ARLINGTON, Va., July 28, 2022 – The National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) commended the Senate today for passing by 93-1 the Waterways Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2022, which includes important provisions for modernizing the U.S. waterways infrastructure.
Building on the progress of WRDA 2020, Section 103 of the Senate’s WRDA 2022 amends the cost-share for inland waterway projects to 75 percent general Treasury funds and 25 percent from the Inland Waterways Trust Fund.
“This permanent cost-share change would expedite the modernization of U.S. inland waterways and bolster the ability of NGFA members to fulfill their role in the agricultural value chain to serve American farmers and domestic and global customers,” NGFA President and CEO Mike Seyfert said.
House and Senate lawmakers must conference and pass WRDA 2022 before it can be signed into law. NGFA also emphasized that a final WRDA bill should maintain navigational access to the lower Snake River dams (LSRDs).
“A final WRDA 2022 should neither authorize nor pave the way for the breach or removal of dams in the Columbia-Snake River System, which is the third largest grain export corridor in the world and is crucial to American agriculture’s global competitiveness,” Seyfert said.
Congress has passed a WRDA every two years since 2014. The legislation provides stakeholders with the opportunity to address important navigation, ecosystem, and flood protection issues critical to American industries and communities.
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The NGFA, established in 1896, consists of grain, feed, processing, exporting and other grain-related companies that operate more than 8,000 facilities handling U.S. grains and oilseeds. Its membership includes grain elevators; feed and feed ingredient manufacturers; biofuels companies; grain and oilseed processors and millers; exporters; livestock and poultry integrators; and associated firms that provide goods and services to the nation’s grain, feed and processing industry. The NGFA consists of 27 affiliated State and Regional Grain and Feed Associations, is co-located and has a strategic alliance with North American Export Grain Association, and a strategic alliance with Pet Food Institute.