106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 2957
AN ACT
To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to au-
thorize funding to carry out certain water quality res-
toration projects for Lake Pontchartrain Basin, Lou-
isiana, 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 ‘‘Lake Pontchartrain
Basin Restoration Act of 2000’’.
SEC. 2. NATIONAL ESTUARY PROGRAM.
(a) FINDING.—Congress finds that the Lake
Ponchartrain Basin is an estuary of national significance.
(b) ADDITION TO NATIONAL ESTUARY PROGRAM.—
Section 320(a)(2)(B) of the Federal Water Pollution Con-
trol Act (33 U.S.C. 1330(a)(2)(B)) is amended by insert-
ing ‘‘Lake Ponchartrain Basin, Louisiana and Mis-
sissippi;’’ before ‘‘and Peconic Bay, New York.’’.
SEC. 3. LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN BASIN.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title I of the Federal Water Pol-
lution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) is amended
by adding at the end the following:
‘‘SEC. 121. LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN BASIN.
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT
OF
RESTORATION
PRO-
GRAM.—The Administrator shall establish within the En-
vironmental Protection Agency the Lake Pontchartrain
Basin Restoration Program.
‘‘(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the program shall
be to restore the ecological health of the Basin by devel-
oping and funding restoration projects and related sci-
entific and public education projects.
‘‘(c) DUTIES.—In carrying out the program, the Ad-
ministrator shall—
‘‘(1) provide administrative and technical assist-
ance to a management conference convened for the
Basin under section 320;
‘‘(2) assist and support the activities of the
management conference, including the implementa-
tion of recommendations of the management con-
ference;
‘‘(3) support environmental monitoring of the
Basin and research to provide necessary technical
and scientific information;
‘‘(4) develop a comprehensive research plan to
address the technical needs of the program;
‘‘(5) coordinate the grant, research, and plan-
ning programs authorized under this section; and
‘‘(6) collect and make available to the public
publications, and other forms of information the
management conference determines to be appro-
priate, relating to the environmental quality of the
Basin.
‘‘(d) 
GRANTS.—The 
Administrator 
may 
make
grants—
‘‘(1) for restoration projects and studies rec-
ommended by a management conference convened
for the Basin under section 320;
‘‘(2) for public education projects recommended
by the management conference; and
‘‘(3) for the inflow and infiltration project spon-
sored by the New Orleans Sewerage and Water
Board and Jefferson Parish, Louisiana.
‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following
definitions apply:
‘‘(1) BASIN.—The term ‘Basin’ means the Lake
Pontchartrain Basin, a 5,000 square mile watershed
encompassing 16 parishes in the State of Louisiana
and 4 counties in the State of Mississippi.
‘‘(2) PROGRAM.—The term ‘program’ means
the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Restoration Program
established under subsection (a).
‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be
appropriated—
‘‘(A) $100,000,000 for the inflow and infil-
tration project sponsored by the New Orleans
Sewerage and Water Board and Jefferson Par-
ish, Louisiana; and
‘‘(B) $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years
2001 through 2005 to carry out this section.
Such sums shall remain available until expended.
‘‘(2) PUBLIC EDUCATION PROJECTS.—Not more
that 15 percent of the amount appropriated pursu-
ant to paragraph (1)(B) in a fiscal year may be ex-
pended on grants for public education projects under
subsection (d)(2).’’.
SEC. 4. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.
It is the sense of the Congress that all recipients of
grants pursuant to this Act shall abide by the Buy Amer-
ican Act. The Administrator of the Environmental Protec-
tion Agency shall give notice of the Buy American Act re-
quirements to grant applicants.
Passed the House of Representatives May 3, 2000.
Attest:
Clerk.