II 109th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 753 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES April 11, 2005 Mr. Feingold (for himself and Mr. McCain) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works A BILL To provide for modernization and improvement of the Corps of Engineers, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title; table of contents

(a)

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Corps of Engineers Modernization and Improvement Act of 2005 . (b)

Table of contents

The table of contents of this Act is as follows: Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Findings and purposes. Sec. 3. Definitions. TITLE I—Modernizing project planning Sec. 101. Modern planning principles. Sec. 102. Independent review. Sec. 103. Benefit-cost analysis. Sec. 104. Benefit-cost ratio. Sec. 105. Cost sharing. TITLE II—Mitigation Sec. 201. Full mitigation. Sec. 202. Concurrent mitigation. Sec. 203. Mitigation tracking system. TITLE III—Improving accountability Sec. 301. Fiscal Transparency Report. Sec. 302. Project deauthorizations.

2.

Findings and purposes

(a)

Findings

Congress finds that— (1) the Corps of Engineers is the primary Federal agency responsible for developing and managing the harbors, waterways, shorelines, and water resources of the United States; (2) the scarcity of Federal resources requires more efficient use of Corps resources and funding, and greater oversight of Corps analyses; (3) appropriate cost sharing ensures efficient measures of project demands and enables the Corps to meet more national project needs; (4) the significant demand for recreation, clean water, and healthy wildlife habitat must be fully reflected in the project planning and construction process of the Corps; (5) the human health, environmental, and social impacts of dams, levees, shoreline stabilization structures, river training structures, river dredging, and other Corps projects and activities must be adequately considered and, in any case in which adverse impacts cannot be avoided, fully mitigated; (6) the National Academy of Sciences has concluded that the Principles and Guidelines for water resources projects need to be modernized and updated to reflect current economic practices and environmental laws and planning guidelines; and (7) affected interests must have access to information that will allow those interests to play a larger and more effective role in the oversight of Corps project development and mitigation. (b)

Purposes

The purposes of this Act are— (1) to ensure that the water resources investments of the United States are economically justified and enhance the environment; (2) to provide independent review of feasibility studies, general reevaluation studies, and environmental impact statements of the Corps; (3) to ensure timely, ecologically successful, and cost-effective mitigation for Corps projects; (4) to ensure appropriate local cost sharing to assist in efficient project planning focused on national needs; (5) to enhance the involvement of affected interests in feasibility studies, general reevaluation studies, and environmental impact statements of the Corps; (6) to modernize planning principles of the Corps to meet the economic and environmental needs of riverside and coastal communities and the nation; (7) to ensure that environmental protection and restoration, and national economic development, are co-equal goals, and given co-equal emphasis, during the evaluation, planning, and construction of Corps projects; (8) to ensure that project planning, project evaluations, and project recommendations of the Corps are based on sound science and economics and on a full evaluation of the impacts to the health of aquatic ecosystems; and (9) to ensure that the determination of benefits and costs of Corps projects properly reflects current law and Federal policies designed to protect human health and the environment.

3.

Definitions

In this Act: (1)

Academy

The term Academy means the National Academy of Sciences. (2)

Corps

The term Corps means the Corps of Engineers. (3)

Principles and guidelines

The term Principles and Guidelines means the principles and guidelines of the Corps for water resources projects (consisting of Engineer Regulation 1105–2–100 and Engineer Pamphlet 1165–2–1). (4)

Secretary

The term Secretary means the Secretary of the Army.