H.R.2609 - Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2014113th Congress (2013-2014)

Summary: H.R.2609 — 113th Congress (2013-2014)All Information (Except Text)

Shown Here:
Passed House amended (07/10/2013)

Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2014 - Makes appropriations for energy and water development and related agencies for FY2014.

Title I: Corps of Engineers-Civil - Appropriates funds to the Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers-Civil, for: (1) civil functions pertaining to river and harbor, flood and storm damage reduction, shore protection, and aquatic ecosystem restoration (including the Mississippi River alluvial valley below Cape Girardeau, Missouri); (2) the regulatory program pertaining to navigable waters and wetlands; (3) the formerly utilized sites remedial action program for clean-up of early atomic energy program contamination; (4) flood control and coastal emergencies, including hurricanes and other natural disasters; and (5) the Office of Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works).

(Sec. 101) Prohibits the availability of funds for obligation or expenditure through a reprogramming that would: (1) create, initiate, or eliminate a new program, project, or activity; (2) eliminate an existing program, project or activity; (3) increase funds or personnel for any program, project, or activity for which funds are either denied or restricted by this Act; (4) reduce funds directed for use for a specific program, project or activity; (5) increase or reduce funds by more than $2 million or 10%, whichever is less.

(Sec. 103) Prohibits the use of funds to award any continuing contract that commits additional funding from the Inland Waterways Trust Fund before enactment of a long-term mechanism to enhance revenues in this Fund sufficient to meet the cost-sharing authorized in the Water Resources Development Act of 1986.

(Sec. 104) Directs the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works to submit to certain congressional committees the report of the Chief of Engineers Report on a water resource matter.

(Sec. 105) Authorizes the Secretary of the Army (Secretary in this title) to implement measures recommended in a specified efficacy study, with appropriate modifications or emergency measures, to prevent aquatic nuisance species from dispersing into the Great Lakes by way of any hydrologic connection between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River Basin.

(Sec. 106) Authorizes such Secretary to transfer to the Fish and Wildlife Service any funds necessary to mitigate for fisheries lost due to Corps of Engineers projects, but no more than the amount identified for such purpose in the report accompanying the appropriations for the pertinent fiscal year.

(Sec. 107) Prohibits the use of funds by the Corps of Engineers to develop, adopt, implement, administer, or enforce any change to regulations and guidance in effect on October 1, 2012, pertaining to the definition of waters under the jurisdiction of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (including specified rules pertaining to such jurisdiction).

(Sec. 108) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1988 to increase the authorization of appropriations for the Lower Ohio River, Locks and Dams 52 and 53, Illinois and Kentucky.

(Sec. 109) Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 2007 to increase funding for the navigation project for Miami Harbor, Miami-Dade County, Florida.

(Sec. 110) Modifies the authorization in the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 for the Little Calumet River Basin (Cady Marsh Ditch), Indiana, project to authorize the project's completion at a specified total cost of $269.988 million, divided between specified estimated federal and non-federal costs.

(Sec. 111) Declares a specified limitation relating to total project costs in the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 inapplicable during FY2014 to any project that receives funds made available by this Act.

(Sec. 112) Prohibits the use by the Corps of Engineers of Energy and Water Development appropriations to develop, adopt, implement, administer, or enforce any change to regulations in effect on October 1, 2012, pertaining to the definitions of "fill material" or "discharge of fill material" for the purposes of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act.

(Sec. 113) Prohibits the Secretary of the Army from promulgating or enforcing any proscription against individual possession of a firearm at a water resources development project if: (1) the individual is not otherwise prohibited by law from possessing the firearm, and (2) such possession complies with the law of the state in which the project is located.

Title II: Department of the Interior - Makes appropriations for FY2014 to the Department of the Interior for: (1) the Central Utah Project Completion Account; (2) the Bureau of Reclamation, including for water and related natural resources, the Central Valley Project Restoration Fund, California Bay-Delta Restoration, and administrative expenses in the Office of the Commissioner (the Denver office) as well as offices in the Bureau's five regions.

(Sec. 201) Prohibits the availability of funds for obligation or expenditure through a reprogramming that would: (1) create or initiate a new program, project, or activity; (2) eliminate an existing program, project, or activity; (3) increase funds for any program, project, or activity for which funds have been denied or restricted by this Act; or (4) restart or resume any program, project, or activity for which funds are not provided in this Act unless prior approval is received from certain congressional committees.

Prohibits funds for any reprogramming that transfers funds in excess of: (1) 15% for any program, project, or activity for which $2 million or more is available at the beginning of the fiscal year; or (2) $300,000 for any program, project, or activity for which less than $2 million is available at the beginning of the fiscal year.

Extends the same prohibition for any reprogramming that transfers more than $5 million: (1) from either the Facilities Operation, Maintenance, and Rehabilitation category or the Resources Management and Development category to any program, project, or activity in the other category; or (2) to provide adequate funds for settled contractor claims, increased contractor earnings due to accelerated rates of operations, and real estate deficiency judgments, when necessary to discharge legal obligations of the Bureau of Reclamation.

(Sec. 202) Prohibits the use of funds to determine the final point of discharge for the interceptor drain for the San Luis Unit until development by the Secretary of the Interior and the state of California of a plan, which conforms to California water quality standards as approved by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to minimize any detrimental effect of the San Luis drainage waters.

Directs the Secretary of the Interior to classify as reimbursable or nonreimbursable and collected until fully repaid the costs of the Kesterson Reservoir Cleanup Program and the costs of the San Joaquin Valley Drainage Program pursuant to specified alternative repayment plans.

Requires future federal obligations of funds regarding drainage service or drainage studies for the San Luis Unit to be fully reimbursable by San Luis Unit beneficiaries of such service or studies.

(Sec. 203) Prohibits the Bureau of Reclamation, until a specified pipeline reliability study is completed and any necessary changes are made to Technical Memorandum No. 8140-CC-2004-1, from denying approval, funding, or assistance to any project, or disqualifying any material from use based upon the corrosion control used, if the corrosion control meets specified requirements of published national or international standards.

Directs the Bureau to allow any project initiated during the study to use any corrosion control meeting the above standards.

Title III: Department of Energy - Makes appropriations for FY2014 to the Department of Energy (DOE) for energy and science programs, including: (1) renewable energy, energy reliability, and efficiency; (2) electricity delivery and energy reliability; (3) nuclear energy; (4) fossil energy research and development; (5) naval petroleum and oil shale reserves; (6) the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) and the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve; (7) the Energy Information Administration; (8) non-defense environmental cleanup; (9) the Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning Fund; (10) science activities; (11) the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E); (12) the Title 17 Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee Loan Program; (13) the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program; (14) departmental administration; (15) the Office of the Inspector General; (16) the National Nuclear Security Administration and atomic energy defense weapons activities; (17) defense nuclear nonproliferation activities; (18) naval reactors activities; (19) Office of the Administrator in the National Nuclear Security Administration; (20) defense environmental cleanup; and (21) other defense activities.

Approves expenditures from the Bonneville Power Administration Fund for specified construction activities.

Makes FY2014 appropriations for operation and maintenance of: (1) the Southeastern Power Administration, (2) the Southwestern Power Administration, (3) the Western Area Power Administration, including construction and rehabilitation, (4) the Falcon and Amistad Operating and Maintenance Fund, (5) the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and (6) specified DOE activities.

(Sec. 301) Prohibits the use of any funds or authority made available for DOE under this Act to initiate or resume any program, project, or activity, or to prepare or initiate Requests For Proposals or similar arrangements for a program, project, or activity which has not been funded by Congress.

Prohibits the use of funds made available under this Act to make grant allocations or discretionary grant or contract awards of $1 million or more, or perform certain related duties, unless DOE notifies the congressional appropriations committees at least three business days in advance. Requires DOE, in addition, to submit quarterly reports to such committees detailing each grant allocation or discretionary grant award totaling less than $1 million provided during the previous quarter.

Prohibits DOE from entering into certain multi-year transactions under DOE-Energy Programs unless such transactions are funded for the full period of performance as anticipated at the time of award, or a transaction conditions the federal obligation upon the availability of future-year budget authority and DOE notifies certain congressional committees at least 14 days in advance.

Authorizes the reprogramming of funds for any program, project, or activity. Requires DOE to notify certain congressional committees at least 30 days before the use of any proposed reprogramming which would cause a program, project, or activity funding level to increase or decrease by more than $5 million or 10%, whichever is less.

Prohibits the availability of funds for obligation or expenditure through a reprogramming that would: (1) create, initiate, or eliminate a new program, project, or activity; (2) increase funds or personnel for any program, project, or activity for which funds are denied or restricted by this Act; or (3) reduce funds directed to be used for a specific program, project, or activity by this Act.

Authorizes the Secretary of Energy to waive a requirement or restriction that applies to the use of funds made available for DOE if compliance would pose substantial risk to human health, the environment, welfare, or national security. Instructs the Secretary to notify the congressional appropriations committees of any such waiver within three days after the activity to which a requirement or restriction would otherwise have applied.

(Sec. 302) Permits the availability to the same appropriation accounts of unexpended balances of prior appropriations provided for activities in this Act.

(Sec. 303) Deems funds for intelligence activities to be specifically authorized by Congress during FY2014 until the enactment of the Intelligence Authorization Act for FY2014.

(Sec. 304) Prohibits the use of funds to: (1) construct specified high-hazard nuclear facilities unless independent oversight is conducted by the Office of Health, Safety, and Security to ensure compliance with nuclear safety requirements; or (2) approve a Critical Decision-2 or Critical Decision-3 under a specified DOE Order for construction projects where the total project cost exceeds $100 million, until a separate independent cost estimate has been developed.

(Sec. 307) ) Prohibits the use of funds made available by this Act to pay the salaries of DOE employees to implement the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 with respect to the Weatherization Assistance Program.

(Sec. 308) Permits DOE to authorize up to 4.5% of the funds made available by DOE for activities at federally-owned, contractor-operated laboratories for use by such laboratories for directed research and development.

(Sec. 309) Prohibits the use of funds made available under this Act for DOE Energy Programs, Science, for any multiyear contract or other transaction agreement of $1.5 million or less unless the agreement is funded for the full period of performance anticipated at the time of award.

Title IV: Independent Agencies - Makes FY2014 appropriations to: (1) the Appalachian Regional Commission; (2) the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board; (3) the Delta Regional Authority; (4) the Denali Commission; (5) the Northern Border Regional Commission; (6) the Southeast Crescent Regional Commission; (7) the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), including the Office of Inspector General; (8) the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board; and (9) the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects.

(Sec. 401) Prohibits the NRC Chairman from terminating any program, project, or activity without a majority vote of the NRC Commissioners approving such action.

(Sec. 402) Requires the NRC Chairman to notify the congressional appropriations committees not later than one day after the Chairman begins performing specified functions under the Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1980, or after a member of the NRC who was delegated emergency functions under that Plan begins performing those functions, including an explanation of the circumstances warranting the exercise of such authority.

Title V: General Provisions - (Sec. 502) Prohibits the use of funds made available by this Act to: (1) eliminate or reduce funding for a program, project, or activity proposed in a President's budget request for a fiscal year until the proposed change is subsequently enacted in an appropriations Act, or unless it is made pursuant to the reprogramming and transfer provisions of this Act.

(Sec. 503) Prohibits the use of funds to enter into a contract, memorandum of understanding, or cooperative agreement with, make a grant to, or provide a loan or loan guarantee to any corporation that was convicted of a federal felony criminal violation within the preceding 24 months, where the awarding agency is aware of the conviction, unless the agency has considered suspension or debarment of the corporation and determined that this further action is not necessary to protect government interests.

(Sec. 504) Extends the same prohibition to any corporation that has any unpaid federal tax liability that has been assessed, for which all judicial and administrative remedies have been exhausted or have lapsed, and that is not being paid in a timely manner, where the awarding agency is aware of the unpaid tax liability, unless it has considered suspension or debarment of the corporation and determined that this further action is not necessary.

(Sec. 505) Prohibits funds made available by this Act to DOE from being transferred to any federal department, agency, or instrumentality, except pursuant to certain statutory transfer authorities, or any authority whereby a federal department, agency, or instrumentality may provide goods or services to another such entity.

Requires the head of a department or agency funded in this Act that utilizes any transfer authority to report semiannually to certain congressional committees, detailing such transfer authority.

(Sec. 506) Prohibits the use of funds: (1) to contravene Executive Order No. 12898 of February 11, 1994 ("Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations"), and (2) for new hires by a federal agency funded in this Act that are not verified through a specified E-Verify Program.

(Sec. 508) Rescinds specified amounts from unobligated balances available from prior year appropriations affecting the following accounts: (1) Corps of Engineers Construction, General, flood control projects and general investigations, and (2) DOE programs for energy efficiency and renewable energy, and the atomic energy defense weapons activities and defense nuclear nonproliferation of the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Prohibits rescissions from amounts designated by Congress as emergency requirements.

(Sec. 509) Prohibits the use of funds: (1) to conduct closure of adjudicatory functions, technical review, or support activities associated with the Yucca Mountain (Nevada) geologic repository license application; or (2) for actions that irrevocably remove the possibility that Yucca Mountain may be a repository option in the future.

(Sec. 510) Requires the Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation and the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) to submit to the congressional appropriations committees, at the same time that the President's FY2015 budget proposal is submitted, a comprehensive report compiled in conjunction with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that details updated missions, goals, strategies, and priorities, and performance metrics directly linked to requests for funding.

(Sec. 511) Expresses the sense of Congress that Congress should not pass legislation authorizing spending cuts that would increase poverty in the United States.

(Sec. 512) Sets $0.00 as the amount by which the applicable allocation of new budget authority made by the House Committee on Appropriations exceeds the amount of proposed new budget authority under the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.

(Sec. 513) Prohibits the use of funds made available in this Act to implement or enforce specified energy conservation standards for: (1) general service incandescent lamps; or (2) BPAR incandescent reflector lamps, BR incandescent reflector lamps, and ER incandescent reflector lamps.

(Sec. 514) Prohibits the use of funds made available in this Act to pay the salary of individuals appointed during a recess of the Senate to fill vacancies in certain existing offices before the appointee has been confirmed by the Senate.

(Sec. 515) Prohibits the use of funds made available in this Act within the borders of the state of Louisiana by the Mississippi Valley Division or the Southwestern Division of the Army Corps of Engineers, or any district of the Corps within such divisions, to implement or enforce the Modified Charleston Mitigation Method.

(Sec. 516) Prohibits the use of funds made available in this Act to finalize, implement, or enforce a rule proposed by DOE (Energy Conservation Standards Ceiling Fans and Ceiling Fan Light Kits) identified by regulation identification number 1904-AC87.

(Sec. 517) Prohibits the use of funds made available in this Act to relocate or consolidate general and administrative functions, personnel, or resources of the Buffalo and Chicago Districts of the Corps of Engineers Great Lakes and Ohio River Division.

(Sec. 518) Prohibits the use of funds made available in this Act to implement or enforce the national media campaign to increase energy efficiency and reduce oil consumption throughout the U.S. economy required by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.

(Sec. 519) Prohibits the use of funds made available in this Act to enter into a contract whose offeror certifies that within the three-year period preceding its offer it has been charged with, convicted of, or had a civil judgment rendered against it for specified criminal or civil offenses, including an unsatisfied liability for delinquent federal taxes.

(Sec. 520) Reduces funds made available in this Act for DOE-Energy Programs-Department Administration by $2 million, and increases by the same amount the funds made available for construction by the Corps of Engineers-Civil.

(Sec. 521) Reduces funds made available in this Act for DOE-Energy Programs-Fossil Energy Research and Development by $20 million, and increases by the same amount the funds made available for construction by the Corps of Engineers-Civil.

(Sec. 522) Prohibits DOE from using funds made available either in this Act or in the Bonneville Power Administration Fund for any program, project, or activity required by or proposed in the memorandum from Steven Chu, Secretary of Energy, to the Power Marketing Administrators with the subject line "Power Marketing Administrations' Role" and dated March 16, 2012.

(Sec. 523) Prohibits the use of funds made available in this Act to reduce U.S. active and inactive nuclear weapons stockpiles in contravention of the Arms Control and Disarmament Act (which permits such a reduction only pursuant to the treaty-making power of the President, or by enactment of affirmative legislation by Congress).

(Sec. 524) Prohibits the use of funds made available in this Act to lease or purchase new light duty vehicles for any executive fleet, or for an agency's fleet inventory, except in accordance with Presidential Memorandum-Federal Fleet Performance, dated May 24, 2011.

(Sec. 525) Reduces by $1 million the funds made available in this Act for the expenses of the Corps of Engineers-Civil, but increases by that amount the funds made available for construction by the Corps.

(Sec. 526) Prohibits the use of funds made available in this Act to: (1) study the Missouri River Projects as authorized by the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2009; (2) continue a specified study by the Army Corps of Engineers of the Missouri River and its tributaries regarding actions to mitigate losses of aquatic and terrestrial habitat, recover certain federally listed endangered species, and restore the ecosystem to prevent further declines among other native species; or (3) issue regulations to establish a fee for surplus water from Missouri River reservoirs.

(Sec. 529) Prohibits the use of funds made available in this Act to develop or submit a proposal to expand certain authorized expenditures from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund.

(Sec. 530) Prohibits the use of funds made available in this Act to regulate activities pertaining to the discharge of dredged or fill material: (1) from normal farming, silviculture, and ranching activities; or (2) for the purpose of construction or maintenance of farm or stock ponds or irrigation ditches, and the maintenance of drainage ditches.

(Sec. 531) Prohibits the use of funds made available in this Act to: (1) dump sediment or soil into the Missouri River; (2) implement, administer, or enforce the National Ocean Policy relating to the stewardship of oceans, coasts, and the Great Lakes; (3) implement, administer, or enforce lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions restrictions on federal agency procurement of certain alternative or synthetic fuels; or (4) pay the salaries of any personnel seeking to implement the authority of the Western Area Power Administration to obtain loans from the Secretary of the Treasury for transmission line and related facility projects.