II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1471 

To direct the Secretary of the Army to carry out certain water control 

projects at Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 20, 2009 

Mr. VITTER (for himself and Ms. LANDRIEU) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and 

Public Works 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of the Army to carry out certain 

water control projects at 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 ‘‘Providing the Utmost 

5 safety Measures to the Permanent Protection System in 

6 New Orleans, Louisiana’’ or the ‘‘PUMPPS NOLA Act 

7 of 2009’’. 

8 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

9 Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) section 4303 of the U.S. Troop Readiness, 

2 Veterans’ Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Ac3 countability Appropriations Act, 2007 (Public Law 

4 110–28; 121 Stat. 154) requires the Secretary to 

5 provide to Congress an analysis of each advantage 

6 and disadvantage, and the technical operational ef7 fectiveness of— 

8 (A) the operation of the new pumping sta9 tions located at the mouths of the 17th Street, 

10 Orleans Avenue, and London Avenue canals in 

11 the New Orleans area concurrently, or in a se12 ries with, pumping stations that— 

13 (i) are in existence as of the date of 

14 enactment of that Act (Public Law 110– 

15 28; 121 Stat. 112); and 

16 (ii) serve the canals; 

17 (B) the removal of the pumping stations 

18 described in subparagraph (A) and the configu19 ration of the new pumping stations described in 

20 that subparagraph (including associated canals) 

21 to accommodate each— 

22 (i) necessary discharge to the lake23 front; and 

24 (ii) discharge described in clause (i) in 

25 combination with each discharge directly to 


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1 the portion of the Mississippi River located 

2 in Jefferson Parish; and 

3 (C) the replacement or improvement of the 

4 floodwalls and levees adjacent to each canal de5 scribed in subparagraph (A); 

6 (2) prior to the required analysis described in 

7 paragraph (1), engineering concept studies were per8 formed by the Secretary to determine the most tech9 nically effective means of accomplishing the dual 

10 purpose of— 

11 (A) protecting against storm surges; and 

12 (B) simultaneously evacuating storm 

13 water; 

14 (3) a collaborative process was established and 

15 many technical review meetings were held to ex16 change ideas; 

17 (4) to develop and evaluate each technical ad18 vantage and disadvantage, and the operational effec19 tiveness, of each option through the use of each re20 sult and recommendation contained in each report 

21 (including each draft report) completed after Hurri22 cane Katrina, the Secretary expanded and formal23 ized the collaborative process described in paragraph 

24 (3) with external stakeholders that included— 


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1 (A) the Sewerage and Water Board of New 

2 Orleans; 

3 (B) Jefferson Parish; 

4 (C) the New Orleans Business Council; 

5 (D) the Louisiana Department of Trans6 portation and Development; 

7 (E) the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protec8 tion Authority-East; 

9 (F) the Regional Planning Commission, 

10 New Orleans; and 

11 (G) independent groups; 

12 (5) the reports described in paragraph (4) pro13 vide much of the background technical data required 

14 to carry out in an expedited manner the analysis de15 scribed in paragraph (1); and 

16 (6) based on the information compiled for the 

17 analysis described in paragraph (1), the Secretary 

18 concluded that the option identified as ‘‘Option 2’’, 

19 as described in the report, is ‘‘generally more tech20 nically advantageous and more effective operation21 ally over Option 1 because it would have greater reli22 ability and further reduces risk of flooding’’. 

23 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

24 In this Act: 


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1 (1) PROJECT.—The term ‘‘project’’ means the 

2 project for permanent pumps and canal modifica3 tions that is— 

4 (A) authorized by the matter under the 

5 heading ‘‘GENERAL PROJECTS’’ in section 204 

6 of the Flood Control Act of 1965 (Public Law 

7 89–298; 79 Stat. 1077); and 

8 (B) modified by— 

9 (i) the matter under the heading 

10 ‘‘FLOOD CONTROL AND COASTAL EMER11 GENCIES (INCLUDING RESCISSION OF

12 FUNDS)’’ under the heading ‘‘CORPS OF

13 ENGINEERS—CIVIL’’ under the heading 

14 ‘‘DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY’’ 

15 under the heading ‘‘DEPARTMENT OF 

16 DEFENSE—CIVIL’’ of chapter 3 of title 

17 II of the Emergency Supplemental Appro18 priations Act for Defense, the Global War 

19 on Terror, and Hurricane Recovery, 2006 

20 (Public Law 109–234; 120 Stat. 454); 

21 (ii) section 7012(a)(2) of the Water 

22 Resources Development Act of 2007 (Pub23 lic Law 110–114; 121 Stat. 1279); and 

24 (iii) the matter under the heading 

25 ‘‘FLOOD CONTROL AND COASTAL EMERVerDate Nov 24 2008 00:57 Jul 21, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1471.IS S1471

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1 GENCIES’’ under the heading ‘‘CORPS OF

2 ENGINEERS—CIVIL’’ under the heading 

3 ‘‘DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY’’ 

4 under the heading ‘‘DEPARTMENT OF 

5 DEFENSE—CIVIL’’ of chapter 3 of title 

6 III of the Supplemental Appropriations 

7 Act, 2008 (Public Law 110–252; 122 Stat. 

8 2349). 

9 (2) REPORT.—The term ‘‘report’’ means the re10 port— 

11 (A) entitled ‘‘Report to Congress for Pub12 lic Law 110–252, 17th Street, Orleans Avenue 

13 and London Avenue Canals Permanent Protec14 tion System, Hurricane Protection System, New 

15 Orleans, Louisiana’’; 

16 (B) prepared by the Secretary; 

17 (C) dated September 26, 2008; and 

18 (D) revised in December 2008. 

19 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

20 the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief 

21 of Engineers. 

22 (4) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the State 

23 of Louisiana. 


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1 SEC. 4. PROJECT MODIFICATION. 

2 The project is further modified to direct the Sec3 retary— 

4 (1) to construct a pump station and optimized 

5 diversion from the 2,500-acre area known as 

6 ‘‘Hoey’s Basin’’ to the Mississippi River to help re7 duce storm water flow into the 17th Street canal; 

8 (2) to construct an optimized diversion through 

9 the Florida Avenue canal for discharging water into 

10 the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal; 

11 (3) to construct new, permanent pump stations 

12 at or near the lakefront on the 17th Street, Orleans 

13 Avenue, and London Avenue canals to provide for 

14 future flow capacity; 

15 (4) to deepen, widen within each right-of-way in 

16 existence as of the date of enactment of this Act, 

17 and line the bottom and side slopes of the 17th 

18 Street, Orleans Avenue, and London Avenue canals 

19 to allow for a gravity flow of storm water to the 

20 pump stations at the lakefront; 

21 (5) to modify or replace bridges that are located 

22 in close proximity or adjacent to the 17th Street, 

23 Orleans Avenue, and London Avenue canals; 

24 (6) if the Secretary determines to be appro25 priate, to remove the levees and floodwalls in exist26 ence as of the date of enactment of this Act that line 


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1 each side of the canals described in paragraph (5) 

2 down to the surrounding ground grade; 

3 (7) to decommission or bypass the interior 

4 pump stations of the Sewerage and Water Board of 

5 New Orleans that are located at each canal de6 scribed in paragraph (5) to maintain the water sur7 face differential across the existing pumping stations 

8 until all systems and features are in place to allow 

9 for a fully functional system at a lowered canal 

10 water surface elevation; and 

11 (8) to decommission and remove the interim 

12 control structures that are located at each canal de13 scribed in paragraph (5). 

14 SEC. 5. IMPLEMENTATION REQUIREMENTS. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out section 4, the Sec16 retary shall provide for any investigation, design, and con17 struction sequencing in a manner consistent with the op18 tions identified as ‘‘Option 2’’ and ‘‘Option 2a’’, as de19 scribed in the report. 

20 (b) FUNDING.—In carrying out section 4, the Sec21 retary shall use amounts made available to modify the 

22 17th Street, Orleans Avenue, and London Avenue drain23 age canals and install pumps and closure structures at or 

24 near the lakefront in the first proviso in— 


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1 (1) the matter under the heading ‘‘FLOOD CON2 TROL AND COASTAL EMERGENCIES (INCLUDING RE3 SCISSION OF FUNDS)’’ under the heading ‘‘CORPS OF

4 ENGINEERS—CIVIL’’ under the heading ‘‘DEPART5 MENT OF THE ARMY’’ under the heading ‘‘DE6 PARTMENT OF DEFENSE—CIVIL’’ of chapter 

7 3 of title II of the Emergency Supplemental Appro8 priations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, 

9 and Hurricane Recovery, 2006 (Public Law 109– 

10 234; 120 Stat. 454); and 

11 (2) the second undesignated paragraph under 

12 the heading ‘‘FLOOD CONTROL AND COASTAL EMER13 GENCIES’’ under the heading ‘‘CORPS OF ENGI14 NEERS—CIVIL’’ under the heading ‘‘DEPART15 MENT OF THE ARMY’’ under the heading ‘‘DE16 PARTMENT OF DEFENSE—CIVIL’’ of chapter 

17 3 of title III of the Supplemental Appropriations 

18 Act, 2008 (Public Law 110–252; 122 Stat. 2349). 

19 (c) NON-FEDERAL SHARE; LIABILITY OF STATE.— 

20 As a condition for the Secretary to initiate the conduct 

21 of the project, the State shall enter into an agreement with 

22 the Secretary under which the State shall agree— 

23 (1) to pay 100 percent of the costs arising from 

24 the operation, maintenance, repair, replacement, and 


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1 rehabilitation of each completed component of the 

2 project; and 

3 (2) to hold the United States harmless from 

4 any claim or damage that may arise from carrying 

5 out the project except any claim or damage that may 

6 arise from the negligence of the Federal Government 

7 or a contractor of the Federal Government. 

Æ 


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