103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 1426

AN ACT

To provide for the maintenance of dams located on Indian

lands by the Bureau of Indian Affairs or through contracts with Indian tribes.

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 ‘‘Indian Dams Safety

5 Act of 1994’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds that—

8 (1) the Secretary of the Interior has identified

9 53 dams on Indian lands that present a threat to

10 human life in the event of a failure;
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1 (2) because of inadequate attention in the past

2 to problems stemming from structural deficiencies

3 and regular maintenance requirements for dams op4 erated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, unsafe Bu5 reau dams continue to pose an imminent threat to

6 people and property;

7 (3) many Bureau dams have maintenance defi8 ciencies regardless of their current safety condition

9 classification and the deficiencies must be corrected

10 to avoid future threats to human life and property;

11 (4) safe working dams on Indian lands are nec12 essary to supply irrigation water, to provide flood

13 control, to provide water for municipal, industrial,

14 domestic, livestock, and recreation uses, and for fish

15 and wildlife habitats; and

16 (5) it is necessary to institute a regular dam

17 maintenance and repair program, utilizing the exper18 tise in the Bureau, Indian tribes, and other Federal

19 agencies.

20 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

21 As used in this Act:

22 (1) The term ‘‘Bureau’’ means the Bureau of

23 Indian Affairs.
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1 (2) The term ‘‘dam’’ has the same meaning

2 given such term by the first section of Public Law

3 92–367 (33 U.S.C. 467).

4 (3) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

5 of the Interior.

6 (4) The term ‘‘Indian tribe’’ means any Indian

7 tribe, band, nation, pueblo, or other organized group

8 or community, including any Alaska Native village

9 or regional corporation as defined in or established

10 pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement

11 Act, which is recognized as eligible for the special

12 programs and services provided by the United States

13 to Indian tribes because of their status as Indians.

14 SEC. 4. DAM SAFETY MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR PRO15 GRAM.

16 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish

17 a dam safety maintenance and repair program within the

18 Bureau to ensure maintenance and monitoring of the con19 dition of each dam identified pursuant to subsection (e)

20 necessary to maintain the dam in a satisfactory condition

21 on a long-term basis.

22 (b) TRANSFER OF EXISTING FUNCTIONS AND PER23 SONNEL.—All functions performed before the date of the

24 enactment of this Act pursuant to the Dam Safety Pro25 gram established by the Secretary of the Interior by order
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1 dated February 28, 1980, and all Bureau of Indian Af2 fairs personnel assigned to such program as of the date

3 of enactment of this Act are hereby transferred to the

4 Dam Safety Maintenance and Repair Program. Any ref5 erence in any law, regulation, executive order, reorganiza6 tion plan, or delegation of authority to the Dam Safety

7 Program is deemed to be a reference to the Dam Safety

8 Maintenance and Repair Program.

9 (c) REHABILITATION.—Under the Dam Safety Main10 tenance and Repair Program, the Secretary shall perform

11 such rehabilitation work as is necessary to bring the dams

12 identified pursuant to subsection (e) to a satisfactory con13 dition. In addition, each dam located on Indian lands shall

14 be regularly maintained pursuant to the Dam Safety

15 Maintenance and Repair Program established pursuant to

16 subsection (a).

17 (d) MAINTENANCE ACTION PLAN.—The Secretary

18 shall develop a maintenance action plan, which shall in19 clude a prioritization of actions to be taken, for those

20 dams with a risk hazard rating of high or significant as

21 identified pursuant to subsection (e).

22 (e) IDENTIFICATION OF DAMS.—

23 (1) DEVELOPMENT OF LIST.—The Secretary

24 shall develop a comprehensive list of dams located on

25 Indian lands that describes the dam safety condition
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1 classification of each dam, as specified in paragraph

2 (2), the risk hazard classification of each dam, as

3 specified in paragraph (3), and the conditions result4 ing from maintenance deficiencies.

5 (2) DAM SAFETY CONDITION CLASSIFICA6 TIONS.—The dam safety condition classification re7 ferred to in paragraph (1) is one of the following

8 classifications:

9 (A) SATISFACTORY.—No existing or poten10 tial dam safety deficiencies are recognized. Safe

11 performance is expected under all anticipated

12 conditions.

13 (B) FAIR.—No existing dam safety defi14 ciencies are recognized for normal loading con15 ditions. Infrequent hydrologic or seismic events

16 would probably result in a dam safety defi17 ciency.

18 (C) CONDITIONALLY POOR.—A potential

19 dam safety deficiency is recognized for unusual

20 loading conditions that may realistically occur

21 during the expected life of the structure.

22 (D) POOR.—A potential dam safety defi23 ciency is clearly recognized for normal loading

24 conditions. Immediate actions to resolve the de25 ficiency are recommended; reservoir restrictions
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1 may be necessary until resolution of the prob2 lem.

3 (E) UNSATISFACTORY.—A dam safety de4 ficiency exists for normal loading conditions.

5 Immediate remedial action is required for reso6 lution of the problem.

7 (3) RISK HAZARD CLASSIFICATION.—The risk

8 hazard classification referred to in paragraph (1) is

9 one of the following classifications:

10 (A) HIGH.—Six or more lives would be at

11 risk or extensive property damage could occur

12 if the dam failed.

13 (B) SIGNIFICANT.—Between one and six

14 lives would be at risk or significant property

15 damage could occur if the dam failed.

16 (C) LOW.—No lives would be at risk and

17 limited property damage would occur if the dam

18 failed.

19 (f) LIMITATION ON PROGRAM AUTHORIZATION.—

20 Work authorized by this Act shall be for the purpose of

21 dam safety maintenance and structural repair. The Sec22 retary may authorize, upon request of an Indian tribe, up

23 to 20 percent of the cost of repairs to be used to provide

24 additional conservation storage capacity or developing

25 benefits beyond those provided by the original dams and
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1 reservoirs. This Act is not intended to preclude develop2 ment of increased storage or benefits under any other au3 thority or to preclude measures to protect fish and wildlife.

4 (g) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—To carry out the pur5 poses of this Act, the Secretary may obtain technical as6 sistance on a nonreimbursable basis from other depart7 ments and agencies. Notwithstanding any such technical

8 assistance, the Dam Safety Maintenance and Repair Pro9 gram established under subsection (a) shall be under the

10 direction and control of the Bureau.

11 (h) CONTRACT AUTHORITY.—In addition to any

12 other authority established by law, the Secretary is au13 thorized to contract with Indian tribes (under the Indian

14 Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25

15 U.S.C. 450b(e))), as amended, to carry out the Dam Safe16 ty Maintenance and Repair Program established under

17 this Act.

18 (i) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Secretary shall submit an

19 annual report on the implementation of this Act. The re20 port shall include—

21 (1) the list of dams and their status on the

22 maintenance action plan developed under this sec23 tion; and
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1 (2) the projected total cost and a schedule of

2 the projected annual cost of rehabilitation or repair

3 for each dam under this section.

4 The report shall be submitted at the time the budget is

5 required to be submitted under section 1105 of title 31,

6 United States Code, to the Subcommittee on Native Amer7 ican Affairs of the Committee on Natural Resources of

8 the House of Representatives and the Committee on In9 dian Affairs of the Senate.

10 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

11 There is authorized to be appropriated such sums as

12 may be necessary to carry out this Act. Funds provided

13 under this Act are to be considered nonreimbursable.

Passed the House of Representatives July 25, 1994.

Attest:

Clerk.

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 1426

AN ACT

To provide for the maintenance of dams located on

through contracts with Indian tribes.Indian lands by the Bureau of Indian Affairs or