S.Amdt. 886

1. Adds SEC. 50___. SENSE OF THE SENATE REGARDING THE IMPORTANCE OF THE DELAWARE RIVER BASIN COMMISSION at the end of title V

   Adds a section

   In S. 601 · Reported to Senate

   (b) Reports.--The Secretary shall report to the Committees on Environment and Public Works and Appropriations of the Senate and the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure and Appropriations of the House of Representatives any emergency actions taken pursuant to this section.

   Inserted: SEC. 50___. SENSE OF THE SENATE REGARDING THE IMPORTANCE OF THE DELAWARE RIVER BASIN COMMISSION.

   Inserted: (a) Findings.--The Senate finds that--

   Inserted: (1) the Delaware River Basin is the longest undammed river in the eastern United States, draining into portions of Delaware, New York, and Pennsylvania (in this section referred to as the "4 basin States") and providing drinking water to 15 million people, including the populations of New York City and Philadelphia;

   Inserted: (2) over 8,500,000,000 gallons of water are withdrawn from the Delaware River Basin each day;

   Inserted: (3) in 1961, the Delaware River Basin Commission (in this section referred to as the "DRBC") was formed to address problems of drought, floods, and pollution by bringing the Governors of the 4 basin States and the Federal Government together to manage the water resources of the Delaware River Basin by using the watershed boundary, not political boundaries;

   Inserted: (4) the formation of the DRBC was approved by Congress and signed into law by President John F. Kennedy and the 4 basin States, marking the first time that the Federal Government and a group of States joined together as equal partners in a river basin planning, development, and regulatory agency;

   Inserted: (5) the DRBC serves Federal, State, and local interests by providing comprehensive and proactive water resources management for the 13,539 square mile Delaware River Basin through programs that address water quality protection, water supply allocation, flood loss reduction, drought management, water conservation, permitting, watershed planning, and recreation;

   Inserted: (6) the DRBC has proven to be invaluable in preventing water conflict and finding effective solutions to complicated and critical water resource challenges;

   Inserted: (7) after the multi year drought in the 1960s, the DRBC facilitated a series of negotiations that resulted in an agreement in the early 1980s to reduce water diversions to upstream and downstream users, create a water conservation program, and establish minimum flows to prevent saltwater from reaching further up the Delaware river and degrading freshwater supplies and ecosystem function;

   Inserted: (8) this agreement assisted the 4 basin States through numerous droughts without major water use changes or restrictions, and has conserved billions of gallons of water;

   Inserted: (9) the DRBC model of watershed management has proven to be so successful that other countries are interested learning from and replicating the DRBC model, and DRBC representatives have been invited to share knowledge with and offer technical assistance to Australia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Sri Lanka, the People's Republic of China, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, South Korea, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Jordan, Portugal, Sweden, Turkey, Uganda, Uruguay, India, and Japan;

   Inserted: (10) the DRBC is funded by the 5 signatory parties to the Delaware River Basin Compact (Public Law 87-328; 75 Stat. 688), project review fees, water use charges, and fines, as well as Federal, State, and private grants;

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   Inserted: (11) the 100-year Delaware River Basin Compact stipulates that the 5 signatory parties agree to support the annual expense budget of the DRBC;

   Inserted: (12) in 1988, the 5 members of the DRBC reached a tacit agreement to apportion signatory party contributions to the annual expense budget of the DRBC as follows: 12.5 percent for Delaware, 17.5 percent for New York, 25 percent for New Jersey, 25 percent for Pennsylvania, and 20 percent for the Federal Government;

   Inserted: (13) the Federal Government has provided funding to support the 20 percent contribution to the annual expense budget of the DRBC only 1 Federal fiscal year since 1996;

   Inserted: (14) the Federal Government is responsible for contributing $715,000 to the annual expense budget of the DRBC; and

   Inserted: (15) the cumulative shortfall of the Federal Government contribution to the annual expense budget of the DRBC from October 1996 through the DRBC fiscal year ending on June 30, 2013, is $10,709,250.

   Inserted: (b) Sense of the Senate.--It is the Sense of the Senate that--

   Inserted: (1) it is the responsibility of the Federal Government to pay a 20 percent contribution to the annual expense budget of the DRBC;

   Inserted: (2) the mission of the DRBC, as established in the Delaware River Basin Compact, is critical for local communities, business, and industry, States, and the region surrounding the Delaware River Basin, and for Federal interests such as emergency response, interstate commerce, and ecosystem management; and

   Inserted: (3) the President and Congress should provide Federal funding to the DRBC.

   Original wording

   At the end of title V, add the following:

Read automatically from the Congressional Record. Check the original before relying on it.

As printed