Flood Control Act
Appearance
In the United States, there are multiple laws known as the Flood Control Act (FCA). Typically, they are enacted to control irrigation because of floods or other natural disasters and are administered by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. These laws were enacted beginning in 1917, with the most recent one being passed in 1965.
Background
There were several major floods between 1849 and 1936 that moved Congress to pass legislation. The first significant federal flood control law was the
Mississippi River Commission in 1879. Booming steamboat traffic on the Missouri River and a flood in 1881 led to the creation of the Missouri River Commission in 1884, but it was abolished by the River and Harbor Act of 1902.[1][2] Floods on the Mississippi, Ohio, and other rivers in the Northeast led to the Flood Control Act of 1917, which was the first act aimed exclusively at controlling floods. The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 led to substantial flood control funding. And a series of floods in 1935 and 1936 across the nation were critical in the passage of the Flood Control Act of 1936.[3]
List of Flood Control Acts
- Flood Control Act of 1917
- Flood Control Act of 1928, passed in the wake of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. FCA 1928 had three important effects. It increased public awareness of advances in flood control theory and practice. It put flood control on par with other major projects of its time with the largest public works appropriation ever authorized. And, FCA 1928 increased debate on local contributions to a new level.[3]
- National Labor Relations Act, the Banking Act of 1935, the Wealth Tax Act, the Public Utility Holding Company Act, the Rural Electrification Act, the Soil Conservation Service Act, and the $4.8 billion Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935.[3]
- Flood Control Act of 1937
- Flood Control Act of 1938
- Cost-benefit analysis, the standard by which the government determines whether or not a project provides sufficient benefits to justify the cost of expending public funds. It specified the standard that "the benefits to whomever they accrue [be] in excess of the estimated costs.[4]
- Flood Control Act of 1941
- Fort Berthold Reservation due to the building of the Garrison Dam. This project caused more than 1,500 American Indians to relocate from the river bottoms of the Missouri river due to the flooding.
- Flood Control Act of 1946
- Chief of Engineers the power to authorize minor flood control projects without having to get Congressional approval. It also authorized several larger flood control projects and amended the budget set forth in the Flood Control Act of 1946.[5]
- public utility district in Grant County, Washington, ultimately began construction of the dam at Priest Rapids.[7]
- Flood Control Act of 1965. Prior to 1965, the state of Louisiana designed and built its flood protection through its levee boards. After Hurricane Betsy, Congress gave control of the flood protection to the US Army Corps of Engineers in the Act which called for a flood protection system to protect south Louisiana from the worst storms characteristic of the region. When Katrina struck in 2005, the project was between 60–90% complete and the projected date of completion was estimated to be 2015.[8] The initial scope of the project was to provide hurricane protection to areas around the lake in the parishes of Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, and St. Charles with the federal government paying 70 percent of the costs and the state and local interests paying 30 percent, the typical cost-share arrangement.[8][9]
See also
- Rivers and Harbors Act
- Water Resources Development Act
- Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act of 1954
References
- S2CID 128637906.
- ^ Pinter, Nicholas; Heine, Reuben A. (May 28, 2008). "Hydrologic History of the Lower Missouri River" (PDF). Great Rivers Habitat Alliance. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 12, 2017. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
- ^ a b c Arnold, Joseph L. (1988). "The Evolution of the Flood Control Act of 1936" (PDF). United States Army Corps of Engineers. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 29, 2011.
- ISBN 978-0-87840-768-2. Archivedfrom the original on September 29, 2013. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
- ^ "Public Laws". Digital Project Notebook. US Army Corps of Engineers Walla Walla District. Archived from the original on July 26, 2009. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
- ^ Columbia River Treaty: History and 2014/2024 Review (PDF). Bonneville Power Administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. April 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 4, 2011.
- ^ Grant County Public Utility District (October 2003). "Priest Rapids Hydroelectric Project No. 2114 Final Application for New License, Exhibit B: Project Operation and Resource Utilization" (PDF). Grant County Public Utility District. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 17, 2013. Retrieved October 5, 2008.
- ^ a b Mittal, Anu (September 2005). "GAO-05-1050T Army Corps of Engineers: Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity Hurricane Protection Project" (PDF). United States Government Accountability Office. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 27, 2019. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
- ^ Efficient Investments in Water Resources: Issues and Options (PDF). Congress of the United States Congressional Budget Office. August 1983. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 3, 2009.