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GAO-21-240R 1 (2021-01-22)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaechw0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 1Oo U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE A Century of Non-Partisan Fact-Based Work 441 G St. N.W. Washington, DC 20548 January 22, 2021 The Honorable John Barrasso The Honorable Tom Carper United States Senate The Honorable Peter A. DeFazio Chairman The Honorable Sam Graves Ranking Member Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure House of Representatives U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Information on the Navigation and Ecosystem Sustainability Program The Upper Mississippi River system provides approximately $1 billion in annual benefits to the nation's economy through boating, fishing, and other uses, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps).1 The river system also supports irreplaceable habitats and ecosystems- including more than 2.5 million acres of aquatic, wetland, forest, grassland, and agricultural habitats across the states of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin. In 1986, Congress declared its intent to recognize the Upper Mississippi River system as a nationally significant commercial navigation system and a nationally significant ecosystem.2 The Corps is responsible for operating and maintaining the navigation infrastructure along the Upper Mississippi River system and for managing, restoring, and protecting the surrounding ecosystem.3 According to the Corps, balancing the navigational importance of the river system with the need to protect the ecosystem is challenging. The Corps operates 37 lock and dam sites and maintains 1,200 miles of 9-foot deep navigation channels along the Upper Mississippi River and the Illinois Waterway, which connects with the Mississippi River and lies within the Upper Mississippi River basin. (See enc. I for a map of the Upper Mississippi River basin and locations of the Corps' 37 locks and dams.) Because of increased commercial traffic and environmental deterioration in the Upper Mississippi River basin, the Corps initiated separate reconnaissance studies for the Illinois 1The Upper Mississippi River system comprises those river reaches having commercial navigation channels on the Mississippi River main stem north of Cairo, Illinois; the Illinois River and Waterway; and four other midwestern rivers: St Croix, Minnesota, Black, and Kaskaskia. See 33 U.S.C. § 652(b)(1). 2Pub. L. No. 99-662, § 1103(a)(2), 100 Stat. 4082, 4225 (codified as amended at 33 U.S.C § 652(a)(2)). 3The Corps, located within the Department of Defense, has both a military and Civil Works program. This report focuses on the Civil Works program, which is responsible for investigating, developing, and maintaining water resource projects. Specifically, the Corps plans, designs, constructs, operates, and maintains water resource projects to address the three primary Civil Works missions: (1) restoration, protection, and management of aquatic ecosystems; (2) flood risk management; and (3) support of commercial navigation. GAO-21-240R U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Page 1

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