[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3152 Introduced in House (IH)]

  2d Session
                                H. R. 3152

    To permit the Federal Government to provide funding for wetland 
  creation and improvement through the construction of upland dredge 
  material disposal facilities and funding for upland dredge material 
                   disposal, and for other purposes.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 22, 1996

   Mr. Baker of California introduced the following bill; which was 
     referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To permit the Federal Government to provide funding for wetland 
  creation and improvement through the construction of upland dredge 
  material disposal facilities and funding for upland dredge material 
                   disposal, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Wetland Creation and Improvement 
Act''.

SEC. 2. COST SHARING FOR UPLAND AND CONFINED AQUATIC DREDGED MATERIAL 
              DISPOSAL FACILITIES.

    (a) Treatment in General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
law, after the date of the enactment of this Act, the cost of providing 
upland and confined aquatic dredged material disposal facilities 
associated with the construction, operation, and maintenance of all 
Federal navigation projects for harbors and inland harbors, including 
the cost of diking and the cost of applying dredged material to 
beneficial use, and other improvements necessary for the proper 
disposal of dredged material shall be considered a general navigation 
feature of the project and shall be subject to cost sharing as such a 
feature in accordance with section 101(a) of the Water Resources 
Development Act of 1986 (33 U.S.C. 2211(a); 100 Stat. 4082-4083).
    (b) Operation and Maintenance.--The Federal share of the cost of 
operation and maintenance of each disposal facility to which subsection 
(a) applies shall be determined in accordance with section 101(b) of 
the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 (33 U.S.C. 2211(b); 100 
Stat. 4083).
    (c) Eligible Costs.--For purposes of section 210 of the Water 
Resources Development Act of 1986 (33 U.S.C. 2238; 100 Stat. 4106) 
eligible operation and maintenance costs shall include--
            (1) the Federal share of the costs of constructing dredged 
        material disposal facilities associated with the operation and 
        maintenance of all Federal navigation projects for harbors and 
        inland harbors;
            (2) the Federal share of the cost of operating and 
        maintaining dredged material disposal facilities associated 
        with the construction, operation, and maintenance of all 
        Federal navigation projects for harbors and inland harbors;
            (3) the Federal share of the costs of environmental 
        dredging and disposal facilities for contaminated sediments 
        which are in or which affect the maintenance of Federal 
        navigation channels and the mitigation of environmental impacts 
        resulting from Federal dredging activities; and
            (4) consistent with the cost-sharing provisions of 
        subsection (a), the Federal share for the dredging, management, 
        and disposal of in-place contaminated sediments, or other 
        environmental remediation in critical port and harbor areas in 
        order to facilitate maritime commerce and navigation.
In selecting and carrying out projects made eligible for assistance 
under paragraph (4), the Secretary of the Army shall give preference to 
port areas to the extent that annual payments of the harbor maintenance 
fee under section 9505 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 exceed 
Federal expenditures made from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund for 
projects in such port area.
    (d) Limitations on Use of Funds.--No funds comprising the Federal 
share of costs described in subsection (a) shall be expended until the 
Secretary of the Army determines that such funds are not otherwise 
required to cover other eligible operation and maintenance costs 
assigned to commercial navigation. The Federal share for each project 
made eligible by subsection (c) shall not exceed $25,000,000 in any 
fiscal year.
    (e) Applicability.--This section shall apply to the construction of 
dredged material disposal facilities for which a contract for 
construction or usable increment thereof, or the construction of the 
associated navigation project or usable increment thereof has not been 
awarded on or before the date of the enactment of this Act. The 
Secretary of the Army may amend, with the consent of the non-Federal 
interest, project cooperation agreements to provide for the Federal 
share of project costs of dredged material disposal facilities as 
provided in this section.
    (f) Protection of Non-Federal Share.--Nothing in this section shall 
increase, or result in the increase of, the non-Federal share of the 
costs of any dredged material disposal facility authorized to be 
provided before the date of the enactment of this Act.
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