In 1976, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Went $67 Billion Over Budget

Mismanagement at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was so bad in 1976 that it was responsible for cost overruns of 178 projects that totaled $14 billion — $67 billion in 2021 dollars.

That year, Sen. William Proxmire, a Democrat from Wisconsin, gave the Corps a Golden Fleece Award for wasteful and nonsensical spending.

With 178 major projects underway, 83 of them, or 47 percent, had cost overruns of 100 percent or more, Proxmire said in giving out the award.

Those 178 projects were initially slated to cost $12.7 billion but increased costs led to a new price tag of $26.7 billion, a $14 billion (or 110 percent) increase.

A flood control project at Caesar Creek Lake in Ohio cost 243 percent of its original price; flood control in Cooper Lake, Texas was up 325 percent; Fire Island Inlet, New York also increased 325 percent; Sacramento River Bank increased 356 percent; and hurricane protection in New Orleans, Louisiana was up 1,027 percent.

“While occasionally the Defense Department or the Department of Transportation may have high figures on specific programs, the scope and consistency of the Corps’ excesses are breathtaking,” Proxmire said.

He said the out-of-control costs can’t be blamed on inflation, as the General Accounting Office analyzed the costs and found at least half were for changes in engineering, estimating and the scope of the project, what he called “avoidable changes” if planning on the projects had been proper and thorough.

“It seems to be a good time for the Executive Department to rethink the mission of the Corps of Engineers,” Proxmire said. “Perhaps the Crops should be reoriented to reclaiming polluted waterways, building municipal waste treatment facilities and other desperately needed capital programs where Corps resources could be efficiently used.”

The #WasteOfTheDay is presented by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.