Senate approves bill to fund Arkansas River Levee improvements

Senate approves bill to fund Arkansas River Levee improvements

OKLAHOMA CITY (April 25th) – House Bill 3288, by Sen. Cody Rogers, R-Tulsa, received approval from the full Senate Wednesday. The measure provides $50 million in funding for repairs and improvements to the Arkansas River Levee Systems, which are currently at high risk of failure.

Senate committee approves legislation to fund Arkansas River levee improvements

Senate Appropriations Committee approves legislation to fund Arkansas River Levee improvements

OKLAHOMA CITY (Feb. 29th) – Sen. Cody Rogers, R-Tulsa, received approval from the Senate Appropriations Committee Wednesday for Senate Bill 1391. The measure designates funds to the Oklahoma Water Resources Board for improvements to levees along the Arkansas River.

Hern urges Army Corps of Engineers to prioritize funding for Arkansas River Navigation System

Hern urges Army Corps of Engineers to prioritize funding for MKARNS

WASHINGTON, DC (April 27th) – Representative Kevin Hern (OK-01) sent a letter with members of the Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas Congressional delegations to the Office and Management and Budget and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers urging them to prioritize and commit additional funding to the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System (MKARNS).

ODOT awards $75M, 2-year contract to replace US-62 bridge over Arkansas River at Muskogee

Heads-up, Muskogee and Fort Gibson: travel over the Arkansas River will be a bit more crowded over the next couple years.

I'm excerpting a longer press release to focus in on the local impacts from this week's Oklahoma Transportation Commission meeting (read the full press release here):

US-62 bridges over the Arkansas River in Muskogee

ODOT launches work zone safety campaign; nearly $130 million in contracts awarded

Highlights of the Oklahoma Transportation Commission’s Monday, April 4, meeting include unveiling of a spring work zone safety awareness campaign by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation and Oklahoma Turnpike Authority, an update on federal transportation funding following recent congressional action and consideration of programming items for future traffic safety and highway signage projects. Contracts were awarded for major projects on US-62 in Muskogee County, US-259 in McCurtain County and US-69 in Atoka and Bryan counties.  

[...]

Commissioners awarded contracts for several major highway improvements in Eastern Oklahoma, including a nearly $75 million project to reconstruct the US-62 bridges over the Arkansas River in Muskogee. The twin bridges span the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System, also known as Marine Highway M-40, which supports waterborne freight traffic moving in and out of Oklahoma ports. Construction of the replacement structures will include pier protections around bridge support members in the river. 

Hern votes for WRDA bill, includes funds for Tulsa, Arkansas River Navigation System projects

Hern votes for WRDA, includes funds for Tulsa projects

WASHINGTON, DC – Representative Kevin Hern (OK-01) released the following statement in support of HR 7575, the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), which passed the House by unanimous consent this afternoon.

“There’s a lot to be happy about in the WRDA that passed today,” said Rep. Hern. “Included in the bill were funds for the Army Corps of Engineers to make upgrades on the Tulsa-West Tulsa Levee System. Last year, a flood decimated parts of Tulsa. Had the aging levees failed, the devastation would have been much worse. It’s been 12 years since the levees were rated ‘unacceptable’ and at ‘very high risk’ of failure. Updates are long overdue, but it’s great to see those funds included in this bill. Also included in the WRDA are funds to clear the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System (MKARNS) from silt deposits as a result of the 2019 floods and other updates and security measures for MKARNS. Our waterways are important in Oklahoma, and I’m glad to see much-needed funding allocated to Oklahoma projects with the WRDA.”

Background Information

Port of Catoosa director voted chairman of the National Waterways Conference

Port of Catoosa director voted chairman of the National Waterways Conference

David Yarbrough, executive director for the Tulsa Port of Catoosa, was recently elected as the chairman of the National Waterways Conference. Yarbrough joined the Tulsa Port of Catoosa as the manager of operations in 2006 and was promoted to port director in 2017. He graduated from Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering and is a licensed professional engineer who is responsible for port operations and all major construction.

Waterways are a significant mode of freight transportation in Oklahoma and across the nation. Last spring presented the most challenging flooding conditions all across the Midwest and particularly in Oklahoma and Arkansas.

 “This is a great honor and very deserving for David Yarbrough to represent Oklahoma’s infrastructure at the national level,” Oklahoma Transportation Secretary Tim Gatz said. “Through Yarbrough’s and his Oklahoma colleagues’ leadership, the unprecedented floods of last spring have received much attention nationally and will now continue to highlight Oklahoma’s standing and solutions to this challenging issue of our aging transportation system.”

Yarbrough previously served as the vice chairman for the NWC before being elected as chairman. The NWC is an organization that seeks to effect common sense policies and programs through recognizing the public value of our nation’s water resources and their contribution to public safety, a competitive economy, national security, environmental quality and energy conservation. The NWC has members from all across the nation and serves the public at the national level when it comes to waterways and ports.

Hern introduces bill on emergency communications during floods

Rep. Hern Introduces Bill to Address Emergency Communications During Floods

Tulsa, OK – At the end of July, Representative Kevin Hern (OK-01) sponsored his first bill as a Member of Congress. H.R. 3944 amends the Water Resources Reform and Development Act, addressing the communications shortfalls Oklahomans experienced during the flooding this past May.

“Seeing firsthand the disaster that hit our community in May, I had to do something,” said Rep. Hern. “I spoke with people in our community, met with officials from FEMA, the Army Corps of Engineers, emergency responders, and city leaders to determine what went wrong and how we could better prepare for floods like this in the future. It was clear that communication paths needed a fix. This bill will streamline communication of risk from the moment that the National Weather Service forecasts potential flooding. I hope this will help our community and other like it across the country prevent disasters like what we experienced in May from happening again.”

BACKGROUND:
This spring, Oklahoma’s First District was devastated by flooding. Unfortunately, while the Army Corps of Engineers always do well to respond in these situations, failing infrastructure and bureaucratic hurdles hamper their overall ability to provide adequate emergency communications.

Because of this, Congressman Hern is introducing this legislation to add another tool to the Army Corp’s belt. This reform will grant the Army Corps of Engineers the ability to better communicate impending disasters with our community and potentially give our constituents more time to prepare for flooding in the future. While we can’t stop these disasters from occurring, we can always be more prepared, and this bill will help us to achieve that.

This bill requires the Army Corps of Engineers to send emergency communications earlier, so constituents are better protected against disaster.

• Currently, the U.S. Code directs the Army Corps of Engineers to only send out emergency communications when “precipitation or runoff exceeds those calculations considered as the lowest risk to life and property.”
• This bill would adjust this requirement so that the Army Corps of Engineers would also send this emergency communication when the National Weather Service forecasts the possibility of precipitation or runoff exceeding calculations considered the lowest risk to life and property.
• This would better help local and state governments to make more informed plans ahead of time to prepare constituents, and to help them to better preempt any dangers caused by water releases.

QUESTIONS ABOUT H.R 3944

Would this bill force the Army Corps of Engineers to make releases before flood water accumulates on the ground?
No, this bill would do nothing to change the Army Corp of Engineer’s policy of not making releases until water accumulates, as is safer due to changing forecasts.


Rather, this bill will ensure quicker emergency communications from the Army Corps to localities so that constituents would get a more advanced notice of impending floods, and so that they would be able to react accordingly.

What if the forecasts under-anticipate the amount of precipitation?
Congressman Hern understands the potential errors of forecasting. Because of this, H.R.3944 requires emergency communication from the Army Corps when the forecasts require it, and when precipitation and run-off actually exceeds those calculations considered as the lowest risk to life and property, as is currently utilized.

In having both of these events as triggers for emergency communications, Congressman Hern’s bill will also protect constituents in the off-chance that flooding is not forecasted, but still occurs.

The bill text can be found here.

Stitt, mayors ask Corps to expedite Tulsa levee feasibility study

GOVERNOR STITT AND MAYORS BYNUM, GUTHRIE AND LEE REQUEST CORPS EXPEDITE FEASIBILITY STUDY ON TULSA LEVEES

Oklahoma City, Okla. (July 8, 2019)— Governor Kevin Stitt, Mayor G.T. Bynum (Tulsa), Mayor Brian Guthrie (Bixby) and Mayor Robert Lee (Jenks) sent a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers requesting the feasibility study on the Tulsa-West Tulsa Levee System be expedited and completed by December 2019.

The feasibility study is needed for further improvements and upgrades to be implemented to the levee system, which provided protection to tens and thousands of Oklahomans during the recent major flooding events in Oklahoma.

The letter is available here and copied below.


Assistant Secretary James and Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite,

Throughout the months of April and May, the state of Oklahoma underwent devastating severe weather and flooding events. As a result of these conditions, state government declared a state of emergency for all 77 counties in Oklahoma, and the Trump administration was quick to respond both in its FEMA approvals as well as on the ground support from the Corps and a visit from the Vice President of the United States. Oklahoma greatly appreciates this administration's pro-active and close coordination during the events and your ongoing support as residents undergo a long road to recovery.

We specifically want to draw your attention to the historic flooding experienced in Eastern Oklahoma. This area was fortunate that the Tulsa-West Tulsa Levee System held back water for weeks, compared to the last major flooding event in 1986 that lasted less than a day. If these 75-year-old levees had been breached, the damage would have been catastrophic to the communities of hard-working Oklahomans protected by the levee system.

The 2018 Water Resources Development Act instructed your agency to conduct a Feasibility Study on our nation's levees, for completion by September 2020. Oklahomans simply cannot wait that long. In 2008, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers rated the Tulsa-West Tulsa Levees as "unacceptable". Based on your own assessment, it is clear you, too, recognize the urgency for modernization and upgrades.

We are writing to request the Army Corps of Engineers to expedite the Feasibility Study for completion in December 2019. This will allow for much needed upgrades to be addressed before the close of the 116th Congress. Any deadline past December runs the risk of delaying the rebuilding and recovery process several years for this vital infrastructure.

The Tulsa-West Tulsa Levees provided protection to tens of thousands of Oklahomans, spanning from as north as Skiatook to as far south as Muskogee and Webbers Falls. These levees also protected $2 billion in infrastructure and two major oil refineries, both of which provide gasoline to a large section of the mid-continental United States. The risks are too high for this not to be resolved soon, but there is a clear solution and path forward for expediting upgrades if the Corps will finalize this important report by the end of this year.

Sincerely,

J. Kevin Stitt, Governor of Oklahoma
G.T. Bynum, Mayor of Tulsa
Brian Guthrie, Mayor of Bixby
Robert Lee, Mayor of Jenks