I 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 644 
To direct the Secretary of the Interior to establish a program to build 
on and help coordinate funding for restoration and protection efforts 
of the 4-State Delaware River Basin region, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 13, 2013 
Mr. CARNEY (for himself, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Mr. DENT, Mr. 
FITZPATRICK, Mr. GIBSON, Mr. HOLT, Mr. LOBIONDO, Mr. MEEHAN, 
Mr. RUNYAN, and Ms. SCHWARTZ) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to 
the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee con-
cerned 
A BILL 
To direct the Secretary of the Interior to establish a program 
to build on and help coordinate funding for restoration 
and protection efforts of the 4-State Delaware River 
Basin region, 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 ‘‘Delaware River Basin 
Conservation Act of 2013’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds that— 
(1) the Delaware River Basin is a national 
treasure of great cultural, environmental, and eco-
logical importance; 
(2) the Basin contains over 12,500 square miles 
of land in the States of Delaware, New Jersey, New 
York, and Pennsylvania, including nearly 800 square 
miles of bay and more than 2,000 tributary rivers 
and streams; 
(3) the Basin is home to more than 8,000,000 
people who depend on the Delaware River and the 
Delaware Bay as an economic engine, a place of 
recreation, and a vital habitat for fish and wildlife; 
(4) the Basin provides clean drinking water to 
more than 15,000,000 people, including New York 
City, which relies on the Basin for approximately 
half of the drinking water supply of the city, and 
Philadelphia, whose most significant threat to the 
drinking water supply of the city is forest clearing 
in the Upper Basin, according to a study conducted 
by the Philadelphia Water Department; 
(5) almost 180 species of fish and wildlife are 
considered special status species in the Basin due to 
habitat loss and degradation, particularly sturgeon, 
eastern oyster, and red knots, which have been iden-
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tified as unique species in need of habitat improve-
ment; 
(6) the Basin provides habitat for over 200 
resident and migrant fish species, includes signifi-
cant recreational fisheries, and is a prolific source of 
eastern oyster, blue crab, and the largest population 
of the American horseshoe crab; 
(7) the annual value of commercial Eastern 
oyster landings for the Delaware Estuary is 
$3,700,000 per year in 2010 dollars, making it the 
fourth-most lucrative fishery in the Delaware River 
Basin watershed, and oyster populations are re-
bounding despite many years of below-average bio-
logical recruitment due, in part, to pollution and dis-
ease; 
(8) the Delaware Bay has the second largest 
concentration of shorebirds in North America and is 
designated as 1 of the 4 most important shorebird 
migration sites in the world; 
(9) the Basin, 50 percent of which is forested, 
also has 1,000,000 acres of wetland, more than 
126,000 acres of which are recognized as inter-
nationally important, resulting in a landscape that 
provides essential ecosystem services, including 
recreation, commercial, and water quality benefits; 
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(10) much of the remaining exemplary natural 
landscape in the Basin is vulnerable to further deg-
radation, as the Basin gains approximately 14 
square miles of developed land annually, and with 
new development, urban watersheds are increasingly 
covered by impervious surfaces, amplifying the quan-
tity of polluted runoff into rivers and streams; 
(11) the Delaware River is the longest 
undammed river east of the Mississippi, and a crit-
ical component of the National Wild and Scenic Riv-
ers System in the Northeast; 
(12) management of water volume in the Basin 
is critical to flood mitigation and habitat for fish 
and wildlife, and following 3 major floods along the 
Delaware River since 2004, the Governors of the 
States of Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and 
Pennsylvania have called for natural flood damage 
reduction measures to combat the problem, including 
restoring the function of riparian corridors; 
(13) the Delaware River Port Complex (includ-
ing docking facilities in the States of Delaware, New 
Jersey, and Pennsylvania) is one of the largest 
freshwater port in the world, the Port of Philadel-
phia handles the largest volume of international ton-
nage and 70 percent of the oil shipped to the East 
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Coast, and the Port of Wilmington, a full-service 
deepwater port and marine terminal, is the busiest 
terminal on the Delaware River, handling more than 
400 vessels per year with an annual import/export 
cargo tonnage of more than 4,000,000 tons; 
(14) the Delaware Estuary, where freshwater 
from the Delaware River mixes with saltwater from 
the Atlantic Ocean, is 1 of the largest and most 
complex of the 28 estuaries in the National Estuary 
Program, and the Partnership for the Delaware Es-
tuary works to improve the environmental health of 
the Delaware Estuary; 
(15) the Delaware River Basin Commission is a 
Federal-interstate 
compact 
government 
agency 
charged with overseeing a unified approach to man-
aging the river system and implementing important 
water resources management projects and activities 
throughout the Basin that are in the national inter-
est; 
(16) restoration activities in the Basin are sup-
ported through several Federal and State agency 
programs, and funding for those important pro-
grams should continue and complement the estab-
lishment of the Delaware River Basin Restoration 
Program, which is intended to build on and help co-
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ordinate restoration and protection funding mecha-
nisms at the Federal, State, regional, and local lev-
els; and 
(17) the existing and ongoing voluntary con-
servation efforts in the Delaware River Basin neces-
sitate improved efficiency and cost-effectiveness, as 
well as increased private-sector investments and co-
ordination of Federal and non-Federal resources. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) BASIN.—The term ‘‘Basin’’ means the 4– 
State Delaware Basin region, including all of Dela-
ware Bay and portions of the States of Delaware, 
New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania located in 
the Delaware River watershed. 
(2) BASIN
STATE.—The term ‘‘Basin State’’ 
means each of the States of Delaware, New Jersey, 
New York, and Pennsylvania. 
(3) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 
the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife 
Service. 
(4) FOUNDATION.—The term ‘‘Foundation’’ 
means the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, a 
congressionally chartered foundation established by 
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section 2 of the National Fish and Wildlife Founda-
tion Establishment Act (16 U.S.C. 3701). 
(5) GRANT PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘grant pro-
gram’’ means the Delaware River Basin restoration 
grant program established under section 5. 
(6) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ means 
the Delaware River Basin restoration program es-
tablished under section 4. 
(7) RESTORATION
AND
PROTECTION.—The 
term ‘‘restoration and protection’’ means the con-
servation, protection, and enhancement of fish and 
wildlife, as well as the habitats of fish and wildlife. 
(8) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Di-
rector. 
(9) SERVICE.—The term ‘‘Service’’ means the 
United States Fish and Wildlife Service. 
SEC. 4. PROGRAM ESTABLISHMENT. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall es-
tablish a program to be known as the ‘‘Delaware River 
Basin restoration program’’. 
(b) DUTIES.—In carrying out the program, the Sec-
retary shall— 
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(1) draw on existing and new management 
plans for the Basin, or portions of the Basin, and 
work in consultation with applicable management 
entities, including representatives of the Partnership 
for the Delaware Estuary, the Delaware River Basin 
Commission, the Federal Government, and other 
State and local governments, and regional and non-
profit organizations, as appropriate, to identify, 
prioritize, and implement restoration and protection 
activities within the Basin; 
(2) adopt a basin-wide strategy that— 
(A) supports the implementation of a 
shared set of science-based restoration and pro-
tection activities developed in accordance with 
paragraph (1); 
(B) 
targets 
cost-effective 
conservation 
projects; 
(C) supports measurable conservation ef-
forts; and 
(D) maximizes conservation outcomes with 
no net gain of Federal full-time equivalent em-
ployees; 
(3) establish the grant program in accordance 
with section 5; and 
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(4) provide for technical assistance in accord-
ance with this Act. 
(c) COORDINATION.—In establishing the program, 
the Secretary shall consult, as appropriate, with— 
(1) the heads of Federal agencies, including— 
(A) the Administrator of the Environ-
mental Protection Agency; 
(B) the Administrator of the National Oce-
anic and Atmospheric Administration; 
(C) the Chief of the Natural Resource 
Conservation Service; 
(D) the Chief of Engineers of the Corps of 
Engineers; and 
(E) the head of any other applicable agen-
cy; 
(2) the Governors of the Basin States; 
(3) the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary; 
(4) the Delaware River Basin Commission; 
(5) fish and wildlife joint venture partnerships; 
and 
(6) other public agencies and organizations with 
authority for the planning and implementation of 
conservation strategies in the Basin. 
(d) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the program in-
clude— 
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(1) coordinating restoration and protection ac-
tivities among Federal, State, local, and regional en-
tities and conservation partners throughout the 
Basin; 
(2) carrying out coordinated restoration and 
protection activities throughout the Basin and Basin 
States— 
(A) to sustain and enhance fish and wild-
life habitat restoration and protection activities; 
(B) to improve and maintain water quality 
to support fish and wildlife, as well as the habi-
tats of fish and wildlife; 
(C) to sustain and enhance water manage-
ment and flood damage mitigation improve-
ments to benefit fish and wildlife habitat; 
(D) to improve opportunities for public ac-
cess and recreation in the Basin; 
(E) to encourage environmentally sensitive 
land use planning and development; 
(F) to increase the capacity to implement 
coordinated restoration and protection activities 
in the Basin by conducting public outreach and 
education and promoting citizen involvement; 
and 
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(G) to increase scientific capacity to sup-
port the planning, monitoring, and research ac-
tivities necessary to carry out coordinated res-
toration and protection activities; and 
(3) providing competitive grants for technical 
assistance to carry out restoration and protection ac-
tivities in the Basin, with priority given to activities 
with multiple benefits, as described in paragraph 
(2). 
SEC. 5. GRANTS AND ASSISTANCE. 
(a) DELAWARE RIVER BASIN RESTORATION PRO-
GRAM.—To the extent that funds are available to carry 
out this section, the Secretary shall establish a grant pro-
gram to be known as the ‘‘Delaware River Basin restora-
tion grant program’’ to provide competitive matching 
grants of varying amounts to State and local governments, 
nonprofit organizations, community organizations, institu-
tions of higher education, and other eligible entities to 
carry out activities described in section 4(d). 
(b) CRITERIA.—The Secretary, in consultation with 
the organizations described in section 4(c), shall develop 
criteria for the grant program to help ensure that activi-
ties funded under this section accomplish 1 or more of 
the following: 
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(1) Restoration or protection of fish and wildlife 
and the habitats of fish and wildlife. 
(2) Improvement or protection of water quality 
by reducing pollutants and restoring headwater 
areas and drinking water basins. 
(3) Improvement of the management of water 
volume and mitigation of flood damage to support 
the ecological needs of fish and wildlife and the habi-
tats of fish and wildlife. 
(4) Inclusion of priority needs or actions identi-
fied in the basin-wide strategy adopted under section 
4(b)(2). 
(5) Inclusion of restoration and protection ac-
tivities with multiple benefits in the Basin, including 
habitat, water quality, and flood damage mitigation. 
(c) COST SHARING.— 
(1) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of 
the cost of a project funded under the grant pro-
gram shall not exceed 50 percent of the total cost 
of the activity, as determined by the Secretary. 
(2) NON-FEDERAL
SHARE.—The non-Federal 
share of the cost of a project funded under the grant 
program may be provided in cash or in the form of 
an in-kind contribution of services or materials. 
(d) ADMINISTRATION.— 
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