Cuts to Army Corps' budget threaten projects and services

Bush plans to cut the district's funding by $6 million.
CONFLUENCE, Pa. (AP) -- Businesses and residents who rely on tourism are circulating petitions asking Congress to reverse cuts to the Army Corps of Engineers' budget in western Pennsylvania, which could mean the end of many environmental projects and services.
The Bush administration has earmarked $98 million for the Pittsburgh District in fiscal 2005, down from $104 million this year. The district includes 23 locks and dams, 16 reservoirs and more than 40 flood-protection projects in western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and parts of New York, West Virginia and Maryland.
Youghiogheny Lake has 10 employees who oversee the 16-mile lake, which runs from a dam near Confluence, to Friendsville, Md.
"We rely on tourism for our economy," said Pam Hartman, owner of the Hartman Service Center in Confluence, which offers auto repairs and fast food.
If the funding cuts aren't reversed, layoffs are forecast. The local district recently cut its 790-person civilian staff to 725 through an early retirement program and could cut 205 more jobs if not enough people take another round of early retirement incentives.
Water restoration
The cuts are also affecting water-restoration projects, as that portion of the district's budget shrinks this year from $1.7 million to $992,000.
For example, cleanup work along Pittsburgh's North Shore of the Allegheny River will be put on hold, as will the restoration of Nine Mile Run in Frick Park.
The funding cuts are also endangering a long-term project to improve the locks and dams, some of which are old and in disrepair. Officials have said that could delay completion of the new locks and dams to at least 2019.
The staff cuts already have forced the corps to restrict the hours of some locks, particularly those upriver on the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers, limiting the times and days that cargo and pleasure boaters can navigate the entire length of those rivers.
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