As Washington spews $1.2 trillion for infrastructure, none for Panther Island. Why?

Washington is spending $1.2 trillion in a new infrastructure package. A reasonable person might wonder if a tiny fraction of that will finally fund one of Fort Worth’s longest-lived projects, the rerouting of the Trinity River to create Panther Island.

After all, the entire effort to dig bypass channels could be funded with less than 0.05 percent of the massive bill that President Joe Biden signed into law Monday.

The answer is no. The Tarrant Regional Water District project, in partnership with the county, city and other entities, remains unfunded.

And while we wait, we’re in danger of falling back into the old patterns that got the project crosswise with the feds in the first place: Focusing on economic development, housing and other baubles when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cares about flood control.

The water district continues to chip away at preparations for the dirt to fly, including land acquisition and utility work.

Developers are champing at the bit to start building businesses, housing and other amenities that would create a vibrant district out of basically nothing.

If we were engineers charged with flood control, we’d want to know how that kind of construction could possibly go forward when the need to tame the Trinity remains.

More than two years ago, an outside review identified confusion and poor communication about the project’s mission. Some leaders, including Fort Worth City Manager David Cooke, have said the economic development vision took too much prominence over a better flood-control option than the current Trinity levees.

The Trinity River Vision Authority, which oversees the project on behalf of the water district and its partners, hired a long-time Army Corps expert to guide dealings with the agency and stress the seriousness of the flood-control mission.

Here we go again. Whatever the hold-up in Washington is, no one can get past it — even in an era of prodigious spending.

Rep. Kay Granger, the Fort Worth Republican who has led the charge for the program, told the Star-Telegram in July that enough money would soon be granted to begin channel construction. “I think it will be funded for everything they can spend in the next cycle,” she said. We asked her office for an update Thursday, but our questions went unanswered.

Granger has said that during the Trump administration, the impediment to funding was Mick Mulvaney, who ran the White House budget office and eventually also served as President Donald Trump’s chief of staff. With the change of administrations, Mulvaney is obviously no longer an issue.

A water district spokesman noted that the Army Corps is scheduled to release its annual project list early next year. If the project isn’t funded to the point Granger identified, it’s fair to question whether any progress can be made in the Biden administration, either. That would mean three more years of limbo. The infrastructure bill includes $11.6 billion for the Army Corps, but it’s yet to be determined which projects would be funded.

Water district officials have stressed that projects backed by the Corps and authorized by Congress are always finished, even if it takes years and the process appears messy. But at some point, the Washington spending spree will end, and Panther Island backers may regret missing an opportunity.

Every time we’re told the money is juuuuuust around the corner, it’s not. In 2019, Mayor Betsy Price and Rep. Roger Williams went to the White House and emerged confident that as much as $250 million was on the way. Instead, the Corps offered a small amount for a feasibility study, which the river authority rejected.

Granger is the top Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, which authorizes federal spending. If Republicans win control of the House next year, which seems more than likely, she’ll be in line to chair the panel. Surely, in a government that spends trillions at a time, such a powerful official could secure a relatively small amount for a justified, approved flood control project.

Until then, one of the many curiosities of the Panther Island saga is how it didn’t happen during a bonanza of federal infrastructure spending — and what that says about indifference in the federal government to whether Panther Island is ever truly an island.

Editor’s note: Updated Monday afternoon to clarify that the legislation includes Army Corps of Engineers funding that isn’t yet directed to specific projects.

This story was originally published November 21, 2021 at 5:03 AM.