Tracy Zea
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25 Mar 2024
Demopolis: A Cautionary Tale for Increased Infrastructure Investment
Demopolis Lock—which suffered a recent catastrophic failure—is a cautionary tale for other locks and those in Congress and the White House who may fail to see the urgency and importance of investing in the inland waterways system.The nation’s inland waterways lock and dam infrastructure, largely constructed in the 1930s, has seen modernization and rehabilitation across the system, albeit very slowly.
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16 Mar 2023
WCI: 20 Years of Success and Still More to Come
Waterways Council, Inc. (WCI) recently held its annual Washington, D.C. meetings that included a Capitol Hill fly-in. WCI members from across the country participated in 100 meetings with House and Senate members to advocate for the nation’s inland waterways to ensure its reliability by modernizing its infrastructure.Meeting with stalwart champions of the inland waterways as well as newly sworn in…
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08 Aug 2022
US Inland Waterway Infrastructure: Riding a Good News Wave
The inland waterways have enjoyed several positive developments toward modernization of the system, particularly over the last two years.Annual appropriations that fund the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Civil Works mission have been steadily on the rise for the last nine fiscal years, specifically the Construction and Operations & Maintenance (O&M) accounts have been funded at historic levels. The…
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12 Jan 2021
WRDA 2020 Winds its Way to Passage
In early October, Waterways Council, Inc. (WCI) reported in its newsletter Capitol Currents that the future of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2020 hung in the balance, with many unknowns for its chances of being signed into law during the Lame Duck session of Congress that just concluded in late December.But despite twists and turns and a roller coaster ride, WRDA was, indeed, passed…
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18 Dec 2020
US Inland Waterways: Cheer the Year!
As we head toward the end of a very chaotic and COVID-filled 2020 and try to reflect on the positives, the inland waterways had a pretty good year overall. Waterways Council, Inc. (WCI), whose members depend on a modern, efficient inland waterways system, offers this look back, with hopes ahead for the passage of a Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) 2020 with our construction cost-share adjustment priority in the lame duck session of Congress.A disappointing FY21 budget requestIn February…
