II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1762

To amend the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act to authorize

the Secretary of Agriculture to provide cost share assistance for the

rehabilitation of structural measures constructed as part of water resource projects previously funded by the Secretary under such Act or

related laws.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER 21, 1999

Mr. COVERDELL (for himself and Mrs. LINCOLN) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

A BILL

To amend the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention

Act to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to provide

cost share assistance for the rehabilitation of structural

measures constructed as part of water resource projects

previously funded by the Secretary under such Act or

related laws.

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 ‘‘Small Watershed Re5 habilitation Act of 1999’’.
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1 SEC. 2. REHABILITATION OF WATER RESOURCE STRUC2 TURAL MEASURES CONSTRUCTED UNDER

3 CERTAIN DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

4 PROGRAMS.

5 The Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act

6 (16 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end

7 the following new section:

8 ‘‘SEC. 14. REHABILITATION OF STRUCTURAL MEASURES

9 NEAR, AT, OR PAST THEIR EVALUATED LIFE

10 EXPECTANCY.

11 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section:

12 ‘‘(1) REHABILITATION.—The term ‘rehabilita13 tion’, with respect to a structural measure con14 structed as part of a covered water resource project,

15 means the completion of all work necessary to ex16 tend the service life of the structural measure and

17 meet applicable safety and performance standards.

18 This may include (A) protecting the integrity of the

19 structural measure, or prolonging the useful life of

20 the structural measure, beyond the original evalu21 ated life expectancy, (B) correcting damage to the

22 structural measure from a catastrophic event, (C)

23 correcting the deterioration of structural components

24 that are deteriorating at an abnormal rate, (D) up25 grading the structural measure to meet changed

26 land use conditions in the watershed served by the
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1 structural measure or changed safety criteria appli2 cable to the structural measure, or (E) decommis3 sioning the structural measure, including removal or

4 breaching.

5 ‘‘(2) COVERED WATER RESOURCE PROJECT.—

6 The term ‘covered water resource project’ means a

7 work of improvement carried out under any of the

8 following:

9 ‘‘(A) This Act.

10 ‘‘(B) Section 13 of the Act of December

11 22, 1944 (Public Law 78–534; 58 Stat. 905).

12 ‘‘(C) The pilot watershed program author13 ized under the heading ‘FLOOD PREVENTION’

14 of the Department of Agriculture Appropriation

15 Act, 1954 (Public Law 156; 67 Stat. 214).

16 ‘‘(D) Subtitle H of title XV of the Agri17 culture and Food Act of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3451

18 et seq.; commonly known as the Resource Con19 servation and Development Program).

20 ‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE LOCAL ORGANIZATION.—The

21 term ‘eligible local organization’ means a local orga22 nization or appropriate State agency responsible for

23 the operation and maintenance of structural meas24 ures constructed as part of a covered water resource

25 project.
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1 ‘‘(4) STRUCTURAL MEASURE.—The term ‘struc2 tural measure’ means a physical improvement that

3 impounds water, commonly known as a dam, which

4 was constructed as part of a covered water resource

5 project.

6 ‘‘(b) COST SHARE ASSISTANCE FOR REHABILITA7 TION.—

8 ‘‘(1) ASSISTANCE AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary

9 may provide financial assistance to an eligible local

10 organization to cover a portion of the total costs in11 curred for the rehabilitation of structural measures

12 originally constructed as part of a covered water re13 source project. The total costs of rehabilitation in14 clude the costs associated with all components of the

15 rehabilitation project, including acquisition of land,

16 easements, and rights-of-ways, rehabilitation project

17 administration, the provision of technical assistance,

18 contracting, and construction costs, except that the

19 local organization shall be responsible for securing

20 all land, easements, or rights-of-ways necessary for

21 the project.

22 ‘‘(2) AMOUNT OF ASSISTANCE; LIMITATIONS.—

23 The amount of Federal funds that may be made

24 available under this subsection to an eligible local

25 organization for construction of a particular rehabili-
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1 tation project shall be equal to 65 percent of the

2 total rehabilitation costs, but not to exceed 100 per3 cent of actual construction costs incurred in the re4 habilitation. However, the local organization shall be

5 responsible for the costs of water, mineral, and other

6 resource rights and all Federal, State, and local per7 mits.

8 ‘‘(3) RELATION TO LAND USE AND DEVELOP9 MENT REGULATIONS.—As a condition on entering

10 into an agreement to provide financial assistance

11 under this subsection, the Secretary, working in con12 cert with the eligible local organization, may require

13 that proper zoning or other developmental regula14 tions are in place in the watershed in which the

15 structural measures to be rehabilitated under the

16 agreement are located so that—

17 ‘‘(A) the completed rehabilitation project is

18 not quickly rendered inadequate by additional

19 development; and

20 ‘‘(B) society can realize the full benefits of

21 the rehabilitation investment.

22 ‘‘(c) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR WATERSHED

23 PROJECT REHABILITATION.—The Secretary, acting

24 through the Natural Resources Conservation Service, may

25 provide technical assistance in planning, designing, and
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1 implementing rehabilitation projects should an eligible

2 local organization request such assistance. Such assistance

3 may consist of specialists in such fields as engineering,

4 geology, soils, agronomy, biology, hydraulics, hydrology,

5 economics, water quality, and contract administration.

6 ‘‘(d) PROHIBITED USE.—

7 ‘‘(1) PERFORMANCE OF OPERATION AND MAIN8 TENANCE.—Rehabilitation assistance provided under

9 this section may not be used to perform operation

10 and maintenance activities specified in the agree11 ment for the covered water resource project entered

12 into between the Secretary and the eligible local or13 ganization responsible for the works of improvement.

14 Such operation and maintenance activities shall re15 main the responsibility of the local organization, as

16 provided in the project work plan.

17 ‘‘(2) RENEGOTIATION.—Notwithstanding para18 graph (1), as part of the provision of financial as19 sistance under subsection (b), the Secretary may re20 negotiate the original agreement for the covered

21 water resource project entered into between the Sec22 retary and the eligible local organization regarding

23 responsibility for the operation and maintenance of

24 the project when the rehabilitation is finished.
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1 ‘‘(e) APPLICATION FOR REHABILITATION ASSIST2 ANCE.—An eligible local organization may apply to the

3 Secretary for technical and financial assistance under this

4 section if the application has also been submitted to and

5 approved by the State agency having supervisory responsi6 bility over the covered water resource project at issue or,

7 if there is no State agency having such responsibility, by

8 the Governor of the State. The Secretary shall request the

9 State dam safety officer (or equivalent State official) to

10 be involved in the application process if State permits or

11 approvals are required. The rehabilitation of structural

12 measures shall meet standards established by the Sec13 retary and address other dam safety issues. At the request

14 of the eligible local organization, personnel of the Natural

15 Resources Conservation Service of the Department of Ag16 riculture may assist in preparing applications for assist17 ance.

18 ‘‘(f) JUSTIFICATION FOR REHABILITATION ASSIST19 ANCE.—In order to qualify for technical or financial as20 sistance under this authority, the Secretary shall require

21 the rehabilitation project to be performed in the most cost22 effective manner that accomplishes the rehabilitation ob23 jective. Since the requirements for accomplishing the reha24 bilitation are generally for public health and safety rea25 sons, in many instances being mandated by other State
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1 or Federal laws, no benefit-cost analysis will be conducted

2 and no benefit-cost ratio greater than one will be required.

3 The benefits of and the requirements for the rehabilitation

4 project shall be documented to ensure the wise and respon5 sible use of Federal funds.

6 ‘‘(g) RANKING OF REQUESTS FOR REHABILITATION

7 ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary shall establish such system

8 of approving rehabilitation requests, recognizing that such

9 requests will be received throughout the fiscal year and

10 subject to the availability of funds to carry out this sec11 tion, as is necessary for proper administration by the De12 partment of Agriculture and equitable for all eligible local

13 organizations. The approval process shall be in writing,

14 and made known to all eligible local organizations and ap15 propriate State agencies.

16 ‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

17 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary

18 $60,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2000 through

19 2009 to provide financial and technical assistance under

20 this section.

21 ‘‘(i) ASSESSMENT OF REHABILITATION NEEDS.—Of

22 the amount appropriated pursuant to subsection (h) for

23 fiscal years 2000 and 2001, $5,000,000 shall be used by

24 the Secretary, in concert with the responsible State agen25 cies, to conduct an assessment of the rehabilitation needs
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1 of covered water resource projects in all States in which

2 such projects are located.

3 ‘‘(j) RECORDKEEPING AND REPORTS.—

4 ‘‘(1) SECRETARY.—The Secretary shall main5 tain a data base to track the benefits derived from

6 rehabilitation projects supported under this section

7 and the expenditures made under this section. On

8 the basis of such data and the reports submitted

9 under paragraph (2), the Secretary shall prepare

10 and submit to Congress an annual report providing

11 the status of activities conducted under this section.

12 ‘‘(2) GRANT RECIPIENTS.—Not later than 90

13 days after the completion of a specific rehabilitation

14 project for which assistance is provided under this

15 section, the eligible local organization that received

16 the assistance shall make a report to the Secretary

17 giving the status of any rehabilitation effort under18 taken using financial assistance provided under this

19 section.’’.

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