Sec. 12.051. FEDERAL PROJECTS. (a) In this section:

(1) "Federal project" means an engineering undertaking or work to construct, enlarge, or extend a dam, lake, reservoir, or other water-storage or flood-control work or a drainage, reclamation, or canalization undertaking or any combination of these financed in whole or in part with funds of the United States.

(2) "Engineering report" means the plans, data, profiles, maps, estimates, and drawings prepared in connection with a federal project.

(3) "Federal agency" means the Corps of Engineers of the United States Army, the Bureau of Reclamation of the Department of Interior, the Soil Conservation Service of the Department of Agriculture, the United States Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission, or any other agency of the United States, the function of which includes the conservation, development, retardation by impounding, control, or study of the water resources of Texas or the United States.

(b) When the governor receives an engineering report submitted by a federal agency seeking the governor's approval of a federal project, he shall immediately forward the report to the board for its study concerning the feasibility of the federal project.

(c) The board shall hold a public hearing to receive the views of persons and groups who might be affected by the proposed federal project. The board shall publish notice of the time, date, place, nature, and purpose of the public hearing once each week for two consecutive weeks before the date stated in the notice in a newspaper having general circulation in the section of the state where the federal project is to be located or the work done.

(d) After hearing all the evidence both for and against approval of the federal project, the board shall enter its order approving or disapproving the feasibility of the federal project, and the order shall include the board's reasons for approval or disapproval.

(e) In determining feasibility, the board shall consider, among other relevant factors:

(1) the effect of the federal project on water users on the stream as certified by the commission;

(2) the public interest to be served;

(3) the development of damsites to the optimum potential for water conservation;

(4) the integration of the federal project with other water conservation activities;

(5) the protection of the state's interests in its water resources; and

(6) the engineering practicality of the federal project, including cost of construction, operation, and maintenance.

(f) The board shall forward to the governor a certified copy of its order. The board's finding that the federal project is either feasible or not feasible is final, and the governor shall notify the federal agency that the federal project has been either approved or disapproved.

(g) The provisions of this section do not apply to the state soil conservation board as long as that board is designated by the governor as the authorized state agency having supervisory responsibility to approve or disapprove of projects designed to effectuate watershed-protection and flood-prevention programs initiated in cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture.

Amended by Acts 1977, 65th Leg., p. 2207, ch. 870, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1977; Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 795, Sec. 1.032, eff. Sept. 1, 1985; Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 20, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.