Funding Included in Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act Moving to the Full Senate

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI) secured $235 million in federal funding for the Soo Locks while helping the Senate Appropriations Committee pass the bipartisan Fiscal Year 2024 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act. The bill, which includes Soo Locks funding, now advances to the full Senate as Peters continues to work with his Senate colleagues on legislation to fund the federal government.

The House of Representatives, meanwhile, is considering its own funding bills. The Senate and House will then need to reach an agreement on a final funding bill and have it pass both chambers before being sent to the President to be signed into law.  

“The Soo Locks are critical to Michigan’s economy and to our entire country,” said Senator Peters. “There’s no question that continuing to modernize the Soo Locks is long overdue – and even a temporary shutdown of one lock would have incredibly harmful impacts on Great Lakes commerce, jobs, national supply chains, and our national security. After fighting hard for the necessary resources, I’m pleased to have secured this funding for these major upgrades to the Soo Locks.”

The President’s Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2024, which was announced on March 9, 2023, did not originally include a funding request for the Soo Locks project. Knowing the importance of the Soo Locks to Michigan, the U.S. economy, and national security, Peters and Senator Debbie Stabenow (MI) spoke with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Shalanda Young in March to stress the importance of the Soo Locks. Following this call, OMB sent a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers that directed Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Michael Connor to change the funding classification of the Soo Locks, and then notified Congress of this change. As a result of the Senators’ efforts, the Soo Locks modernization is now a project officially requested for $235 million in the Fiscal Year 2024 budget. As a member of the Appropriations Committee, Peters continued advocating for Soo Locks funding and working to make sure it was included in the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act.

This builds on Peters’ work to fund upgrades for the Soo Locks. Peters and Stabenow were instrumental in enacting the bipartisan infrastructure law, including $479 million they announced in January 2022 for modernizing the Soo Locks. In December 2022, they helped pass the bipartisan Water Resources and Development Act as part of the annual national defense bill and it included needed funding flexibility for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to keep building a new lock at the Soo on schedule. 

Additionally, Peters’ efforts moved ahead other funding:

• Funding to replace lead service lines in Detroit: Would provide $2.25 million for the Army Corps of Engineers to replace lead service lines in the City of Detroit. This would help improve public health and access to safe drinking water.

• Advancing invasive carp mitigation efforts: Includes report language directing the Army Corps of Engineers to continue Asian carp mitigation efforts and report to Congress quarterly on ongoing research and potential solutions. Peters has long advocated for federal assistance to prevent further spread of Asian carp, which pose a grave and imminent risk to the Great Lakes, including our fishing industry, recreational boating industry, and the hundreds of thousands of jobs that these and other Great Lakes affiliated sectors support.

• Funding for the Great Lakes Coastal Resilience Study: Would provide the Army Corps of Engineers with resources to continue its work to conduct the Great Lakes Coastal Resilience Study, a first-of-its-kind effort to develop a coordinated strategy to manage and protect the Great Lakes and their 5,200-mile coastline from threats associated with lake level fluctuations, erosion, flooding, nutrient runoff, and aging infrastructure.

• Funding to protect the Great Lakes: Would provide funding for the Great Lakes Authority and encourage continued investments in the Great Lakes Navigation System. This funding and these continued investments will support efforts to identify and advance solutions to the economic and environmental challenges facing the Great Lakes region, such as through job training and community development, and maintain the viability of Great Lakes navigation system infrastructure. 

• Protecting Funding for Michigan State University Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB): This bill provides continued facilities funding within the Office of Science, including continued optimized funding for MSU’s FRIB. The FRIB is a world-class research facility that puts MSU at the forefront of scientific advancement in nuclear physics, specifically the study of rare isotopes and nuclear astrophysics and their applications in medicine, homeland security, and our economy. Peters has championed federal support for FRIB, helping to secure funding and cutting the ribbon at the center last year with federal and state officials.

• Funding to study and prevent floods for the Midland Community: Would provide the Army Corps of Engineers with resources for a study to assess the feasibility of flood risk management and ecosystem restoration in the Tittabawassee River Watershed to help prevent future flood disasters. This is important for the Midland Community as they work to rebuild with the resilience necessary to weather new climate realities.
• Protecting Communities from Extreme Weather: Would provide funding for critical construction projects to protect communities from extreme weather events and more frequent flooding. This funding supports projects and programs that use natural infrastructure and environmental restoration like using dredge material to rebuild and protect communities. The bill also expands the Water Infrastructure Financing Program to include levees, allowing low-interest loans for communities to make improvements and increase protection from flood events.  
• Funding for renewable energy programs: Would provide funding for energy efficiency and renewable energy programs, including increases for wind energy, water technologies, and advanced manufacturing to strengthen our global leadership in renewable energy technologies and manufacturing. These increased funds would help create domestic jobs and spur innovation. 

• Protecting our energy grid: Would provide funding for Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response to help ensure the continued success of the Department of Energy’s programs to strengthen the security and resilience of our energy sector and grid. The bill also provides funding for the Office of Electricity and for the Grid Deployment Office to help deploy transmission for the buildout of clean energy.

• Funding for ports and harbors: Would provide funding for the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund to improve navigation through dredging ports, maintain waterways, and ensure goods and people can get to where they need to be safely and efficiently.

• Funding to implement provisions of the CHIPS Act related to research and science: Would provide funding for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. This funding would help implement the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act. The Office of Science is the largest federal sponsor of basic research in the physical sciences and supports 22,000 researchers at 17 national laboratories and more than 300 universities. The bill continues to advance the highest priorities in materials research, high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, biology, and clean energy research to maintain and strengthen our global competitiveness.  

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