Page 18: of Marine News Magazine (February 2015)

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COLUMN FINANCE

The Quest to Fund Inland Waterways

Infrastructure Projects: Perhaps Not So Quixotic After All?

By James A. Kearns

Over the course of 2014, signi? cant Infrastructure Public-Private Partnership Pilot Program,” steps forward were taken in the quest to and requires that the Secretary establish a “pilot program ? nd additional sources of funding for to evaluate the cost effectiveness and project delivery ef- inland waterways infrastructure projects. ? ciency of allowing non-Federal pilot applicants to carry

First came the long awaited and much- out authorized water resources development projects for celebrated Water Resources, Reform and coastal harbor improvement, channel improvement, in-

Development Act of 2014 (WRRDA) in land navigation, ? ood damage reduction, aquatic ecosys-

June, which included several provisions tem restoration, and hurricane and storm damage reduc- to address the funding needs of the ever-worsening condi- tion.” More on this provision later.

tion of the inland waterways infrastructure. WRRDA eased A ? nal development in increasing the funding for inland the burden of the Olmsted Locks and Dam on the Inland waterways infrastructure projects came at the very end of

Waterways Trust Fund (IWTF) by reducing the IWTF’s the year: the inclusion in the so-called “tax extenders” legis- share of the costs for Olmsted from 50% to 15%. WRRDA lation of an increase in the tax assessed on diesel fuel used on also expedited the process by which the U.S. Army Corps of the inland waterways from 20 cents per gallon to 29 cents

Engineers is to study and carry out new construction and re- per gallon, which takes effect on April 1, 2015. These fuel habilitation projects for the inland waterways infrastructure. taxes go into the IWTF, and some industry sources have estimated that the fuel tax increase will generate approxi-

WRRDA mately $40 million in additional revenues for the IWTF

AND MORE

WRRDA laid the groundwork for additional sources every year. If these additional revenues are applied directly of funding in two other respects. First, Section 2004 of to construction and rehabilitation projects, they will bring

WRRDA, captioned “Inland Waterways Revenue Studies,” substantial bene? ts to the inland waterways infrastructure. requires the Secretary of the Army to conduct two studies. Even further, such additional revenues could be leveraged

One study is to examine the “potential bene? ts and impli- through, say, bond ? nancing to achieve even more dramatic cations of authorizing the issuance of federally tax-exempt results. A study prepared for the United Soybean Board by bonds secured against the available proceeds, including the Center for Ports and Waterways of the Texas Transpor- projected annual receipts, in the Inland Waterways Trust tation Institute, titled “New Approaches for U.S. Lock and

Fund.” A separate study is to explore the “potential revenue Dam Maintenance and Funding,” published in January sources from which funds could be collected to generate 2013, explains and illustrates how this could be done. The additional revenues for the Inland Waterways Trust Fund.” study can be found at www.soytransportation.org.

A second provision, Section 5014, is captioned “Water

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