Infrastructure subpanel approves dam safety legislation
Bill would increase annual funding for program to $12.7 million from $8.6 million.
A House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee Thursday approved legislation that would increase federal funding for state dam safety programs by 50 percent and for the first time mandate Army Corps of Engineers inspection of all state regulated dams.
"They are doing it anyway ... We just want to make sure they continue to do it," said the bill's sponsor, Rep. John (Randy) Kuhl, R.-N.Y. The measure would extend the 25-year-old National Dam Safety Program for another five years.
The Economic Development Subcommittee cleared the bill by voice vote after it approved, also on a voice vote, a technical amendment by Kuhl changing the inspection language to read that the Corps "shall inspect" the state-controlled dams. The previous language merely said the Corps "may" do the inspections.
Under the bill, annual funding for the program, which is mainly administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, would rise from $8.6 million to $12.7 million. The bulk of the funding, $8.7 million, would be allocated in grants to the states to help them improve their dam safety efforts. The money would be divided up according to a formula based on the number of dams in each state.
The rest of the annual funding would be used to maintain and update the Corps' national inventory of dams, safety research, training of state personnel and for FEMA staff and administrative costs.
The federal government owns and operates only about 5 percent of the nation's nearly 78,000 dams. The states have responsibility for virtually all the rest, several thousand of which are believed to be dangerous.
Similar legislation extending the federal dam safety program has cleared a Senate Committee.
Meanwhile, the panel also approved legislation to create a four-year, $350 million program to help states repair and rehabilitate dams.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Sue Kelly, R-N.Y., cleared the subcommittee by voice vote. The funding levels for the program would be $50 million for fiscal 2007, and $100 million annually between fiscal 2008 and fiscal 2010. The money would be allocated in the form of grants to states to repair publicly owned dams within their jurisdictions. The grants could not exceed 75 percent of the amount needed for construction.
None of the money could be used for repair work on federally owned dams, for maintenance on any dam public or private, or for any dam modifications, such as those designed to produce hydroelectric power.