Bill Text: NJ SR21 | 2010-2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Urges federal government to review potential flood control and energy benefits of Tocks Island Dam Project.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-02-01 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Environment and Energy Committee [SR21 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2010-SR21-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator ANTHONY R. BUCCO
District 25 (Morris)
SYNOPSIS
Urges federal government to review potential flood control and energy benefits of Tocks Island Dam Project.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
A Senate Resolution urging the federal government to review the deauthorized Tocks Island Dam Project for potential flood control and energy benefits along the Delaware River.
Whereas, In response to the historic flooding of the Delaware River in 1955, the United States Army Corps of Engineers initiated a large, basinwide planning effort in 1956 to address the Delaware River Basin's flood control issues; and
Whereas, In 1962, after this planning effort was completed, the Congress of the United States authorized the construction of 11 dams in the Delaware River Basin, including the Tocks Island Dam, which would be the first dam constructed on the Delaware River, along with 10 other dams situated on tributaries of the Delaware River; and
Whereas, The construction of the Tocks Island Dam, approximately six miles north of the Delaware Water Gap, was to begin in 1967 and be fully operational by 1975, and would have created a 40-mile long reservoir with "dry storage" for floodwaters, as well as providing power for an electrical generating facility proposed by a consortium of regional power companies; and
Whereas, Significant opposition to the construction of the Tocks Island Dam by environmental organizations and property owners whose land was being bought and condemned for the project, as well as cost overruns and construction delays caused by federal budgetary shortages during the Vietnam War period, eventually resulted in the cancellation of the Tocks Island Dam project by the Delaware River Basin Commission in 1975 and deauthorization by the Congress of the United States in 1992; and
Whereas, Repeated flooding of the Delaware River in 2005 and 2006 has caused millions of dollars worth of property damage in towns bordering the central and northern New Jersey portions of the Delaware River; and
Whereas, The cost of fossil fuel for transportation, homes and industry has dramatically increased over the past few years; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of New Jersey:
1. This House urges the federal government and the United States Army Corps of Engineers to revisit and review the Tocks Island Dam project within the context of the present-day environment for the purpose of providing viable options to alleviating the recurrent flooding of the Delaware River in New Jersey, and producing hydroelectric power to use as an alternative for or supplement to fossil fuels.
2. Duly authenticated copies of this resolution, signed by the President of the Senate and attested by the Clerk thereof, shall be transmitted to the President and Vice-President of the United States, the Commander of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the Region II and Region III Administrators of that agency, the Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the majority and minority leaders of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives, each member of the Congress of the United States elected from this State, the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the Chairman of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, and the Chairman of the Delaware River Basin Commission.
STATEMENT
The resolution urges the federal government and the United States Army Corps of Engineers to review the Tocks Island Dam project within the context of the present-day environment for the purpose of providing viable options for alleviating the recurrent flooding of the Delaware River in New Jersey, and producing hydroelectric power to use as an alternative for or supplement to fossil fuels.
