§3307 Assessment of Corps of Engineers levees

Summary

The Secretary must regularly check federally authorized levees the Army Corps of Engineers manages to see if changing them (including moving them or adding natural, nature-based features) would help reduce flood risk, make communities more flood-resilient, or restore connections with nearby floodplains for environmental benefits without hurting flood protection. For levees run by local or non-Federal partners, the Secretary will only do an assessment if that partner asks and pays half (50 percent) of the cost. Each review must estimate people and buildings protected and at risk, count past emergency help and repair costs, look at how the levee would handle heavier rain or extreme weather, weigh costs and benefits of reconnecting floodplains (including environmental and community effects), and use existing studies or data. The Secretary should give priority to levees that flooded two or more times in any 10-year period and that received emergency help for those events. The assessments must be similar in cost and scope to the initial assessment under section 549a. No later than 18 months after December 23, 2022, and then periodically, the Secretary must report the assessment results to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Reports must list levees assessed, describe modification opportunities and benefits, note whether local partners can and will take part (including getting needed land), and summarize the information used. The results must be added to the Corps levee database (section 3303) and made public online. Levee system — defined in section 3301(9). Up to $10,000,000 is authorized to carry out these assessments, available until spent.