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(A) by inserting ‘‘and maintenance’’ after 
‘‘operation’’; and 
(B) by inserting ‘‘processing, treatment, 
or’’ after ‘‘dredged material’’ the first place it 
appears. 
SEC. 2010. WETLANDS MITIGATION. 
In carrying out a water resources project that in-
volves wetlands mitigation and that has impacts that occur 
within the service area of a mitigation bank, the Secretary, 
to the maximum extent practicable and where appropriate, 
shall give preference to the use of the mitigation bank if 
the bank contains sufficient available credits to offset the 
impact and the bank is approved in accordance with the 
Federal Guidance for the Establishment, Use and Oper-
ation of Mitigation Banks (60 Fed. Reg. 58605) or other 
applicable Federal law (including regulations). 
SEC. 2011. REMOTE AND SUBSISTENCE HARBORS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—In conducting a study of harbor 
and navigation improvements, the Secretary may rec-
ommend a project without the need to demonstrate that 
the project is justified solely by national economic develop-
ment benefits if the Secretary determines that— 
(1)(A) the community to be served by the 
project is at least 70 miles from the nearest surface 
accessible commercial port and has no direct rail or
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highway link to another community served by a sur-
face accessible port or harbor; or 
(B) the project would be located in the Com-
monwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Common-
wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or Amer-
ican Samoa; 
(2) the harbor is economically critical such that 
over 80 percent of the goods transported through 
the harbor would be consumed within the community 
served by the harbor and navigation improvement; 
and 
(3) the long-term viability of the community 
would be threatened without the harbor and naviga-
tion improvement. 
(b) JUSTIFICATION.—In considering whether to rec-
ommend a project under subsection (a), the Secretary 
shall consider the benefits of the project to— 
(1) public health and safety of the local commu-
nity, including access to facilities designed to protect 
public health and safety; 
(2) access to natural resources for subsistence 
purposes; 
(3) local and regional economic opportunities; 
(4) welfare of the local population; and 
(5) social and cultural value to the community.
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SEC. 2012. BENEFICIAL USES OF DREDGED MATERIAL. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 204 of the Water Re-
sources Development Act of 1992 (33 U.S.C. 2326) is 
amended by striking subsections (c) through (g) and in-
serting the following: 
‘‘(c) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may carry out 
projects to transport and place sediment obtained in con-
nection with the construction, operation, or maintenance 
of an authorized water resources project at locations se-
lected by a non-Federal entity for use in the construction, 
repair, or rehabilitation of projects determined by the Sec-
retary to be in the public interest and associated with navi-
gation, flood damage reduction, hydroelectric power, mu-
nicipal and industrial water supply, agricultural water 
supply, recreation, hurricane and storm damage reduction, 
aquatic plant control, and environmental protection and 
restoration. 
‘‘(d) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT.—Any project un-
dertaken pursuant to this section shall be initiated only 
after non-Federal interests have entered into an agree-
ment with the Secretary in which the non-Federal inter-
ests agree to pay the non-Federal share of the cost of con-
struction of the project and 100 percent of the cost of 
operation, maintenance, replacement, and rehabilitation of 
the project in accordance with section 103 of the Water 
Resources Development Act of 1986 (33 U.S.C. 2213).
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‘‘(e) SPECIAL RULE.—Construction of a project 
under subsection (a) for one or more of the purposes of 
protection, restoration, or creation of aquatic and eco-
logically related habitat, the cost of which does not exceed 
$750,000 and which will be located in a disadvantaged 
community as determined by the Secretary, may be car-
ried out at Federal expense. 
‘‘(f) DETERMINATION OF CONSTRUCTION COSTS.— 
Costs associated with construction of a project under this 
section shall be limited solely to construction costs that 
are in excess of those costs necessary to carry out the 
dredging for construction, operation, or maintenance of 
the authorized water resources project in the most cos- 
effective way, consistent with economic, engineering, and 
environmental criteria. 
‘‘(g) SELECTION OF SEDIMENT DISPOSAL METH-
OD.—In developing and carrying out a water resources 
project involving the disposal of sediment, the Secretary 
may select, with the consent of the non-Federal interest, 
a disposal method that is not the least cost option if the 
Secretary determines that the incremental costs of such 
disposal method are reasonable in relation to the environ-
mental benefits, including the benefits to the aquatic envi-
ronment to be derived from the creation of wetlands and 
control of shoreline erosion. The Federal share of such in-