I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3602

To reduce the hazards of dam failures, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 6, 1996

Mr. ZELIFF (for himself, Mr. PETE GEREN of Texas, Mr. CLINGER, Mr.

EHLERS, Mr. EMERSON, and Mr. COBLE) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

A BILL

To reduce the hazards of dam failures, 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 ‘‘National Dam Safety

5 Program Act of 1996’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds the following:

8 (1) Dams are an essential part of the national

9 infrastructure. Dams fail from time to time with cat-
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1 astrophic results; thus, dam safety is a vital public

2 concern.

3 (2) Dam failures have caused, and can cause in

4 the future, enormous loss of life, injury, destruction

5 of property, and economic and social disruption.

6 (3) Some dams are at or near the end of their

7 structural, useful, or operational life. With respect to

8 future dam failures, the loss, destruction, and dis9 ruption can be substantially reduced through the de10 velopment and implementation of dam safety hazard

11 reduction measures, including—

12 (A) improved design and construction

13 standards and practices supported by a national

14 dam performance resource bank;

15 (B) safe operations and maintenance pro16 cedures;

17 (C) early warning systems;

18 (D) coordinated emergency preparedness

19 plans; and

20 (E) public awareness and involvement pro21 grams.

22 (4) Dam safety problems persist nationwide.

23 The diversity in Federal and State dam safety pro24 grams calls for national leadership in a cooperative

25 effort involving Federal and State governments and
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1 the private sector. An expertly staffed and ade2 quately financed dam safety hazard reduction pro3 gram, based on Federal, State, local, and private re4 search, planning, decisionmaking, and contributions,

5 would reduce the risk of such loss, destruction, and

6 disruption from dam failure by an amount far great7 er than the cost of such program.

8 (5) There is a fundamental need for a national

9 dam safety program and the need will continue. An

10 effective national program in dam safety hazards re11 duction will require input from and review by Fed12 eral and non-Federal experts in dams design, con13 struction, operation, and maintenance and in the

14 practical application of dam failure hazards reduc15 tion measures. At the present time, there is no na16 tional dam safety program.

17 (6) The coordinating authority for national

18 leadership is provided through the Federal Emer19 gency Management Agency’s (hereinafter in this Act

20 referred to as ‘‘FEMA’’) dam safety program

21 through Executive Order 12148 in coordination with

22 appropriate Federal agencies and the States.

23 (7) While FEMA’s dam safety program shall

24 continue as a proper Federal undertaking and shall

25 provide the foundation for a National Dam Safety
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1 Program, statutory authority to meet increasing

2 needs and to discharge Federal responsibilities in

3 national dam safety is needed.

4 (8) Statutory authority will strengthen FEMA’s

5 leadership role, will codify the national dam safety

6 program, and will authorize the Director of FEMA

7 (hereinafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Direc8 tor’’) to communicate directly with Congress on au9 thorizations and appropriations and to build upon

10 the hazard reduction aspects of national dam safety.

11 SEC. 3. PURPOSE.

12 It is the purpose of this Act to reduce the risks to

13 life and property from dam failure in the United States

14 through the establishment and maintenance of an effective

15 national dam safety program which will bring together the

16 Federal and non-Federal communities’ expertise and re17 sources to achieve national dam safety hazard reduction.

18 It is not the intent of this Act to preempt any other Fed19 eral or State authorities nor is the intent of this Act to

20 mandate State participation in the grant assistance pro21 gram to be established under this Act. This Act does not

22 apply to levees.

23 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

24 In this Act, the following definitions apply:
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1 (1) FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Federal

2 agency’’ means any Federal agency that designs, fi3 nances, constructs, owns, operates, maintains, or

4 regulates the construction, operation, or mainte5 nance of any dam.

6 (2) NON-FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term ‘‘non7 Federal agency’’ means any State agency that has

8 regulatory authority over the safety of non-Federal

9 dams.

10 (3) FEDERAL GUIDELINES FOR DAM SAFETY.—

11 The term ‘‘Federal Guidelines for Dam Safety’’ re12 fers to a FEMA publication number 93, dated June

13 1979, which defines management practices for dam

14 safety at all Federal agencies.

15 (4) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ means

16 the national dam safety program established under

17 section 6.

18 (5) DAM.—The term ‘‘dam’’ means any artifi19 cial barrier with the ability to impound water,

20 wastewater, or liquid-borne materials for the purpose

21 of storage or control of water which is—

22 (A) 25 feet or more in height from (i) the

23 natural bed of the stream or watercourse meas24 ured at the downstream toe of the barrier, or

25 (ii) from the lowest elevation of the outside
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1 limit of the barrier if the barrier is not across

2 a stream channel or watercourse, to the maxi3 mum water storage elevation; or

4 (B) has an impounding capacity for maxi5 mum storage elevation of 50 acre-feet or more.

6 Such term does not include any such barrier which

7 is not greater than 6 feet in height regardless of

8 storage capacity or which has a storage capacity at

9 maximum water storage elevation not greater than

10 15 acre-feet regardless of height, unless such bar11 rier, due to its location or other physical characteris12 tics, is likely to pose a significant threat to human

13 life or property in the event of its failure.

14 (6) HAZARD REDUCTION.—The term ‘‘hazard

15 reduction’’ means those efforts utilized to reduce the

16 potential consequences of dam failure to life and

17 property.

18 (7) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of

19 the 50 States of the United States, the District of

20 Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the

21 Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Com22 monwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and

23 any other territory or possession of the United

24 States.
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1 (8) PARTICIPATING STATE.—The term ‘‘partici2 pating State’’ means any State that elects to partici3 pate in the grant assistance program established

4 under this Act.

5 (9) UNITED STATES.—The term ‘‘United

6 States’’ means, when used in a geographical sense,

7 all of the States.

8 (10) MODEL STATE DAM SAFETY PROGRAM.—

9 The term ‘‘Model State Dam Safety Program’’ re10 fers to a document, published by FEMA (No. 123,

11 dated April 1987) and its amendments, developed by

12 State dam safety officials, which acts as a guideline

13 to State dam safety agencies for establishing a dam

14 safety regulatory program or improving an already15 established program.

16 SEC. 5. NATIONAL DAM SAFETY PROGRAM.

17 (a) AUTHORITY.—The Director, in consultation with

18 appropriate Federal agencies, State dam safety agencies,

19 and the national review board established by subsection

20 (e)(3), shall establish and maintain, in accordance with

21 the provisions and policies of this Act, a coordinated na22 tional dam safety program. This program shall—

23 (1) be administered by FEMA to achieve the

24 objectives set forth in subsection (c);
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1 (2) involve, where appropriate, the Departments

2 of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior, and

3 Labor, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,

4 the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Inter5 national Boundaries Commission (United States sec6 tion), the Tennessee Valley Authority, and FEMA;

7 and

8 (3) include each of the components described in

9 subsection (d), the implementation plan described in

10 subsection (e), and the assistance for State dam

11 safety programs to be provided under this Act.

12 (b) DUTIES.—The Director—

13 (1) within 270 days after the date of the enact14 ment of this Act, shall develop the implementation

15 plan described in subsection (e);

16 (2) within 300 days after such date of enact17 ment, shall submit to the appropriate authorizing

18 committees of Congress the implementation plan de19 scribed in subsection (e); and

20 (3) by rule within 360 days after such date of

21 enactment—

22 (A) shall develop and implement the na23 tional dam safety program under this section;
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1 (B) shall establish goals, priorities, and

2 target dates for implementation of the program;

3 and

4 (C) shall provide a method for cooperation

5 and coordination with, and assistance to (as

6 feasible), interested governmental entities in all

7 States.

8 (c) OBJECTIVES.—The objectives of the national dam

9 safety program are as follows:

10 (1) To ensure that new and existing dams are

11 safe through the development of technologically and

12 economically feasible programs and procedures for

13 national dam safety hazard reduction.

14 (2) To encourage acceptable engineering poli15 cies and procedures used for dam site investigation,

16 design, construction, operation and maintenance,

17 and emergency preparedness.

18 (3) To encourage establishment and implemen19 tation of effective dam safety programs in each par20 ticipating State based on State standards.

21 (4) To develop and encourage public awareness

22 projects to increase public acceptance and support of

23 State dam safety programs.

24 (5) To develop technical assistance materials

25 for Federal and non-Federal dam safety programs.
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1 (6) To develop mechanisms with which to pro2 vide Federal technical assistance for dam safety to

3 the non-Federal sector.

4 (d) COMPONENTS.—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The national dam safety

6 program shall consist of a Federal element and a

7 non-Federal element and 3 functional activities:

8 leadership, technical assistance, and public aware9 ness.

10 (2) ELEMENTS.—

11 (A) FEDERAL ELEMENT.—The Federal

12 element of the program incorporates all the ac13 tivities and practices undertaken by Federal

14 agencies to implement the Federal Guidelines

15 for Dam Safety.

16 (B) NON-FEDERAL ELEMENT.—The non17 Federal element of the program involves the ac18 tivities and practices undertaken by participat19 ing States, local governments, and the private

20 sector to safely build, regulate, operate, and

21 maintain dams and Federal activities which fos22 ter State efforts to develop and implement ef23 fective programs for the safety of dams.

24 (3) ACTIVITIES.—
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1 (A) LEADERSHIP ACTIVITY.—The leader2 ship activity of the program shall be the respon3 sibility of FEMA. FEMA shall coordinate Fed4 eral efforts in cooperation with appropriate

5 Federal agencies and State dam safety agen6 cies.

7 (B) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ACTIVITY.—

8 The technical assistance activity of the program

9 involves the transfer of knowledge and technical

10 information among the Federal and non-Fed11 eral elements.

12 (C) PUBLIC AWARENESS ACTIVITY.—The

13 public awareness activity provides for the edu14 cation of the public, including State and local

15 officials, to the hazards of dam failure and

16 ways to reduce the adverse consequences of

17 dam failure and related matters.

18 (e) GRANT ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.—The Director

19 shall develop an implementation plan which shall dem20 onstrate dam safety improvements through fiscal year

21 2001 and shall recommend appropriate roles for Federal

22 agencies and for State and local units of government, indi23 viduals, and private organizations. The implementation

24 plan shall provide, at a minimum, for the following:
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1 (1) In order to encourage the establishment and

2 maintenance of effective programs intended to en3 sure dam safety to protect human life and property

4 and to improve such existing programs, the Director

5 shall provide, from amounts made available under

6 section 8 of this Act, assistance to participating

7 States to establish and maintain dam safety pro8 grams, first, according to the basic provisions for a

9 dam safety program listed below and, second, ac10 cording to more advanced requirements and stand11 ards authorized by the review board under para12 graph (3) and the Director with the assistance of es13 tablished criteria such as the Model State Dam

14 Safety Program. Participating State dam safety pro15 grams must be working toward meeting the follow16 ing primary criteria to be eligible for primary assist17 ance or must meet the following primary criteria

18 prior to working toward advanced assistance:

19 (A) A dam safety program must be author20 ized by State legislation to include, at a mini21 mum, the following:

22 (i) Authority to review and approve

23 plans and specifications to construct, en24 large, modify, remove, or abandon dams.
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1 (ii) Authority to perform periodic in2 spections during construction for the pur3 pose of ensuring compliance with approved

4 plans and specifications.

5 (iii) Upon completion of construction,

6 a requirement that, before operation of the

7 structure, State approval is received.

8 (iv) Authority to require or perform

9 the inspection of all dams and reservoirs

10 that pose a significant threat to human life

11 and property in the event of failure at least

12 every 5 years to determine their continued

13 safety and a procedure for more detailed

14 and frequent safety inspections.

15 (v) A requirement that all inspections

16 be performed under the supervision of a

17 registered professional engineer with relat18 ed experience in dam design and construc19 tion.

20 (vi) Authority to issue notices, when

21 appropriate, to require owners of dams to

22 perform necessary maintenance or remedial

23 work, revise operating procedures, or take

24 other actions, including breaching dams

25 when deemed necessary.
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1 (vii) Rules and regulations for carry2 ing out the provisions of the State’s legis3 lative authority and necessary emergency

4 funds to assure timely repairs or other

5 changes to, or removal of, a dam in order

6 to protect human life and property and, if

7 the owner does not take action, to take ap8 propriate action as expeditiously as pos9 sible.

10 (viii) A system of emergency proce11 dures that would be utilized in the event a

12 dam fails or in the event a dam’s failure

13 is imminent, together with an identification

14 of those dams where failure could be rea15 sonably expected to endanger human life

16 and of the maximum area that could be in17 undated in the event of a failure of the

18 dam, as well as identification of those nec19 essary public facilities that would be af20 fected by such inundation.

21 (B) State appropriations must be budgeted

22 to carry out the provisions of the State legisla23 tion.

24 (2) The Director shall enter into contracts with

25 each participating State to determine a work plan
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1 necessary for a particular State dam safety program

2 to reach a level of program performance previously

3 agreed upon in the contract. Federal assistance

4 under this Act shall be provided to aid the State

5 dam safety program in achieving its goal.

6 (3)(A) There is authorized to be established a

7 National Dam Safety Review Board (hereinafter in

8 this Act referred to as the ‘‘Board’’), which shall be

9 responsible for monitoring participating State imple10 mentation of the requirements of the assistance pro11 gram. The Board is authorized to utilize the exper12 tise of other agencies of the United States and to

13 enter into contracts for necessary studies to carry

14 out the requirements of this section. The Board

15 shall consist of 11 members selected for their exper16 tise in dam safety as follows:

17 (i) 5 to represent FEMA, the Federal En18 ergy Regulatory Commission, and the Depart19 ments of Agriculture, Defense, and Interior.

20 (ii) 5 members selected by the Director

21 who are dam safety officials of States.

22 (iii) 1 member selected by the Director to

23 represent the United States Committee on

24 Large Dams.
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1 (B) Each member of the Board who is an offi2 cer or employee of the United States shall serve

3 without compensation in addition to compensation

4 received for the services of the member as an officer

5 or employee of the United States. Each member of

6 the Board who is not an officer or employee of the

7 United States shall serve without compensation.

8 (C) Each member of the Board shall be allowed

9 travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsist10 ence, at rates authorized for an employee of an

11 agency under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5,

12 United States Code, while away from home or regu13 lar place of business of the member in the perform14 ance of services for the Board.

15 (D) The Federal Advisory Committee Act (5

16 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to the Board.

17 (4) No grant may be made to a participating

18 State under this section in any fiscal year unless the

19 State enters into such agreement with the Director

20 as the Director may require to ensure that the par21 ticipating State will maintain its aggregate expendi22 tures from all other sources for programs to assure

23 dam safety for the protection of human life and

24 property at or above the average level of such ex-
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1 penditures in its 2 fiscal years preceding the date of

2 the enactment of this Act.

3 (5) Any program which is submitted to the Di4 rector for participation in the assistance program

5 under this section shall be deemed approved 120

6 days following its receipt by the Director unless the

7 Director determines within such 120-day period that

8 the submitted program fails to reasonably meet the

9 requirements of paragraphs (1) and (2). If the Di10 rector determines the submitted program cannot be

11 approved for participation, the Director shall imme12 diately notify the State in writing, together with his

13 or her reasons and those changes needed to enable

14 the submitted program to be approved.

15 (6) Utilizing the expertise of the Board, the Di16 rector shall periodically review the approved State

17 dam safety programs. In the event the Board finds

18 that a program of a participating State has proven

19 inadequate to reasonably protect human life and

20 property and the Director agrees, the Director shall

21 revoke approval of the State’s participation in the

22 assistance program and withhold assistance under

23 this Act, until the State program has been re24 approved.
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1 (7) The head of any Federal agency, when re2 quested by any State dam safety agency, shall pro3 vide information on the construction, operation, or

4 maintenance of any dam or allow officials of the

5 State agency to participate in any Federal inspection

6 of any dam.

7 (8) Within 180 days after the date of the enact8 ment of this Act, the Director shall report to the

9 Congress on the availability of dam insurance and

10 make recommendations.

11 SEC. 6. BIENNIAL REPORT.

12 Within 90 days after the last day of each odd-num13 bered fiscal year, the Director shall submit a biennial re14 port to Congress describing the status of the program

15 being implemented under this Act and describing the

16 progress achieved by the Federal agencies during the 2

17 previous years in implementing the Federal Guidelines for

18 Dam Safety. Each such report shall include any rec19 ommendations for legislative and other action deemed nec20 essary and appropriate. The report shall also include a

21 summary of the progress being made in improving dam

22 safety by participating States.

23 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZING OF APPROPRIATIONS.

24 (a) GENERAL PROGRAM.—
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1 (1) FUNDING.—There are authorized to be ap2 propriated to the Director to carry out the provi3 sions of sections 5 and 6 of this Act (in addition to

4 any authorizations for similar purposes included in

5 other Acts and the authorizations set forth in sub6 sections (b) through (e) of this section)—

7 (A) $1,000,000 for fiscal year 1997;

8 (B) $2,000,000 for fiscal year 1998;

9 (C) $4,000,000 for fiscal year 1999;

10 (D) $4,000,000 for fiscal year 2000; and

11 (E) $4,000,000 for fiscal year 2001.

12 (2) APPORTIONMENT FORMULA.—Sums appro13 priated under this subsection shall be distributed an14 nually among participating States on the following

15 basis: One-third among those States determined in

16 section 5 of this Act as qualifying for funding, and

17 two-thirds in proportion to the number of dams and

18 appearing as State-regulated dams on the National

19 Dam Inventory in each participating State that has

20 been determined in section 5(e)(1) of this Act as

21 qualifying for funding, to the number of dams in all

22 participating States. In no event shall funds distrib23 uted to any State under this subsection exceed 50

24 percent of the reasonable cost of implementing an

25 approved dam safety program in such State. The Di-
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1 rector and Review Board shall determine how much

2 is allotted to participating States needing primary

3 funding and those needing advanced funding.

4 (b) TRAINING.—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall, at the

6 request of any State that has or intends to develop

7 a dam safety program under section 5(e)(1) of this

8 Act, provide training for State dam safety staff and

9 inspectors.

10 (2) FUNDING.—There is authorized to be ap11 propriated to carry out this subsection $500,000 for

12 each of fiscal years 1997 through 2001.

13 (c) RESEARCH.—

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall under15 take a program of technical and archival research in

16 order to develop improved techniques, historical ex17 perience, and equipment for rapid and effective dam

18 construction, rehabilitation, and inspection, together

19 with devices for the continued monitoring, of dams

20 for safety purposes.

21 (2) STATE PARTICIPATION; REPORTS.—The Di22 rector shall provide for State participation in the re23 search under this subsection and periodically advise

24 all States and Congress of the results of such re25 search.
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1 (3) FUNDING.—There is authorized to be ap2 propriated to carry out this subsection $1,000,000

3 for each of fiscal years 1997 through 2001.

4 (d) DAM INVENTORY.—

5 (1) MAINTENANCE AND PUBLICATION.—The

6 Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief of

7 Engineers, is authorized to maintain and periodically

8 publish updated information on the inventory of

9 dams.

10 (2) FUNDING.—There is authorized to be ap11 propriated to carry out this subsection $500,000 for

12 each of fiscal years 1997 through 2001.

13 (e) PERSONNEL.—

14 (1) EMPLOYMENT.—The Director is authorized

15 to employ additional staff personnel in numbers suf16 ficient to carry out the provisions of this Act.

17 (2) FUNDING.—There is authorized to be ap18 propriated to carry out this subsection $400,000 for

19 each of fiscal years 1997 through 2001.

20 (f) LIMITATION.—No funds authorized by this Act

21 shall be used to construct or repair any Federal or non22 Federal dams.

23 SEC. 8. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

24 The Act entitled ‘‘An Act to authorize the Secretary

25 of the Army to undertake a national program of inspection
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1 dams’’, approved August 8, 1972 (33 U.S.C 467–467m;

2 Public Law 92–367), is amended—

3 (1) in the first section by striking ‘‘means any

4 artificial barrier’’ and all that follows through the

5 period at the end and inserting ‘‘has the meaning

6 such term has under section 4 of the National Dam

7 Safety Program Act of 1996.’’;

8 (2) by striking the 2d sentence of section 3;

9 (3) by striking section 5 and sections 7 through

10 14; and

11 (4) by redesignating section 6 as section 5.

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