
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]
[Laws in effect as of January 2, 2001]
[Document affected by Public Law 106-541 Section 342]
[Document affected by Public Law 107-66 Section 113]
[CITE: 33USC2263]

 
                TITLE 33--NAVIGATION AND NAVIGABLE WATERS
 
                 CHAPTER 36--WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT
 
                 SUBCHAPTER IV--WATER RESOURCES STUDIES
 
Sec. 2263. Study of Corps capability to conserve fish and 
        wildlife
        
    (a) The Secretary shall investigate and study the feasibility of 
utilizing the capabilities of the United States Army Corps of Engineers 
to conserve fish and wildlife (including their habitats) where such fish 
and wildlife are indigenous to the United States, its possessions, or 
its territories. The scope of such study shall include the use of 
engineering or construction capabilities to create alternative habitats, 
or to improve, enlarge, develop, or otherwise beneficially modify 
existing habitats of such fish and wildlife. The study shall be 
conducted in consultation with the Director of the Fish and Wildlife 
Service of the Department of the Interior, the Assistant Administrator 
for Fisheries of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 
and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and shall 
be transmitted within the 30-month period beginning on November 17, 
1986, by the Secretary to Congress, together with the findings, 
conclusions, and recommendations of the Chief of Engineers. The 
Secretary, in consultation with the Federal officers referred to in the 
preceding sentence, shall undertake a continuing review of the matters 
covered in the study and shall transmit to Congress, on a biennial 
basis, any revisions to the study that may be required as a result of 
the review, together with the findings, conclusions, and recommendations 
of the Chief of Engineers.
    (b) The Secretary is further authorized to conduct projects of 
alternative or beneficially modified habitats for fish and wildlife, 
including but not limited to man-made reefs for fish. There is 
authorized to be appropriated not to exceed $20,000,000 to carry out 
such projects. Such projects shall be developed, and their effectiveness 
evaluated, in consultation with the Director of the Fish and Wildlife 
Service and the Assistant Administrator for Fisheries of the National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Such projects shall include--
        (1) the construction of a reef for fish habitat in Lake Erie in 
    the vicinity of Buffalo, New York;
        (2) the construction of a reef for fish habitat in the Atlantic 
    Ocean in the vicinity of Fort Lauderdale, Florida;
        (3) the construction of a reef for fish habitat in Lake Ontario 
    in the vicinity of the town of Newfane, New York; and
        (4) the construction of reefs and related clean shell substrate 
    for fish habitat, including manmade 3-dimensional oyster reefs, in 
    the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries in Maryland and Virginia if 
    the reefs are preserved as permanent sanctuaries by the non-Federal 
    interests, consistent with the recommendations of the scientific 
    consensus document on Chesapeake Bay oyster restoration dated June 
    1999.

The non-Federal share of the cost of any project under this section 
shall be 25 percent. In carrying out paragraph (4), the Chief of 
Engineers may solicit participation by and the services of commercial 
watermen in the construction of the reefs.

(Pub. L. 99-662, title VII, Sec. 704, Nov. 17, 1986, 100 Stat. 4157; 
Pub. L. 104-303, title V, Sec. 505, Oct. 12, 1996, 110 Stat. 3757; Pub. 
L. 106-541, title III, Sec. 342, Dec. 11, 2000, 114 Stat. 2612.)


                               Amendments

    2000--Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 106-541, Sec. 342(1), (3), substituted 
``$20,000,000'' for ``$7,000,000'' in second sentence of introductory 
provisions and inserted at end of concluding provisions ``In carrying 
out paragraph (4), the Chief of Engineers may solicit participation by 
and the services of commercial watermen in the construction of the 
reefs.''
    Subsec. (b)(4). Pub. L. 106-541, Sec. 342(2), added par. (4) and 
struck out former par. (4) which read as follows: ``the construction of 
a reef for fish habitat in the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland and 
Virginia.''
    1996--Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 104-303 substituted ``$7,000,000'' for 
``$5,000,000'' in introductory provisions and inserted ``and Virginia'' 
after ``Maryland'' in par. (4).


                  Termination of Reporting Requirements

    For termination, effective May 15, 2000, of provisions of law 
requiring submittal to Congress of any annual, semiannual, or other 
regular periodic report listed in House Document No. 103-7 (in which a 
report required under subsec. (a) of this section is listed on page 68), 
see section 3003 of Pub. L. 104-66, as amended, set out as a note under 
section 1113 of Title 31, Money and Finance.
