Title 33Navigation and Navigable WatersRelease 119-73

§542 Review by Board of Engineers of reports on examinations and surveys and special reports

Title 33 › Chapter CHAPTER 12— - RIVER AND HARBOR IMPROVEMENTS GENERALLY › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER I— - GENERAL PROVISIONS › § 542

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

All reports from government examinations and surveys allowed by law must be reviewed by the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors. The Chief of Engineers can also choose to have the board review special reports that Congress orders. If the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works or the House Committee on Public Works and Transportation passes a resolution and sends it to the Chief of Engineers, the board will examine that report and send its findings through the Chief, who will present conclusions like other cases. The board must not expand the project beyond what the original report or the law that authorized the report allowed.

Full Legal Text

Title 33, §542

Navigation and Navigable Waters — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

All reports on examinations and surveys authorized by law shall be reviewed by the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors as provided for in section 541 of this title, and all special reports ordered by Congress shall, in the discretion of the Chief of Engineers, be reviewed in like manner by said board; and the said board shall also, on request by resolution of the Committee on Environment and Public Works of the Senate or the Committee on Public Works and Transportation of the House of Representatives, submitted to the Chief of Engineers, examine and review the report of any examination or survey made pursuant to any Act or resolution of Congress, and report thereon through the Chief of Engineers, United States Army, who shall submit his conclusions thereon as in other cases: Provided, That in no case shall the board, in its report thus called for by committee resolution, extend the scope of the project contemplated in the original report upon which its examination and review has been requested, or in the provision of law authorizing the original examination or survey.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification Section is from part of section 4 of act Mar. 4, 1913, popularly known as the “Rivers and Harbors Act of 1913”. The last proviso of said section 4 is set out in section 541 of this title.

Amendments

1994—Pub. L. 103–437 substituted “Committee on Environment and Public Works of the Senate or the Committee on Public Works and Transportation of the House of Representatives” for “Committee on Commerce of the Senate or the Committee on Rivers and Harbors of the House of Representatives”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Change of Name

Committee on Public Works and Transportation of House of Representatives treated as referring to Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of House of Representatives by section 1(a) of Pub. L. 104–14, set out as a note preceding section 21 of Title 2, The Congress. Termination of Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors and Reassignment of Duties and Responsibilities For termination of Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors 180 days after Oct. 31, 1992, and reassignment of duties and responsibilities by Secretary of Army, see section 223 of Pub. L. 102–580, set out as a note under section 541 of this title.

Executive Documents

Transfer of Functions

For transfer of certain functions insofar as they pertain to Air Force, and to extent that they were not previously transferred to Secretary of the Air Force and Department of the Air Force from Secretary of the Army and Department of the Army, see Secretary of Defense Transfer Order No. 40, July 22, 1949.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

33 U.S.C. § 542

Title 33Navigation and Navigable Waters

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73