Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, 1997

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, 1997 - Title I: Department of Defense-Civil - Makes appropriations to the Department of the Army and its Corps of Engineers for FY 1997 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; (4) certain flood control projects on the Mississippi River and its tributaries; (5) water development projects operation and maintenance; (6) regulatory programs; (7) flood control and coastal emergencies; and (8) general expenses.

(Sec. 103) Specifies modifications to the Moorefield, West Virginia, flood control project.

(Sec. 104) Specifies modifications to the Grays Landing Lock and Dam, Monongahela River, Pennsylvania, navigation project.

(Sec. 105) Requires certain non-structural flood control measures in specified parts of Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia to prevent future losses that would occur from a flood equal in magnitude to the April 1977 level by providing protection from such level or the 100-year frequency event, whichever is greater.

(Sec. 106) Authorizes the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Corps of Engineers, to reprogram, obligate, and expend necessary additional sums to continue certain construction projects until completion.

(Sec. 107) Directs the Corps of Engineers to complete the Charleston Riverfront (HADDAD) Park Project, West Virginia, on a 50-50 cost basis with the City.

(Sec. 108) Specifies modifications to the Arkansas City, Kansas, flood control project.

(Sec. 109) Makes certain funds available to plan and implement long term management measures at Elk Creek Dam, Oregon, to: (1) maintain the project in an uncompleted state; and (2) take necessary steps to provide passive fish passage through the project.

(Sec. 110) Directs the Secretary of the Army to modify the project for the Hudson River, New York, from New York City to Waterford, in a specified manner.

(Sec. 112) Specifies modifications to the emergency gate construction project for the Abiquiu Dam, New Mexico.

Title II: Department of the Interior - Makes FY 1997 appropriations to the Department of the Interior for: (1) the Central Utah Project; (2) the Bureau of Reclamation; (3) general investigations of proposed Federal reclamation projects, studies of water conservation, and preliminary plans and activities relating to existing 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 1997 for: (1) energy supply, research, and development activities; (2) uranium supply and enrichment activities; (3) the 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; (10) DOE administration expenses; (11) Office of the Inspector General; (12) the Alaska, Bonneville, Southeastern, Southwestern, and Western Area Power Administrations, and specified costs for the hydroelectric facilities at the Falcon and Amistad Dams; and (13) the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Requires certain guidelines to require, at a minimum, the presence of an adequate number of security guards carrying side arms at all times to ensure maintenance of security at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Kentucky, and the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Ohio.

Amends the USEC Privatization Act to require the United States Enrichment Corporation to pay employee and agency contributions to the Thrift Savings Fund for employees who elect to retain coverage under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) or the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS).

Directs the Secretary of Energy to give the President and the Congress a viability assessment of the Yucca Mountain site for nuclear waste disposal.

(Sec. 301) Directs the DOE to establish an agency-wide priority placement and job training program for DOE employees affected by a reduction-in-force. Authorizes the Secretary of Energy to establish a job placement and counseling services program for such employees.

(Sec. 302) Prohibits the use of funds appropriated by this or any other Act to implement specified provisions of H.R. 3230 (as reported by the Committee of Conference on July 30, 1996) which relate to management structure for nuclear weapons production facilities and nuclear weapons laboratories. Directs the Secretary of Energy to submit to the Congress a plan to reorganize the field activities and management of DOE national security functions.

Title IV: Independent Agencies - Makes appropriations for FY 1997 for: (1) the Appalachian Regional Commission; (2) the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board; (3) the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC); (4) the NRC Office of the Inspector General; (5) the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board; and (6) the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). Prohibits the availability of TVA funds under this Act for detailed engineering and design or construction of a replacement for Chickamauga Lock and Dam on the Tennessee River System.

Title V: General Provisions - 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 which it provides financial assistance or contracts.

(Sec. 502) Amends Federal law to repeal the Secretary of Energy's authority to accept gifts, bequests, and devises of money.

(Sec. 503) Prohibits the use of funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act to determine the final point of discharge for the interceptor drain for the San Luis Unit until the Secretary of the Interior and the State of California develop a plan, conforming to certain water quality standards, to minimize any detrimental effect of the San Luis drainage waters.

Requires the Secretary of the Interior to classify as reimbursable or non-reimbursable, and collected until fully repaid, the costs of the Kesterson Reservoir Cleanup Program and of the San Joaquin Valley Drainage Program. Requires San Luis Unit beneficiaries to reimburse the United States for any future obligations of funds with respect to Unit drainage service or studies.

(Sec. 504) Prohibits the use of funds made available by this Act to revise the Missouri River Master Water Control Manual if such revision provides for an increase in the springtime water release program during the spring heavy rainfall and snow melt period in States with rivers draining into the Missouri River below Gavins Point Dam.

(Sec. 505) Amends the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, 1991 to repeal, as of the end of FY 1997 or upon operation of the Shasta Dam temperature control device, the provision which makes non-reimbursable any by-pass releases for temperature control purposes at the dam (thus making such releases reimbursable).

(Sec. 506) Directs the Secretary of the Interior to extend the water service contracts for the Bostwick District (both Kansas and Missouri portions) and the Frenchman-Cambridge District, Missouri River Basin Project, as components of the Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program.

(Sec. 508) Prohibits the provision of funds to any subelement of an institution of higher learning which prevents campus access to units of the Senior Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) or Federal military recruiting, unless the subelement ceases such policy or practice, or the institution has a longstanding policy of pacifism based on historical religious affiliation.

(Sec. 510) Prohibits the provision of funds to any Federal contractor that fails to submit required annual reports on the employment of veterans.

(Sec. 511) Authorizes the Administrator of the Bonneville Power Administration to offer employees voluntary separation incentives of up to $25,000.

(Sec. 512) Amends the Northwest Power Planning and Conservation Act to direct the Northwest Power Planning Council to: (1) appoint an Independent Scientific Review Panel to review projects proposed to be funded through that portion of the Bonneville Power Administration's annual fish and wildlife budget that implements the Council's annual fish and wildlife program; and (2) establish Scientific Peer Review Groups to assist the Panel in making its recommendations to the Council for such projects.

(Sec. 513) Designates as: (1) Jim Chapman Lake, the current Cooper Lake on the Sulphur River near Cooper, Texas; (2) William L. Jess Dam and Intake Structure, the dam (known as the Lost Creek Dam Lake Project) located at a certain point on the Rogue River in Jackson County, Oregon; and (3) J. Bennett Johnston Waterway, a specified portion of the Red River, Louisiana.