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The House will vote on a major water infrastructure bill this week that could help combat flooding, slow coastal erosion, restore ecosystems and improve navigation at U.S. ports.

The bipartisan "Water Resources Development Act of 2024" would authorize the Army Corps of Engineers to move forward with 12 new water infrastructure projects and study 159 more potential projects.

The authorized projects range from a plan to build levees and other structures on Staten Island 12 years after Hurricane Sandy hit New York City to a $608 million navigation project in Oakland Harbor. Another proposal would seek to reduce damage from future floods and storms in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana.

Other projects and studies focus on controlling urban runoff during rainstorms, combatting coastal erosion and reducing sewage overflows into rivers and streams.

Sponsored by Transportation and Infrastructure Chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.), ranking member Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment Chair David Rouzer (R-N.C.) and ranking member Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.), the bill passed committee 61-2.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee also unanimously approved its own Water Resources Development Act authorization in May.

If a final bill becomes law in the coming months, it would continue a 10-year tradition of lawmakers passing a WRDA with bipartisan support every two years.

This year’s language is light on policy changes, with a few exceptions. The House bill, for example, would reauthorize FEMA’s National Dam Safety Program for the next four years and extend the National Levee Safety Program until 2033. The bill would also expand access to a grant program for rehabilitating dams that pose the most potential risk to downstream properties.

In addition, the bill would direct the Army Corps to find ways to use dredged material, rather than dumping it back into waterways.

This year’s bill also includes measures to promote transparency at the Army Corps when it comes to water projects, as well as a greater focus on drought resilience, a priority for lawmakers from western states.

Supporters of the bill include nonprofits like the Nature Conservancy, the Environmental Defense Fund, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Counties, among others.

Royalties, guidance

The House will take up the water infrastructure bill under suspension of the rules, a means for approving legislation with wide bipartisan support. No amendments are allowed.

Also on the suspension calendar this week is the "Royalty Resiliency Act," H.R. 7377, from Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas), which would remove certain royalties on oil and gas leases until the Interior Department approves a so-called communization agreement laying out exact royalty amounts.

H.R. 890, the "Guidance Out of Darkness (GOOD) Act," would codify a Trump-era executive order reissued under President Joe Biden requiring agencies to post guidance, notices and documents online the same day they're issued.\