FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 9, 2022
Contact: Liam Forsythe, (310) 513-3469 (mobile)
Washington, D.C. – Last night, Congresswoman Nanette Barragán (CA-44) joined her colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives to pass the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2022. This legislation makes critical investments in the nation’s ports, inland waterways, flood protection, ecosystem restoration, and other water resources infrastructure.
WRDA 2022 includes a top priority of Congresswoman Barragán to increase the funding authorization for Los Angeles County under WRDA by $100 million to support an eventual restoration project for Dominguez Channel, and to include the Channel as an eligible geographic location within the county for Army Corps projects. Barragán worked with Los Angeles County, the City of Carson, and the Los Angeles District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to develop a request for a feasibility study for restoring the Channel. The changes in WRDA 2022 are the first necessary step to securing federal funding for a study and restoration project. The County is weighing long-term options to environmentally restore the Dominguez Channel, following an odor emergency in the fall of 2021 that caused temporary evacuations and sickened residents in Carson.
“Last fall, residents in Carson faced unacceptable and overwhelming noxious odors from the Dominguez Channel, a result of decades of degradation and an industrial pollution incident. WRDA 2022 is a critical first step for local efforts to restore the Dominguez Channel and turn it into an asset for the community. This is about environmental justice. Carson deserves a clean, thriving river free of pollution that they can be proud of,” said Barragán.
Barragán also co-led efforts with Congressman Steve Cohen to secure important environmental justice policy changes in the House’s WRDA 2022 bill. The legislation makes permanent a pilot program providing flood risk management feasibility studies for underserved communities. Barragán successfully fought for the inclusion of this pilot program in WRDA 2020.
WRDA 2022 also directs the Corps to coordinate with EPA to remediate toxic sediments at four identified Corps projects, establishes a Tribal Liaison position for each Corps district, and directs the Corps to report to Congress on the use of contracts and subcontracts with Small Disadvantaged Businesses to implement WRDA projects.
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Nanette Diaz Barragán is proud to represent California’s 44th Congressional District, which includes the communities of Carson, Compton, Florence-Firestone, Lynwood, North Long Beach, Rancho Dominguez, San Pedro, South Gate, Walnut Park, Watts, Willowbrook and Wilmington. She serves as chairwoman of the House Homeland Security Committee’s Subcommittee on Border Security, and on the House Energy and Commerce Health, Energy, and Environment & Climate Change Subcommittees.