[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2957 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

  2d Session
                                H. R. 2957


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 4, 2000

 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and 
                              Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
 To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to authorize funding 
   to carry out certain water quality restoration projects for Lake 
        Pontchartrain Basin, Louisiana, 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 ``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 Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1330(a)(2)(B)) is 
amended by inserting ``Lake Ponchartrain Basin, Louisiana and 
Mississippi;'' before ``and Peconic Bay, New York.''.

SEC. 3. LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN BASIN.

    (a) In General.--Title I of the Federal Water Pollution 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 Program.--The Administrator 
shall establish within the Environmental 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 developing and funding restoration 
projects and related scientific and public education projects.
    ``(c) Duties.--In carrying out the program, the Administrator 
shall--
            ``(1) provide administrative and technical assistance to a 
        management conference convened for the Basin under section 320;
            ``(2) assist and support the activities of the management 
        conference, including the implementation of recommendations of 
        the management conference;
            ``(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 planning 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 appropriate, relating to the 
        environmental quality of the Basin.
    ``(d) Grants.--The Administrator may make grants--
            ``(1) for restoration projects and studies recommended 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 sponsored 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 infiltration 
                project sponsored by the New Orleans Sewerage and Water 
                Board and Jefferson Parish, 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 pursuant to paragraph (1)(B) in a 
        fiscal year may be expended 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 American Act. The 
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency shall give notice 
of the Buy American Act requirements to grant applicants.

            Passed the House of Representatives May 3, 2000.

            Attest:

                                                 JEFF TRANDAHL,

                                                                 Clerk.