In all cases where preliminary examinations and surveys are authorized a preliminary examination of the river, harbor, or other proposed improvement mentioned shall first be made and a report as to the advisability of its improvement shall be submitted unless a survey or estimate is expressly directed. If upon such preliminary examination the proposed improvement is not deemed advisable, no further action shall be taken thereon without the further direction of Congress; but in case the report shall be favorable to such proposed improvement, or that a survey and estimate should be made to determine the advisability of improvement, the Secretary of the Army is authorized, in his discretion, to cause surveys to be made, and the cost and advisability to be reported to Congress. And such reports containing plans and estimates shall also contain a statement as to the rate at which the work should be prosecuted: Provided, That every report submitted to Congress, in addition to full information regarding the present and prospective commercial importance of the project covered by the report and the benefit to commerce likely to result from any proposed plan of improvement, shall also contain such data as it may be practicable to secure in regard to the following subjects:
(a) The existence and establishment of both private and public terminal and transfer facilities contiguous to the navigable water proposed to be improved, and, if water terminals have been constructed, the general location, description, and use made of the same, with an opinion as to their adequacy and efficiency, whether private or public. If no public terminals have been constructed, or if they are inadequate in number, there shall be included in the report an opinion in general terms as to the necessity, number, and appropriate location of the same, and also the necessary relations of such proposed terminals to the development of commerce.
(b) The development and utilization of water power for industrial and commercial purposes.
(c) Such other subjects as may be properly connected with such project: Provided, That in the investigation and study of these questions consideration shall be given only to their bearing upon the improvement of navigation, to the possibility and desirability of their being coordinated in a logical and proper manner with improvements for navigation to lessen the cost of such improvements and to compensate the Government for expenditures made in the interest of navigation, and to their relation to the development and regulation of commerce: Provided further, That the investigation and study of these questions may, upon review by the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors when called for as provided by law, be extended to any work of improvement under way and to any locality the examination and survey of which has heretofore been, or may hereafter be, authorized by Congress.
(Mar. 4, 1913, ch. 144, §3,
This section and the second paragraph of section 556 of this title are from section 3 of act Mar. 4, 1913, popularly known as the "Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1913". That section superseded similar provisions of act June 25, 1910, ch. 382, §3,
Provision for report of examinations of river and harbor improvements appeared in R.S. §231, repealed by act Mar. 3, 1933, ch. 202, §1,
Department of War designated Department of the Army and title of Secretary of War changed to Secretary of the Army by section 205(a) of act July 26, 1947, ch. 343, title II,
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
Provisions prohibiting supplemental reports or estimates, prohibiting the making of examination or survey for new works not designated, and providing that projects were not to be deemed entered upon until appropriations were made, appeared in various rivers and harbors appropriation acts. They are omitted from the Code as superseded or temporary.
The Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy were authorized and directed to report to Congress at the earliest practicable date, such specific plans for improvement of harbors, canals and connecting channels as would best provide adequate facilities for operations of the fleet for defense of the harbors on the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts; also the feasible extensions requisite to make existing approved projects for improvement of such harbors, canals, and channels available for such purposes, and the cost of each such several improvements, calculated upon the basis of completion under contract within five years, by act Aug. 29, 1916, ch. 417,
The Secretary of War was directed to cause preliminary examinations and surveys to be made of the harbors and connecting waters of the Great Lakes with a view to determining what additional improvements would be necessary to permit those waterways to accommodate vessels to pass through the Welland Canal when enlarged by the Dominion of Canada, including report as to the character and draft of vessels which might be expected to use the canal when so enlarged, by a provision of the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1916, act July 27, 1916, ch. 260, §2,