Proposed Army Corps 2022 Budget Emphasizes Coastal Ports, Climate Resilience

The Biden Administration’s proposed 2022 federal budget request includes $1.6 billion for the civil works program. In testimony before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies, acting assistant secretary of the Army for civil works Jaime Pinkham noted, “This funding request is the highest annual budget ever requested for the civil works program.”

Pinkham said the budget includes $3.4 billion for work on inland and coastal navigation projects. Of that, $1.6 billion, described as the highest amount ever requested, would come from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, $52 million from the Inland Waterways Trust Fund, an estimated $47 million from special recreation user fees and $5 billion from the U.S. Treasury’s General Fund.

The overall budget request for the Army Corps of Engineers totals $6.8 billion. Construction would receive $1.7 billion; operation and maintenance, $2.5 billion; investigations, $105.8 million; Mississippi River and tributaries, $269.6 million; and regulatory program, $204,400.

The Biden administration has stated that 2022 funds will be used to invest in constructing projects that will facilitate commercial navigation, reduce the risk of damages from floods and storms, and restore the Nation’s aquatic ecosystems. The Army will use these funds for significant investments to facilitate safe, reliable and environmentally sustainable commercial navigation at the Nation’s coastal ports, while incorporating climate resilience efforts into the commercial navigation, flood and storm damage reduction, and aquatic ecosystem restoration work of the Corps of Engineers.