Appropriations bill FY96, Energy and Water Development

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Title I: Department of Defense-Civil

Title II: Department of the Interior

Title III: Department of Energy

Title IV: Independent Agencies

Title V: General Provisions

Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, 1996 - Title I: Department of Defense-Civil - Makes appropriations for FY 1996 for: (1) authorized civil functions of the Department of the Army relating to rivers and harbors, flood control, beach erosion, and related purposes; (2) expenses necessary for the collection and study of information related to such purposes; (3) the prosecution of authorized water development and related projects (provided that the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief of Engineers, shall transfer specified funds to the Secretary of the Interior for operation and maintenance at specified Columbia River Fishing Access Sites to be constructed by the Department of the Army); (4) certain flood control projects on the Mississippi River and its related tributaries; (5) water development projects operation and maintenance (provided that the Secretary of the Army shall maintain a specified minimum conservation pool level at Wister Lake, Oklahoma); (6) regulatory programs; (7) flood control and coastal emergencies; (8) oil spill research; and (9) general expenses.

(Sec. 101) Directs the Secretary of the Army to advertise for competitive bid specified cubic yards of the hopper dredge volume accomplished with Government-owned dredges in FY 1992.

Authorizes the Secretary to use the dredge fleet of the Corps of Engineers to undertake projects when industry does not perform as required by contract or when the bids are more than 25 percent in excess of a fair and reasonable cost estimate.

Prohibits the use of any funds available to the Army Corps of Engineers to study, design, or undertake improvement or major repair of the Federal vessel McFARLAND (except for normal maintenance and repair to maintain its operational condition).

Prohibits the Secretary from significantly altering operating schedules of the remaining Federal hopper dredges if any of the four Corps of Engineers hopper dredges is removed from normal service for repair or rehabilitation, and such repair prevents the dredge from accomplishing its volume of work regularly carried out in each of the past three years.

(Sec. 102) Amends a specified Act relating to the project for navigation, Manistique Harbor, Schoolcraft County, Michigan, to permit installation of a sand and stone cap over sediments affected by polychlorinated biphenyls in accordance with an administrative order of the Environmental Protection Agency. States that such project shall continue to be maintained as a harbor of refuge.

(Sec. 103) Prohibits the use of any funds available to the Army Corps of Engineers for a movement to the Southeast Federal Center, except funds used to process required Department of the Army permits.

(Sec. 104) Modifies a flood control project authorized for Petersburg, West Virginia, to authorize the Secretary of the Army to construct the project at a specified cost.

(Sec. 105) Authorizes the Secretary of the Army to: (1) accept from a non-Federal sponsor certain additional lands contiguous to the Cooper Lake and Channels Project, Texas; and (2) redesignate certain mitigation land to recreation purposes. States that the cost of all work undertaken pursuant to this section shall be borne by the donating sponsor.

(Sec. 106) Authorizes the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief of Engineers, to undertake a specified Indianapolis, Indiana, project, to include certain riverfront alterations described in a specified master plan with specified estimated Federal and non-Federal costs.

(Sec. 107) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1992 to: (1) authorize increased appropriations for South Central Pennsylvania Environmental Restoration Infrastructure and Resource Protection Development Pilot Program providing environmental assistance to non-Federal interests in south central Pennsylvania; (2) increase the number of counties that compose "south central Pennsylvania"; and (3) revise the cost-sharing guidelines governing such program.

(Sec. 108) Directs the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief of Engineers, to proceed with engineering, design, and construction of flood control projects and improvements to rainfall drainage systems in Jefferson, Orleans, and St. Tammany Parishes in Louisiana. Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 109) Instructs the Secretary of the Army to convey specified Federal lands to the City of Prestonburg, Kentucky, for public use recreational purposes and to further the regional economic development, subject to certain conditions.

Title II: Department of the Interior - Makes FY 1996 appropriations for: (1) carrying out the Central Utah Project Completion Act; (2) the Bureau of Reclamation; (3) general investigations of proposed Federal reclamation projects (4) project construction and rehabilitation; (5) project operation and maintenance; (6) Bureau of Reclamation Loan Program Account; (7) the Central Valley Project Restoration Fund; and (8) general administrative expenses and special funds.

Title III: Department of Energy - Makes appropriations to the Department of Energy (DOE) for FY 1996 for: (1) energy supply, research, and development activities (2) uranium supply and enrichment activities; (3) Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning Fund; (4) general DOE science and research activities; (5) the Nuclear Waste Disposal Fund; (6) atomic energy defense weapons activities; (7) defense environmental restoration and waste management; (8) other DOE defense activities (9) defense nuclear waste disposal (subject to the condition that specified sums shall be available for obligation and expenditure only for an interim storage facility and only upon enactment of specific statutory authority); (10) DOE administrative expenses; (11) Office of the Inspector General; (12) operation, maintenance, construction, rehabilitation, and funding expenses of the various geographical power administrations of DOE (including operation, maintenance, and emergency costs for the hydroelectric facilities at the Falcon and Amistad Dams); and (13) salaries and expenses of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Title IV: Independent Agencies - Makes appropriations for FY 1996 for: (1) the Appalachian Regional Commission; (2) the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board; (3) the Delaware River Basin Commission; (4) the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin; (5) the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC); (6) the NRC Office of the Inspector General; (7) the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board; (8) the Susquehanna River Basin Commission; and (9) the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).

Sets a deadline by which TVA must submit a preliminary plan to the Congress securing funding for the environmental research center from sources other than direct appropriations to TVA.

Title V: General Provisions - Amends the Fiscal Year 1991 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act to repeal the prohibition against the use of appropriated funds to: (1) change the employment levels determined necessary by the Administrators of the Federal Power Marketing Administrations; or (2) change the employment levels of other Department of Energy programs to compensate for the employment levels of the Federal Power Marketing Administrations.

(Sec. 502) Extends until five years after enactment of the Western Water Policy Review Act of 1992 the due date for the President's report regarding Federal activities in the 19 Western States which directly or indirectly affect the allocation and use of water resources.

(Sec. 503) Provides that a member of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board whose term has expired may continue to serve until a successor has taken office.

(Sec. 504) Amends specified Federal law to extend to October 1, 1996, the authorization of appropriations for the Trinity River Restoration Program of the Central Valley Project, California.

(Sec. 505) Declares the sense of the Congress that all equipment and products bought with funds under this Act should be American-made. Requires each Federal agency to give notice of this policy to any entity to whom it provides financial assistance or contracts.

(Sec. 506) Prohibits the use of funds made available in this Act to revise the Missouri River Master Water Control Manual when it is made known to the appropriate Federal authority to which the funds are made available that such revision provides for an increase in the springtime water release program during the spring heavy rainfall and snow melt period in States that have rivers draining into the Missouri River below the Gavins Point Dam.

(Sec. 507) Instructs the Secretary of the Interior to proceed without delay with facilities construction pursuant to the final Biological Opinion for the Animas-La Plata project, Colorado and New Mexico, dated October 25, 1991, in order to ensure timely implementation of the Colorado Ute Indian Water Rights Settlement Act of 1988.

(Sec. 508) Authorizes the Administrator of the Bonneville Power Administration to dispose of excess Federal electric power: (1) outside the Pacific Northwest, if certain conditions are met; and (2) in any region without specified statutory prohibition on resale.

Requires the Northwest Power and Conservation Planning Council to report to the Congress on the most appropriate governance structure for more effective regional control over conservation efforts affecting anadromous and resident fish and wildlife within the Federal Columbia River Power System.

Authorizes the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, acting through the North Pacific Division of the Corps of Engineers, to place orders for goods and services related to facilities for electric power generation and fish and wildlife mitigation associated with the Federal Columbia River Power System with and through the Administrator using the available authorities.

Declares that in spite of certain statutory rates, the cost benefits of eligible utilities' total purchase and exchange sales shall be $145 million for FY 1997, and the net benefits paid to each eligible electric utility shall be $145 million multiplied by the percentage of the total of such net benefits paid by the Administrator to such utility for FY 1995.

Authorizes the Administrator to offer employees voluntary separation incentives not to exceed $25,000. Provides that recipients who accept Federal employment within five years after separation must repay the entire amount to the Bonneville Power Administration.

(Sec. 509) Amends the Magnetic Fusion Energy Engineering Act to repeal the mandate for establishment of a technical panel on magnetic fusion of the Energy Research Advisory Board to review the conduct of the national magnetic fusion energy program.

(Sec. 510) Mandates specified water levels at dams at International Falls and Kettle Falls, Minnesota, in Rainy Lake and Namakan Lake, respectively. Confers enforcement authority for such water levels upon the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.