[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1378 Introduced in Senate (IS)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1378

 To transfer to the Secretary of the Interior authority to revise the 
              Missouri River Master Water Control Manual.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              July 8, 2003

 Mr. Dorgan introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
        referred to the Committee on Environment and Public WorksYYYYYY

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To transfer to the Secretary of the Interior authority to revise the 
              Missouri River Master Water Control Manual.

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

SECTION 1. MISSOURI RIVER MASTER WATER CONTROL MANUAL.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) the original study for the revision of the operating 
        plan under the Missouri River Master Water Control Manual was 
        begun in November 1989 and was scheduled to be completed 6 
        months later;
            (2) the Corps of Engineers has missed that deadline by more 
        than 13 years and has consistently missed every other deadline 
        set in the interim;
            (3) the Corps of Engineers is unable or unwilling to move 
        the process forward to revise the Manual, despite legal 
        requirements, direction from Congress, scientific evidence, and 
        various lawsuits from affected parties;
            (4) in report number RCED-92-4 in January 1992, the 
        Comptroller General of the United States concluded that there 
        is no statutory or regulatory basis for any contention by the 
        Corps of Engineers that the Corps is bound to give higher 
        priority to navigation interests than to recreation interests 
        affected by the operation of dams on the Missouri River;
            (5) the Missouri River yields more than 10 times the 
        economic benefit for recreation and tourism in upstream States 
        than it does for shipping interests in the downstream States; 
        and
            (6) it appears that the Corps of Engineers is unable to 
        provide the leadership necessary to finalize revisions to the 
        Manual.
    (b) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Secretary of the army.--The term ``Secretary of the 
        Army'' means the Secretary of the Army, acting through the 
        Chief of Engineers.
            (2) Secretary of the interior.--The term ``Secretary of the 
        Interior'' means the Secretary of the Interior, acting through 
        the Commissioner of Reclamation.
            (3) Manual.--The term ``Manual'' means the Missouri River 
        Master Water Control Manual.
    (c) Transfer of Authority.--There is transferred from the Secretary 
of the Army to the Secretary of the Interior all authority of the 
Secretary of the Army to--
            (1) revise the Manual; and
            (2) operate the dams the operation of which is governed by 
        the Manual.
    (d) Completion of Current Revision.--The Secretary of the Interior 
shall, to the maximum extent practicable, complete the revision of the 
Manual begun by the Secretary of the Army before the date of enactment 
of this Act not later than the date set for completion by the Secretary 
of the Army.
    (e) Management of Water Resource Projects.--After the Secretary of 
the Interior revises the Manual, the Secretary of the Interior shall 
manage water resource projects formerly operated by the Corps of 
Engineers in accordance with the revised Manual.
                                 <all>