Kristen M. Fletcher, J.D., LL.M.

The following is a summary of legislation affecting coastal, natural and water resources enacted by the United States legislature during the 1999 session.

106 Public Law 31 - 1999 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act (H.R. 1141)
Provides the following:
.  Funds are available for the Conservation Reserve Program and Wetlands Reserve Program and for states that have been materially affected by the commercial fishery failures;
.  Funds may not be used to issue or renew a fishing permit or authorization for any fishing vessel greater than 165 feet, of more than 750 gross tons, or that has engine capability of producing more than 3,000 shaft horsepower to engage in fishing for Atlantic mackerel or herring unless the fishery management council and Secretary of Commerce approve such fishing;
.  The limitation on registered length contained in 46 U.S. Code section 12102 (for documentation purposes) shall not apply to a vessel used solely in any menhaden fishery which is located in the Gulf of Mexico or along the Atlantic coast south of the area under the authority of the New England Fishery Management Council; and
.  Amendments to the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 1999 extend the date by which individuals must establish that they have engaged in commercial fishing for Dungeness crab in Glacier Bay National Park in order to receive compensation from the U.S. and to authorize funds to compensate U.S. fish processors, crew members, communities, and others negatively affected by fishing restrictions in the Park.

106 Public Law 53 - Water Resources Development Act of 1999 (S.B. 507)
Authorizes the United States Army Corps of Engineers to construct various projects for improvements to rivers and harbors including the following:
.  (§ 106) a project for aquatic ecosystem restoration and reef restoration along the Gulf coast of Mississippi;
.  (§ 213) a review of the shore management program "with particular attention to inconsistencies in implementation among the divisions and districts of the Corps of Engineers";
.  (§ 215) the establishment of a National Coastal Data Bank within 2 years to log data on the geophysical and climatological characteristics of the shores of the U.S. to include data regarding current and predicted shore positions, information on federally authorized shore protection projects, and data on the movement of sand along the shores of the United States, including impediments to such movement caused by natural and manmade features;
.  (§ 301) the completion of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Wildlife Mitigation Project in Alabama and Mississippi;
.  (§ 331) environmental infrastructure, Jackson County, Mississippi;
.  (§ 369) a project for navigation on the Black Warrior and Tombigbee Rivers, to acquire land for mitigation of the habitat losses attributable to the project, including the navigation channel, dredged material disposal areas, and other areas directly affected by construction of the project;
.  (§ 421) a study to determine the feasibility of using dredged material from maintenance activities at Federal navigation projects in coastal Louisiana to benefit coastal areas in the State;
.  (§ 429) a study to determine an alternative plan for dredged material management for the Pascagoula River portion of the project for navigation at the Pascagoula Harbor;
.  (§ 459) a plan to address water resource and related land resource problems and opportunities in the upper Mississippi and Illinois River basins, from Cairo, Illinois, to the headwaters of the Mississippi River, in the interest   of systemic flood damage reduction including flood control and floodplain management strategies; maintenance of the navigation project; management of bank caving and erosion; watershed nutrient and sediment management; habitat management; and recreation needs;
.  (§ 515) technical planning and design assistance to non-Federal interests and other site-specific studies to formulate and evaluate fish screens, fish passages devices, and other measures to decrease the incidence of juvenile and adult fish inadvertently entering irrigation systems and for a report due not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act regarding fish mortality caused by irrigation water intake devices; appropriate measures to reduce fish mortality; the extent to which those measures are currently being employed in arid States; the construction costs associated with those measures; and the appropriate Federal role, if any, to encourage the use of those measures;
.  (§ 558) funds for the Mississippi River Commission; and
.  (§ 559) the development of a management strategy to address problems with toxic microorganisms and the degradation of ecosystems in U.S. tidal and nontidal wetlands and waters.

106 Public Law 60 - Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, 2000 (H.R. 2605)
Appropriates funds for energy and water development including harbors, flood control, beach erosion and the implementation of an administrative appeals process for the Corps of Engineers Regulatory Program. It also provides funds for the preparation of studies and analyses of the impacts on Regulatory Branch workload and on the cost of compliance by the regulated community of proposed replacement permits for the nationwide permit 26 program.

106 Public Law 78 - Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2000 (H.R. 1906)
.  Provides funds up to $1,000,000 to carry out the purposes of the Endangered Species Act including efforts to relocate endangered or threatened species to other suitable habitats and making Emergency Watershed Protection funds available for Mississippi, New Mexico, Ohio, and Wisconsin for financial and technical assistance for pilot reha-bilitation projects of small, upstream dams; and
.  Provides funds for emergency disaster assistance for the Northeast commercial fishery failure under the Interjurisdictional Fisheries Act of 1986 to support research and management activities administered by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the New England Fishery Management Council.

106 Public Law 108 - Arctic Tundra Habitat Emergency Conservation Act (H.R. 2454)
Directs the Secretary of the Interior to implement rules to reduce the overabundant population of mid-continent light geese to ensure the biological diversity of the ecosystem which North American migratory birds depend.

106 Public Law 113 - District of Columbia Appropriations Act, 2000 (H.R. 3194)
.  National Park Service Studies Act of 1999 (§ 326)
   Calls for studies of the geographical areas and historic and cultural themes of specific areas including coastal areas in California, Puerto Rico, and the Carolinas; and
.  Mississippi National Forest Improvement Act of 1999 (§ 401)
   Authorizes improvements and acquisitions of lands for national forests in the State of Mississippi.

106 Public Law 116 - Coastal Barrier Resources System Map  (S. 1398)
Clarifies certain boundaries relating to the Coastal Barriers Resources System, off the coast of North Carolina.

106 Public Law 156 - Designation of Dugger National Wilderness (H.R. 2632)
Designates certain federal lands in the Talladega National Forest in the State of Alabama (approximately 9,200 acres) as the Dugger Mountain Wilderness and a component of the National Wilderness Preservation System.

106 Public Law 167 - John H. Chafee Coastal Barrier Resources System Act (S. 1866)
Recognizes Senator John H. Chafee as a leading voice for the protection of the environment and the conservation of the natural resources of the nation and redesignates the Coastal Barrier Resources System as the "John J. Chafee Coastal Barrier Resources System".

University of Mississippi