CONCORD, Mass. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently released its work plan for the Army Civil Works program through the end of fiscal year 2011 (FY11). The work plan details how the Corps will execute the $5.065 billion Civil Works appropriation it received on April 15 when the President signed Public Law 112-10, the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011.
The Act provides funding to federal agencies through the end of FY11. Title IV of the Act provides funding for energy and water development, including the Civil Works program.
The Corps of Engineers work plan provides for $65.1 million for Corps Civil Works projects in New England. In New England District, this includes operations and maintenance funding for the 31 dams, three hurricane barriers, the Woonsocket Flood Damage Reduction Project in Woonsocket, RI, and the Cape Cod Canal to continue operations. Operations and Maintenance funding also includes $3.7 million for project condition surveys, $975,421 for inspection of completed works, $2.6 million for Boston Harbor dredging, $1.2 million for Block Island Harbor of Refuge in Rhode Island, $158,928 for the Mystic River in Mystic, Conn., and $496,650 for the Long Island Sound Dredge Material Management Plan in Connecticut.
The work plan also includes $12 million to continue cleanup of the Shpack Landfill Site in Norton and Attleboro, Mass., and $500,000 for the Muddy River Flood Risk Management and Environmental Restoration project in Brookline and Boston, Mass. It also includes funding to continue the following efforts: Boston Harbor Deep Draft design ($400,000); Merrimack River Watershed Study ($300,000) in New Hampshire and Massachusetts; Connecticut River Ecosystem Restoration ($50,000) in New Hampshire and Vermont; and the Pilgrim Lake Study ($50,000) in Provincetown, Mass.
Additionally, some funding for Regulatory responsibilities, potential Continuing Authorities Program projects, and possibly other work will be provided from Corps headquarters when that funding is determined.
The main Civil Works mission areas for the Corps are commercial navigation, flood and coastal storm damage reduction and aquatic ecosystem restoration. The Civil Works program contributes to the protection of the nation's waters and wetlands; the restoration of certain sites contaminated as a result of the nation's early atomic weapons development program; and emergency preparedness and training to respond to natural disasters. Listings of the amounts provided to various programs, projects and activities in the FY11 Civil Works work plan can be found at http://www.usace.army.mil/CECW/PID/Pages/cecwm_progexe.aspx.