Disposition studies examine the benefits and costs of continuing to operate federal projects which are no longer serving their authorized purpose. A study for all three facilities began April 2018 and public meetings were held in July 2018.

In October 2018, the Water Resources and Development Act of 2018 directed that a disposition study for Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam was to be completed separately from the other two sites. As such, the study was re-scoped to focus just on Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam. A separate study for Lower St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam and Lock and Dam 1 will be conducted at a later time.

The disposition study for Upper St. Anthony Falls, resumed in May 2019. The study will result in a report containing recommendations take no action or to deauthorize and dispose of all or part of the federal property at Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam. A draft report will be made available for public comment in spring 2020.

Federal property disposal is managed by the General Services Administration as governed by federal law. If disposal of the properties is not confirmed, additional studies may be performed to modify the projects to serve existing or new authorized purposes, or for additional uses identified by a potential non-federal sponsor and authorized under a new feasibility study.

The locks and dams at Upper St. Anthony Falls and Lower St. Anthony Falls were constructed as part of the Minneapolis Upper Harbor project in 1963 and 1956, respectively. Lock and Dam 1, located near Minnehaha Park, was originally constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1917, and a hydropower plant was completed here by the Ford Motor Company in 1924. All three sites have a federally-licensed hydropower facility integral to the dams.

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

The federally-authorized purposes of the Minneapolis structures is navigation and recreation, and the three locks and dams work together as a commercial navigation system.