II

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1620

To amend the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 to provide for

the construction, operation, and maintenance of dredged material disposal

facilities, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 15, 1996

Mr. LAUTENBERG (for himself and Mrs. BOXER) introduced the following bill;

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

Public Works

A BILL

To amend the Water Resources Development Act of 1986

to provide for the construction, operation, and maintenance of dredged material disposal facilities, 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 ‘‘Environmental Dredge

5 Disposal Act of 1996’’.
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1 SEC. 2. DREDGED MATERIAL DISPOSAL FACILITIES.

2 Section 101 of the Water Resources Development Act

3 of 1986 (33 U.S.C. 2211) is amended by adding at the

4 end the following:

5 ‘‘(f) DREDGED MATERIAL DISPOSAL FACILITIES.—

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other

7 provision of law, after the date of enactment of this

8 subsection, the provision of upland, aquatic, and

9 confined aquatic dredged material disposal facilities

10 associated with the construction, operation, and

11 maintenance of all Federal navigation projects for

12 harbors and inland harbors (including diking and

13 applying dredged material to beneficial use and

14 other improvements necessary for the proper dis15 posal of dredged material) shall be considered to be

16 a general navigation feature of a project for the pur17 pose of cost sharing under this section.

18 ‘‘(2) LIMITATIONS ON FEDERAL SHARE OF

19 PROJECT COSTS.—

20 ‘‘(A) FUNDS NOT REQUIRED FOR OPER21 ATION AND MAINTENANCE.—No funds compris22 ing the Federal share of the costs associated

23 with the construction of a dredged material dis24 posal facility for the operation and maintenance

25 of a Federal navigation project for a harbor or

26 inland harbor in accordance with paragraph (1)
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1 that are eligible to be paid with sums appro2 priated out of the Harbor Maintenance Trust

3 Fund under paragraph (3) shall be expended

4 for construction until the Secretary, in the Sec5 retary’s discretion, determines that the funds

6 are not required to cover eligible operation and

7 maintenance costs assigned to commercial navi8 gation.

9 ‘‘(B) MAXIMUM FEDERAL SHARE FOR OP10 ERATION AND MAINTENANCE.—The Federal

11 share of the costs of activities described in

12 paragraph (3) for a project shall not exceed

13 $25,000,000 for any fiscal year.

14 ‘‘(3) OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE COSTS.—

15 For the purposes of section 210, eligible operation

16 and maintenance costs shall include (in addition to

17 eligible operation and maintenance costs assigned to

18 commercial navigation)—

19 ‘‘(A) the Federal share of the costs of con20 structing dredged material disposal facilities as21 sociated with the operation and maintenance of

22 all Federal navigation projects for harbors and

23 inland harbors;

24 ‘‘(B) the costs of operating and maintain25 ing dredged material disposal facilities associ-
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1 ated with the construction, operation, and

2 maintenance of all Federal navigation projects

3 for harbors and inland harbors;

4 ‘‘(C) the Federal share of the costs of envi5 ronmental dredging and disposal facilities for

6 contaminated sediments that are in, or that af7 fect the maintenance of, Federal navigation

8 channels and the mitigation of environmental

9 impacts resulting from Federal dredging activi10 ties; and

11 ‘‘(D) the Federal share of the costs of

12 dredging, management, and disposal of in-place

13 contaminated sediments and other environ14 mental remediation in critical port and harbor

15 areas to facilitate maritime commerce and navi16 gation.

17 ‘‘(4) PREFERENCE.—In undertaking activities

18 described in paragraph (3)(D), the Secretary shall

19 give preference to port areas with respect to which,

20 and in accordance with the extent that, annual pay21 ments of harbor maintenance fees exceed Federal ex22 penditures for projects in the port area that are eli23 gible for reimbursement out of the Harbor Mainte24 nance Trust Fund.
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1 ‘‘(5) APPLICABILITY.—This subsection applies

2 to the provision of a dredged material disposal facil3 ity with respect to which, and to the extent that—

4 ‘‘(A) a contract for construction (or for

5 construction of a usable portion of such a facil6 ity); or

7 ‘‘(B) a contract for construction of an as8 sociated navigation project (or usable portion of

9 such a project);

10 has not been awarded on or before the date of enact11 ment of this subsection.

12 ‘‘(6) AMENDMENT OF EXISTING AGREE13 MENTS.—

14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Unless otherwise re15 quested by the non-Federal interest within 30

16 days after the date of enactment of this sub17 section, each cooperative agreement entered

18 into between the Secretary and a non-Federal

19 interest under this section shall be amended, ef20 fective as of the date of enactment of this sub21 section, to conform to this subsection, including

22 provisions relating to the Federal share of

23 project costs for dredged material disposal fa24 cilities.
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1 ‘‘(B) APPLICATION OF AMENDMENT.—An

2 amendment to a cooperative agreement required

3 by subparagraph (A) shall be applied prospec4 tively.

5 ‘‘(7) EFFECT ON NON-FEDERAL COSTS OF

6 OTHER DREDGED MATERIAL DISPOSAL FACILI7 TIES.—Nothing in this subsection shall increase, or

8 result in the increase of, the non-Federal share of

9 the costs of any dredged material disposal facility re10 quired by the authorization for a project.’’.

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