Senate OKs water projects

WASHINGTON - The Senate, ignoring a veto threat from the White House, authorized $23 billion in water projects yesterday, including work to restore the hurricane-ravaged Louisiana coast and Florida's Everglades.

The measure, passed by the House earlier this year, was approved 81-12. It now goes to President Bush, who threatened a veto after the bill's anticipated cost ballooned by $9 billion as projects were added in negotiations between the House and Senate.

The Senate vote was approved by a veto-proof margin and the bill's supporters said they are optimistic that if the president rejects the measure, his veto will be overridden by two-thirds vote.

"He knows it's going to be overridden," said Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., a leading supporter of the widely popular measure that would give a green light - if money is approved - to hundreds of water projects in virtually every state.

"These programs are necessary," insisted Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who rejected arguments by opponents that the legislation is stocked with unneeded pet projects pushed by individual lawmakers.

The legislation authorizes $3.6 billion for wetlands and other coastal restoration, flood control and dredging projects for Louisiana, a state where coastal erosion and storms have resulted in the disappearance of huge areas of land.

It also includes nearly $2 billion to restore the Florida Everglades, and nearly $2 billion for the Army Corps of Engineers to build seven locks on the upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers.

While these projects may be the most ambitious, the bill would give the go-ahead for hundreds of smaller dredging, wetlands restoration and flood control projects across the country. One senator after another called the projects critical for their respective states.

The bill also calls for increased oversight of the Corps, requiring an outside review of water construction projects.

But critics called the bill - the first water-system restoration and flood-control authorization passed by Congress since 2000 - an example of Congress' push to approve lawmakers' pet projects without concern over costs or setting priorities.

They said the Army Corps already has a backlog of $58 billion worth of projects and an annual budget of only about $2 billion to address them.

While the bill authorizes projects, it does not fund them.

"How many failed projects and wasted dollars does it take before we finally say we've had enough?" asked Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., who called the legislation a "flawed, loaded bill" that doesn't attempt to set priorities on water projects. *