I 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4748 

To require the Secretary of the Army to submit to Congress a report identifying activities for hurricane and flood protection in Lake Pontchartrain, 

Louisiana, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 14, 2006 

Mr. JINDAL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of the Army to submit to Congress 

a report identifying activities for hurricane and flood 

protection in 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 ‘‘Louisiana Emergency 

5 Needs Corps of Engineers Authorization Act of 2006’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. HURRICANE AND FLOOD PROTECTION, LAKE PONT2 CHARTRAIN, LOUISIANA. 

3 (a) REPORT.—Not later than 20 days after the date 

4 of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Army, act5 ing through the Chief of Engineers (referred to in this 

6 Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’), shall submit to the Committee 

7 on Environment and Public Works of the Senate and the 

8 Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the 

9 House of Representatives a report that— 

10 (1) with respect to the project for hurricane11 flood protection on Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana, 

12 authorized by section 204 of the Flood Control Act 

13 of 1965 (79 Stat. 1077), identifies activities to re14 construct hurricane and flood protection measures 

15 relating to the outfall canals adjacent to Lake Pont16 chartrain in the Jefferson and Orleans parishes of 

17 the State of Louisiana that are substantially in ac18 cordance with levels of hurricane and flood protec19 tion authorized under Federal law and that are ac20 tivities to— 

21 (A) reconstruct and fortify floodwalls adja22 cent to the canals; 

23 (B) construct at the heads of the canals 

24 pumping stations with adequate pumping ca25 pacity, as determined by the Secretary; 
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1 (C) install gate-like structures at the heads 

2 of the canals; and 

3 (D) prevent— 

4 (i) seepage from the canals into adja5 cent property; and 

6 (ii) the undermining of floodwalls im7 proved or reconstructed under subpara8 graph (A); 

9 (2) identifies activities to protect, restore, and 

10 reduce the risk of storm damage in coastal areas of 

11 the State of Louisiana in which a major disaster re12 lating to Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Rita was 

13 declared by the President to exist on or after August 

14 29, 2005, in accordance with section 401 of the 

15 Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 

16 Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170), in accordance with 

17 the report transmitted by the President to the 

18 House of Representatives and dated October 28, 

19 2005; 

20 (3) identifies activities to fortify, strengthen, 

21 and improve hurricane protection and flood control 

22 infrastructure (including pumping stations) in exist23 ence on or before August 28, 2005, to ensure sus24 tainability and prevent the failure of the infrastruc25 ture under hurricane conditions, in accordance with 
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1 predicted area conditions for standard project hurri2 canes and located in an area designed to be pro3 tected by a hurricane or flood control project author4 ized under Federal law; and 

5 (4) identifies any activity included in the report 

6 of the Chief of Engineers dated August 23, 2002 

7 (including supplemental reports), that the Secretary 

8 determines to be integral to the protection of life 

9 and property in the disaster area described in para10 graph (2). 

11 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Absent a resolution of Con13 gress disapproving an activity identified in the re14 port under subsection (a), the Secretary may imple15 ment the activity beginning on the date that is 30 

16 days after the date on which the report is submitted. 

17 (2) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of 

18 the cost of an activity carried out under paragraph 

19 (1) shall be 100 percent. 

20 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

21 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary for 

22 each of fiscal years 2006 through 2010— 

23 (1) $1,400,000,000 to carry out activities iden24 tified under paragraphs (1) through (3) of sub25 section (a); and 
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1 (2) $788,000,000 to carry out activities identi2 fied under subsection (a)(4). 

3 SEC. 3. COMPENSATION. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi5 sion of law, in acquiring property or an interest in prop6 erty to improve, reconstruct, or develop hurricane and 

7 flood protection measures relating to Hurricane Katrina 

8 or Rita, the Secretary shall compensate the owner of the 

9 property or interest without taking into consideration any 

10 damage to the property or interest caused by Hurricane 

11 Katrina or Rita. 

12 (b) ADJUSTMENT FOR PAYMENTS MADE.—Notwith13 standing subsection (a), the Secretary may reduce the 

14 amount of compensation paid under subsection (a) for 

15 property or an interest in property by the amount of any 

16 other payment received by the owner of the property or 

17 interest for damages to that property or interest as a re18 sult of Hurricane Katrina or Rita, including a payment 

19 received from— 

20 (1) an insurance claim; or 

21 (2) the Federal Emergency Management Agen22 cy. 
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1 SEC. 4. EFFECT OF ACT. 

2 Nothing in this Act affects any authority of the Sec3 retary under any other Federal law. 

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