U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Releases Work Plans for Fiscal Year 2013 Civil Works Appropriations

WASHINGTON, June 24, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released its work plans, or spending plans, through the end of Fiscal Year 2013 (FY13) for five appropriation accounts in the Army Civil Works program. 

President Obama signed the Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013, Division F of Public Law 113-6, into law on March 26, 2013.  The Act provided total FY13 appropriations for the Army Civil Works program of $4.972 billion.

However, the Civil Works funding received under the Act was reduced by $254 million as a result of sequestration pursuant to the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act, as amended.  The net available appropriations total $4.718 billion. 

The distribution of the enacted funding and the post-sequester funding among appropriations, in rounded figures, is as follows.

The programs, projects or activities that were eligible for funding under the terms of the Act are those that had received funding through an allocation under the FY12 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, Division B of Public Law 112-74, including those that received funding in FY12 under a reprogramming allocation in accordance with section 101 of that Act. 

The Army was responsible for allocating funding among projects and programs in the five project-based appropriations.  The five accounts are: Investigations; Construction; Operation and Maintenance; Mississippi River and Tributaries; and Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP). 

The starting point in developing each work plan was the high-performing work proposed for funding in the President's FY13 Budget.  In the Investigations, Construction, and Mississippi River and Tributaries accounts, the Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013, provided more funding after sequestration than had been proposed in the Budget.  In the Operation and Maintenance and FUSRAP accounts, less funding was available after sequestration than had been proposed in the Budget. 

The work plans show final FY13 funding allocations for programs, projects and activities within each account.  The net funding for each project or program is sufficient to fund useful increments of work.  Thirty feasibility studies, four design efforts, and 14 construction projects are funded to completion.  For programs, projects, and activities that are funded in the both the FY13 work plans and the President's FY14 Budget, the funded FY13 work complements the planned FY14 work.   

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers main Civil Works mission areas are commercial navigation, flood and storm damage reduction, and aquatic ecosystem restoration.  The Civil Works program additionally produces a significant amount of hydropower; and contributes to the  protection of the nation's waters and wetlands; the restoration of certain sites contaminated as a result of the nation's early atomic weapons development program; and emergency preparedness and training to respond to natural disasters.

The work plan for each account may be found at http://www.usace.army.mil/Missions/CivilWorks/Budget.aspx.

SOURCE U.S. Army Corps of Engineers