Mississippi River Water Resource News for the Week

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has scheduled a May 6, 9:30 AM hearing to examine the Water Resources Development Act of 2010, focusing on jobs and the economy.  The hearing will be held in the EPW Hearing Room (Room 406 Dirksen Senate Office Building).  No witnesses have been scheduled at this time.  (Hearing web page).

On April 20, EPW Committee Chair Barbara Boxer (CA) and Ranking Member Inhofe (OK) sent a “Dear Colleague” letter to Senators, indicating the Committee’s intent “to begin its work on the next Water Resources Development Act” (WRDA), and soliciting information from Senators on their priority water resource project requests that might be included in the measure.  The deadline set by the Committee for Senators to submit requests is 6 p.m. on May 18. The letter can be downloaded here.

Connected with a series of field hearings to hear from people about U.S. farm policy in advance of the 2012 Farm Bill, the House Agriculture Committee is collecting public comments about the Farm Bill on its website. All comments received online by June 14, 2010 will be included in the Committee's Farm Bill field hearing record.

Here is the link to the Northeast-Midwest Institute's April Newsletter on Mississippi River Basin issues (PDF file).  This month’s Update contains these news items:

• USDA MRBI Funding Announcement
• April 15 Mississippi River Basin Congressional Briefing Materials
• Publications and Articles of Note
• Conference, Event and Meeting Announcements
• Federal Legislative Updates (America’s Commitment to Clean Water Act; WRDA 2010; Clean Estuaries Act; Flood Insurance Reform and Priorities Act; 2012 Farm Bill; Atrazine Legislation)
• Federal Budget and Appropriation Update

The House Financial Services Committee on April 27 passed the Flood Insurance Reform and Priorities Act of 2010 (link to legislation summary is here).  See our April 27 blog post for more discussion on the bill and related discussions.