Clean Water for Rural Communities Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 967 To authorize the construction of the Musselshell-Judith Rural Water System and study of the Dry-Redwater Regional Water Authority System in the States of Montana and North Dakota, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 5, 2019 Mr. GIANFORTE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources A BILL To authorize the construction of the Musselshell-Judith Rural Water System and study of the Dry-Redwater Regional Water Authority System in the States of Mon- tana and North Dakota, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Clean Water for Rural 4 Communities Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H967.IH H967 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 967 IH SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 1 The purpose of this Act is to ensure a safe and ade- 2 quate municipal, rural, and industrial water supply for the 3 citizens of— 4 (1) Dawson, Garfield, McCone, Prairie, Rich- 5 land, Judith Basin, Wheatland, Golden Valley, Fer- 6 gus, Yellowstone, and Musselshell Counties in the 7 State of Montana; and 8 (2) McKenzie County, North Dakota. 9 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 10 In this Act: 11 (1) AUTHORITY.—The term ‘‘Authority’’ 12 means— 13 (A) the Central Montana Regional Water 14 Authority, a publicly owned nonprofit water au- 15 thority formed in accordance with Mont. Code 16 Ann. § 75–6–302 (2007); and 17 (B) any nonprofit successor entity to the 18 Authority described in subparagraph (A). 19 (2) MUSSELSHELL-JUDITH RURAL WATER SYS- 20 TEM.—The term ‘‘Musselshell-Judith Rural Water 21 System’’ means the Musselshell-Judith Rural Water 22 System authorized under section 4(a), with a project 23 service area that includes— 24 (A) Judith Basin, Wheatland, Golden Val- 25 ley, and Musselshell Counties in the State; 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H967.IH H967 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 967 IH (B) the portion of Yellowstone County in 1 the State within 2 miles of State Highway 3 2 and within 4 miles of the county line between 3 Golden Valley and Yellowstone Counties in the 4 State, inclusive of the Town of Broadview, 5 Montana; and 6 (C) the portion of Fergus County in the 7 State within 2 miles of U.S. Highway 87 and 8 within 4 miles of the county line between Fer- 9 gus and Judith Basin Counties in the State, in- 10 clusive of the Town of Moore, Montana. 11 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 12 the Secretary of the Interior. 13 (4) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the State 14 of Montana. 15 SEC. 4. MUSSELSHELL-JUDITH RURAL WATER SYSTEM. 16 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Secretary may carry out 17 the planning, design, and construction of the Musselshell- 18 Judith Rural Water System in a manner that is substan- 19 tially in accordance with the feasibility report entitled 20 ‘‘Musselshell-Judith Rural Water System Feasibility Re- 21 port’’ (including any and all revisions of the report). 22 (b) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT.—The Secretary shall 23 enter into a cooperative agreement with the Authority to 24 provide Federal assistance for the planning, design, and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H967.IH H967 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 967 IH construction of the Musselshell-Judith Rural Water Sys- 1 tem. 2 (c) COST-SHARING REQUIREMENT.— 3 (1) FEDERAL SHARE.— 4 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Federal share of 5 the costs relating to the planning, design, and 6 construction of the Musselshell-Judith Rural 7 Water System shall not exceed 65 percent of 8 the total cost of the Musselshell-Judith Rural 9 Water System. 10 (B) LIMITATION.—Amounts made avail- 11 able under subparagraph (A) shall not be re- 12 turnable or reimbursable under the reclamation 13 laws. 14 (2) USE OF FEDERAL FUNDS.— 15 (A) GENERAL USES.—Subject to subpara- 16 graph (B), the Musselshell-Judith Rural Water 17 System may use Federal funds made available 18 to carry out this section for— 19 (i) facilities relating to— 20 (I) water pumping; 21 (II) water treatment; 22 (III) water storage; 23 (IV) water supply wells; 24 (V) distribution pipelines; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H967.IH H967 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 967 IH (VI) control systems; 1 (ii) transmission pipelines; 2 (iii) pumping stations; 3 (iv) appurtenant buildings, mainte- 4 nance equipment, and access roads; 5 (v) any interconnection facility that 6 connects a pipeline of the Musselshell-Ju- 7 dith Rural Water System to a pipeline of 8 a public water system; 9 (vi) electrical power transmission and 10 distribution facilities required for the oper- 11 ation and maintenance of the Musselshell- 12 Judith Rural Water System; 13 (vii) any other facility or service re- 14 quired for the development of a rural water 15 distribution system, as determined by the 16 Secretary; and 17 (viii) any property or property right 18 required for the construction or operation 19 of a facility described in this subsection. 20 (B) LIMITATION.—Federal funds made 21 available to carry out this section shall not be 22 used for the operation, maintenance, or replace- 23 ment of the Musselshell-Judith Rural Water 24 System. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H967.IH H967 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 967 IH (C) TITLE.—Title to the Musselshell-Ju- 1 dith Rural Water System shall be held by the 2 Authority. 3 SEC. 5. DRY-REDWATER FEASIBILITY STUDY. 4 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 5 (1) DRY-REDWATER REGIONAL WATER AU- 6 THORITY.—The term ‘‘Dry-Redwater Regional 7 Water Authority’’ means— 8 (A) the Dry-Redwater Regional Water Au- 9 thority, a publicly owned nonprofit water au- 10 thority formed in accordance with Mont. Code 11 Ann. § 75–6–302 (2007); and 12 (B) any nonprofit successor entity to the 13 Authority described in subparagraph (A). 14 (2) DRY-REDWATER REGIONAL WATER AU- 15 THORITY SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘Dry-Redwater Re- 16 gional Water Authority System’’ means the project 17 entitled the ‘‘Dry-Redwater Regional Water Author- 18 ity System’’, with a project service area that in- 19 cludes— 20 (A) Garfield and McCone Counties in the 21 State; 22 (B) the area west of the Yellowstone River 23 in Dawson and Richland Counties in the State; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H967.IH H967 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 967 IH (C) T. 15 N. (including the area north of 1 the Township) in Prairie County in the State; 2 and 3 (D) the portion of McKenzie County, 4 North Dakota, that includes all land that is lo- 5 cated west of the Yellowstone River in the State 6 of North Dakota. 7 (3) RECLAMATION FEASIBILITY STANDARDS.— 8 The term ‘‘reclamation feasibility standards’’ means 9 the eligibility criteria and feasibility study require- 10 ments described in section 106 of the Reclamation 11 Rural Water Supply Act of 2006 (43 U.S.C. 2405) 12 (as in effect on September 29, 2016). 13 (4) SUBMITTED FEASIBILITY STUDY.—The 14 term ‘‘submitted feasibility study’’ means the feasi- 15 bility study entitled ‘‘Dry-Redwater Regional Water 16 System Feasibility Study’’ (including revisions of the 17 study), which received funding from the Bureau of 18 Reclamation on September 1, 2010. 19 (b) STUDY.— 20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consulta- 21 tion with the Dry-Redwater Regional Water Author- 22 ity, may undertake a study, including a review of the 23 submitted feasibility study, to determine the feasi- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H967.IH H967 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 967 IH bility of constructing the Dry-Redwater Regional 1 Water System. 2 (2) REQUIREMENT.—The study under para- 3 graph (1) shall comply with the reclamation feasi- 4 bility standards. 5 (c) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT.—If the Secretary de- 6 termines that the study under subsection (b) does not 7 comply with the reclamation feasibility standards, the Sec- 8 retary may enter into a cooperative agreement with the 9 Dry-Redwater Regional Water Authority to complete addi- 10 tional work to ensure that the study complies with the rec- 11 lamation feasibility standards. 12 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 13 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary $5,000,000 14 to carry out this section. 15 (e) TERMINATION.—The authority provided by this 16 section shall expire on the date that is 5 years after the 17 date of enactment of this Act. 18 SEC. 6. WATER RIGHTS. 19 Nothing in this Act— 20 (1) preempts or affects any State water law; or 21 (2) affects any authority of a State, as in effect 22 on the date of enactment of this Act, to manage 23 water resources within that State. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H967.IH H967 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 967 IH SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 1 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—There is authorized to be ap- 2 propriated to carry out the planning, design, and construc- 3 tion of the Musselshell-Judith Rural Water System, sub- 4 stantially in accordance with the cost estimate set forth 5 in the feasibility report described in section 4(a), 6 $56,650,000. 7 (b) COST INDEXING.—The amount authorized to be 8 appropriated under subsection (a) may be increased or de- 9 creased in accordance with ordinary fluctuations in devel- 10 opment costs incurred after November 1, 2014, as indi- 11 cated by any available engineering cost indices applicable 12 to construction activities that are similar to the construc- 13 tion of the Musselshell-Judith Rural Water System. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H967.IH H967 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS