The Army Corps of Engineers

In debates over how to reduce the federal budget deficit, advocates of tax increases often assert there is nothing that can reasonably be cut from expenditure.   This perspective is correct in noting that national defense and entitlements account for a substantial fraction of expenditure, although it is ridiculous to assume none of this deserves to be cut.  In addition, plenty of expenditure outside these two areas should be eliminated whether the U.S. has budget deficit or a budget surplus. 

A prime example is civilian works projects conducted by the Army Corps of Engineers.  This story in the Washington Post explains why.  The story begins with:

In 2000, when I was writing a 50,000-word Washington Post series about dysfunction at the Army Corps of Engineers, I highlighted a $65 million flood-control project in Missouri as Exhibit A. Corps documents showed that the project would drain more acres of wetlands than all U.S. developers do in a typical year, but wouldn't stop flooding in the town it was meant to protect. FEMA's director called it "a crazy idea"; the Fish and Wildlife Service's regional director called it "absolutely ridiculous."

Six years later, the project hasn't changed -- except for its cost, which has soared to $112 million. Larry Prather, chief of legislative management for the Corps, privately described it in a 2002 e-mail as an "economic dud with huge environmental consequences." Another Corps official called it "a bad project. Period." But the Corps still wants to build it.

Some might argue that, however misguided the Corps project described in the article, they do not add up to much compared to budget deficits in the hundreds of billions.   But the costs and budgetary implications of the Corps go far beyond the direct expenditure; these projects destory wetlands, encourage inefficient development projects, and in some cases lead to disasters like Katrina, whose costs are indeed significant even in comparison to current budget deficits.

As Michael Grunwald, the author of the Post article writes, "Where's the outrage?"

Comments

[Alan Brown]

Check out Cadillac Desert. It details billions spent on environmentally devastating water projects of questionable economic value. A great many of which are the results of corruption, bribery and congressional backscratching. Much of this destruction and waste is driven by the silly competition between the Corps and the Bureau of Reclamation.