II 111th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 1471 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES July 20, 2009 Mr. Vitter (for himself and Ms. Landrieu) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works A BILL To direct the Secretary of the Army to carry out certain water control projects at Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Providing the Utmost safety Measures to the Permanent Protection System in New Orleans, Louisiana or the PUMPPS NOLA Act of 2009.

2.

Findings

Congress finds that— (1)section 4303 of the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007 (Public Law 110–28; 121 Stat. 154) requires the Secretary to provide to Congress an analysis of each advantage and disadvantage, and the technical operational effectiveness of— (A)the operation of the new pumping stations located at the mouths of the 17th Street, Orleans Avenue, and London Avenue canals in the New Orleans area concurrently, or in a series with, pumping stations that— (i)are in existence as of the date of enactment of that Act (Public Law 110–28; 121 Stat. 112); and (ii)serve the canals; (B)the removal of the pumping stations described in subparagraph (A) and the configuration of the new pumping stations described in that subparagraph (including associated canals) to accommodate each— (i)necessary discharge to the lakefront; and (ii)discharge described in clause (i) in combination with each discharge directly to the portion of the Mississippi River located in Jefferson Parish; and (C)the replacement or improvement of the floodwalls and levees adjacent to each canal described in subparagraph (A); (2)prior to the required analysis described in paragraph (1), engineering concept studies were performed by the Secretary to determine the most technically effective means of accomplishing the dual purpose of— (A)protecting against storm surges; and (B)simultaneously evacuating storm water; (3)a collaborative process was established and many technical review meetings were held to exchange ideas; (4)to develop and evaluate each technical advantage and disadvantage, and the operational effectiveness, of each option through the use of each result and recommendation contained in each report (including each draft report) completed after Hurricane Katrina, the Secretary expanded and formalized the collaborative process described in paragraph (3) with external stakeholders that included— (A)the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans; (B)Jefferson Parish; (C)the New Orleans Business Council; (D)the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development; (E)the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East; (F)the Regional Planning Commission, New Orleans; and (G)independent groups; (5)the reports described in paragraph (4) provide much of the background technical data required to carry out in an expedited manner the analysis described in paragraph (1); and (6)based on the information compiled for the analysis described in paragraph (1), the Secretary concluded that the option identified as Option 2, as described in the report, is generally more technically advantageous and more effective operationally over Option 1 because it would have greater reliability and further reduces risk of flooding.

3.

Definitions

In this Act: (1)

Project

The term project means the project for permanent pumps and canal modifications that is— (A)authorized by the matter under the heading General Projects in section 204 of the Flood Control Act of 1965 (Public Law 89–298; 79 Stat. 1077); and (B)modified by— (i)the matter under the heading Flood control and coastal emergencies (including rescission of funds) under the heading Corps of Engineers—Civil under the heading Department of the Army under the heading Department of Defense—civil of chapter 3 of title II of the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Hurricane Recovery, 2006 (Public Law 109–234; 120 Stat. 454); (ii)section 7012(a)(2) of the Water Resources Development Act of 2007 (Public Law 110–114; 121 Stat. 1279); and (iii)the matter under the heading Flood control and coastal emergencies under the heading Corps of Engineers—Civil under the heading Department of the Army under the heading Department of Defense—civil of chapter 3 of title III of the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 (Public Law 110–252; 122 Stat. 2349). (2)

Report

The term report means the report— (A)entitled Report to Congress for Public Law 110–252, 17th Street, Orleans Avenue and London Avenue Canals Permanent Protection System, Hurricane Protection System, New Orleans, Louisiana; (B)prepared by the Secretary; (C)dated September 26, 2008; and (D)revised in December 2008. (3)

Secretary

The term Secretary means the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief of Engineers. (4)

State

The term State means the State of Louisiana.

4.

Project modification

The project is further modified to direct the Secretary— (1)to construct a pump station and optimized diversion from the 2,500-acre area known as Hoey’s Basin to the Mississippi River to help reduce storm water flow into the 17th Street canal; (2)to construct an optimized diversion through the Florida Avenue canal for discharging water into the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal; (3)to construct new, permanent pump stations at or near the lakefront on the 17th Street, Orleans Avenue, and London Avenue canals to provide for future flow capacity; (4)to deepen, widen within each right-of-way in existence as of the date of enactment of this Act, and line the bottom and side slopes of the 17th Street, Orleans Avenue, and London Avenue canals to allow for a gravity flow of storm water to the pump stations at the lakefront; (5)to modify or replace bridges that are located in close proximity or adjacent to the 17th Street, Orleans Avenue, and London Avenue canals; (6)if the Secretary determines to be appropriate, to remove the levees and floodwalls in existence as of the date of enactment of this Act that line each side of the canals described in paragraph (5) down to the surrounding ground grade; (7)to decommission or bypass the interior pump stations of the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans that are located at each canal described in paragraph (5) to maintain the water surface differential across the existing pumping stations until all systems and features are in place to allow for a fully functional system at a lowered canal water surface elevation; and (8)to decommission and remove the interim control structures that are located at each canal described in paragraph (5).

5.

Implementation requirements

(a)

In general

In carrying out section 4, the Secretary shall provide for any investigation, design, and construction sequencing in a manner consistent with the options identified as Option 2 and Option 2a, as described in the report. (b)

Funding

In carrying out section 4, the Secretary shall use amounts made available to modify the 17th Street, Orleans Avenue, and London Avenue drainage canals and install pumps and closure structures at or near the lakefront in the first proviso in— (1)the matter under the heading Flood control and coastal emergencies (including rescission of funds) under the heading Corps of Engineers—Civil under the heading Department of the Army under the heading Department of Defense—civil of chapter 3 of title II of the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Hurricane Recovery, 2006 (Public Law 109–234; 120 Stat. 454); and (2)the second undesignated paragraph under the heading Flood control and coastal emergencies under the heading Corps of Engineers—Civil under the heading Department of the Army under the heading Department of Defense—civil of chapter 3 of title III of the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 (Public Law 110–252; 122 Stat. 2349). (c)

Non-Federal share; liability of State

As a condition for the Secretary to initiate the conduct of the project, the State shall enter into an agreement with the Secretary under which the State shall agree— (1)to pay 100 percent of the costs arising from the operation, maintenance, repair, replacement, and rehabilitation of each completed component of the project; and (2)to hold the United States harmless from any claim or damage that may arise from carrying out the project except any claim or damage that may arise from the negligence of the Federal Government or a contractor of the Federal Government.