i think, we saw in philadelphia happening in baltimore. usually when you have an impact where you remove a significant piece of infrastructure, traf level out after a while. that is not happening in baltimore to the same extent. i think it is just because of the criticality of the artery. it's part of the northeast corridor. it's important for maryland and baltimore but also the northeast corridor. there are trucks and vehicles moving through neighborhoods that would normally not be on. that is why it is so critically important that we move as quickly as possible. >> administrator bhatt, it is clear that we need to restore commerce to the port of baltimore and rebuilt the bridge. to improve safety and mobility. the full maryland delegation has proposed legislation to provide 100% federal share of the cost of the new bridge.

i wholeheartedly support this legislation. what affect with >> we will call the committee to order. the 100% federal share have on i ask unanimous consent that the chairman be authorized to declare recess any time during today's hearing. that is so ordered. efforts to rebuild the bridge as a reminder, members inserta quickly? document the record please >> thank you for the question. i have spent a lot of time email them. running state duties in my career. i've been on the private side. at this point i will recognize this job works on bridges myself for the purposes of an across the globe. opening statement. we are here today to discuss i would just say with the the initial federal response to benefit of the 100% share, it march 26, 2024, early morning incident involving the cargo just removes an element of vessel and francis scott key uncertainty. right now i think maryland, i bridge in baltimore, maryland, which resulted in the have to commend maryland d.o.t. subsequent collapse of the they have been consummate bridge. the first one at all and six professionals through the process. right now, what they are workers who sadly perished. i contemplating is an er shortage that we have told them about that we have $3.7 billion in unmet and the federal highway want to express our condolences and offer prayers to the administration has about $870 families and their loved ones. i also want to express our appreciation to the harbor million available for nationwide pilot and the maryland police er efforts. authority who saved countless we believe we will have the

funding there for you and then lives close in the bridge prior to the incident and all the there's the uncertainty of the 90% versus the 100% and 80% first responders who were obviously involved in that process. finally, i want to commend the federal, state, and local uncertainty. as you are planning out these officialsworking that night to multiyear multibillion-dollar construction programs, not clear the wreckage and debris knowing whether or not that and obviously continuing that $170 million is going to be there, does it impact things effort to reopen the shipping channel that supports the port right now in this moment? of baltimore. no. they will move forward but as the committee continues to they are projecting out and receive updates from federal agencies responding and trying to build the construction program, it is an element of uncertainty that can investigating the incident including those testifying here today. hours after the collapse, be helpful. just to clarify on the 100%, obviously any insurance payments as the ranking member had president biden announced his intention for the federal mentioned would be reapplied. i government to pay for the initial cost of reconstruction the key bridge. can pretty much with certainty we received a letter officially, requesting that we authorize the money to repair guarantee this will not be 100% federally funded eventually because we will recoup the insurance payments as possible and it will go back and to the the bridge. i've personally spoken with governor moore on several er funds but as the ranking occasions. the federal highway administration emergency relief member mentioned we don't want program, within hours of to wait through the litigation and ntsb investigations and

insurance. receiving the application the federal highway administration >> thank you. i yelled back. approved $60 million in quick release funding which it said represented 5% or so of the >> thank you, mr. chairman for initial total project cost of putting this together. $1.2 billion. this funding is expected to . last week the army corps notified congressional offices assist with emergency repairs that they would be utilizing the to restore essential travel, to minimize damage from the emergency programming authority to re-program approximately $33 million for operation and remaining facilities as well as repairs necessary to restore the highway to the predisaster condition. under the program the federal government reimburses state maintenance for recovery '-- qualifying workout 100% federal cost or first 270 days. cost for the key bridge. after that initial 270 days, nearly $1 million was states are reimbursed at 80 to reappropriated from florida. 90% rate depending on the and projects in florida without classification of the program, any request or input from the which the program also provides state or the people. flexibility to allow for reimbursement up to 90% in some while the recovery effort in baltimore is important, this reprogramming of the funds

cases. this past friday, may 10, the represents the blatant disregard for florida and federal highway administration desperately needed improvements committee had designated a portion of 695 that includes to the water resources and infrastructure. general graham, the bridge as part of the interstate system effective april 25. that means they will be these program funds were deemed to be in excess, why did the guaranteed up to 90%. core let these funds let -- sit all that is to say that while the president's request has for years and not use them for been received and under consideration, congress still has roughly 6 months to act projects in florida. will they reimburse the south before any cost share might occur. atlantic division for these funds. despite initial estimates of $1.2 billion to rebuild the bridge, reports now indicate >> congressman webster, thank you for these question. the example i used earlier of the state of maryland estimates the bridge may cost between the funds that we had set aside somewhere between $1.7 billion and $1.9 billion. for when a contractor put a claim, that was from jacksonville. it was from the it's important we have a firm estimate before we take any further action on the cost share. jacksonville harbor. in addition, the company that owned the ship must make sure the government actively works

to recover any money that is owed. that could offset the bridge in this case that money is no funding or be used to make longer needed for the jacksonville harbor project. those funds in particular that we had set them aside for a need and that meat did not companies that work and rely on the harbor to remain whole. materialize, we will not seek recoupment for those. we did do so for those who wish to go see for themselves the committee will continue to facilitate this work, this emergency visits on a regular basis. reprogramming work very rapidly. at this stage we need to make as i stated in my opening sure we are not forgetting to statement, we have not used this authority at the scale for 15 years. we were a little clunky at it let other agencies complete your investigation. in terms of notification to you we will ensure that numbers of and your staff. congress have all the information that is available to them. i want to thank all of our i will use jacksonville district as an example, if witnesses for being here today. there are some of those funds i look forward to the testimony. that they do find a need for, i did talk to the governor just we will figure out a way to this morning about the hearing make sure that projects coming up. continue. to your first comment on some he is pretty optimistic about of those old funds that have the litigation moving forward. been sitting out there for a while, why haven't we cleaned i mentioned that in my opening up the books sooner? statement but it sounded very sir, you are absolutely right. we should have.

interesting and promising. >> you know better than most that the gulf states fight >> thank you, chair graves for against the national holding the hearing. contingency plan unified command structure response i want to thank the officials throughout the deep horizon oil for joining us. first, i want spill. the national institute commander report included the states effort resulted in the to express my sympathies of the political and social six transportation workers that nullification of the oil spill. the oil spill response for the lost their lives on the job maintaining this important doctrine and structuring governance. piece of infrastructure. it appears from these reports this is a reminder why safety always has to be the top that meetings with maryland priority in transportation. safety and workers, traveling public and the residence. state officials and members staff, plus a number of staff member trips to the wreck site, this is an incredibly complex that maryland embrace the national incident command debris removal challenge. structure and has worked well it supports significant regional economic and global shipping and loss of essential within that structure. freight movements and roadway mobility in the mid-atlantic is the national incident command structure still an region. effective coordinating federal i want to commend you and the team and your leadership and the tireless efforts of the interagency and state and local

women and men under your command and federal interactions during the incidents such as the dolly? for their work to safely remove the debris and return the >> congressman, i cannot agree channel to the operations that currently exist under extremely challenging circumstances. more with your statement. as the chief of staff on the it became clear when i visited the site last month. i want to thank the coast guard deepwater horizon spill and now for the partners on the unified being somebody who has been command especially maryland witness to the terrific work of state police. for guiding many members of the the unified effort in this one. it has been a very very congress in our various trips different in terms of to witness the damage. cooperation and collaboration. underpinning that is the i look forward to hearing the absolute necessity and benefit latest updates today regarding the cleanup and the estimated of the incident command system timeline for reopening the under the national incident channel. management system framework that has served this response we also need to learn what incredibly well is the doctrine of the u.s.. any agency entity, army corps, state can come together with a common lexicon, a common way of planning to resources and authorities will be needed from congress as the come together and make this full costs become more concrete. work. i would also like to highlight the coast guard has expended significant 2020 for operation support funds. a real difference that has made we are grateful the coast guard always does what it needs to a difference. and that is that elected get the job done.

it is reasonable to expect service to absorb these costs leadership and the operational leadership has been connected without impacting the coast guard ability to perform other in a very constructive way. from governor moore to mayor missions. the service must be made whole. scott to members of congress currently fiscal 2020 for from the maryland delegation, they have taken it upon operations and maintenance funds are being used for the themselves to get regular channels. if not replenished it will updates and a great interest in impact planned repayments once the progress of the response. they have handled for the this is complete and in future unified command a lot of the years. these amounts are not submitted public affairs and external communications in a very upon response. last week there was an ounce constructive way. they have actually provided the trade space for the operational reprogramming in $20 million of unused funds to continue work. response to continue on without pressure, without being rushed. it's been very constructive. this level of reprogramming is unprecedented and demonstrates the absence of funds provided >> thank you very much. i yield back. by congress to get out of water >> chairman graves and not the vessels of the port and ranking member larsen for can reopen and continue. holding this hearing on the i urge the koran the coast federal response of the francis scott key bridge collapse in maryland. i further extend my guard to communicate early and

often what you need to ensure condolences to the families of support is uninterrupted and to the six individuals that lost do so in partnership with the their lives during the collapse. legislative branch. i think our esteemed witnesses beyond the immediate response i for appearing today especially administrator bhatt who was in look forward to hearing from highway administrator about the memphis on monday . i timeline to replace the bridge appreciate you coming to see and the role the federal government is playing in the the urgent need to replace it process. across the mississippi river. congress has established the emergency relief program in 1968 as part of the federal highway program to provide for of course as you well know a the reconstruction of highways and bridges in the event of a national treasure to have disaster. transportation across the congress understood that estate country. we had a problem last cannot be expected to cover the costs of an unforeseen emergency loss of a structure year with the 40 bridge and the out of the budget. i-55 bridge could have the same that is true today. officials estimate it will cost problem . it is projected to up to $1.9 billion to replace the bridge. there's a lot of estimates out there and it's a broad range. occur and has been predicted for about 20 years. i would not really call them it will occur more likely estimates at this point sooner than later. frankly. d.o.t. has provided $60 million in as you all look at the damages emergency relief funds. prior to collapse the bridge caused partially i think ere

service 34,000 vehicles a day. because it was not built to sta this has increased crossings and other tunnels by 18%. truck drivers carrying the peers may be could have hazardous materials must at 25 been buttressed and made it miles to get through baltimore more stable. is that correct? on alternate routes. the mr. bhatt, can you answer ? committee has a role to help rebuild this economic artery quickly and efficiently. i want >> thank you. to welcome the committee chair. it was good to spend some time looking at the bridge. i think one of the things we congratulations on your are waiting for, and it was reconfirmation last night. great to see the preliminary report for the ntsb, but we the ntsb a thorough investigation of the catastrophe will help to answer questions that will sure will be working closely with the ntsb just to figure out exactly what types of ridges, save lives and protect protection might be needed for bridges and what might -- what americans. i look forward to what you are could have been possible. i do not want to step into the ntsb realm. able to share based on the >> i'm sorry. preliminary funding which was please. >> thank you, sir. released yesterday afternoon. thank you to each of our witnesses. i look forward to for the key bridge we are obviously looking, there were what you all have to say.

i yield back. two dolphins on the east side and two on the west side. they are rather small and the >> i ask unanimous consent that vessels bypassed the dolphins. these statements be included in what ended up striking the peer the record without objection. -- pier is the starboard side that is so ordered. i ask unanimous consent for the record. the hearing will remain of the bow that hit the column. open until such time that the witnesses have provided answers. the pier protection around the any questions may be submitted column itself is timber, in writing that is also sorted. concrete, a little bit of steel. it is very close to the pier i also ask unanimous consent that the record remain open for itself. other structures that we are 15 days for additional comments by members or witnesses to be included in the record of looking at have pier protection today's hearing. without objection that is so that comes out farther. ordered. the vessel cannot get to the column. other dolphins are much larger the written testimony has obviously been included in the so we are looking at other records of the committee asks that you try to limit your oral remarks to five minutes. structures across the united with that, vice admiral, you states to see good models. are recognized for five minutes. thank you for being here. >> thank you, chairman, ranking the key here is you have a member, numbers of the committee. good morning. bridge that was opened in 1997. thank you for your remarks over time, it's not the bridge about the coast guard and opening remarks.

i look forward to the that is getting larger. opportunity to testify. atop the waterway getting rly hours of march 26 larger. it's the vessels that are the container shipped only getting larger. not just with width but height . and collapse the francis scott key bridge. six individuals lost their lives. baltimore loss to landmark part of its skyline and the region it's important that they are suffered a blockage of crucial looking from a risk assessment waterways. we continue to honor the memory standpoint but is now going through, what is the vessel of those victims. today at the 51 day point over traffic? how are -- how is the 6000 tons of steel and concrete infrastructure protected? have been removed from the wreckage field. access has been restored to the port of baltimore with more >> with the bridges built after than 35 large commercial 1977 that were built in a vessels sailing through a fashion that they would have limited access channel and 375 been was able to withstand such an impact? additional commercial recreation vessels have used temporary access channels. the >> that's an important question first of which was established six days after the collapse. hazardous materials aboard the motor vessel were stabilized as was the ship itself. our report today that unified we are subject to see going command believes it will be re- floated and removed from the vessels in the great lakes region. site early next week is what they are looking at. i think what this region has done is driven home that need

particularly notable, countless to look at many of the bridges steps in the operation have which we will do and rely on been completed without single worker injury. these had been the ntsb recommendations. again, there was a lot of made possible through rapid force. i have heard different mobilization with strong analogies of the force. the equivalent of a rocket ship coordination and partnerships. the unified command formed in taking off. we just want to be careful in the first few hours per the consideration of how we protect national response framework. and build bridges in the 21st our national doctrine for century as we deal with these response disasters and emergencies. the coast guard, army corps of new potential threats. engineers, maryland state police, maryland transportation >> thank you. i would like to urge you as i authority, maryland department did in memphis, that we need to of the environment and the look at preventative measures so we do not have another francis scott key bridge owners and operators have disaster. earthquakes can cause effectively leveraged each other's jurisdictions, that. there's no place in the united authorities, and capabilities states more vulnerable than the to get us where we are today. the coast guard is proud to be there were standards. it is part of this response. our women and men serve on the front lines of a nation whose deficient and needs to be replaced. i hope you will look at bridges economic prosperity and national security are inextricably linked to maritime

transportation systems. at the ones that might be susceptible. i hate to give god we exercise six of the 11 statutory missions in this response from the early hours of the search and rescue response to restoring vessel traffic with navigation. the responsibility, but the this commission disservice to disasters caused by others events. thank you for coming. activities to ensure that safety, security and stewardship of waterways but we are also continuously >> thank you, mr. chairman. exercising operating a mating i will offer my condolences to with federal, state, and local the family and it underscores industry partners. one prime the circumstance how potentially horrific and almost example you mentioned is the fantastic work on the quick unimaginable what might be seen notification by the pilots to as mundane work and that being the mta dispatch which saved in a critical moment. countless numbers of lives. it's unimaginable if you can imagine that 3:00 a.m. the work is not done. the unified command remains sharply focused on the falling in the water and steel restoration. and concrete crashing. active investigations continue the francis scott key bridge in parallel with the response including the coast guard marine board of investigation, was a facility that never

received any federal funding our highest level of marine prior to the collapse, right?>> casualty investigation, to yes her. determine the causal factors >> how much -- and support the development of preventative recommendations. our investigation is in >> i would have to double check. cooperation with the ntsb which has taken the lead on the safety investigation and the coast guard investigation is also moving concurrently and separately from the department of justice's criminal investigation. >> under the current plan the while we look forward to the results of the investigations, bridge would get 100% share. it's evident looking more broadly that the size and so the federal government would pay 100% of that and while you complexity of ships has grown over the years, placing greater say this is consistent with demands on the marine bridge collapsed emergencies in transportation infrastructure the past, and i think you are that may not have kept place referring to the i-35 collapse, with the increased risks these vessels posed. it was not a toll bridge. it is time to more broadly it was part of the interstate system. understand these risks. so as deputy commandant for so my questions center around operations, i will be convening a nationwide board of inquiry payment for this. i think we can all agree that under title 46 u.s. code led by my assistant commandant rear

admiral wayne are in. we probably and should not wait for the insurance companies and litigators to work it out, but maryland had insurance on the we will assess the efficacy of bridge, didn't they? >> i am aware of one policy that maryland has four 350 risk management tools, evaluate how recently they have been used million. >> so that should by all rights in major ports and establish a holistic national level approach to develop risk be action to go toward paying for a portion, whatever portion profiles, identify ways to address vulnerabilities and of the bridge reconstruction it propose actions to reduce the would pay for. risk of major incidents. the sport of inquiry is a >> absolutely. necessary step to bolster the i have yet to go through and resiliency and ensure the safe have our lawyers figure out and secure and efficient flow of what is in there. commerce on waterways. a portion of that 350 million would apply. >> so i guess when you say thank you for this opportunity and for your enduring support consistent with past emergencies of the coast guard. i look forward to your , you say the really fun is 3.7 questions. >> we have major general graham. thank you for being here. you are recognized for five behind. at the federal level, i wonder minutes. >> chairman, ranking member, distinguish members of the if you think it is fair that committee, thank you for the the american taxpayer should not only pay to reconstruct the opportunity to testify before

you today and discuss the emergency response by the u.s. bridge, but pay tolls after army corps of engineers of the which to use the infrastructure collapse of the francis scott key bridge. they just paid for in their please allow me to begin today taxes. by offering heart l condolences to families of six individuals you will set a new precedent. lost in this tragedy. is that what we are going to set, or is there a plan to from the outset we were recoup the cost of committed to supporting efforts to recover their loved ones. thoughts and prayers continue reconstruction of the bridge, to be with them. soon after this tragic event and i think according to the figures, upwards of $2 billion maryland governor wesmoore declared a state of emergency per bridge that originally cost 60.3. is there a plan to recoup that and we activated the district emergency operations center. and send it back into the the state-of-the-art survey disaster relief fund or the vessels which usually serve to highway fund that continually verify the depth and with the needs massive infusions just to federal channels were deployed to support the initial search and rescue dive operations. stay afloat. what is the plan? we joined a multi agency effort across all levels of ever meant >> very important questions and i appreciate your interest. to form a unified command. let me try to quickly go i've been in a good many through that. disaster responses over the this was a maryland state years and this unified command facility and has been team led by captain david o'connell is one of the best designated part of the i've ever seen. the guidance from the president interstate system. was clear from the beginning.

they used the tolls -- whatever clearing the wreckage from the they were using them for. channel was the top priority. now that it is federalized, as we needed three things to execute this mission. authority, funding, and the right contracting capacity. part of the interstate system authority, we used the authority for the baltimore you have to use those for title channels project and authorized 23 eligible funding. the army corps to maintain and construct a 50 foot deep weather's maintenance of the existing bridge or other title channel which was fully blocked by the wreckage. funding, we used available fy 23 highway purposes, so the taxpayer will be benefiting 23 and 24 funding for that from those. project. additional funds as we in terms of the precedents, if discussed earlier by ranking it was a pre-existing toll facility, they can do that member larsen have been going forward, but it would be provided through internal emergency programming actions using unused funding just from using title 23 eligible harbor maintenance and trust expenditures on those. fund projects. >> i understand the title 23 the army corps has not used this emergency reprogramming expenditures, but you are authority at this scale for over 15 years. asking taxpayers from across the third thing we needed was the country to pay for it, and contracting. the army corps has a standard if you're from washington interagency agreement with the state, you will never travel across that bridge, but you supervisor of salvage and diving will pay for its. as long as we are setting

. they are true world-class precedent, i would be appropriate to consider, reimbursing the emergency fund professionals. have contracting tools to give or the transportation fund for us access to superb salvage the entire country before all companies. in this case the contractor they are using is don john the money goes right back to marine from newark, new jersey. the state that's going to be the army turns to them option receiving it where the bridge -- often to leverage their resides which can be said was not prepared to withstand the expertise. traffic impact that it had. i last worked with them during hurricane in response in meanwhile, it's right there. central florida. they have helped us pump the it's not like this was a upper kissimmee river backwards surprise and this could happen. for a few days saving around 12,000 home south of orlando. with that in mind, with the they are true professionals who know how to deliver outstanding time that i've expended, i hope results. you would consider a plan to with these elements in place we reimburse the taxpayer under embarked on the complex task of horrific debt right now who determining how to clear approximately 50,000 tons of cannot afford their groceries concrete, asphalt, and steal or gas bills or daycare for the from the river. that is over 200 statues of cost of this bridge for which liberty where the material. one state has been receiving all the money for its entire after extensive analysis the existence and will receive all army corps in collaboration with partners developed an the money from the tolls for

ambitious but feasible timeline the rest of its existence. to clear a 35 foot deep access and with that, i yield. channel by the end of april and restore the full 50 foot federal navigation channel by the end of may. certified by the coast guard, >> thank you. witnesses, the the limited access channel was opened to traffic on april 25, one week ahead of schedule. it can support approximately 70% of the port traffic, tarp support organizations that you -- particularly the carriers that are so critical to baltimore. we executed the most difficult contacted with are doing extraordinary work and we thank you for that. task removing the section of the issue before this committee bridge that had collapsed on was laid out by the chairman in his opening remarks. the bow of the dolly. we used precision demolition to i would suggest we have an cut the bridge away from the ship. operations continue to remove opportunity to clarify the the dolly from the southern responsibilities, some of which edge of the channel. we heard from the previous this will facilitate the removal of the remaining bridge member a moment ago. a couple wreckage from the river. we remain on track to open the of things. full 700 wide by 50 foot deep first of all, president biden federal channel by the end of may. in closing, we are tremendously is correct. proud to be part of the stellar

unified team which was mentioned earlier safely we will put up the full cost of reconstruction, however, that legislation should be written removing wreckage from the in such a way that the federal channel allowing the port to resume its role as a key supply government will be reimbursed chaieconomic engine . thank you, chairman, ranking for any money received in the member and members of the committee. i look forward to answering liability. the 350 million that your questions. >> thank you. matt, you are recognized for the state of maryland had as an five minutes. >> thank you chairman, ranking insurance policy on the bridge as well as whatever other member and members of the payment may come from lawsuits committee. thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. the collapse of the francis against the shipping company scott key bridge on march 26 was a tragic event for and the owner of the ship. baltimore, maryland, and the entire nation. this should be the work of this while the collapse was shocking committee is to carefully we must not lose sight of the structure the legislation so that the federal government putting up 100% at the outset devastating impact the tragedy has had on the victims and their families. the six victims were fathers, would be fully reimbursed by husbands and friends in their any revenues. my colleague homes and communities and valued members of the construction workforce. raises an interesting point we will always mourn these about tolls. we should consider individuals who lost their that and how it fits in and lives while working to keep in mind the entire strengthen our transportation

system. interstate system where tolls i want to thank the emergency responders who acted quickly to are collected in various places save lives. i've had the opportunity to across the united states. visit the side of the bridge those are things out there. collapse. there's one other issue i want while i have been engaged in a number of bridge related to encourage this committee to incidents in my career, i've never seen anything at this deal with. scale. it's a monumental task to clean up the site and rebuild. in addition to recovering yet, as i appear before the whatever money might be committee i have a great available from lawsuits. and that is the limit of feeling of optimism, witnessing the ability of industry and liability act of 1851. government entities to work it seems as though perhaps that together in times of calamity like they have done since the bridge collapse. precedes the law in arizona, immediately following this catastrophic event, the federal which dealt with a different highway administration issue. internally and externally work to support the response. the limited liability act has to change. i would urge the committee to president biden has been clear take up this issue. in the commitment to i intend to present at the reconstruct the bridge. undersecretary buttigieg's leadership, we are actively appropriate time a piece of legislation to do so so the owners of these vessels would coordinating with other operating administrations and offices within the you -- united states department of be held responsible for the cost transportation, the maryland

department of transportation, of their mistakes. state highway administration, city of baltimore, u.s. coast guard, u.s. army corps of and right now that limited liability would hold that the engineers to manage traffic and owner of the ship would be to some $40 million, reconstruct the bridge. we are actively supporting the even though the ship is worth ntsb investigation of the collapse. the investigation has 90 million or more and the damage somewhere around 2 been in direct communication billion, not including cost of with the maryland d.o.t. recovery issues and the expenses regarding all possible options for reconstructing the bridge. that the coast guard and army corps of engineers are now incurring. it is committed to supporting these efforts of the bridge can be reconstructed as quickly and my point is to raises policy safely as possible. it's critical that we reconstruct the vital connection for people and goods issue and i think the chairman traveling along the east coast ensuring that the i-695 pointed out that we don't need corridor is open, operational, to do much for the next couple of months, but this year we and safe for the traveling public at the earlie have to ask legislation to moment. clarify the ability of the on march 28, within hours of receiving the request for funding assistance from federal government to receive maryland d.o.t., fhwa announce any funds that are available

the immediate availability of $60 million in wic relief that are out there. emergency release funds. and also this committee should, these funds serve as a down payment toward initial costs, additional emergency relief since it is our jurisdictional area, deal with that 1851 law funding will be made available as work continues. that limits liability of the shipowner to any accident and the administration is asking congress to join it in problem that they may cause. demonstrating a commitment to recovery efforts by authorizing now, i don't know if this is an a 100% federal cost share the bridge consistent with appropriate question for the catastrophic bridge collapses. general and vice admiral, but fhwa continues to provide wide you can answer if you like. but if you would comment on the range and technical assistance to maryland d.o.t. issue of how we might structure legislation to recover whatever providing procurement for debris removal to reconstruct damages may be in the future the bridge quickly and safely. fhwa is also working to ensure from insurance or lawsuits. that the new bridge will be dealt to current design >> i'm happy to share my time. standards in accordance with all applicable federal laws. on march 26, 2024, the day of the collapse fhwa met with

under the existing law as it transportation liaisons from states, any insurance monies the u.s. army corps of engineers, coast guard, fish that are recouped for any er and wildlife, national oceanic event do go back into the fund. and atmospheric administration, the council on historic vation so the ranking member mentions $19 million skagen at river emergency procedures and bridge. consideration to expedite the review and permitting process and it went back in. for future reconstruction. but you said 10 years after the incident. fhwa continues to meet with agencies to discuss permitting. whether it's or post- thank you to the state and local and federal entities that investigation legal activity continue to respond to this event. whether it is this scale and complexity or the comparably smaller incidents on 95 in philadelphia and 10 in los but as you point out there are angeles i'm proud to lead an questions about how much agency that is playing a part liability for the shipowner is showing the country what can out there. happen when the government and industry come together with a >> that should be addressed to the coast guard who might want common goal. to comment on that. there are no democratic roads or republican bridges. >> thank you mr. chairman. and transportation unites us. fhwa will continue to do

everything we can to support the response and we will not rest until this event has thank you for your testimony. created a new bridge. we will be happy to answer any there is resentment among my questions. >> chair. colleagues in the american public the sentiment is >> thank you. good morning chairman, ranking member and members of the committee. frustrating. with me today is the lead investigator on this accident, the acting director of marine if you zoom out, a singapore safety and other dedicated ntsb staff. vessel destroys an historic bridge, kills six construction thank you for the opportunity workers and is trying to avoid to be here today to discuss the liability for the incident. ongoing investigation into the collapse of the francis scott key bridge. is it safe for foreign flag on behalf of the ntsb i offer vessels to operate in u.s. waterways. are under bridges safe, was heartfelt condolences to the families of all those who were lost in this tragedy and our deepest sympathies to those who were injured or otherwise impacted i the event. this a result of foul play or i also want to thank our negligence? what can we do to prevent this from ever happening again, and who will pay for this. numerous federal and state and i appreciate you coming to partners for their support on answer questions. scene and throughout this my first question is for the

investigation. yesterday we released the preliminary report showing that admiral. the dolly experienced four total power outages. i know this is a great team luminary information indicates that the march 25 blackout were effort. but i'm told that the coast mechanically distinct from those that occurred on march guard has done a great job leading the way in the unified 26. two were related to routine response of baltimore. so want to thank you for your maintenance in port. commitment and all the hard work two were unexpected tripping of that you and the coast guard circuit breakers on the accident voyage. have done. on the 25th, a blackout as you know better than most, the gulf states fought against occurred when a crewmember the national contingency plan mistakenly closed an engine throughout deepwater horizon damper while he was working on the exhaust system in port. oil spill a few years ago in this effectively blocked the the gulf of mexico. engine exhaust gas from the national incident traveling out of the vessel commander's report concluded stack causing the engine to that gulf states -- the gulf stall. vessel power was briefly states effort resulted in the restored but insufficient fuel pressure to the online political and social nullification of the oil spill generator caused the speed to response doctor and and decrease. the breaker opened structured governance. it appears that maryland and a second blackout occurred. while recovering from the second blackout, the crew

switch to a different embraced the national incident transformer instead of breakers. command structure and the from those that had menus from response has worked well within several months. that structure. is the national incident switching breakers is not command structure still an unusual. it may have affected operations effective and efficient mechanism for coordinating the next day on the accident federal interagency and state voyage. and local interactions during the configuration of the breakers remains under investigation. incidents like this collision? on the 26th when the ship was about .6 miles from the bridge, >> i have to acknowledge the one high-voltage and one low- leadership of the army corps of voltage breaker that were powering most of the vessel equipment and lighting engineers, and those who are unexpectedly tripped. as a result, the vessel lost the state incident commanders. main propulsion. bridge equipment also lost power it is a fantastic leadership team. and the voyage data recorder it is absolutely a fundamental principle by which this incident lost system feeds. bridge audio continued to be recorded. response has been successful. the crew was able to briefly restore power to the vessel, it's part of u.s. doctrine under the national incident but another blackout occurred management system and how we when a different breaker tripped. at this point the ship was about respond to hurricanes and oil .2 miles from the key bridge. spills and other incidents like

this. the crew regained electrical i think we have a great deal of practice in the u.s. since the power right before the dolly deepwater horizon. peer 17 but they were this particular incident had a unable to restore propulsion. very tight connection between the operational commanders, who the ship had an emergency were running this and elected generator which automatically started following the first leaders, who all shared the blackout on the 26. however, the only same objectives. the elected leaders took the time and powers systems like emergency effort. lighting, navigation, radio equipment, alarms, and a the governor and members of steering pump that allowed for congress, to keep up to date on what was going on and provide trade space. low speed limited writer >> thank you. movement. it does not power propulsion. i would like to address to mr. without the propeller turning the writer was left bhatt. ineffective. they were essentially drifting. we are still investigating the what is the plan to replace the exact time the emergency bridge, my constituents are not generator started. going willing to pay for this and in forward, this is a complex my view the company or country investigation. responsible for the incident our investigators have been on should be footing the bill, not the u.s. taxpayer. scene consistently since the accident. in fact, they are on board the the u.s. will pay for this and it better come out of funds

that we've already allocated. vessel as i testify today. it's unprecedented to be there president biden and the speaker that long. we will continue evaluating the pelosi authorized trillions for design and operation of the the infrastructure and that power distribution system should include bridges. including breakers, examination the last thing i want to do is of damage to the vessel will continue when the ship is clear spend another 1 to 2 billion on of debris and move to a a new bridge. so talk to me about what yopath facility. we are also working with maryland as they assess protection on other bridges and we are examining protection improvements that have been made following other bridge collapses resulting from marine vessel strikes that we have investigated in the past. there are a lot of questions regarding the fuel. our investigators found the ship was running on low sulfur marine gas oil at the time of the accident which it had been using since march 21. we directed an independent lab to test all fuel stored on the ship including the fuel that was seen burnthe time of the accident. test results did not identify

any concerns related to the quality of the fuel. thank you again for the opportunity to testify. i look forward to answering your westerns. >> thank you. we will turn to questions. i will let rick ask the first one. >> think you. i appreciate that. the first question is for the administrator. you said when you look at reconstruction of the bridge you look at current standards and system of law. does the current law allow in a circumstance like this a rebuild of a different kind of bridge in order to be eligible for federal or for the cost share? you can build one under current standards and that could be in violation with law under the circumstance that allows you to use. >> thank you for the question.

i think what we are examining and working with maryland d.o.t. on, the original bridge was built in the 1970s. it's a trust bridge which was common at the time. today most of the bridges that are being replaced our cable bridges. a different standard so we will want to hear from the ntsb on the final results of that investigation, but under the law what we want to do is replace the current standards. maryland d.o.t. will be allowed to do that. >> admiral, the court has expended significant resources in the recovery effort. there's no mechanism, the coast guard -- there is no mechanism

for the coast guard to recoup that funding. they are not typically reimbursed for this kind of work. with a workforce shortage of about 10%, you are closing the downgrade stations with the coast guard not because of this incident that what is happening with the coast guard. we passed the coast guard authorization that gets us to the 14 1/2 billion dollars foap key bridge, how is the coast guard thinking about being part of that to get some cost recovery. >> i don't want to get ahead on the plans. the way have articulated first of all we've been expending operating funds like for emergency responses and other things. we have been keeping close tabs

on those. so far we have spent about $20 million of direct and indirect response. what we have seen in these events and others like it, we do what we call burn readiness. we have to have other assets around the area work harder to cover for the aircraft people that are working these. we mobilized now. on average we have had about 200 individuals at the command post per day. that has gone down. we are mobilizing them from around the country. in fact, most of them are from outside baltimore right now. there's opportunity cost from the command that provide those individuals. i think what this exposes, you know as well, this is becoming more and more brittle as we fail to have the budget

reaching that $20 billion a year the coast guard has articulated. reaching the $3 billion a year on improvement double what we actually receive in order to get the necessary capitalization. this manifests inwhole bunch of different ways for asking for additional support for appropriations to the future. >> last week we appropriated $20 million including $1 million out of my district and from prior-year funds. do you have an estimate of how many more dollars you might need, and second, how are you thinking about supplemental appropriations or cost recovery ? >> ranking member larsen, thank you for that question. we certainly want to get ahead of the administration. right now we have been able to

use the project funds as opening statement indicated. the dredging work that we plan to do this year will still need to be done. the emergency reprogramming, most of that money so where does that money come from. this happens when it was a very favorable environment. we were able to go back to those funds. a good example of what some of that might be. a contractor might put a claim on a project or request for equitable adjustment. a few years later those claims have been adjudicated. if we did not have to pay that request we would un-obligate those funds. >> mr. chairman, if i can indulge for a moment i want to let the chair know.

i will need to absorb that report and just the data point of the committee. the skagit river bridge collapsed in 2013. that cost a total of $19 million . it took us two to recover that. we should not be waiting. it will have to take place first. i will be dead by the time we get the money back from the ocean carrier. it is a data point for folks. >> mr. chairman, thank you for your testimony. i want to start

by acknowledging the workers that lost their lives as a result of the collapse of the bridge. after the collapse president biden came out and said it was his, quote, intention that the federal government will pay for the entire cost of reconstructing the bridge. further he had directed his team to move heaven and earth to reopen the poor and the bridge as soon as possible. we have a series of questions here as we try to under canned -- understand the mechanics. if you would give me a yes or no response in the interest of time. while the bridge was located on i-695 prior to the collapse it was not considered part of the interstate. rather that was maryland highway. the bridge had never previously received federal funding, is that correct? i understand federal highways has received a request to designate the bridge as interstate. is that correct?

>> yes. >> this will now be 90%. is that correct? >> yes. instead of 80. >> what we are talking about is adult of 10% for a bridge that previously never received any federal funding. >> yes. >> in your testimony you mentioned authorizing 100% federal cost share would be consistent with past catastrophic bridge collapses. how many times has congress authorized a 100% federal share for a fully collapsed bridge? >> i think the reference point we are using is the i-35w collapse in minnesota. >> this is a reimbursement program. correct? >> that is correct. >> as i understand that you are financing process generally individual states that the program office as a process to make sure projects are ready to receive funding and work can be completed by the time. is that correct?

>> it does not matter if the project is getting 80%, 80%, or even 100%. it is based on project progress or delivery. correct? >> yes. >> i just want to be clear that nothing will move faster if this is 100% funded versus 90% whether the state contributes money or not. the process is still the same. correct? >> can i deviate from this for a second? >> go ahead. >> yes. however, this is the second- largest request we've ever received, $2.2 billion for katrina was the first one 1.7 to $1.9 billion. the 10% delta is about 172 $190 million for the state of maryland that is programming the multiyear and multi-dollar program. it may not be this project but may have impacts on other projects. >> in the time i have left let's talk about the regulatory regime we apply here.

are we going to expect any kind of waivers or anything like that on any regulatory compliance measures that would be customary on any other construction project? >> sir, we would not waive that or any of the environmental requirements but what we have done is coordinated with the agencies who issue permits. it's our intention because it previously existed in this relative footprint that it would be likely a categorical exclusion which would minimize. >> expand on categorical exclusion? >> when you go through you can either do a full environmental impact statement. we can get to a finding of no significant impact on environmental assessment, categorical exclusion is the more time-limited finding. we would use that as here because we are putting the bridge back in relatively the same spot.

>> that is not necessarily, because you are using the construction would there be some associated studies. >> it is relatively in that same footprint but will probably is different peers. that's why i can't say definitively. it is what we are working towards. >> it sounds like there will be a great ability of restoring traffic and commerce, ything as bridge? >> i'm not sure flexibility is the right word. i think attention from sister agencies and understand the

desire to move quickly. >> i'm all for that. i hope in the future other projects are given the same consideration. because time is money and i understand that is certainly the case here but there are a lot of other projects pending that have caused millions and regulatory compliance fees that have really been delayed as a result. thank you. i yells back. >> thank you, mr. chairman. administrator bhatt, the department of transportation data shows that traffic crashes rose 29% in alternative routes in the weeks following the key bridge collapse. the same data shows that it now takes between two and four times longer for drivers to travel those alternative routes. that traffic means trucks are

delayed in reaching their destinations, commuters are late getting to their jobs, or home to their families. there is more air pollution and wasted fuel. how has the loss of the key bridge hurt traffic safety and reduced mobility for drivers in the baltimore region? >> thank you for the question.

>> in terms of the rebuild path , marilyn d.o.t. will issue their rfp and select a preferred team and they're looking at construction completion in 2028. in terms of the payment, as i've stated, there's a preliminary estimate of 4.7 billion. there's an insurance payment we are working through to see what level would be applicable in any funds recovered through

insurance will go back into the er fund. we just don't have a path to get there in terms of what is eligible.>> okay. i yield back. >> thank you for holding this important hearing >> i want to offer my condolences to the six construction workers in this bridge collapsed and i would like to commend the quick work of police officers who made sure that traffic was stopped and no other people were on the bridge

to could have been killed as a result of this collapse. i also would like to recognize the collaboration between state and federal officials and agencies to address this situation. i want to get at this issue of perhaps there being some people in the country who are not inside the state of maryland who resent having to pay for this bridge reconstruction. can you tell us how this bridge collapsed impacts interstate commerce? >> i think that what is so

critically important for the transportation system is you can drive from new york to los angeles across a system that is uniform and set two standards and i think what we've learned is that the highway system is tied into the busiest port so neighborhoods are being impacted and this is not just an issue for maryland. it's for the northeast corridor and the national economy. >> it is having an impact on prices for consumer goods. is that correct? >> that's something that we've been closely looking at many of the goods that move through there. there is a lot of coal and automobiles and farm equipment. a lot of that traffic has been diverted.

, but there's a lot of movement of goods from ships that have been diverted back to maryland and it's adding costs for those vehicles to be finished at plants nearby. >> thank you. when is it projected, assuming that funding is in place, that the bridge can be rebuilt and reopened?>> thank you. the projected schedule right now is a progressive design build team to be selected this summer and construction begin next year and run through 2028.>> thank you. so it would be 2029 before the bridge would reopen for traffic?>> 2028 or 2029. we will figure out the schedule as we go.>> with respect to the

causation of a cargo vessel losing power and causing this vessel to drift into the bridge , are there concerns -- does the fact that there seems to be no redundancy in terms of the basic power of the vessel, there's no redundancy. it's cut off and there's no secondary situation that would kick in? am i correct on that? and if i am, what are the implications moving forward? >> there is redundancy. they switched circuit breakers after the power outages and with respect to the emergency generator, it would not allow

for regaining propulsion. focuses on the critical portions of the vessel, which would be radio communication, lighting. if you had any kind of -- if you wanted to regain propulsion through any kind of emergency generator, it would take a six- story generator on a vessel to do that. there is redundancy in cruise ships but the dali is not unlike other vessels. it is determining for us what happened with the electrical system on the accident voyage. what happened in those blackouts , which is why we've been working closely with hyundais who manufactures the equipment

to try to replicate some of the electrical problems that were seen that day and continue to look and test each of the components.>> thank you. i yield back. >> thank you mr. chairman. i want to wish condolences to those that were lost in the bridge collapsed. last week i had the opportunity to go out to the bridge and the lieutenant who is behind you, absolutely remarkable. your district commander she and

her team did a great job. just an incredibly thorough briefing and gave comfort that things were under control and i appreciate the efforts underway. administrator, i will make sure i understand something. you said that what is being done is consistent with what has been done in other bridges in the past. is that accurate? >> i'm trying to think of what i said.>> you said consistent with his store bridge disasters. but there's not another bridge where it was designated as part of the interstate system?>> we only learned it was not part of the interstate system in light of this event. >> that is an anomaly. >> yes.

>> secondly, you talked about the use of categorical exclusions and alternative arrangements. in the past minneapolis bridge, the i-35 bridge, the one in washington state, similar things have been done. can you site where there has been environmental damage or destruction from that approach as opposed going through the regular nipa. >> citing environmental damage by the expedited approach?>> i cannot. general, he recall after katrina, levees were built doing alternative arrangements. do member destruction that was caused by alternative arrangements? >> i think it worked out really

well. my message to you is right now the average road project takes around seven years and the white house is just released new rules on nipa. attempting to be in line with the fiscal responsibility act that would shorten it. but the message is, this should not be the exception. environmental damages haven't resulted from alternative arrangements. i don't know what the trafficked impact is that this bridge. we have a bridge at home that's the fourth worst traffic problem in america. i-10 from california to florida. the fourth worst traffic in america. we taken seven years to nero a new bridge alignment down to 32 alignments. you cannot make this up. we have urgency there. i fully support -- fully

support federal funding. let's get it built and done as quickly as possible. i've been in touch with the governor of maryland. but this is a major anomaly. we have a toll any responsible party. i think we need to make sure we hold the responsible party accountable. we had the bright field incident and crashed into the river walk. it was run by chinese and flagged in library. can you think of any similar incidents with jones act vessels that occurred like this? >> not from deep draft vessels like this. >> are you aware of anything? so one thing i want to point

out for the record, jones act vessels, u.s. flag, we go through annual inspections a night and day difference. lastly it will not be built exactly like it was. you have a different configurations, is that correct? >> yes, sir. >> this is going to be a different bridge effectively providing alternative arrangements or categorical exclusions. i yield back. >> i offer my sympathy to the families of those who were lost. these people represent the invisible folks on the sidelines

who provide safety and security to that infrastructure. and the harbor workers and police officers who made the situation mustmuch less terrible than it already was. i would ask the chairwoman and administrator bhatt about one of the things pointed out. it seems like it did not have a reliable system to protect appears from the crash. is there an existing program with funding that could be used to retrofit bridges to make sure they don't have the same problem? >> thank you for that question. we've recommended in 1988 that the coast guard and federal highways evaluate the adequacy of pure protection over

navigable waterways. at the time the coast guard said they didn't have the authority to take action one thing i will say is the federal government states that bridge owners need to evaluate current structures and make sure if you have navigable waterways that you are doing a risk analysis to ensure safety and to ensure there is adequate pier protection. we are looking at pier protection and the dolphins and the protection around the piers themselves. and to see how others have been improved over time.

in the situation you have a bridge that began operations in 1977. if it was built today, i would be built differently. that has to be taken into consideration. i am very encouraged by what the admiral announced their board of inquiry looking at ports across the u.s. to make sure there's adequate protection and i assume that will include structures like bridges. >> administrator bhatt, would you like to comment? >> thank you. we are working closely with the ntsb and i respect their thoughts and guidance. we've already reached out to the partners in the d.o.t. after -- to figure out what

they had. we already have a preliminary list and its deep draft vessels and examining all the threat and doing a cost-benefit analysis of what protections are quickly deployable and how do we get these bridges protected and update design standards given the ever- changing nature of vessels going underneath them. >> is that available with any kind of funding or can be used to retrofit some of these bridges if they don't meet these requirements that you are talking about?>> yes. in the bipartisan infrastructure law there was 12.5 billion allocated to discretionary grant funding and seismic protection and retrofitting is possible.

this is something we will look into as we work with state partners who are applying for those funds. >> did you find any problems with the program to work toward retrofitting in a situation like this to make it more difficult, we let us know so if we need to make changes, we can address those?>> yes, ma'am. >> thank you. i yield back. >> the gentleman from north carolina.>> thank you mr. chairman i want to extend my condolences to all those who were injured in this tragic happening. general graham, last week the army corps announced it would appropriate dollars toward the efforts of baltimore harbor. it is our understanding they

were appropriated in 2020 or earlier. and ve determined to be more than what is needed for the authorized projects. is that an accurate portrayal? >> that is accurate. >> so this is created a bit of confusion among members and even the committee. back home, for example, we have the wilmington district has seen several projects whose funds have been repurposed, morehead city harmer had hundreds of thousands of dollars redirected from maintenance accounts. can you provide the committee with the amount of reprogrammed dollars and a list of the projects you reprogram those from and which districts those funds are in?>> absolutely. and then, how much money is

sitting out there that is in an account appropriated in 2020 or earlier that has been left un . i would like to know that. and following up, does the army corps plan to use [ inaudible ] authority or is there a limit to the number of times n use that authority? >> probably we will have to use emergency reprogramming authority. as i said, we've not used that authority at this scale for 15 years and we understand that congress put specific amounts of money on specific projects that you intend to be used for those projects. as stated earlier, most of

these funds were the result of we held on to federal claims with contractors. to your statement on our accounting procedures, did they need to be looked at so old funds are not out there? absolutely we are committed to that. >> following up, given that these are going to be reprogrammed, just -- what is your plan? and if so, what would that time line be? >> the district had no uses for these so as such we do not plan to return them. if they come up with and say we

do need some of these, we will make sure that those projects can be delivered.>> every district has a disaster of some kind and i suspect that all of those army corps districts, have flexibility to tap into funding that was allocated specific projects within the jurisdiction, which is why i asked that question. with that, i think that exhausts my line of questioning. i yield back. >> thank you, mr. chair. i recently made visit to the francis scott key bridge incident with a number of my colleagues. the coast guard has a responsibility to respond have it out side impact this incident

comes at a time where there are strained resources. what is the operational strain on the coast guard's responding to the bridge collapsed and how can congress help and what is the impact on the workforce? >> we've activated reservists to staff the command post. refused cutters and small boat's and there is an immediate area impact. what we know is for unplanned incidents like this that we mobilize lot very quickly, there are readiness impacts that happen well beyond the initial site. i think going into what is

likely to be a severe hurricane season, i think the main thing here, we have to have continued financial appropriation support from congress. we spent about $20 million so far. we know that the readiness is brittle. there is a cutter on scene that is 62 years old. and this is repeated again and again. >> thank you.

the u.s. vessels are subject to higher standards and scrutiny. this is why believe it's unacceptable that we rely on vessels to carry over 90% of our international cargo. there's a small minority of colleagues that believe that the jones act should be repealed. i am not one of them. how would your job of ensuring safety in u.s. waters be made more difficult if u.s. vessels, failing in coasta were supplanted by foreign ships with foreign mariners? >> your questited to safety and the implications of safety. the jones act has been with us for 100 years. it's foundational to help maritime commerce flows. and the coast guard has worked hard to provide a level of safety from foreign flag vessels through established standards.

what i can say is the jones act is crucial for maritime security elements in terms of the industrial shipbuilding capability and that others rely on in terms of public vessels as well. we don't want to jeopardize that maritime security element. >> is a common practice for american mariners working on u.s. flagships to work on board a vessel for 2 to 3 months at a time sailing often remain at sea for longer. i understand they've been on board for more than eight

months. should we be concerned with the prevalence of flags of convenience vessels, which operate with lower standards operating in and around critical u.s. infrastructures? >> we're still evaluating and we will look at any kind of federal regulations >> that should not be of concern? >> we have to evaluate with this particular accident what was in place and whether it was adequate or not. >> beyond this incident, is there a concern? >> i would have to get back to

you on that for the record.>> thank you. mr. chair, i yield back. >> the chair -- >> i want to associate myself with the comments of concern for the families and prayers and to thank the people that responded so well. ensuring that our nation's infrastructure is secure and maintained is an important responsibility. it's also important to have uniform guidelines when local communities reach out for assistance to do road work, the shares at 20%. recently u.s. 51 we had to

close and it will be closed for quite some time because a sinkhole opened up and the local community will need to repair the road and there will be a cost connected with that work. however, i do not expect the community to redesignate the road to be considered part of the highway system. despite being located on 695, the key bridge was not part of the inner the interstate highway system. the incident occurred in march and the bridge designation was not applied to be changed until april. are you aware of this change cost share requirement and is it normal or is it normal for a change to be designated after an incident? >> thank you for the question.

this is the first time i'm aware of this. but can you explain, for the sake of the taxpayers and the people around this country who have issues, how a roadway has a designated change after work was identified because the constituents i represent would like to figure out how to do that. we have uniform rules in place, and if we are going to change them, i need answers. >> apologies to the community that had the sinkhole. i'm sure that is an impactful event for the community. in this case this portion of 695 was part of the nhs. it was shielded since it was

built in the 1970s. so for mapping purposes there were some standards that were a little bit different that when they applied to have a designated, we had to due process and that went from the 80/20 share 290/10 sure. that section was part of the interstate so this was at the request of maryland to have it redesignated and we get those requests -- their parts of the interstate system that are shielded. an alabama a few years ago. >> you do that through administrative rule. it does not require an act of congress?>> they would need to come in and say these are the design exceptions whether it's curbs or other elements and our engineers would say, yes, this

is why we would approve those exceptions. >> you have to understand the concerns of uniformity, and i -- i'm not arguing we shouldn't fix this as fast as possible. and as was mentioned by people questioning pop insurance will not pay off overnight. there will be arguments and we need a fix quickly. other communities around the nation have issues that come up and not having a set standard to how we respond and how we get a response back to her own community makes it difficult when you do something that's not normal and we have to have answers. >> i recognize mr. garcia.

>> thank you, madam chair, for hosting this hearing and thanks to all of the witnesses. i want to echo the sentiments of other members who are ering life of six workers, all of them immigrants from mexico and central america, seeking a better life in this country and meeting a very tragic fate. as we rebuild the key bridge must also advocate for stronger workplace protections for all, including immigrant workers. this brings me to my first question. administrator bhatt, the construction workers were on the bridge at the time of the collision and one worker was able to rent to safety. if there had been more time when

the ship lost the power was reported in the collision happened, is there a protocol in place for bridge worker evacuation in an event such as this collision, and if so, can you describe it?>> thank you, congressman, for your concern for the workers. all work stone -- all work stones are dangerous places and we have rules in place for the state or city that is procuring the contract and the companies that are out there, i would defer to others. what i learned through our discussions is there was a police officer who was attempting to reach the work crew to evacuate them, given the proximity of the ship was

unable to get there before the bridge was struck. >> to think the protocol is adequate?>> sir, i would need to think about that and consult with experts. this was an unprecedented event. i can would like to get back to.>> other bridge structures have advanced warning systems and we will look at that as part of our investigation. from the time the dispatcher called the police and the bridge was ordered closed was 52 seconds. that was the time -- it's almost impossible to get in that situation to get a longer time. if you look at the time from

the blackout to the bridge strike, it was four minutes. i appreciate your question because it was tragic what occurred and we want to prevent it from reoccurring and that's why we will look at advance warning systems as well.>> administrator bhatt, if you could get back to me, i appreciated. to admiral gautier, it is unusual that a major malfunction like this could occur with no previous indication -- only six months prior. what are the requirements on foreign-owned vessels to report any malfunctions to the coast guard when operating at a u.s. port? >> the coast guard has a requirement for any vessel that

suffers an issue to notify what we call a portable marine casualty and there are a variety of qualif or circumstances by which you have to notify the coast guard of those casualties. >> lastly, to all of the panelists who would like to chime in, although the ntsb investigation is not giving recommendations, what is needed from congress to improve worker safety? >> i will speak first. it's critically important for us to have the full results of the investigation before you move ahead with any sort of implementation based on those recommendations. coast guard is conducting an investigation in coordination with ntsb. if we find something in the near term we think is important and urgent enough to

seek advisory on, we will do that. >> thank you. >> this could happen in any one of your districts. where you have navigable waterways, -- i keep reiterating this. if you own a bridge or another entity owns a bridge, look at the current structure and do a risk assessment. you can do it now. you don't have to wait until we come to the conclusion of our investigation. make sure you ensure safety for what's going through now. >> the chair recognizes mr. westermann.>> thank you to the witnesses. my question would be for the coast guard and ntsb. everybody, just about, has

offered their condolences to the families of the people who lost their lives, but if i were a family member, i would want more than condolences. i would have questions i wanted answered. and the question is why? from the information we received, the explanation is we had vulnerable infrastructure, we had a ship that lost power but there's a deeper question as to why, and what are we going to do about that so we don't have a repeat incident. if the ship had eight tog escort, would it have hit the bridge after lost power? >> we are looking into that as part of the investigation. i cannot answer it right now. it is something we are delving into. >> the same for the coast guard.

we don't know if there was sufficient time and would've made a difference or if it would've added to the casualties are not.>> i hope you look at other places where these large ships pass by vulnerable infrastructure without a tug. there was a ship in new orleans and all the ships down there now have tog escorts. administrator bhatt, this will require years long effort and billions of dollars from the american taxpayer. meanwhile, those taxpayers have been waiting for over two years for fhwa did to repair a road in my district. it provides access to forest service concessionaire facilities and critical passage for emergency services in the

area. it has been funded but is so tied up in red tape that my office cannot get a clear answer about when the washout will be filled. if they are unable to reconstruct the gravel road in less than two years and counting, why should we trust your agency with billions in funding for a project of this magnitude? >> i am happy to go back and take a look and figure out exactly what is going on with that project and report back to.>> thank you. i guess this would be for the corps. there is an issue which is -- you may ask whatthis has to do that project. this administration used alternative arrangements to

waive every nipa environmental service to a migrant camp and they did it in less than two weeks. they waived all the regulations. i wonder if the administration has the intent to use alternative arrangements to repair this bridge, which is obviously a very vital infrastructure? >> we are in coordination with marilyn d.o.t. we are not going to waive nipa, but we are replacing a bridge in relatively the same footprint that existed before. look to they have the legal authority to use alternative arrangements to go beyond -- it's amazing to me that they

would do it on a park service facility but also to a lot of smaller projects around the country they get tied up in the process when the administration has the authority to do that. i yield back. >> thank you, madam chair. thank you to the witnesses for your work and responding to this critical emergency.

the six human beings, the workers who lost their lives, as a result of this tragic incident. when the dali crashed into the francis scott key bridge in maryland, we thought agencies represented here today jump into action. the road that we build is long and requires coordination between our local, state and federal governments. the former mayor myself, i understand the critical cooperation is for efficiency and speedy results. administrator bhatt, to my understanding, one of the ways the federal highway administration was by reclassifying the bridge as an intrastate. how will that help with speedy bridge repair? >> thank you for the question, congressman. we received a request from maryland d.o.t. shortly after the bridge disaster to reclassify.

we went through the usual process we would do for any state d.o.t. that was asking to come in. the assumption was that it was part of the interstate, and it was on maps that way. the difference will be is not a part of the nhs, it is now officially part of the interstate goes from 20 to 9010. >> that is great. another important action was the quick release of emergency relief program funds. a reimbursable program. they are standing with $60 million that was released in march. that is a sizable amount. how is that number decided? >> thank you, congressman. we have been in close contact with maryland d.o.t. from the early hours. specifically, i think this is great example of quick release funding being put to work.

actually had a contractor who can mobilize very quickly. they had cranes in the area. while the army corps was most that focused on the channel, that $60 million is helping to clear wreckage simultaneously from the nonnavigable waterways. >> obviously, the cost will be significant above and beyond the initial amount. tells the world emergency relief program will plague an additional funding for bridge repair and other federal highway programs that will likely need to be utilized in >> as some of the questions have come in, the first 170 days the emergency, you know, repair work is funded at 100, and longer-term permitted work is funded at 9010. traditionally through this program, the initial estimate is around 1.7 to one.$9 billion . that is the critical piece where maryland will have the certainty that that federal funding will be available so they can move forward with their procurement. >> that's great.

>> lastly, it is my understanding with the primary roles of the federal highway administration currently is to also give technical assistance to the maryland department of transportation. is there anything you can share with us today regarding those conversations as the federal partners to maryland d.o.t.? >> thank you. congressman, i want to recognize the federal highway staff that has been on start that site and in close coordination both in maryland and in headquarters. we are meeting with them on the emergency work, on getting the er funding on the procurement, on the elements of the bridge design that will be out there. it is a really strong partnership that exists. >> appreciate the work of yourself and all the other agencies represented today. it is critical we get the bridge rebuilt as soon as possible, not only for baltimore, and the state of

maryland, but the entire economy of the united states of america. thank you for the work you've already done and the work you will do on this important project. thank you. i yield back. >> thank you. the gentleman yields back. >> thank you offer your testimony. this would be an accurate way to categorize you. you are in charge of collecting the checks for future projects. >> sorry. i am in charge of collecting checks? >> money. you are in charge of getting the money for the project. >> yes. >> have you received any money from any insurer yet? >> no sir. >> which ensures have you thought money from? >> to be clear, the insurance policy we're talking about is the insurance policy for the

maryland department of transportation. we are working with maryland d.o.t. to work through the elements of that. >> nothing for any insurance company, grace ocean private ltd? >> the department of justice is leading efforts around the united states to recover the funds. that is not a federal highway function. >> nothing, also, for you in terms of requesting anything from ensures of who chartered that vessel? >> the federal highway administration is the debris removal and the nonnavigable waterway. and working with maryland d.o.t. to rebuild the bridge. we will take back any insurance funds and reimburse. >> what has the department of justice told you to that point of requesting money from any of those insurance or any other companies? >> sir, i would not be able to comment on department of justice efforts. i am not aware.

>> they have not had contact with you about requesting monies? talking about your involvement in your conversation. >> specifically, sir, the only email i have received is from doj to preserve all of my emails for upcoming, and likely years long, litigation. >> why is it likely years long litigation? >> again, sir, i can only speak to my efforts around bridge building and litigation that occurs when there is claims between a contractor and a state where they don't feel that the product meets. that could take years. so billions of dollars and international maritime law, i can only assume will be a fairly lengthy process. >> none of us are naove enough to say that insurance companies just readily come out and offer us large payouts for things that are insured.

it would be naove to say that . it is not the state of the world. but in the midst of this catastrophe, have you seen anything or heard anything from doj about these insurance companies offering anything or trying to say that they do not have liability for this? >> sir, i would need to come back to you. i would have to check with our chief counsel, general counsel, and d.o.t. and other agencies. but i am happy to come back on that question. >> i appreciate that. have you heard anything about whether they have already executed any type of business interruption insurance for the vessel not in use right now? >> sir, i am not aware of that.

>> okay. a lot of these questions, again, i appreciate you listening to, you don't have the answers for the. madame chair woman, i would encourage this committee to get some of the other entities in here since we are talking significantly across both sides of the aisle about the funding for this bridge, the timing for the repairs of this bridge, things peripheral to that that we bring in, the insurance companies, for conversation, the shipping company for conversation about this as well. i would hope we do that maybe next week when we are in session. it is ethical that we speak to you all about this, but it is also sensible that we speak to the private entities involved in this as well. i thank you for your testimony. i thank you for your time. i yield back. >> thank you. the gentleman yields back. >> thank you to the chairs for holding this hearing, and thank you to the witnesses for being here with us today. the tragic events that took place in the early morning hours of tuesday, march 26 were a tragedy not simply for baltimore or maryland, but for the nation. i join my colleagues in mourning the six lives lost in

this catastrophic accident. while i have been hardened by -- heartened by the response by the baltimore community who has, at last count, already fund raised over $500,000 to support the families of the victims, it is the responsibility about the federal government and private sector to ensure something like this never happens again, which is at least in part why we are here today. the biden administration, the state of maryland, the coast guard and u.s. army corps of engineers, among others have taken commendable initiatives and swift action in responding to this crisis. something that has been highlighted by the witnesses here today. i want to thank all of you for being here. i know your time is valuable, especially in the midst of an ongoing situation like this. my colleagues and i, we greatly appreciate your time and testimony.

i think most of us on this committee understand that this matter is going to require expeditions bipartisan support here in congress, and we wish to mitigate, at best, the supply chain ripple effects. however, i believe it is worth noting that there are also some significant safety implications here, as well as even further that underscore this need for congressional support. with the port no longer at full capacity , commercial trucks are being forced to take roads through residential areas that aren't equipped for that kind of traffic. chairwoman, and administrator, can either of you speak to the safety issues to other vehicles on the road, to pedestrians or to the residential roads infrastructure that has already emerged as a result of the

bridge closure, or are at risk of emerging should access to the port remain limited? >> thank you, congresswoman. obviously, there is -- thank you for noting the traffic impacts. in the interest of time, i would highlight that hazmat traffic, you know, hazmat materials are not allowed in the tunnels through baltimore. that was one of the critical elements of the francis scott key bridge, to provide hazmat material to move around. now they are rerouting to the north side of 675, and it goes through neighborhoods. it is sub optimal from the routing perspective. that is just one example. as you mentioned, there are trucks and other commercial vehicles working their way through residential areas now as well. >> this is an issue i would typically defer to federal highway just because we are

focused on the investigation itself. thank you. >> thank you. like many of my colleagues, i have been particularly concerned about the regional implications on unemployment that the bridge collapse and reduction of port operations is having on the surrounding community. as the state of air maryland has estimated that 270,000 jobs will ultimately be impacted, even so, i have been especially encouraged by the efforts, thus far, of the biden administration to support the plethora of temporarily displaced workers who have had their employment either directly or indirectly impacted since the events of march 26. for instance, the administration funneled an initial charge of $3.5 million to the region via its dislocated workers grant program back in april to support temporary cleanup and recovery employment opportunities for those who have lost their jobs due to the

fsk bridge incident with more support funds on the way. admiral gautier and administrator bhatt, can you speak to the efforts of the u.s. coast guard and the army corps respectively about the ongoing efforts to restore services and access to the port given the widespread ramifications such efforts would have on employment in the region? >> let me gophers. i want to do a shot into the army corps of engineers. commerce is flowing. the depth of the channel has been restored to 48 of 50 feet . it is more narrow than what it typically is, but it is sufficient for coast guard to put one lane vessel and escort controls to get traffic in and out. we have seen over 35 vessels that have transited, over 300 smaller barges and other things that have been able to transit

in and out. what we're seeing is that the system is restoring itself to normal functions while we work together and unify command to make sure the full channel width and depth is restored. >> madam, working with the state of maryland, opening up as many alternate channels as they could. small craft. we got larger and larger craft. we were able to get a 35, now a 48 foot channel to get the carriers moving. we remain committed to getting the full channel open by the end of this month. >> madame chair, that's my time. i yield back. >> thank you. i recognize for five minutes of questions. >> thank you, madame chair. i too want to offer my

condolences to the families who lost loved ones in this disaster. want to thank our witnesses, not just here, but also for the tireless work you and your agencies have done in putting into the recovery efforts, and also the investigative matters you have undertaken as we look into this disaster even deeper. thank you. before i get to my questions about the topic at hand, administrator bhatt, i feel the need to follow up on a conversation we had in december when you were before this committee. you may recall that we discussed the cfi programs which have a combined $7.5 billion at their disposal to build electric vehicle charging stations. as of the december, only one charging station has been bought in two years. i asked how many you expected those programs would bring online in 2024, and you promise to follow up with a "very specific number." but in march you sent the response that contained no specific number you noted that hundreds of millions of dollars are gone out the door to build 7500 ports. but there was no indication as to how many, if

any, from those would be brought online this year. thus far in 2024, has been responsible for six charging stations with roughly $7.5 billion at its disposal. the doesn't appear to be any public information for those completed cfi chargers. i want to give you one more chance here. how many more cfi and nevi charging stations do you expect to be brought online this year? >> thank you for the follow-up. we are working closely with our state d.o.t. partners and cities across the nation. were also working closely with the joint office set up between the department of energy and department of transportation. since that time, there been several states that have brought online nevi chargers. vermont, ohio, kentucky, utah is going to have their first. there are dozens. i will get

you the specific number, but dozens that we are anticipating coming online just in the next couple of months. 35 of those states have their solicitations out. specifically on cfi, january 5 we rolled out $23 million in grants for cfi nationwide. those well, we are working with grant agreements now to get those built this year. >> again, how many do you think will be brought online this year total? just a ballpark number. >> you know, probably in the hundreds to in the thousands range this year. >> again, want to differentiate between dfc chargers and the level two chargers that are replacing one's existing on the network. >> thank you for that. i want to make sure that we, as he goes out the balance of the year, we stay in touch on this

particular topic. we've allocated $7.5 million, and as of just a few months ago, a month ago, we were at eight total charges. -- chargers. we want to make sure the money appropriated is spent wisely. touring attention to the key bridge, transit 10 -- administrator bhatt i want to talk about redesignation of the bridge as an interstate system. i share the sentiments we should get this bridge rebuilt quickly, but i believe we should also be mindful of new precedents reset and establish as we go through this whole process. you mentioned part of in alabama highway was redesignated as part of the interstate system. how long did the process take from application to approval? >> this was -- sorry, i would have to get back to you on the exact dates, but probably -- actually, to be clear, i think that was changing the mainline

of the interstate with the bypass. maybe not exactly apples to apples. >> maryland to's request degrees designate this as an interstate was made after the collapse, correct? >> yes. >> does your agency have the authority to retroactively designate damaged or destroyed infrastructure as a part of the interstate system? >> sir, i would have to clarify on our exact authority and the retroactive piece. i just know that we received a request after the incident, and we went through the typical process and designated it as part of the interstate. >> is there any precedent for retroactively designating damaged or destroyed infrastructure as part of the interstate system? >> sir, i would have to come back to you on that. >> i would very much like to know if your agency was within its authority to retroactively designate this as an interstate as opposed to its former designation as a part of the state highway system. thank you. with that, madame chair, i yield back.

>> thank you. >> thank you to all the witnesses. just a horrible event. ms. homendy, in 2007 near the district i represent in the bay area there was a similar incident with the san francisco bay bridge. the second busiest toll bridge after the george washington bridge in the united states. it is interstate 80. what happened there was, the center system in california kept the bridge from being damaged, but it still had to be shut down so you and caltrans could go sure -- through and make sure it is safe. what do we do in cases like that with lessons learned? it is consistent with the other questions, irrespective of is part of the federal highway system.

making sure the state departments of transportation, that they know the best practices for their area. >> for our role as part of an investigation agency, we continue to share lessons learned as part of any investigation, including with state departments of transportation work certainly, we have conducted a number of investigations involving vessel strikes on bridges. we have shared those lessons learned and continue to do so. we continue to advocate even for recommendations that have been unacceptable. the federal highway administration also has close contact with their state partners to continue to highlight safety issues and risk assessment as well. >> vice admiral, this happened to your admiral's regional home, beautiful treasure island. in that instance, they were required to have pilots come

in. oakland is the fourth busiest port in the united states. a lot of traffic goes through. but again, we have lots of bridges. the bay bridge closest to it. a lot of the operations of that port work closely with the coast guard to make sure the management of the transportation system works, and it works properly in terms of the whole transportation system. in this case, a heavily traveled bridge. how does your department and the coast guard coordinate on how to make sure the structures that are run by state transportation agencies, particularly if they are not part of the interstate, has the best information about the dangers of marine traffic, commercial marine traffic? >> thank you, congressman. i'm familiar with the incident you are referring to. for many years, i have had operations in the bay area. we are doing a marine board of investigation. we do an investigation,

findings of fact, and then we recommend a take remedial actions based on that. i think what we're talking about here is a little bit different in terms of the system, as you have mentioned and. the coast guard does have a set of tools, risk management tools, that we get together with stakeholders at any given port to evaluate the totality of the risk if something changes, like if a channel becomes deeper or if a new bridge gets built, and on. what comes to mind is the poor and waterways of risk assessment. one was done in baltimore, but not since 2001. as a result of this incident, the coast guard is initiating a board of inquiry under my signature, which will look at how the coast guard does these assessments, how recent they are in the ports around the country, and to examine the top 10 ports for some lessons learned, including bridge feathering systems, navigation, and so on, together with

stakeholders and we can draw some conclusions and move out with a refined toolkit to other ports around the country. >> ms. homendy, as part of the most recent report about human error on the bow, it reminds me about discussions on the aviation industry. there is a lot of pressure to move product and show a profit. are you concerned with the same thing? that we are not providing enough oversight to people running the ships in the system and they are being overworked and missing things? will the people who are mechanics repairing the ship for people who are operating the chips? >> with respect to what occurred in port on march 26, there was routine maintenance going on on the vessel. it was not something that stood out to us. i mean, there is human error in everything we do, routine maintenance and were working on

our cars in our garage sometimes we make mistakes. in this case, a damper was closed. an engine failed. you know, in these situations, the crew took action to get everything back up and running. on the next day they were on a different set of breakers and a different transformer. we look at that as part of the investigation, including any sort of human error that occurred on march 25 on march 26. >> i was not inferring blame on the crew, but the pressure on the company to make profits. thank you, madame chair. >> thank you. >> thank you, madame chair. i appreciate the panelists here today. i have been looking forward to the hearing on this topic here. we have a lot of rich history in this country, especially in recent years. expediting the reconstruction

of this is critical. i am certain baltimore and the eastern seaboard as a would be an area of the country with an artist like that, especially interested in what is being done -- and anybody on the panel who wants to weigh in debt to truly expedite this process. when you read about it, when you get information about it, it sounds like there is a lot of preliminaries that are, of course, necessary with the demolition of the old bridge and such, but were i get frustrated is the bogged down of studies and nipa and things of that nature with an already existing structure. this is not a pristine area. what is being done to make a concurrent effort to do that stuff and get categorical exclusions, but also at the same time, be moving forward as

quickly as possible? some examples i have of successes, and california, now, there was the bay bridge, the '89 earthquake during the world series. you might remember50 foot chunk of that collapse. it was a very long when they put their minds to it. on the other side of the coin, you have the replacement of the bay bridge of 24 years. in '89 when you decided there was a problem with the bridge, it wasn't completed until 2013. they started construction in 2002. is an 11 year actual construction time, but a 24 year decision to actually get completion.

the 1994 earthquake knocked down significant parts of the freeway in southern california. the initial estimates, i believe at the time, by caltrans or others was three years. that will put a giant crimp in movement and commerce in southern california. so this date, governor wilson, put out a for shortening the timeline to 140 days. one of the people involved was a company called cc myers construction company. they got it done, not just a 140 days, but 66 days. a large incentive. there was a problem, i believe there was a fire in oakland.

they got that done in 27 days with the bonus involved as well with the cc myers company. and fortunately, there out of business now. what have you done as far as incentives to actually speed up the process and not take six years of paralysis? but set aside bureaucracy and get it done in three, let's say? realistically. anybody on the panel. >> congressman, thank you for your question and examples that you provided. i would just say that we share your desire to reopen the bridge as quickly as possible. i would say that federal highways worked with maryland for the debris removal in april so they were trading around for approval to get the debris out of the channel. we're working. they are going to issue their rfp later h. if we get somebody to contract

by august, which would be within five months of the incident, we will hopefully be able to get them to a categorical exclusion. they're looking at a four-year construction. the plan right now is for the bridge be reopened in 2028, which i don't know there's any other authority we can exert to get that done any faster. >> okay, thank you. currently the movement of goods and commerce is very important. is there anybody, ms. homendy or others, a look at maybe providing a waiver for trucker hours? there will be at least two or three hour delays. is there anyway there could be flexibility for time of duty on that as well as the ability to use the tunnels that ordinarily trucks would not be allowed to do? >> that would be under us department of transportation. they can make waiver requests for truck weight. i'm not sure

on the trucker hours. i will be happy to get back to you for service hours. >> please look into that. is locals are saying that would be helpful in order to complete, you wouldn't want to run out by two hours or something, what the delay would be. also, is there an issue of the tunnel being available to all types of trucking? could you have a waiver on maybe hazardous materials having a certain time of day they could access it, for example? just looking for ways for flexibility. are those possible thoughts, you think? >> time has expired. >> thank you. and he answered that? >> quickly. >> happy to follow up with your office on those questions. >> thank you, madame chair. >> thank you.

the gentleman yields back. >> thank you, madame chair, and thank you to convening this committee today. witnesses, thank you for your testimony and for working diligently to respond to the tragedy to the francis scott key bridge in march. i join my colleagues in his dressing sympathy to the families who lost loved ones, as well as the greater baltimore and maryland community. coming from ohio, this is really important, we have the nation's second highest number of bridges. this is an important conversation for us. just last week we presented to county engineers and executives for $10 million to replace a decommissioned over 70-year-old bridge that is identified as critical infrastructure. i want to highlight something

different. less than two months after this disaster struck in maryland, the majority on this committee was able to organize and hold a very timely and necessary hearing on the incident. this hearing today is a perfect example of the federal government fulfilling its role to support state and local efforts from disasters with federal dollars in resources when they are needed most. this partnership between governing bodies is what i hope to see more of. you all can understand my disappointment when in the over a year since the trained roman devastated the community of east palestine and its way of life, the majority on the committee have not shown the same sense of urgency and has yet to have a hearing to discuss the this date of rail safety in ohio. what about the people of ohio and east palestine who have

been begging us? this question is to the majority, will be begging us to do something on rail safety? even on the committee on transportation and infrastructure, subcommittee on railroads, pipelines and hazardous materials, the subcommittee would not hold a hearing to discuss the norfolk southern trained roman or the broader issue of rail safety, leaving democrats to hold a real safety roundtable without members of the majority present. while i don't represent east palestine geographically, i am the only ohio when on this committee. east palestine does not we have a member of the united states house of representatives serving in congress. i have no problem speaking up for my neighbors to the east of the. since the derailment and east palestine, two additional trains have derailed in ohio alone, and many others across the country. the communities, local and state, are still burdened with contaminated local waterways across the nation. even more recently, on march 2 of this year, three trains crashed and derailed in eastern pennsylvania, leaving at least

seven crewmembers ensure -- injured with estimated damage to be $2.5 million. emergency personnel responded to the scene found diesel fuel had spilled from one of the train cars, contaminant booms were deployed before the situation worsened. it was by luck that a derailment of those trades with numbers or anything like we saw in eastern ohio. it is very clear that the issue of train derailment is not going away. turning a blind eye to the issue is clearly not the path the congress or this committee should take. americans across the political spectrum, including the former president, the biden-harris administration, all agree we must have common sense rail safety legislation to prevent future train derailment to keep our communities safe. i'm proud that ohio democrats and republicans came together to introduce a bipartisan rail act last year. now it is time for house republican majority to pass the will act to protect ohioans and

communities across the country. the real act would implement effective measures to keep our communities safe, hold railroad corporations accountable, and ensure that no american living close to our 140,000 miles of railroad tracks have to worry about the threat of a toxic predrilled it in their backyard. finally, i would like to take a moment to recognize the administration, our state and local partners, the state of ohio and public service who are continuously uplifting east palestine, even though this committee and the united states house of representatives has turned a blind eye and turned their backs on the people of ohio. i would also like to take a moment to recognize ms. homendy and thank her and the rest of the national transportation safety board for their investigation into the cause of the norfolk southern trained roman it, and their work in investigating other accidents across the country was, no doubt, less people then you need. you have continued to fill the gaps where congress has refused to act, holding hearings in

town halls with residents and east palestine, providing preliminary information we could act upon, and giving us a sense that do care about them invented this community has refused to. i look forward to reviewing the board findings, and hopefully considering recommendations as we look to real safety in america. thank you, again, for filling in the gap for this community. this committee has failed the people of east palestine. i yield back. >> thank you. ms. homendy, it was just mentioned about the derailment and east palestine. we have had other derailments that have made the news, but overall, would it not be accurate to say that trains, ultimately, they are more safe, probably the safest mode of transportation for goods and services to be transported?

>> for transportation, over 40,000 people have died on our nation's roads. as far as transporting goods and people, rail is incredibly say. it doesn't mean a tragedy doesn't occur. that is where we come in and investigate. >> i think it would be dangerous if we started trying to steer activity away from rail because of these events. how many people died that >> we would like more things to go on rail. >> how many people died in east palestine? >> no one died. >> i think it is important to note that. while it may have been an environmental hazard, i think it is important to recognize the actual numbers. administrator bhatt, my question has to do with the francis scott key bridge bridge , which has been the subject for this hearing.

as i understand, there is about 15,000 jobs dependent upon the port, another 140,000 linked to the port. many of the individuals are worried they could lose their jobs because of no longer having access because of the collapse of the bridge. how long will it take to construct the new bridge? >> thank you, congressman, for the question. yes, the port, and that is part of the critical efforts of the army corps and coast guard to get that port reopened, so those jobs can resume. i think the bridge itself, once the port reopens, is on a 2028 schedule. right now, it is a preliminary estimate to get that bridge back open. >> so a four-year estimate. what about the cost for the bridge? >> right now, the way the rfp is being structured, it will be

a progressive design build. you go in and say this is the structure we need to build, and then the benefits of progressive design build is that they can bring in different elements. that is why the cost and schedule will update as the different elements come in. but right now, it is estimated up to one $.9 billion. >> have there been any environmental concerns or any other issues we might be able to look to sign any waivers that might expedite the construction of the bridge? >> on the environmental side, through nipa, that is why we're likely to get to a categorical exclusion, because we are putting a bridge back one existed in the same footprint. we are working with permitting agencies to make sure we're not missing anything, but that is the plan. >> you served as the head of transportation for the state of colorado prior to this role. >> and delaware. >> in that role, what is your

experience -- i know we had a new executive order put in place under this administration that requires project labor agreements for anything, i think it is above 35 million in cost. >> i would have to come back on the exact numbers. ur experience on both the state and federal level, do you require project labor agreements approved the timeline of projects? >> sir, i would need to come back to you. >> what about the cost? >> again, sir, i don't want to speculate. i want to come back with specific data. are not trying to press on you. we had a great conversation before. but surely, you have enough years of experience to understand the distinction and difference between the costs of a project whether or not a project labor agreement is required. >> one project with the,, it

was not a pla required, but we did do what i would call the first local hiring preference in denver where we replace the i-70 viaduct. the goal is similar to the administration, try to create good paying jobs and create a workforce for the future to ensure we are building the nation's infrastructure and building out. >> the taxpayer will get more bang for their buck, more bridges and roads without a project labor agreement. again, i want to come back to you with the specific data. >> thank you. my time is expired. >> thank you. the gentleman yields back. >> thank you, madame chair. following up. i had the opportunity to visit the port of northbridge and new jersey. an important part of the gateway program to mark the 50% completion of the project. it is largely being built by labor. it is on time and on budget.

i think my friends and labor for the incredible work to continue to develop to build our infrastructure. i want to thank all the witnesses today for their testimony and ongoing work regarding the francis scott key bridge collapse. i want to join my colleagues in recognizing the six workers who lost their lives during this tragic accident, immigrants were not just making the infrastructure stronger, but our nation stronger. the families and communities they were part of. this is home to the largest port on the east coast, following the collapse of the key bridge, the port of new york and new jersey was ready to accommodate additional vessels to ensure our supply chain remained intact. this is thanks in large part to the port authority of new york and new jersey and their dedicated teams. the operators of the ports and the incredible men and women to keep our region moving.

administrator bhatt, your testimony notes the federal highway administration will work to ensure the new bridges built to current design standards. can you describe how design standards have changed since the key bridge was built in 1977 and the challenges posed by increasingly larger vessels in the ports? >> thank you, congressman, for the question. i think, just you know, if you look at the bridge, it was a trusted bridge. they're very strong and made of steel. that was the prevailing design at that time. when you look at many of the trusk bridges replaced today. they are being replaced by cable bridges for the most part. advantages and strengths. you can precast the concrete sections and bring them into place. i think that is probably the likely design that will come forward. with regard to design standards, obviously, there is vertical load and laterally load that we have to account for. i think specifically what the francis scott key bridge has brought forward and what we're

going to work closely with the chair, and i echo her call to begin examining bridges is right now, what is the appropriate level of protection we need to design so we don't have another similar situation. >> taking into consideration the size of the vessels coming through our ports and channels given they have increased in size over, definitely since 1977. that would be part of the analysis, correct? >> absolutely, sir. >> appreciate that. the poor infrastructure development program provides grants to and supply chain needs. between 2019 an program received $9 billion in applications, but only received $2.5 billion in appropriations over five years in the infrastructure investment and jobs act. mr. bhatt, should we be doing more to invest in landside infrastructure? >> thank you, representative.

i was at a bunch of ports this week. i served on the port board in wilmington, delaware. i would say there is a critical need for infrastructure everywhere, including, you know, the one you mentioned. >> how would increasing appropriations to the port infrastructure development program potentially help >> sir, i would want to consult with the folks to get you a specific answer to that question. >> okay. chair, i am that i understand you can -- can you touch on what features may be on both new and existing bridges to better protect them from potential impact like what we saw in baltimore? >> this is what we are looking at is part of the investigation. where working with maryland to evaluate their other bridges. where looking at other areas in the united states where bridge owners have improved bridge infrastructure after a vessel

strike. that includes any high defender systems, that is exactly what we're looking at. we don't have recommendations today on that. again, i would stress that states and bridge owners should be evaluating, especially with older bridges. what is coming through as far as their navigable waterways now? what is the risk, and how should they address that? >> quickly on follow-up, do you anticipate or have a sense of timing of when those recommendations might be made available given the timely importance of making sure the existing of the structure throughout the country is up-to- date? >> we often issue urchins -- urgent safety recommendations, and we may in this case. in the meantime, including before we issue a final report, we are aiming for 18 months on a final report. but again, we may have updates to the investigation that we release, and we may issue

urgent safety requisitions as well. >> this might make sense in this instance to be sure that people feel secure when they cross any of these types of bridges. i yield back. >> thank you, madame chair. thank you all for being here today. appreciate all of you and your hard work and dedication. vice admiral, we have town in my county named after you, but we pronounce it a little differently in mississippi. we will leave that to us. anyway, as you know, a few remaining united states shipbuilders are in my county, huntington. what can we do, what can be done to encourage the greater use of united states vessels to ensure ships coming through our ports are held to the highest mechanical standard? >> thanks, congressman. i think i might be named after somebody who grew up in that

town. the coast guard works very hard to assure that with the number of foreign flag vessels in u.s. ports every single day, that we maintain an equivalent level of safety. we do this for the international maritime organization. there actually meeting this week on a number of issues of emerging technologies. we have done things like worked on the standards of training certification for all mariners, u.s. and international. we want to do this in a way that does not disadvantage u.s. mariners so we can have the equivalent levels that global shipping and the global crews on vessels have to adhere to. >> thank you. additionally, do you think this incident could be a cause for recommending harbor tug escorted ships through larger channels? if so, do you think this incident could've been avoided?

>> it may be, but we don't know yet . it is too early in the investigation to understand whether tugs would or would have not helped in this circumstance. although what i will say is that there are some areas in some ports around the u.s. that have tug escort requirements for a variety of reasons, and they're all different. for example, under the verrazzano bridge. for example, state of california for take vessels entering into the san francisco bay area. those determinations are typically made by harbor safety committees with all stakeholders getting together to understand the totality of risk, not just the coast guard, and then agreeing on what tug requirements might be particular to that area of risk. >> very good. administrator bhatt, i noticed the d.o.t. fy 2025 appropriations budget request that there were no additional funds provided beyond the annual $100 million authorization in the emergency

relief fund. given the backlog of requests and unmet needs, especially in mississippi, how do you anticipate filling the requests for all highway projects and this bridge? >> thank you, congressman, for that question. i know that the omb director was part of a tour of the site a few weeks ago. i don't want to get ahead of the administration, but i believe that, generally speaking, the er backlog has been topped up through supplementals historically. i believe that may be part of the discussion. >> thank you. continuing with you, along with ensuring the process moves along quickly, how do you plan to coordinate with the state of maryland and other stakeholders to ensure the proper funds are obligated quickly? >> thank you, congressman. is absolutely top of mind.

having worked in the private sector, i know projects delivered on time and on budget are always our target. we are moving with great speed working in close coordination with them to make sure they're hitting all the timelines. they have set an aggressive schedule as well. >> thank you. chair homendy, it has been reported the actions taken by the vessel the state police he took swift action to minimize the casualties, in the future, how can we better improve the communication between vessels, people on the bridge, and emergency responders? >> that is part of our investigation. we will look at that. it was key when the pilots reached out to the dispatchers and the dispatchers calledmdta police. it was a very quick notification to shut down operations on the bridge. everyone involved in that, it was a heroic effort, certainly. we will look at that as part of our investigation to determine what should be the standard

going forward. >> thank you all again for being here today. madame chair, i yield back. >> thank you. the gentleman yields. >> thank you, madame chair. my colleagues today have indicated their support for the concept of federal monies being repaid through tolling on the bridge. i will associate myself with that concept and with interest in that concept. i think, in general, tolling on critical infrastructure is an appropriate way to find it in the long run. i would encourage the relevant agencies and congress to consider that, not just for this bridge, but for all bridges going forward as a thick about how to responsibly fund critical infrastructure and address the backlog. vice admiral, i appreciate your testimony, and i appreciate also the unified response in baltimore that you have been

part of. i am concerned, though, about the strain on the coast guard and whether that is going to further exacerbate the services , challenges and operating with a workforce deficit. there will be downstream effects on other coast guard missions and stations. if the service does not receive additional resources from congress, what are the likely short and long-term consequences for operations in a place like? >> congressman, as you know, we surge resources to the product top priorities at the moment, whether a bridge collapse or hurricane response or search and rescue case. but to your point, more often we do that, and with insufficient budget, to make sure that we can do things like recapitalize our assets, and to close this urgent workforce gap

we have in enlisted ranks. our ability to do that will be eroded over time. >> articulate the trade-off we might have to make. what should congress understand about trade- offs that have to happen if you are not resourced appropriately. >> take, for example, the near 10% enlisted workforce shortfall. if we do not have the resourcing , i'm sorry, the recruiting and retention capability within the coast guard in order to get that back up to normal, we will have to continue on doing the sorts of things we have done, like not completely staffing certain stations around the country where there might be some redundancies. >> what does it mean for your missions? can you not do, for example, law enforcement for recreational boating? can you not do illegal fisheries? what are some of the missions that micah -- might get eroded? >> we will have to make tough choices to deliberately back off of doing certain things we would normally do, like some recreational boating, like some

fisheries law enforcement, like some recreational navigation. >> i think it is important to be specific about the trade- offs. i want congress to understand that you can't get something for nothing. we have to fund the coast guard 's vital 11 missions. i know you are also conducting an atlantic coast access route study to reduce the risk of marine casualties and reduce vessel traffic on the atlantic coast. how is the coast guard reevaluating the study in light of the baltimore accident? and how would you evaluate potential risk going forward? >> baltimore is a reminder of the consequences would have large vessels, and that you have a mishap, and then you have critical infrastructure, and then we have the results we have seen. what we are doing in terms of the port access route studies is exactly to prevent those sorts of circumstances as we know, there will be more fixed

objects, wind turbines, windfarms, offshore starting in new england and working out other parts of the country. we need to have assurances that there are shipping lanes that will be free from the construction of offshore wind farms so that maritime transportation can continue at low risk to collisions. >> i yield back. >> thank you. i recognize mr. williams for five minutes for questions. i apologize for skipping you earlier. >> that's all right. thank you, madame chair. think you all for being here and for your expert testimony. i've read through the accident reports, such as it is. i would like to follow up on some details of that just to try to understand it. maybe, madame chair woman, start with you. do we know, i'm sure we do, are we looking at the manufacturers of hr one -- 1 breakers, the

transformer, the control system , all of those things that appear in the switchboard cabinets in your reports? you have the inspector taping though shot. have we identified the manufacturer of all of those components, including the subassemblies and things inside? >> we are currently working with hyundai, you manufactured many of the components. they are party to the investigation and have come to baltimore to work with us to do testing on board the vessel. our engineers are on board the vessel today. >> i understand that hyundai would assemble the control system, the panel, if you will, like a panel shop would, but the individual components inside, whether that is a or

sensors, actuators, whatever those things are, are we looking all the way down into the components, the whole supply chain that made up all those components? >> we are. >> when you represent the transformer, the integrated control and monitoring system, you are saying all of that comes from hyundai? >> not every single feature or center comes from hyundai, but if we are looking at any sensors or pumps or any other component on the vessel, we will work with whoever that manufacturer is. >> is there an investigation into cybersecurity being evaluated for all these components? >> currently, we have no evidence at this time to suggest this was a cybersecurity threat.

aware there is some work being done by the department of justice, but that is not within the ntsb purview. >> in a cyber security or a cyber attack, there's a lot of concern about embedded systems embedded into what is called a real-time operating system or inside the control logic or the control elements. that would require an enormous amount of forensics to evaluate , and i would think -- which would require dismantling the whole switchboard and doing it component by component. does that kind of investigation underway? >> are investigators have over

400 years of experience and they know where the evidence takes them. as far as anything the department of justice or if is doing, it's not something i can speak to. >> in terms of 400 years of experience, it's the last five that are relevant in terms of cyber security. >> my point is -- >> i understand your point and i have significant expertise as well. point of my question is as we've seen in embedded systems and very integrated components from a wide variety of vendors, understanding the entire supply chain and evaluating things all the way down to the operating system or even the bios and other features in the system, as i read through the accident

report, it's not clear to me that anyone knows why the breakers tripped or why the transformer tripped and it seems like until we know the origin of the actual accident, all these things should be taken as at least possible. would you agree? >> this is a preliminary report. what we released yesterday was preliminary. we are still conducting our investigation and we go over the evidence takes us. but that includes a forensics on the actual components that are there, which would require significant disassembly and evaluation? >> we will follow the evidence and anything security wise if we find anything, we will turn it over immediately. >> thank you very much. >> i recognize myself for 5 minutes.

you been sitting here for a long time. and you've been thoroughly questioned. i want to wrap up with, is there anything and if you would like to highlight the respective agencies that would be helpful to this committee that you have not already covered? >> factual statement. i think this has been thoroughly questioned. in terms -- i've been asked several questions about coast guard resourcing. and it bears repeating from our perspective. we are incredibly proud of the folks in the field who have responded. they have done an amazing job with counterparts to do this. we cannot guarantee that the coast guard can perform at that level whether that be a search and rescue case or a patrol in asia or patrolling for the

potential for mass migration in the caribbean without substantial support from congress on the appropriations site. in terms of recapitalizing our aging assets and improving our procurement construction and improvement of support from congress, things that help the people in terms of training, that leads us to successful operations like this. i appreciate the opportunity to convey that to you. >> thank you for that question and the opportunity to be here today. probably two points to wrap up with. we talked about the safety of the general public. i want to commend the teams on site from the coast guard's to the various agencies it has been and amazingly safe operation some of the riskiest diving operations you can have.

water you cannot see to the end of your fingers. we were guiding them by sonar. steel sticking out and they did it safely. our commitment is to continue the safety record until the federal channel is completely cleared. there was a lot of discussion on the resiliency infrastructure. three weeks after the dali hit the bridge, barges broke way on the ohio river to pittsburgh and bounced off of two of the -- and the infrastructure withstood those strikes because it was designed to withstand those strikes. we are trying to stretch taxpayer dollars as far as we can and looking at some of the gates on the structures to see if we can go to fiber reinforced polymers and one thing we are looking at is to see, well, if we do build them,

will they withstand hard strikes as well as steel does. and i would like to make a shameless plug for research developing that we need to continue to advance the state of engineering. >> shameless plug and noted. >> thank you, madam chair. i would end where i started, which is i've been around a number of these bridge disasters , and just the confidence i feel that this response, whether it is unified command or the army corps or coast guard of are highways, i feel like it has been an exemplary response in a message to send to the american people that when disaster strikes the government is there working in coordination with

the private sector. i appreciate the questions around the funding of the bridge and your concern for fully funding it and open to looking at different methodologies the been brought forward. i would say from a federal highway perspective there are $3.7 billion, of unmet need across the country in red and blue states in the er program we want to follow the law and it doesn't matter, we will show up and make sure funding is available for programs across the country. >> thank you. >> let me think this committee on a bipartisan basis. you led the effort to reauthorize the ntsb as part is faa reauthorization. you also led the way on fully funding the ntsb along with house appropriators for our request.

we hope you will do the same for fy25. but the fy24 funding came in lower and we fully appreciate it because it's higher than we received now, but if you look at this investigation, we have 12 people in our office of marine safety. they need an additional five and that doesn't include the other modes that need people and the supporting offices as well as dealing with unfunded mandates, lab equipment and training needs. 10.7 million that we got in an increase in fy24 translated into a little over five because we had to take on a 5.2% pay raise. well deserved, but we have to think about the impact on smaller agencies. we have about five and we have to figure out what 11 positions out of hundreds can we fund.

for the office of marine safety itself, 12 people on their staffs, half of which are dedicated to this particular accident, and they have over 60 other cases. is those get pushed so they can focus on the next major one. any support you can provide for fy25 is appreciated. >> one more really quick question. do have an updated time line for when full fair navigation channel will be reopened? >> our commitment is to have it opened by the end of the month and sooner if possible.>> thank you. i yield back. are there any further questions from any member of the committee has not been recognized? that concludes our hearing for today. i want to thank each of the witnesses for your testimony

and this committee stands adjourned.

today tsa operator testifies before a house homeland security subcommittee.