[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2687 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2687

       To allow beach maintenance and grooming of certain areas.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              July 9, 2003

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
       To allow beach maintenance and grooming of certain areas.

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

SECTION 1. BEACH GROOMING AND MAINTENANCE OF CERTAIN AREAS.

    (a) In General.--In accordance with section 404(e) of the Federal 
Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1344), the Secretary of the 
Army, acting through the Chief of Engineers, shall conduct a rulemaking 
proceeding for issuance of a general permit in Michigan to allow beach 
maintenance and grooming for the Great Lakes Systems and Lake Saint 
Clair in the area below the ordinary high-water mark and above the 
water's edge in accordance with 14 Public Act 2003, Michigan.
    (b) Permitted Activities.--The beach maintenance and grooming shall 
include--
            (1) manual or mechanized leveling of sand;
            (2) mowing of vegetation to a height of not less than 2 
        inches;
            (3) manual or de minimis removal of vegetation;
            (4) construction and maintenance of a path; and
            (5) grooming the top 4 inches of soil in the area of Great 
        Lakes riparian lands lying between the ordinary high-water mark 
        and the water's edge.
    (c) Definitions.--For purposes of this section, the following 
definitions apply:
            (1) Leveling of sand.--The term ``leveling of sand'' means 
        the relocation of sand within areas being leveled that are 
        predominantly free of vegetation, including the redistribution, 
        grading, and spreading of sand that has been deposited through 
        wind or wave action onto upland riparian property.
            (2) Mowing of vegetation.--The term ``mowing of 
        vegetation'' means the cutting of vegetation to a height of not 
        less than 2 inches, without disturbance of soil or plant roots.
            (3) Removal of vegetation.--The term ``removal of 
        vegetation'' means the manual or mechanized removal of 
        vegetation, other than the manual deminimis removal of 
        vegetation.
            (4) Grooming of soil.--The term ``grooming of soil'' means 
        the raking or dragging, pushing, or pulling metal teeth through 
        the top 4 inches of soil without disturbance of or destruction 
        to plant roots, for the purpose of removing debris.
            (5) Path.--The term ``path'' means a temporary access 
        walkaway from the upland riparian property directly to the 
        shoreline across swales with standing water, not exceeding 6 
        feet in bottom width and consisting of sand and pebbles 
        obtained from the exposed, nonvegetated bottomlands or from the 
        upland riparian property.
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