[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2470 Introduced in Senate (IS)]


108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2470

     To enhance navigation capacity improvements and the ecosystem 
restoration plan for the Upper Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway 
                                System.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 20, 2004

    Mr. Bond (for himself, Mr. Harkin, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Talent, Mr. 
  Grassley, Mr. Coleman, Mr. Fitzgerald and Mr. Pryor) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                     Envirionment and Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To enhance navigation capacity improvements and the ecosystem 
restoration plan for the Upper Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway 
                                System.

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

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) in section 1103(a)(2) of the Water Resources 
        Development Act of 1986 (100 Stat. 4225), Congress recognized 
        the Upper Mississippi River System as ``a nationally 
        significant ecosystem and a nationally significant commercial 
        navigation system'' and declared that the system ``shall be 
        administered and regulated in recognition of its several 
        purposes'';
            (2) inaction on construction of new locks will lead to 
        economic decline, and inaction on implementation of an enhanced 
        ecosystem restoration program will lead to further 
        environmental decline;
            (3) the Upper Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway carry 
        approximately 60 percent of the corn exports of the United 
        States and 45 percent of the soybean exports of the United 
        States, providing a significant positive balance of trade 
        benefit for the Nation;
            (4) the movement of more than 100,000,000 tons of product 
        supports 400,000 full- and part-time jobs in the United States, 
        generating over $4,000,000,000 in income and $12,000,000,000 to 
        $15,000,000,000 in economic activity;
            (5) Midwestern utilities use coal, the second largest 
        category of cargo shipped on the Upper Mississippi River 
        System, to produce cost-efficient energy;
            (6) keeping the cost of transportation lower through 
        competition between transportation modes is the United States 
        farmer's competitive advantage in capturing future global 
        growth in agricultural exports;
            (7) United States farm and trade policies work to open 
        world markets and promote United States exports, and water 
        resource policy has provided a low-cost transportation 
        alternative to other modes;
            (8) the Department of Agriculture projects that corn 
        exports will grow 44 percent over the next decade, with a \1/3\ 
        increase in growth exported through the Gulf of Mexico;
            (9) those transportation savings--
                    (A) provide higher income to farmers and rural 
                communities; and
                    (B) generate Federal and State taxes to support 
                community activities, quality of life, and national 
                benefits;
            (10) the construction of new 1,200-foot locks and lock 
        extensions will provide more than 48,000,000 man-hours of 
        employment over 10 to 15 years;
            (11) foreign competitors have worked over the last 10 years 
        to improve foreign transportation infrastructure to compete 
        more effectively with United States production;
            (12) the inland waterway transportation system moves 16 
        percent of the freight in the United States for 2 percent of 
        the cost, including more than 100,000,000 tons on the Upper 
        Mississippi River System;
            (13) the Department of Transportation projects that freight 
        congestion on the roads and rails in the United States will 
        double in the next 25 years and that water transportation will 
        need to play an increasing role in moving freight;
            (14) the movement of 100,000,000 tons on the river system 
        in 4,400 15-barge tows out of harms way would require an 
        equivalent of 4,000,000 trucks or 1,000,000 rail cars moving 
        directly through our communities;
            (15) econometric models are useful analytic tools to 
        provide valuable information, but are unable to account for 
        every market trend, development, and public policy impact;
            (16) the current capacity of the Upper Mississippi River 
        System is--
                    (A) declining by 10 percent annually because of 
                unplanned closures of a 70-year old infrastructure; and
                    (B) reducing the potential for sustained growth;
            (17) the current 600-foot lock system was designed for 
        steamboats, at a time when 4,000,000 tons moved on the 
        Mississippi River and a total of 2,000,000,000 bushels of corn 
        were produced nationally, compared to today, when 100,000,000 
        to 120,000,000 tons are shipped and the national production of 
        corn exceeds 10,000,000,000 bushels;
            (18) the 600-foot locks at Locks and Dam Nos. 20, 21, 22, 
        24, and 25 on the Upper Mississippi River and LaGrange and 
        Peoria on the Illinois Waterway are operating at 80 percent 
        utilization and are unable to provide for or process 
        effectively the volatile growth of traditional export grain 
        markets;
            (19) based on the current construction schedule of new 
        locks and dams on the inland system, lock modernization will 
        need to take place over 30 years, starting immediately, as an 
        imperative to avoid lost export grain sales and diminished 
        national competitiveness;
            (20) the Corps of Engineers has been studying the needs for 
        national investments on the Upper Mississippi River System for 
        the last 15 years and has based initial recommendations on the 
best available information and science;
            (21) the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers ecosystem 
        consists of hundreds of thousands of acres of bottomland 
        forests, islands, backwaters, side channels, and wetlands;
            (22) the river ecosystem is home to 270 species of birds, 
        57 species of mammals, 45 species of amphibians and reptiles, 
        113 species of fish, and nearly 50 species of mussels;
            (23) more than 40 percent of migratory waterfowl and 
        shorebirds in North America depend on the river for food, 
        shelter, and habitat during migration;
            (24) the annual operation of the Upper Mississippi River 
        Basin needs to take into consideration opportunities for 
        ecosystem restoration;
            (25) development since the 1930's has altered and reduced 
        the biological diversity of the large flood plain river systems 
        of the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers;
            (26) Congress recognizes the need for significant Federal 
        investment in the restoration of the Upper Mississippi and 
        Illinois River ecosystems;
            (27) the Upper Mississippi River System provides important 
        economic benefits from recreational and tourist uses, resulting 
        in the basin's receiving more visitors annually than most 
        National Parks, with the ecosystems and wildlife being the main 
        attractions; and
            (28) the Upper Mississippi River System--
                    (A) includes 284,688 acres of National Wildlife 
                Refuge land that is managed as habitat for migratory 
                birds, fish, threatened and endangered species, and a 
                diverse assortment of other species and related 
                habitats; and
                    (B) provides many recreational opportunities.

SEC. 2. ENHANCED NAVIGATION CAPACITY IMPROVEMENTS AND ECOSYSTEM 
              RESTORATION PLAN FOR THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND 
              ILLINOIS WATERWAY SYSTEM.

    (a) Definitions.-- In this section:
            (1) Plan.--The term ``Plan'' means the preferred integrated 
        plan contained in the document entitled ``Integrated 
        Feasibility Report and Programmatic Environmental Impact 
        Statement for the UMR-IWW System Navigation Feasibility 
        System'' and dated April 29, 2004.
            (2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of the Army.
            (3) Upper mississippi river and illinois waterway system.--
        The term ``Upper Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway 
        System'' means the projects for navigation and ecosystem 
        restoration authorized by Congress for--
                    (A) the segment of the Mississippi River from the 
                confluence with the Ohio River, River Mile 0.0, to 
                Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock in Minneapolis-St. Paul, 
                Minnesota, River Mile 854.0; and
                    (B) the Illinois Waterway from its confluence with 
                the Mississippi River at Grafton, Illinois, River Mile 
                0.0, to T.J. O'Brien Lock in Chicago, Illinois, River 
                Mile 327.0.
    (b) Authorization of Construction of Navigation Improvements.--
            (1) Small scale and nonstructural measures.--At a cost of 
        $24,000,000 in funds from the general fund of the Treasury, to 
        be matched in an equal amount from the Inland Waterways Trust 
        Fund (which is paid by private users), the Secretary shall--
                    (A) construct mooring facilities at Locks 12, 14, 
                18, 20, 22, 24, and LaGrange Lock;
                    (B) provide switchboats at Locks 20 through 25 over 
                5 years for project operation; and
                    (C) conduct development and testing of an 
                appointment scheduling system.
            (2) New locks.--At a cost of $730,000,000 in funds from the 
        general fund of the Treasury, with an equal matching amount 
        provided from the Inland Waterways Trust Fund (which is paid by 
        the private users), the Secretary shall construct new 1,200-
        foot locks at Locks 20, 21, 22, 24, and 25 on the Upper 
        Mississippi River and at LaGrange Lock and Peoria Lock on the 
        Illinois Waterway.
            (3) Mitigation.--At a cost of $100,000,000 in funds from 
        the general fund of the Treasury, with an equal matching amount 
        provided from the Inland Waterway Trust Fund (which is paid by 
        private users), the Secretary shall conduct mitigation for new 
        locks and small scale and nonstructural measures authorized 
        under paragraphs (1) and (2).
    (c) Ecosystem Restoration Authorization.--
            (1) Operation.--To ensure the environmental sustainability 
        of the existing Upper Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway 
        System, the Secretary shall, consistent with requirements to 
        avoid any adverse effects on navigation, modify the operation 
        of the Upper Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway System to 
        address the cumulative environmental impacts of operation of 
        the system and improve the ecological integrity of the Upper 
        Mississippi River and Illinois River.
            (2) Ecosystem restoration projects.--
                    (A) In general.--The Secretary shall, consistent 
                with requirements to avoid any adverse effects on 
                navigation, carry out ecosystem restoration projects to 
                attain and maintain the sustainability of the ecosystem 
                of the Upper Mississippi River and Illinois River in 
                accordance with the general framework outlined in the 
                Plan.
                    (B) Projects included.--Ecosystem restoration 
                projects may include--
                            (i) island building;
                            (ii) construction of fish passages;
                            (iii) floodplain restoration;
                            (iv) water level management (including 
                        water drawdown);
                            (v) backwater restoration;
                            (vi) side channel restoration;
                            (vii) wing dam and dike restoration and 
                        modification;
                            (viii) island and shoreline protection;
                            (ix) topographical diversity;
                            (x) dam point control;
                            (xi) use of dredged material for 
                        environmental purposes;
                            (xii) tributary confluence restoration;
                            (xiii) spillway modification to benefit the 
                        environment;
                            (xiv) land easement authority; and
                            (xv) land acquisition.
                    (C) Cost sharing.--
                            (i) In general.--Except as provided in 
                        clause (ii), the Federal share of the cost of 
                        carrying out an ecosystem restoration project 
                        under this paragraph shall be 65 percent.
                            (ii) Exception for certain restoration 
                        projects.--In the case of a project under this 
                        paragraph for ecosystem restoration, the 
                        Federal share of the cost of carrying out the 
                        project shall be 100 percent if the project--
                                    (I) is located below the ordinary 
                                high water mark or in a connected 
                                backwater;
                                    (II) modifies the operation or 
                                structures for navigation; or
                                    (III) is located on federally owned 
                                land.
                            (iii) Nongovernmental organizations.--
                        Nongovernmental organizations shall be eligible 
                        to contribute the non-Federal cost-sharing 
                        requirements applicable to projects under this 
                        paragraph.
                    (D) Land acquisition.--The Secretary may acquire 
                land or an interest in land for an ecosystem 
                restoration project from a willing owner through 
                conveyance of--
                            (i) fee title to the land; or
                            (ii) a flood plain conservation easement.
            (3) Specific projects authorization.--
                    (A) In general.--Subject to subparagraph (B), the 
                ecosystem restoration projects described in paragraph 
                (2) shall be carried out at a total construction cost 
                of $1,460,000,000.
                    (B) Limitation on available funds.--Of the amounts 
                made available under subparagraph (A), not more than 
                $35,000,000 for each fiscal year shall be available for 
                land acquisition under paragraph (2)(D).
            (4) Implementation reports.--
                    (A) In general.--Not later than June 30, 2005, and 
                every 4 years thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to 
                the Committee on Environment and Public Works of the 
                Senate and the Committee on Transportation and 
                Infrastructure of the House of Representatives an 
                implementation report that--
                            (i) includes baselines, benchmarks, goals, 
                        and priorities for ecosystem restoration 
                        projects; and
                            (ii) measures the progress in meeting the 
                        goals.
                    (B) Advisory panel.--
                            (i) In general.--The Secretary shall 
                        appoint and convene an advisory panel to 
                        provide independent guidance in the development 
                        of each implementation report under 
                        subparagraph (A).
                            (ii) Panelists.--Panelists shall include--
                                    (I) 1 representative of each of the 
                                State resource agencies (or a designee 
                                of the Governor of the State) from each 
                                of the States of Illinois, Iowa, 
                                Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin;
                                    (II) 1 representative of the 
                                Department of Agriculture;
                                    (III) 1 representative of the 
                                Department of Transportation;
                                    (IV) 1 representative of the United 
                                States Geological Survey;
                                    (V) 1 representative of the United 
                                States Fish and Wildlife Service;
                                    (VI) 1 representative of the 
                                Environmental Protection Agency;
                                    (VII) 1 representative of affected 
                                landowners;
                                    (VIII) 2 representatives of 
                                conservation and environmental advocacy 
                                groups; and
                                    (IX) 2 representatives of 
                                agriculture and industry advocacy 
                                groups.
                            (iii) Co-chairpersons.--The Secretary and 
                        the Secretary of the Interior shall serve as 
                        co-chairpersons of the advisory panel.
    (d) Authorization of Appropriations.--Except as otherwise provided 
in this section--
            (1) there are authorized to be appropriated such sums as 
        are necessary to carry out this section for fiscal years 2006 
        through 2020; and
            (2) after fiscal year 2020--
                    (A) funds that have been made available under this 
                section, but have not been expended, may be expended; 
                and
                    (B) funds that have been authorized to be 
                appropriated under this section, but have not been made 
                available, may be made available.
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