Congressman Denny Rehberg

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Montana’s Congressman, Denny Rehberg, today announced that his office is soliciting applications for federal authorizations of funding to be included in the Water Resources Development Act bill.  He is urging interested parties to submit projects by November 30, 2009 via the “Transparency” tab of his official website at http://rehberg.house.gov/.
 
“The size and scope of a lot of Montana’s water projects make them virtually impossible to fund exclusively at a local, state or tribal level,” said Rehberg, a member of the House Energy and Water Appropriations Committee.  “A project that’s been included in the Water Resources Development Act will have a leg up when it comes to securing the necessary federal funding.”

The Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) is a biennial legislative process dedicated to authorizing Army Corps of Engineers activities and establishing policies for Corps civil works activities, such as cost-share activities.   Authorizations in WRDA usually fall under four general categories: studies, projects, modifications to existing authorizations, and programmatic authorizations.

WRDA does not fund projects, but instead deems a project eligible for future funding.

Specifically, the following types of Corps projects can be authorized:

• Chief reports – projects have already gone through a full study, Corps has signed off and they’re ready to go
• Project modifications – projects that have had a timing or funding change
• Study level project – releases the Corps to do a study on the future project
• Major programmatic – large scale projects so include more than one state (for example a wetlands study in a large region, Missouri River studies)

Interested parties should complete the online application form.  Any questions should be directed to Mary Heller at mary.heller@mail.house.gov. The online form can be found at http://rehberg.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=83&sectiontree=2,9,83