U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure, successfully included amendments to the 2013 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA).

Barrasso said included in the bill language is an authorization of the Upper Missouri Basin flood and drought monitoring, which restores the stream gauges and the snow pack monitors through the Upper Missouri Basin at all elevations. Barrasso said the gauges are used to monitor snow depth and soil moisture to help inform agencies like the Corps as to potential flooding and also drought in the future.

Barrasso also authored language to create an Army Corp Project deauthorization process that mimics the old ‘BRAC’ process, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission, that the Department of Defense uses to close and reconsolidate Army bases. Barrasso said under this amendment, an independent commission appointed by the President would identify projects for deauthorization based on specific established criteria, and then submit those projects as one package for an up or down vote in Congress.

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