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1 1 (July 07, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govdarq0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 01; F ie sea.rch & July 7, 2020 Inland and Intracoastal Waterways: Primer and Issues for Congress The federal government improves and maintains a system of 12,000 miles of inland and intracoastal waterways with over 200 lock and dam chambers. This system facilitates the interstate movement of commercial cargo by barge. Commercial navigation on these waterways annually moves over 500 million tons of commodities, including petroleum products, farm inputs (e.g., fertilizer), coal, and grains accounting for 4% to 5% of total commercial tonnage shipped in the United States. High-value cargo in containers rarely moves on the inland or intracoastal waterways. Most of the waterways are rivers (e.g., Mississippi River and its tributaries) or along coasts located in the central and eastern half of the conterminous United States. Although these waterways are a relatively small part of the nation's freight transportation network, they are an important transportation route in some regions. Other waterway stakeholders include recreational boaters (the dominant traffic on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway), entities that have special equipment transport needs (e.g., nuclear power facilities), and municipal water suppliers with water withdrawals near locks and dams. Policy issues for Congress include options for paying for inland and intracoastal waterways work and the effectiveness of investments for sustaining system reliability. Each year, Congress appropriates funds for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to perform construction and operations and maintenance (O&M) work on 12,000 miles of the nation's waterways. For FY2020, Congress appropriated $1.29 billion for this work, with $1.16 billion coming from the general fund of the Treasury and $131 million from the Inland Waterways Trust Fund (IWTF) (see Table 1). Congress typically approves the funding as part of the discretionary spending provided in an Energy and Water Development appropriations act but also has on occasion authorized supplemental funding for waterways. For more on USACE funding, see CRS In Focus IF11462, Army Corps of Engineers: FY2021 Appropriations. n~a.r , d the Tr.ust F,d Since 1986, Congress generally has required that waterway construction and major rehabilitation be paid with 50% of the funds coming from the general fund and 50% from the IWTF. The IWTF receives collections from a fuel tax on commercial vessels using the 11,000 miles of waterways designated in law (Figure 1). In 2014, P.L. 113-121 made the general fund the sole source for waterway rehabilitation costing less than $20 million. Also, in 2014, P.L. 113-295 increased the fuel tax from $0.20 to $0.29 per gallon. Table I. USACE Inland and Intracoastal Waterways Spending ($ in millions) USACE Account FY2019 FY2020 Investigations $14 $26 Construction $330, of which $389, of which $1 16 from IWTF $131 from IWTF O&M $836 $815 MR&T $68 $60 Total $1,248 $1,290 Source: CRS, based on 33 U.S.C. §2212 and USACE funding data. Notes: O&M = Operations and Maintenance. MR&T = Mississippi River & Tributaries account; pays for lower Mississippi River Basin channel stabilization, which supports barge navigation. Construction account funds new waterway construction and rehabilitation work. Figure I. Inland and Intracoastal Waterways Subject to Federal Commercial Vessel Fuel Tax Source: CRS based on USACE data and 33 U.S.C. § 1804. Note: Alaska and Hawaii have no fuel-taxed waterways. Since FY2014, Congress has reduced the IWTF-required portion of funds for specific projects (e.g., 35% from IWTF and 65% from the general fund for Chickamauga Lock, TN, in FY2020), thereby increasing general fund outlays for waterway improvements by more than $440 million over the period from FY2014 through FY2020 (Figure 2). For FY2020, the Administration estimated inland waterway tax - ue~Ta~e~ ~ ~ gognpo 'pop\qm ggmm g 'S a X

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