the inclusion of several of my project and policy requests that will directly impact communities in my district. The inclusion of Pidgeon Harbor in the Army Corps' Operation and Maintenance General Budget for regular dredging maintenance is essential to its ongoing operation and vital to the companies located at the industrial park. Pidgeon Harbor is the only dedicated access point to the Mississippi River for businesses in the Pidgeon Industrial Park, whose five facilities generate 500 jobs and produce an annual economic impact of $1.2 billion.

"Additionally, the inclusion of the Hatchie-Loosahatchie Ecosystem Restoration Feasibility Study will showcase a comprehensive approach to managing the Lower Mississippi River and implementing restoration on a systemic scale. The Hatchie-Loosahatchie project comprehensively addresses significant and historically important habitats in Arkansas and Tennessee and includes measures to address floodplain connectivity and reconnection of side channels, aquatic channel enhancement, restored natural vegetation, and water management.

"Once again, Congress has delivered on a bipartisan, bicameral, and biennial WRDA bill that will improve our nation's ports and harbors, inland waterways, navigation, flood and storm protection, and other aspects of our water resources infrastructure."

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