[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7938 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 7938
To amend the Klamath Basin Water Supply Enhancement Act of 2000 to
provide the Secretary of the Interior with certain authorities with
respect to projects affecting the Klamath Basin watershed, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 11, 2024
Mr. Bentz introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Natural Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Klamath Basin Water Supply Enhancement Act of 2000 to
provide the Secretary of the Interior with certain authorities with
respect to projects affecting the Klamath Basin watershed, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Klamath Basin Water Agreement
Support Act of 2024''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The Klamath River Basin is home to important species of
fish and wildlife and communities, including Tribal and
agricultural communities.
(2) Tribal fisheries in the Klamath River Basin are
depressed, owing to a combination of factors.
(3) In recent decades, the Klamath River Basin has
witnessed chronic conflict, much of which has been fueled or
exacerbated by implementation of the Endangered Species Act of
1973.
(4) The United States has taken, and continues to take,
extraordinary actions to attempt to address certain factors
affecting Tribal fisheries.
(5) The United States actions to enhance fisheries have
included expenditures of several hundreds of millions of
dollars for research and projects, including support of Tribal
fisheries programs and imposition of regulatory burdens on
other parties who make use of natural resources in the Klamath
River Basin for their own livelihoods.
(6) In the past 16 years, the Bureau of Reclamation has
requested and received appropriations of approximately
$136,000,000 for Endangered Species Act of 1973 compliance
activities, even while denying water deliveries for irrigation
and wildlife refuges served through Klamath Reclamation Project
facilities.
(7) Denial of water deliveries through Klamath Reclamation
Project facilities has injured communities and wildlife
severely but has not resulted in any identifiable benefit to
populations of fish species listed as threatened or endangered.
(8) The United States regulatory actions have also included
the imposition of conditions on the generation of clean
hydropower that have made hydropower uneconomical, such that a
private utility has agreed to the removal of 4 dams that have
produced renewable energy for over a century.
(9) The removal of dams has been funded in substantial part
by electric rate payers, including irrigation water users, in
Oregon and California, who also are burdened with the cost of
paying for replacement power.
(10) The removal of dams has also led indirectly to other
significant public costs that would not have been incurred
absent the removal of hydroelectric generation.
(11) The removal of hydroelectric generation on the Klamath
River is expected to result in the availability of 425 miles of
habitat for anadromous fish that is not currently accessible.
(12) Commitments have been made to agricultural communities
to the effect that dam removal and restoration activities will
not cause new burdens for those communities and, in fact, that
those communities will benefit significantly, but those
commitments have either not been kept or lack the necessary
assurances that they will be met in the future.
(13) It is appropriate and fair to take measures to
stabilize conditions for agricultural communities in the
Klamath Basin that have been at the center of conflict and to
whom important commitments have been made in connection with
extraordinary actions taken by the United States that affect
their interests.
(14) This Act will increase such stability while not
adversely affecting other interests in the Klamath Basin.
SEC. 3. KLAMATH PROJECT WATER AND POWER.
(a) Addressing Water, Power, and Facilities Management for
Irrigation.--Section 4 of the Klamath Basin Water Supply Enhancement
Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-498) is amended--
(1) in subsection (b), by amending paragraph (1) to read as
follows:
``(1) In general.--Subject to appropriations and required
environmental reviews, the Secretary is authorized to carry out
activities, including entering into a contract or making
financial assistance available through cooperative agreements
or other methods, to plan, implement, and administer voluntary
programs, including conservation and efficiency measures,
demand limitation or management, and use of groundwater, to
align water supplies and demand for irrigation water users
associated with the Klamath Project, with a primary emphasis on
programs developed or endorsed by local entities comprised of
representatives of those water users.'';
(2) in subsection (c), by adding at the end the following:
``(2) Implementation.--
``(A) In general.--Beginning not later than 180
days after the date of enactment of the Klamath Power
and Facilities Agreement Support Act, the Secretary
shall, through 1 or more cooperative agreements,
financial assistance agreements, or other methods,
implement, or support the implementation of, the
recommendations identified in the report described in
paragraph (1) that the Secretary determines would lead
to bringing the net delivered power cost for covered
power use to an amount that is the same as, or less
than, the power cost benchmark, subject to the
availability of appropriations, on the fastest timeline
practicable, with respect to near- and long-term
actions.
``(B) Requirement.--The implementation of
recommendations under subparagraph (A) shall be carried
out in accordance with--
``(i) the report submitted under paragraph
(1); and
``(ii) any reports submitted under
paragraph (3).
``(3) Additional reports.--Not later than April 30, 2025,
and every 5 years thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to
each committee described in the matter preceding subparagraph
(A) of paragraph (1) a report that describes--
``(A) any progress toward meeting the requirements
of this subsection; and
``(B) any modifications or updates to the actions
recommended under paragraph (1)(B).''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(d) Restoration Activities.--The Secretary may--
``(1) plan, design, construct, operate, and maintain
projects in the Klamath Basin watershed, including--
``(A) facilities to reduce fish entrainment;
``(B) projects that reduce or avoid impacts on
aquatic resources of facilities involved in the storage
or diversion of water for irrigation in the Klamath
Project service area; and
``(C) projects that restore habitats in the Klamath
Basin watershed, including Tribal fishery resources
held in trust;
``(2) undertake studies, including feasibility studies, and
improvements that the Secretary determines to be necessary to
implement this subsection;
``(3) in implementing this subsection, enter into
contracts, memoranda of understanding, financial assistance
agreements, cost-sharing agreements, or other appropriate
agreements with--
``(A) State, Tribal, and local governmental
agencies; and
``(B) private parties; and
``(4) accept and expend non-Federal funds in order to
facilitate implementation of this subsection.
``(e) Goals.--The goals of activities under subsections (b) and (d)
shall include, as applicable--
``(1) the short-term and long-term reduction and resolution
of conflicts relating to water in the Klamath Basin watershed;
and
``(2) compatibility and utility for protecting natural
resources throughout the Klamath Basin watershed, including the
protection, preservation, and restoration of Klamath River
Tribal fishery resources, particularly through collaboratively
developed agreements.
``(f) Pumping Plant D.--The Secretary may enter into 1 or more
agreements with the Tulelake Irrigation District to reimburse the
Tulelake Irrigation District for not more than 69 percent of the cost
incurred by the Tulelake Irrigation District for the operation and
maintenance of Pumping Plant D, subject to the condition that the cost
results in benefits to the United States.
``(g) Infrastructure.--
``(1) Keno and link river dams.--The Secretary shall comply
with the terms of the agreement entitled `2016 Klamath Power
and Facilities Agreement', including Attachment A to the
agreement.
``(2) Realization of benefits.--No modification of Keno Dam
infrastructure to modify current fish passage capability shall
occur, and no artificial action to introduce or reintroduce
aquatic species above Keno Dam shall occur, until 90 days after
the Secretary has certified to the Chairs and Ranking Members
of the Natural Resources Committee of the House of
Representatives and the Energy and Natural Resources Committee
of the Senate that--
``(A) all State and Federal parties to the 2016
Klamath Power and Facilities Agreement have complied
with the first sentence of section II. B.2.a. of that
agreement; and
``(B) the parties to the 2016 Klamath Power and
Facilities Agreement and the parties to the Klamath
Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement have completed and
approved the agreement or agreements contemplated by
section III.C. of the 2016 Klamath Power and Facilities
Agreement and Section 1.9 of the Klamath Hydroelectric
Settlement Agreement.
``(3) Draft certification.--Not less than 180 days before
providing a certification under paragraph (2), the Secretary
shall provide a draft certification to the parties to the
respective agreements.
``(4) Replacement of c canal flume.--
``(A) In general.--The replacement of the C Canal
flume within the Klamath Project shall be considered to
be, and shall receive the treatment authorized for,
qualified emergency extraordinary operation and
maintenance work in accordance with Federal reclamation
law (the Act of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. 388, chapter
1093), and Acts supplemental to and amendatory of that
Act (43 U.S.C. 371 et seq.)).
``(B) Contract.--
``(i) In general.--Not later than 180 days
after the date of receipt of a request from the
Klamath Irrigation District to enter into a
contract with that district to amend the
contract numbered 16-WC-20-4838, the Secretary
shall enter into a contract with the Klamath
Irrigation District providing that under the
contract entered into under this subparagraph--
``(I) 35 percent of the total
repayment obligation is nonreimbursable
to the United States; and
``(II) 65 percent of the total
repayment obligation shall be repaid to
the United States over a period of 50
years.
``(ii) Inclusion.--Although the Secretary
shall not condition the agreement to the
contract entered into under subparagraph (A) on
any other term, the contract may include other
terms that are not less favorable to the
contractor than contract numbered 16-WC-20-
4838.
``(5) Cost allocation.--Past and future costs incurred by
the Secretary for compliance with laws enacted by the United
States for protection of the environment that are not
explicitly identified in contracts between the Secretary and a
Klamath Project contractor shall not be--
``(A) allocated to such contractor; or
``(B) considered in determining the contractor's
responsibility for reimbursement of the costs of
operation, maintenance, rehabilitation, modification,
or replacement of Klamath Project works.''.
(b) Administration; Effect.--
(1) Compliance.--In implementing the amendments made by
this section, the Secretary of the Interior shall comply with--
(A) the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969
(42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.);
(B) the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C.
1531 et seq.); and
(C) all other applicable laws.
(2) Effect.--None of the amendments made by this section--
(A) modify any authority or obligation of the
United States with respect to any Tribal trust or
treaty obligation of the United States;
(B) create or determine any water right;
(C) affect any water right or water right claim in
existence on the date of the enactment of this Act; or
(D) authorize the use of Federal funds for the
physical deconstruction of the Iron Gate, Copco 1,
Copco 2, or John C. Boyle Dam located on the Klamath
River in the States of California and Oregon.
<all>