Ohio River Basin Preparedness Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7426 To require development and implementation of an interagency plan to assist communities affected by climate change in the Ohio River Basin, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 30, 2020 Mr. LAMB (for himself, Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania, and Mr. RYAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, Financial Services, Agriculture, and Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris- diction of the committee concerned A BILL To require development and implementation of an inter- agency plan to assist communities affected by climate change in the Ohio River Basin, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ohio River Basin Pre- 4 paredness Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Jul 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7426.IH H7426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7426 IH SEC. 2. INTERAGENCY PLAN. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 2 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Army, 3 acting through the Chief of Engineers, in coordination 4 with the head of each agency described in subsection (d), 5 shall develop and issue an interagency plan for the agen- 6 cies described in subsection (d) to assist States, Indian 7 Tribes, and communities in the Ohio River Basin in pre- 8 paring for, and responding to, the effects of climate 9 change, including by— 10 (1) informing such States, Indian Tribes, and 11 communities of existing Federal resources available 12 to such States, Indian Tribes, and communities, 13 based on the analysis described in subsection (b)(2); 14 and 15 (2) providing assistance through the Environ- 16 mental Protection Agency’s Smart Growth Program, 17 the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Pre- 18 Disaster Mitigation Grant Program, the Department 19 of Housing and Urban Development’s Community 20 Development Block Grant program, the Economic 21 Development Administration of the Department of 22 Commerce, and the Department of Agriculture, to 23 such States, Indian Tribes, and communities to help 24 them prepare for extreme weather, major floods, ris- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Jul 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7426.IH H7426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7426 IH ing temperatures, and potential economic losses 1 from such threats. 2 (b) DEVELOPMENT.—In developing the interagency 3 plan under subsection (a), the Secretary of the Army, act- 4 ing through the Chief of Engineers, in coordination with 5 the head of each agency described in subsection (d), 6 shall— 7 (1) consult with States, Indian Tribes, and 8 communities in the Ohio River Basin that may be 9 affected by climate change; and 10 (2) include in such interagency plan— 11 (A) identification of the particular needs of 12 such States, Indian Tribes, and communities in 13 order for such States, Indian Tribes, and com- 14 munities to adequately prepare for, and respond 15 to, the effects of climate change; and 16 (B) an analysis of— 17 (i) the availability of existing and po- 18 tential Federal resources, including pro- 19 grams, grants, loans, and other assistance, 20 that the agencies described in subsection 21 (d) may provide to assist States, Indian 22 Tribes, and communities in the Ohio River 23 Basin in preparing for, and responding to, 24 the effects of climate change (including as- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Jul 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7426.IH H7426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7426 IH sistance in building or modernizing infra- 1 structure), including— 2 (I) Corps of Engineers resources 3 related to— 4 (aa) modernizing and hard- 5 ening levees, floodwalls, and flood 6 control projects for more extreme 7 weather flooding events; 8 (bb) restoring wetlands so 9 that such wetlands may absorb 10 rain; 11 (cc) reconnecting floodplains 12 to rivers in order to allow for 13 natural flood storage; 14 (dd) developing a basin-wide 15 water management plan, in col- 16 laboration with the Department 17 of Agriculture, Tennessee Valley 18 Authority, and water manage- 19 ment agencies of the States in 20 the Ohio River Basin; and 21 (ee) updating and modern- 22 izing operations manuals for 23 dams and reservoirs operated by 24 the Corps of Engineers to ac- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Jul 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7426.IH H7426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7426 IH count for future water risks, pre- 1 cipitation, flow patterns, and 2 usage; 3 (II) Environmental Protection 4 Agency resources and Department of 5 Agriculture resources related to mod- 6 ernizing drinking water and waste- 7 water treatment and stormwater man- 8 agement; 9 (III) Department of Transpor- 10 tation resources related to raising or 11 hardening critical transportation in- 12 frastructure that may be vulnerable to 13 flooding; 14 (IV) United States Geological 15 Survey resources and Environmental 16 Protection Agency resources related to 17 water quality and flow discharge mon- 18 itoring and modeling; and 19 (V) Federal Emergency Manage- 20 ment Agency resources related to up- 21 dating and modernizing flood hazard 22 maps to incorporate the latest science 23 and future risk projections; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Jul 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7426.IH H7426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 7426 IH (ii) the limitations of existing Federal 1 resources that the agencies described in 2 subsection (d) may so provide, including— 3 (I) the limitations of such re- 4 sources in meeting the particular 5 needs of such States, Indian Tribes, 6 and communities identified under sub- 7 paragraph (A); and 8 (II) recommendations— 9 (aa) for Congress regarding 10 any statutory changes regarding 11 existing Federal programs, or ad- 12 ditional Federal funding, that the 13 agencies determine are necessary 14 to assist such States, Indian 15 Tribes, and communities in pre- 16 paring for, and responding to, 17 the effects of climate change; and 18 (bb) for additional Federal, 19 State, and local resources that 20 the agencies determine are nec- 21 essary to so assist such States, 22 Indian Tribes, and communities. 23 (c) PUBLICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Jul 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7426.IH H7426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 7426 IH (1) PUBLICATION.—Upon issuance of the inter- 1 agency plan developed under subsection (a), the plan 2 shall be published on the public internet website 3 of— 4 (A) the Environmental Protection Agency; 5 (B) the Assistant Secretary of the Army 6 for Civil Works; and 7 (C) the Great Lakes and Ohio River Divi- 8 sion of the Corps of Engineers. 9 (2) DEADLINE.—Not later than 30 days after 10 the interagency plan developed under subsection (a) 11 is issued, each head of an agency described in sub- 12 section (d) shall implement such interagency plan. 13 (3) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—In implementing 14 the interagency plan developed under subsection (a), 15 the heads of the agencies described in subsection (d) 16 shall provide technical assistance and expertise to 17 States, Indian Tribes, and communities in the Ohio 18 River Basin. 19 (d) AGENCIES DESCRIBED.—The agencies described 20 in this subsection are as follows: 21 (1) The Corps of Engineers. 22 (2) The Environmental Protection Agency. 23 (3) The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- 24 ministration. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Jul 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7426.IH H7426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 7426 IH (4) The Department of the Interior. 1 (5) The Department of Agriculture. 2 (6) The Department of Transportation. 3 (7) The Federal Emergency Management Agen- 4 cy. 5 (8) The United States Geological Survey. 6 (9) The Department of Housing and Urban De- 7 velopment. 8 (10) The Department of Commerce. 9 SEC. 3. REPORT ON IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON 10 ELECTRIC UTILITIES. 11 Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment 12 of this Act, the Secretary of Energy shall publish, on the 13 public internet website of the Department of Energy, a 14 report that includes— 15 (1) an analysis of— 16 (A) the potential vulnerabilities of electric 17 utilities that are located in, or serve electric 18 consumers in, the Ohio River Basin, to climate 19 change and extreme weather; and 20 (B) the impacts of climate change and ex- 21 treme weather on such electric utilities; and 22 (2) recommendations and technical assistance, 23 as appropriate, to assist such electric utilities in pre- 24 paring for climate change and extreme weather. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Jul 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7426.IH H7426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 7426 IH SEC. 4. DEFINITION. 1 In this Act, the term ‘‘Ohio River Basin’’ means the 2 Ohio River Basin as identified in the Corps of Engineers’ 3 study titled ‘‘Ohio River Basin-Formulating Climate 4 Change Mitigation/Adaptation Strategies through Re- 5 gional Collaboration with the ORB Alliance’’ (May 2017). 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Jul 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7426.IH H7426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS