II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1332 

To establish the Great Lakes Aquatic Connectivity and Infrastructure 

Program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 8, 2017 

Ms. STABENOW (for herself, Mr. PETERS, and Mr. BROWN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL 

To establish the Great Lakes Aquatic Connectivity and 

Infrastructure Program, 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 ‘‘Great Lakes Aquatic 

5 Connectivity and Infrastructure Program Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) modernizing aging infrastructure and the 

9 protection of habitat and ecosystems that support 


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1 fish populations are critical to State, regional, and 

2 local economies in the Great Lakes basin; 

3 (2) infrastructure— 

4 (A) maintains essential services and safety 

5 for communities in the Great Lakes basin; and 

6 (B) in some cases, provides a long-term 

7 barrier to the expansion of aquatic invasive spe8 cies; 

9 (3) as of the date of enactment of this Act, 

10 there are more than 7,000 recorded dams and an es11 timated 260,000 road stream crossings of varying 

12 ages and conditions in the Great Lakes basin; 

13 (4) fish and wildlife populations with reduced 

14 access to habitat are generally less robust and more 

15 susceptible to declines in abundance than popu16 lations with access to suitable habitat; 

17 (5) efficiencies are increased when Federal, 

18 State, and local experts and regulators work collabo19 ratively to identify and implement best practices that 

20 result in addressing infrastructure needs while also, 

21 to the extent possible, expanding habitats for fish 

22 and wildlife populations and preventing the spread 

23 of aquatic invasive species; and 

24 (6) it is imperative to establish a program simi25 lar to the program established by the Great Lakes 


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1 Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act of 1990 (16 

2 U.S.C. 941 et seq.) that is dedicated to collabo3 ratively and strategically seeking opportunities to 

4 modernize Great Lakes infrastructure while con5 serving the aquatic ecosystem. 

6 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) COMMITTEE.—The term ‘‘Committee’’ 

9 means the Great Lakes Aquatic Connectivity and In10 frastructure Committee established by section 5(a). 

11 (2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

12 the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife 

13 Service. 

14 (3) GREAT LAKES STATES.—The term ‘‘Great 

15 Lakes States’’ means each of the States of Illinois, 

16 Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, 

17 New York, and Wisconsin. 

18 (4) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘Program’’ means 

19 the Great Lakes Aquatic Connectivity and Infra20 structure Program established by section 4(a). 

21 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

22 the Secretary of Transportation. 

23 (6) STRATEGIC PLAN.—The term ‘‘strategic 

24 plan’’ means the strategic plan developed under sec25 tion 4(d)(1). 


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1 SEC. 4. GREAT LAKES AQUATIC CONNECTIVITY AND INFRA2 STRUCTURE PROGRAM. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established within 

4 the United States Fish and Wildlife Service a program 

5 for the removal or selective bypass of barriers to aquatic 

6 connectivity in tributaries of the Great Lakes, to be known 

7 as the ‘‘Great Lakes Aquatic Connectivity and Infrastruc8 ture Program’’. 

9 (b) GOAL.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The goal of the Program is 

11 to identify and implement voluntary measures that 

12 restore aquatic species to self-sustaining levels by re13 connecting aquatic habitats in the Great Lakes basin 

14 while maintaining and modernizing needed infra15 structure, particularly in locations where roads, trib16 utaries, or dams intersect. 

17 (2) APPROACH.—The goal under paragraph (1) 

18 shall be achieved by using a proactive science-based 

19 approach that— 

20 (A) balances infrastructure modernization 

21 while enhancing aquatic connectivity though the 

22 removal or bypass of barriers to the movement 

23 of aquatic organisms; 

24 (B) minimizes the expansion of habitat for 

25 aquatic invasive species; 


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1 (C) supports the development and imple2 mentation of selective fish passage technologies; 

3 (D) measures the effectiveness of projects 

4 under the Program and informs strategic plan5 ning for the Program; and 

6 (E) avoids the construction of unintended 

7 barriers by focusing on ecosystem resiliency 

8 through collaboration and best practices. 

9 (c) COLLABORATION.—The Director and the Sec10 retary shall collaborate with Federal, State, local, and 

11 tribal governments, the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, 

12 signatories to the Joint Strategic Plan for Management 

13 of Great Lakes Fisheries, and any other stakeholder the 

14 Director and the Secretary determine to be appropriate 

15 to support— 

16 (1) sound approaches to addressing infrastruc17 ture and aquatic populations in the Great Lakes; 

18 and 

19 (2) ecosystem resiliency. 

20 (d) STRATEGIC PLAN.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

22 the date of enactment of this Act, subject to the 

23 availability of appropriations, the Director, in con24 sultation with the Committee shall finalize a straVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Jun 14, 2017 Jkt 069000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1332.IS S1332

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1 tegic plan for the Program to address aquatic 

2 connectivity in the Great Lakes basin. 

3 (2) INCLUSIONS.—The strategic plan shall in4 clude an analysis of Federal, State, and local efforts 

5 to enhance aquatic connectivity in the Great Lakes 

6 basin. 

7 (3) REVIEW.—Not less frequently than once 

8 every 5 years, the Director, in consultation with the 

9 Committee, shall review and revise the strategic plan 

10 as appropriate. 

11 (4) AVAILABILITY.—The Director shall make 

12 the strategic plan available on a publicly accessible 

13 Internet website. 

14 (e) PROPOSALS.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall encour16 age the development and, subject to the availability 

17 of appropriations, the implementation of aquatic 

18 connectivity proposals to achieve the goal described 

19 in subsection (b). 

20 (2) REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS.—Not later than 

21 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act and 

22 annually thereafter, the Director shall request that 

23 any interested entity submit a proposal to restore 

24 aquatic connectivity in the Great Lakes basin in 

25 support of the strategic plan. 


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1 (3) SUBMISSION.—A proposal referred to in 

2 paragraph (2) shall be submitted to the Director— 

3 (A) at such time, in such manner, and con4 taining such information as the Director may 

5 require; and 

6 (B) consistent with other laws relating to 

7 the restoration of the aquatic resources and 

8 habitat of the Great Lakes basin. 

9 (4) SELECTION CRITERIA.—In selecting and 

10 funding proposals, the Director shall take into ac11 count the effectiveness and appropriateness of the 

12 proposed activities with respect to— 

13 (A) the strategic plan; 

14 (B) the restoration of aquatic resources 

15 and habitat; 

16 (C) transportation and infrastructure in 

17 the Great Lakes basin; and 

18 (D) minimizing the expansion of habitat 

19 for aquatic invasive species. 

20 (5) IMPLEMENTATION.—After considering the 

21 recommendations of the Committee and the goal de22 scribed in subsection (b), the Director shall— 

23 (A) select proposals to be implemented; 

24 and 


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1 (B) subject to the availability of funds and 

2 subsection (f), award funding to implement the 

3 selected proposals. 

4 (f) NON-FEDERAL MATCHING FUNDS REQUIRED.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not less than 25 percent of 

6 the cost of implementing a proposal shall be derived 

7 from non-Federal sources, including in-kind con8 tributions. 

9 (2) TIMING.—The non-Federal share of the 

10 cost of implementing a proposal may be provided at 

11 any time during the 2-year period preceding Janu12 ary 1 of the year in which the Director receives the 

13 proposal. 

14 (g) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than Decem15 ber 31, 2019, and annually thereafter, the Director shall 

16 submit to Congress a report that includes— 

17 (1) a summary of the outcomes of actions taken 

18 under the Program, including recommendations of 

19 activities, where appropriate, that would contribute 

20 to achievement of the goal described in subsection 

21 (b); 

22 (2) a description of activities carried out under 

23 the Program and an explanation of how those activi24 ties help achieve the goal described in subsection (b); 

25 and 


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1 (3) an analysis of Federal, State, and local ef2 forts to enhance multidisciplinary approaches to en3 hance aquatic connectivity and infrastructure im4 provements in the Great Lakes basin, and rec5 ommendations to improve the efficiency and effec6 tiveness of the Program. 

7 SEC. 5. GREAT LAKES AQUATIC CONNECTIVITY AND INFRA8 STRUCTURE COMMITTEE. 

9 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a com10 mittee, to be known as the ‘‘Great Lakes Aquatic 

11 Connectivity and Infrastructure Committee’’, which shall 

12 operate under the guidance of the United States Fish and 

13 Wildlife Service. 

14 (b) MEMBERSHIP.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Committee shall consist 

16 of— 

17 (A) 2 representatives of each of the Great 

18 Lakes States, of whom— 

19 (i) 1 representative with expertise in 

20 road and dam infrastructure shall be ap21 pointed by, and serve at the pleasure of, as 

22 determined by the State— 

23 (I) the head of the transportation 

24 department of the State; or 


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1 (II) the head of the dam safety 

2 department of the State; and 

3 (ii) 1 representative with expertise in 

4 aquatic habitat connectivity, or a similar 

5 field, shall be appointed by, and serve at 

6 the pleasure of, the head of the environ7 mental management agency of the State; 

8 and 

9 (B) 2 representatives of each tribal organi10 zation represented on the Council of Lake Com11 mittees of the Great Lakes Fishery Commis12 sion, of whom— 

13 (i) 1 representative with expertise in 

14 road and dam infrastructure shall be ap15 pointed by, and serve at the pleasure of, 

16 the tribal chair; and 

17 (ii) 1 representative with expertise in 

18 aquatic habitat connectivity, or a similar 

19 field, shall be appointed by, and serve at 

20 the pleasure of, the tribal chair. 

21 (2) OBSERVERS.—There shall be 3 participants 

22 who shall serve as nonvoting observers of the Com23 mittee, of whom— 

24 (A) 1 shall be appointed by the Director; 


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1 (B) 1 shall be appointed by the Secretary; 

2 and 

3 (C) 1 shall be appointed by the Great 

4 Lakes Fishery Commission. 

5 (3) RECUSAL.—A member of the Committee 

6 shall recuse himself or herself from consideration of 

7 proposals that the member, or the entity that the 

8 member represents, has submitted. 

9 (c) DUTIES.—The Committee shall— 

10 (1) review proposals submitted under section 

11 4(e)(3) to assess the effectiveness and appropriate12 ness of the proposals to achieve the goal described 

13 in section 4(b); 

14 (2) recommend to the Director any proposals 

15 reviewed under paragraph (1) that the Committee 

16 determines should receive funding and be imple17 mented under the Program; 

18 (3) meet not less frequently than annually; and 

19 (4) establish the terms of reference of the Com20 mittee, as appropriate. 

21 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

22 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

23 the Program $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2018 

24 through 2022, of which, for each fiscal year— 


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1 (1) not more than the lesser of 15 percent and 

2 $750,000 shall be available for proposals selected 

3 under section 4(e)(5) that support the development 

4 of selective fish passage technologies; and 

5 (2) the lesser of 5 percent and $250,000 shall 

6 be available to the Director and the Secretary for 

7 costs incurred in coordinating the Program and im8 plementing the proposals selected under section 

9 4(e)(5). 

10 SEC. 7. SAVINGS CLAUSE. 

11 Nothing in this Act conflicts with the authority of the 

12 Great Lakes Fishery Commission to eradicate or minimize 

13 a sea lamprey population under the Convention on Great 

14 Lakes Fisheries signed at Washington September 10, 

15 1954 (6 U.S.T. 2836; TIAS 3326), between the United 

16 States of America and Canada. 

Æ 


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