u.s. army corps denies four lakes restoration project low-interest loan request

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) recently announced the eligible recipients for the Corps Water Infrastructure Financing Program (CWIFP) credit assistance. Four Lakes Task Force (FLTF) received notification that it DID NOT qualify for the loan under the current rules of the program. 

The objective of the CWIFP program is to invest in water resources infrastructure by providing long-term, low-cost loans to non-federally owned projects. Four Lakes Task Force applied for a CWIFP Loan, on behalf of Gladwin and Midland counties, which was communicated in October 2023. At that time, USACE was very confident the Four Lakes restoration project would qualify.

To be eligible for CWIFP credit assistance, the project must be a project for flood, hurricane or storm damage reduction, aquatic environmental restoration, coastal or inland harbor improvement, or navigation improvement. USACE determined the Four Lakes restoration project did not qualify based on the criteria set forth in the approved federal rules. In consultation with representatives from CWIFP over several months, FLTF believed that both Sanford and Edenville dams would qualify under the criteria related to aquatic environmental restoration. However, CWIFP took a view that these loans cannot be used for dam repair or restoration for aquatic ecosystem restoration – they can only be used for dam removal to restore the environment to its prior condition (in this case pre-1920 river flow).

This denial does not change the current Four Lakes special assessment estimates as the Plan of Financing was created with the possibility that FLTF may not qualify for a USACE CWIFP loan, and the remainder of the project financing would then be completed through municipal financing by the issuance of tax-exempt municipal bonds.

​This news is disappointing. FLTF believed, along with the contacts we worked with at the U.S. Army Corps, that our projects had a high probability of receiving loans. The program would have lowered the financial costs to the community. We will continue to seek other grants and low interest financing, including from the federal government, and that includes the U.S. Army Corps.