I
104TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3113
To amend the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 relating to cost
sharing for creation of dredged material disposal areas, and for other
purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 19, 1996
Mr. PALLONE (for himself and Mr. FRANKS of New Jersey) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation
and Infrastructure
A BILL
To amend the Water Resources Development Act of 1986
relating to cost sharing for creation of dredged material
disposal areas, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Partnership for Pro-
ductive Ports Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:
(1) A network of ports and harbors is essential
to the United States economy, competitiveness in
world trade, and national security. Approximately 95
percent of United States overseas trade moves on
ships in and out of United States ports.
(2) The Nation’s coastal, ocean, and freshwater
resources are critical assets which must be pro-
tected, conserved, and restored. These resources pro-
vide numerous economic and environmental benefits.
(3) Port facilities serve as a key link in the
intermodal transportation chain and can realize their
full potential as magnets for shipping and commerce
only if timely, cost-effective, and environmentally
sound dredging and dredged material management
occurs.
(4) Approximately 400,000,000 cubic yards of
sediment are dredged from our Nation’s ports each
year, 300,000,000 cubic yards of which is dredged
from Federal channels.
(5) Improved environmental responsibility re-
quires that dredged material demonstrating a poten-
tial to unreasonably degrade human health or the
environment be appropriately managed to minimize
negative environmental interactions, yet suitable dis-
posal sites are often not readily available.
(6) All Federal navigation dredging projects are
approved because they are in the national interest
and therefore should not be blocked because of a
lack of disposal capacity that meets the necessary
Federal requirements.
(7) The cost of disposal and management of
sediments dredged in the course of constructing and
maintaining a navigation project are integral to the
total project costs and as such should be cost shared
according to the allocations under existing law.
(8) Inconsistent cost-sharing policies for the use
of open water, upland, and confined disposal facili-
ties create an economic incentive to use open water
disposal sites even when more environmentally posi-
tive alternatives are preferable.
(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to provide
Federal-non-Federal cost sharing for the construction and
operation of confined disposal facilities for contaminated
dredged materials in order to make suitable alternatives
to open water disposal available nationwide.
SEC. 3. CREATION OF CONFINED DREDGED MATERIAL DIS-
POSAL FACILITIES.
(a) FEDERAL SHARE.—Section 101(b) of the Water
Resources Development Act of 1986 (33 U.S.C. 2211(b))
is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘The Federal share’’ and insert-
ing the following:
‘‘(1) GENERAL FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal
share’’;
(2) by moving the text of paragraph (1), as so
designated, 2 ems to the right; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(2) FEDERAL SHARE FOR CONFINED DISPOSAL
FACILITIES.—The Federal share of the cost of
project features that are necessary for creation of
confined dredged material disposal facilities shall be
determined in accordance with subsection (a)(1).
The cost sharing requirements of this paragraph
shall apply to projects authorized before, on, or after
the the date of the enactment of this paragraph.
‘‘(3) 
CONFINED
DISPOSAL
FACILITY
DE-
FINED.—In this section and section 210, the term
‘confined disposal facility’ means any alternative to
ocean disposal or ocean disposal with capping, in-
cluding subaqueous borrow pits, containment is-
lands, and upland confined disposal facilities.’’.
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 101 of
such Act is further amended—
(1) in the second sentence of subsection
(a)(2)—
(A) by inserting ‘‘and’’ after ‘‘rights-of-
way,’’; and
(B) by striking ‘‘, and dredged material
disposal areas’’;
(2) in subsection (a)(3)—
(A) by inserting ‘‘and’’ after ‘‘rights-of-
way,’’; and
(B) by striking ‘‘, and dredged material
disposal areas’’ and inserting ‘‘, including those
required for confined dredged material disposal
facilities,’’; and
(3) in subsection (e)(1) by striking ‘‘, and to
provide dredged material disposal areas’’.
SEC. 4. FUNDING FROM HARBOR MAINTENANCE TRUST
FUND.
Section 210 of the Water Resources Development Act
of 1986 (33 U.S.C. 2238) is amended by adding at the
end the following:
‘‘(c) INCLUSION
OF
DISPOSAL
COSTS
AS
O&M
COSTS.—For purposes of this section, the term ‘operation
and maintenance costs’ includes costs related to disposal
of dredged materials in a confined dredged material dis-
posal facility. Operation and maintenance costs other than
costs related to such disposal shall receive priority consid-
eration for funding from the Harbor Maintenance Trust
Fund.’’.
SEC. 5. 
CONFINED DISPOSAL FACILITY IN THE PORT
OF NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY.
(a) CREATION AND OPERATION.—Not later than 18
months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the
Secretary of the Army, in cooperation with the Adminis-
trator of the Environmental Protection Agency and State
and local governmental agencies, shall create, operate, and
maintain a 
confined dredged material disposal fa-
cility in the Port of New York and New Jersey. The facil-
ity shall be designed for the disposal of dredged materials
that do not meet applicable criteria for open water dis-
posal.
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