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103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2931

To direct the Secretary of the Army to conduct a study to assess the

adequacy of current flood control measures on the Upper Mississippi

River and its tributaries.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

AUGUST 6, 1993

Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. GEPHARDT, Mr. EVANS, Mr. COSTELLO, Mr.

EMERSON, Mr. LEACH, Mr. SMITH of Iowa, Ms. DANNER, Mr. VOLKMER,

Mr. POSHARD, Mr. LIGHTFOOT, Mr. NUSSLE, Mr. WHEAT, Mr. MINGE,

and Mr. CLAY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Public Works and Transportation

A BILL

To direct the Secretary of the Army to conduct a study

to assess the adequacy of current flood control measures

on the Upper Mississippi River and its tributaries.

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

3 SECTION 1. PURPOSES.

4 It is the purpose of this Act—

5 (1) to improve the flood protection on the

6 Upper Mississippi River and its tributaries in order

7 to protect public health and safety, maintain com8 merce, and reduce economic losses due to flooding;
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1 (2) to assess the adequacy of current flood con2 trol measures, both Federal and non-Federal, on the

3 Upper Mississippi River and its tributaries and rec4 ommend improvements to protect critical public fa5 cilities and prevent the release of hazardous mate6 rials into flood waters; and

7 (3) to examine the Federal and non-Federal

8 role in funding the construction and maintenance of

9 flood control measures on the Mississippi River and

10 its tributaries and recommend changes to improve

11 flood protection for high priority facilities.

12 SEC. 2. FLOOD CONTROL MEASURES ON UPPER MIS13 SISSIPPI RIVER AND TRIBUTARIES.

14 (a) STUDY.—The Secretary of the Army shall con15 duct a study to assess the adequacy of current flood con16 trol measures on the Upper Mississippi River and its trib17 utaries.

18 (b) CONTENTS.—In conducting the study under sub19 section (a), the Secretary shall—

20 (1) identify critical water, sewer, transpor21 tation, and other essential public facilities which cur22 rently do not have adequate flood protection;

23 (2) identify high priority industrial, petrochemi24 cal, hazardous waste, and other facilities which re-
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1 quire additional flood protection due to the special

2 health and safety risks caused by flooding;

3 (3) evaluate current Federal, State, and local

4 flood impact review requirements for infrastructure

5 improvements and other development in the flood

6 plain, and recommend changes to reduce the poten7 tial loss of life, property damage, economic losses,

8 and threats to health and safety caused by flooding;

9 (4) examine the differences in Federal cost10 sharing for construction and maintenance of flood

11 control projects on the Upper and Lower Mississippi

12 River systems and assess the effect of such dif13 ferences on the level of flood protection on the

14 Upper Mississippi River and its tributaries;

15 (5) assess the current Federal policy on pre16 event repair and maintenance of both Federal and

17 non-Federal levees and recommend actions to help

18 prevent the failure of these levees during flooding;

19 (6) assess the impact of the current system of

20 levees and flood control projects on the flood levels

21 experienced on the Upper Mississippi River and its

22 tributaries in 1993, and evaluate the cost-effective23 ness of alternative flood control measures such as

24 the preservation and restoration of wetlands;
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1 (7) recommend flood control improvements,

2 changes in Federal cost-sharing, and other measures

3 to reduce economic losses, damage to critical public

4 facilities, and the release of hazardous materials

5 from industrial, petrochemical, hazardous waste, and

6 other facilities caused by flooding of the Upper Mis7 sissippi River and its tributaries; and

8 (8) assess the environmental impact of current

9 flood control measures and the flood control im10 provements recommended pursuant to this section.

11 (c) REPORT.—Not later than January 1, 1995, the

12 Secretary shall transmit to Congress a report on the re13 sults of the study conducted under subsection (a).

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