II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2232 

To require the Secretary of the Army to submit to Congress a report identifying activities for hurricane and flood protection in Lake Pontchartrain, 

Louisiana, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 1, 2006 

Mr. VITTER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of the Army to submit to Congress 

a report identifying activities for hurricane and flood 

protection in Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Louisiana Emergency 

5 Needs Corps of Engineers Authorization Act of 2006’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. HURRICANE AND FLOOD PROTECTION, LAKE PONT2 CHARTRAIN, LOUISIANA. 

3 (a) REPORT.—Not later than 20 days after the date 

4 of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Army, act5 ing through the Chief of Engineers (referred to in this 

6 Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’), shall submit to the Committee 

7 on Environment and Public Works of the Senate and the 

8 Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the 

9 House of Representatives a report that— 

10 (1) with respect to the project for hurricane11 flood protection on Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana, 

12 under section 204 of the Flood Control Act of 1965 

13 (79 Stat. 1077), identifies activities to reconstruct 

14 hurricane and flood protection measures relating to 

15 the outfall canals adjacent to Lake Pontchartrain in 

16 the Jefferson and Orleans parishes of the State of 

17 Louisiana that are substantially in accordance with 

18 levels of hurricane and flood protection authorized 

19 under Federal law to— 

20 (A) reconstruct and fortify floodwalls adja21 cent to the canals; 

22 (B) construct at the heads of the canals 

23 pumping stations with adequate pumping ca24 pacity, as determined by the Secretary; 

25 (C) install gate-like structures at the heads 

26 of the canals; and 
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1 (D) prevent— 

2 (i) seepage from the canals into adja3 cent property; and 

4 (ii) the undermining of floodwalls im5 proved or reconstructed under subpara6 graph (A); 

7 (2) identifies activities to protect, restore, and 

8 reduce the risk of storm damage in coastal areas of 

9 the State of Louisiana in which a major disaster re10 lating to Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Rita was 

11 declared by the President to exist on or after August 

12 29, 2005, in accordance with section 401 of the 

13 Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 

14 Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170), in accordance with 

15 the report transmitted by the President to the 

16 House of Representatives and dated October 28, 

17 2005; 

18 (3) identifies activities to fortify, strengthen, 

19 and improve hurricane protection and flood control 

20 infrastructure (including pumping stations) in exist21 ence on or before August 28, 2005, to ensure sus22 tainability and prevent the failure of the infrastruc23 ture under hurricane conditions, in accordance with 

24 predicted area conditions for standard project hurri25 canes and located in an area designed to be pro-
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1 tected by a hurricane or flood control project author2 ized under Federal law; and 

3 (4) identifies any activity included in the report 

4 of the Chief of Engineers dated August 23, 2002 

5 (including supplemental reports), that the Secretary 

6 determines to be integral to the protection of life 

7 and property in the disaster area described in para8 graph (2). 

9 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Absent a resolution of Con11 gress disapproving an activity identified in the re12 port under subsection (a), the Secretary may imple13 ment the activity beginning on the date that is 30 

14 days after the date on which the report is submitted. 

15 (2) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of 

16 the cost of an activity carried out under paragraph 

17 (1) shall be 100 percent. 

18 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

19 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary for 

20 each of fiscal years 2006 through 2010— 

21 (1) $1,400,000,000 to carry out activities iden22 tified under paragraphs (1) through (3) of sub23 section (a); and 

24 (2) $788,000,000 to carry out activities identi25 fied under subsection (a)(4). 
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1 SEC. 3. COMPENSATION. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi3 sion of law, in acquiring property or an interest in prop4 erty to improve, reconstruct, or develop hurricane and 

5 flood protection measures relating to Hurricane Katrina 

6 or Rita, the Secretary shall compensate the owner of the 

7 property or interest without taking into consideration any 

8 damage to the property or interest caused by Hurricane 

9 Katrina or Rita. 

10 (b) ADJUSTMENT FOR PAYMENTS MADE.—Notwith11 standing subsection (a), the Secretary may reduce the 

12 amount of compensation paid under that subsection for 

13 property or an interest in property by the amount of any 

14 other payment received by the owner of the property or 

15 interest for damages to that property or interest as a re16 sult of Hurricane Katrina or Rita, including a payment 

17 received from— 

18 (1) an insurance claim; or 

19 (2) the Federal Emergency Management Agen20 cy. 

21 SEC. 4. EFFECT OF ACT. 

22 Nothing in this Act affects any authority of the Sec23 retary under any other Federal law. 

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