John Kuhl: “H.R. 4981, as amended, reauthorizes the National Dam Safety Program for 5 years through fiscal year 2011. It makes minor…”

“H.R. 4981, as amended, reauthorizes the National Dam Safety Program for 5 years through fiscal year 2011. It makes minor improvements to the national inventory of dams. The existing program authorization expires in just 3 days at the end of September. The National Dam Safety Program is administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, commonly known as FEMA, and was established to improve safety and security around dams. The program provides assistance grants to State dam safety agencies to assist them in improving their regulatory programs, training and research, and to create a national inventory of dams. According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' National Inventory of Dams, there are nearly 2,000 dams in New York State, of which 133 are in my congressional district alone. Some of these high-hazard dams include the Almond Dam in Steuben County; the Canadice Lake Dam in Ontario County; the Cuba Lake Dam in Allegany County; and the Keuka Lake Outlet Dam in Yates County. Of those 133 dams, 30 of them are considered to be high hazard and 41 are significant hazard. That means if there is a failure, and I underline, there is a high risk of death and destruction, high risk of death and destruction, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers.”