WOW Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5217 To provide for western water security, reliability, modernization, and abundance, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOVEMBER 21, 2019 Mr. MCCLINTOCK (for himself, Mr. MCCARTHY, Mr. BISHOP of Utah, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. NUNES, Mr. NEWHOUSE, Mr. FULCHER, Mr. COOK, Mr. LAMALFA, Mr. HUNTER, Mr. GOSAR, and Mr. TIPTON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure, Agriculture, and Science, Space, and Technology, for a period to be sub- sequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To provide for western water security, reliability, modernization, and abundance, 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 ‘‘Water Optimization 4 for the West Act’’ or the ‘‘WOW Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 6 The table of contents for this Act is as follows: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Dec 05, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5217.IH H5217 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 5217 IH Sec. 1. Short title. Sec. 2. Table of contents. TITLE I—WATER INFRASTRUCTURE Sec. 1001. WIIN Act amendments. TITLE II—SACRAMENTO-SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY WATER RELIABILITY ACT Subtitle A—Central Valley Project Water Reliability Sec. 2001. Amendment to purposes. Sec. 2002. Amendment to definition. Sec. 2003. Contracts. Sec. 2004. Water transfers, improved water management, and conservation. Sec. 2005. Fish, wildlife, and habitat restoration. Sec. 2006. Restoration fund. Sec. 2007. Additional authorities. Sec. 2008. Amendments to Central Valley Project authorizations. Sec. 2009. Regulatory streamlining. Subtitle B—San Joaquin River Restoration Sec. 2101. Repeal of the San Joaquin River Settlement. Sec. 2102. Purpose. Sec. 2103. Definitions. Sec. 2104. Implementation of restoration. Sec. 2105. Disposal of property; title to facilities. Sec. 2106. Compliance with applicable law. Sec. 2107. Compliance with Central Valley Project Improvement Act. Sec. 2108. No private right of action. Sec. 2109. Implementation. Sec. 2110. Repayment contracts and acceleration of repayment of construction costs. Sec. 2111. Repeal. Sec. 2112. Water supply mitigation. Sec. 2113. Additional authorities. Sec. 2114. Protections. TITLE III—REPURPOSING ASSETS TO INCREASE LONG-TERM WATER AVAILABILITY AND YIELD ACT Sec. 3001. Treatment of certain funds dedicated for high-speed rail develop- ment in the State of California. Sec. 3002. Nitrate contamination reduction grants. Sec. 3003. New well construction grants. TITLE IV—HETCH HETCHY DAM Sec. 4001. Hetch Hetchy rental fee update. TITLE V—BUREAU OF RECLAMATION AND BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS WATER PROJECT STREAMLINING ACT Sec. 5001. Definitions. Sec. 5002. Acceleration of studies. Sec. 5003. Expedited completion of reports. VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Dec 05, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H5217.IH H5217 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 5217 IH Sec. 5004. Project acceleration. Sec. 5005. Annual report to Congress. Sec. 5006. Applicability of the WIIN Act. TITLE VI—WATER SUPPLY PERMITTING COORDINATION ACT Sec. 6001. Definitions. Sec. 6002. Establishment of lead agency and cooperating agencies. Sec. 6003. Bureau responsibilities. Sec. 6004. Cooperating agency responsibilities. Sec. 6005. Funding to process permits. TITLE VII—FEDERALLY INTEGRATED SPECIES HEALTH ACT Sec. 7001. Transfer of functions with respect to anadromous species and catadromous species. Sec. 7002. Miscellaneous provisions. Sec. 7003. Definitions. TITLE VIII—AQUIFER RECHARGE FLEXIBILITY PILOT PROGRAM Sec. 8001. Definitions. Sec. 8002. Use of Bureau facilities. Sec. 8003. Aquifer recharge on eligible land. Sec. 8004. Sense of Congress. Sec. 8005. Conveyance for aquifer recharge purposes. Sec. 8006. Report. Sec. 8007. Effect. Sec. 8008. Exemption. TITLE IX—BIG SAND WASH PROJECT TITLE TRANSFER ACT Sec. 9001. Definitions. Sec. 9002. Conveyance of facilities and land. Sec. 9003. Relationship to Uinta Basin Replacement Project. Sec. 9004. Report. TITLE X—KENNEWICK IRRIGATION DISTRICT TITLE TRANSFER ACT Sec. 10001. Definitions. Sec. 10002. Agreement, conveyance, report. Sec. 10003. Liability. Sec. 10004. Benefits. Sec. 10005. Compliance with other laws. Sec. 10006. Payment. Sec. 10007. Miscellaneous. Sec. 10008. Limitations. TITLE XI—WATER RIGHTS PROTECTION ACT Sec. 11001. Definitions. Sec. 11002. Treatment of water rights. Sec. 11003. Policy development. Sec. 11004. Effect. TITLE XII—COULEE DAM REDESIGNATION VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Dec 05, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H5217.IH H5217 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 5217 IH Sec. 12001. Redesignation of facility. Sec. 12002. References. TITLE XIII—NUTRIA ERADICATION AND CONTROL ACT REAUTHORIZATION Sec. 13001. Nutria eradication. Sec. 13002. Deauthorizations. TITLE I—WATER 1 INFRASTRUCTURE 2 SEC. 1001. WIIN ACT AMENDMENTS. 3 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—The 4 WIIN Act (Public Law 114–322) is amended— 5 (1) in section 4007 (43 U.S.C. 390(b) note)— 6 (A) in subsection (h)(1)— 7 (i) by striking ‘‘$335,000,000 of fund- 8 ing in section 4011(e) is authorized’’ and 9 inserting ‘‘$134,000,000 is authorized’’; 10 and 11 (ii) by striking ‘‘to remain available 12 until expended’’ and inserting ‘‘to be ap- 13 propriated for each of fiscal years 2021 14 through 2025 to carry out this section’’; 15 and 16 (B) in subsection (h)(2)— 17 (i) by striking ‘‘Congress.’’ and insert- 18 ing ‘‘Congress; and’’; and 19 (ii) by adding at the end the fol- 20 lowing: 21 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Dec 05, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5217.IH H5217 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 5217 IH ‘‘(A) After approval by Congress of an ini- 1 tial award for a federally owned storage project 2 or a State-led storage project, the Secretary 3 may award additional funding for the federally 4 owned storage project or State-led storage 5 project without further congressional approval; 6 and 7 ‘‘(B) previously authorized projects remain 8 eligible to receive funding under this provi- 9 sion.’’; and 10 (C) in subsection (i), by striking ‘‘January 11 1, 2021’’ and inserting ‘‘January 1, 2028’’; and 12 (2) in section 4013 (43 U.S.C. 390(b) note)— 13 (A) by striking ‘‘the date that is 5 years 14 after the date of its enactment’’ and inserting 15 ‘‘December 16, 2028’’; and 16 (B) by striking ‘‘10 years after the date of 17 its enactment’’ and inserting ‘‘on December 16, 18 2033’’. 19 (b) STATE WATER PROJECT PROTECTIONS.—Sub- 20 section (b)(2) of section 4005 of the WIIN Act (Public 21 Law 114–322) is amended by striking ‘‘smelt biological 22 opinion and the salmonid biological opinion;’’ and insert- 23 ing ‘‘then current smelt biological opinion and the then 24 current salmonid biological opinion;’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Dec 05, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5217.IH H5217 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 5217 IH (c) WATER DESALINATION ACT AMENDMENT.—Sec- 1 tion 4(a)(1)(F) of the Water Desalination Act of 1996 (42 2 U.S.C. 10301 note; Public Law 104–298), as amended by 3 section 4009 of the WIIN Act, is further amended by 4 striking ‘‘$30,000,000 of funding is authorized to remain 5 available until expended; and’’ and inserting ‘‘$12,000,000 6 is authorized to be appropriated for each of fiscal years 7 2021 through 2025.’’. 8 (d) RECLAMATION WASTEWATER AND GROUND 9 WATER STUDY AND FACILITIES ACT AMENDMENT.—Sec- 10 tion 1602(g) of the Reclamation Wastewater and Ground- 11 water Study and Facilities Act (title XVI of Public Law 12 102–575; 43 U.S.C. 390h(g)), as amended by section 13 4009 of the WIIN Act, is further amended by striking 14 ‘‘$50,000,000 to remain available until expended’’ and in- 15 serting ‘‘$20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 16 through 2025’’. 17 (e) CALFED AUTHORIZATION.—Title I of Public 18 Law 108–361 (the CALFED Bay-Delta Authorization 19 Act) (118 Stat. 1681; 123 Stat. 2860; 128 Stat. 164; 128 20 Stat. 2312) (as amended by section 4007(k) of the WIIN 21 Act (130 Stat. 1866)) is amended by striking ‘‘2019’’ each 22 place it appears and inserting ‘‘2025’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Dec 05, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5217.IH H5217 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 5217 IH (f) BLUEPRINT PARTICIPATION.—Section 4009 of 1 the WIIN Act (Public Law 114–322) is amended by add- 2 ing after subsection (a) the following: 3 ‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION TO PARTICIPATE.—The Sec- 4 retary of the Interior is authorized to participate in the 5 development of the Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin 6 Valley, including the development of policy and infrastruc- 7 ture recommendations that— 8 ‘‘(1) increase surface water availability and reli- 9 ability; and 10 ‘‘(2) reduce groundwater overdraft.’’. 11 (g) STORAGE PROJECT FEASIBILITY.—Section 12 4007(a) of the WIIN Act (43 U.S.C. 390b(a)) is amended 13 by adding at the end the following: 14 ‘‘(3) FEASIBLE.—The term ‘feasible’ in regards 15 to any Federally owned storage project or State-led 16 storage project, means any such project for which 17 the Secretary of the Interior determines that— 18 ‘‘(A) engineering and cost estimates have 19 been completed consistent with the level of de- 20 tail required for typical feasibility studies used 21 to assist in the selection of a preferred plan or 22 alternative in order to ensure the project is con- 23 structible and estimated costs support feasi- 24 bility; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Dec 05, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5217.IH H5217 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 5217 IH ‘‘(B) there is reasonable certainty that en- 1 vironmental compliance and permitting, con- 2 sistent with applicable Federal and State laws, 3 shall be completed and any potential changes to 4 the project that may be required by those laws 5 have been identified; and 6 ‘‘(C) the maximum amount of Federal 7 funds provided is no less than the projected 8 Federal benefits, including, but not limited to, 9 water supply, irrigation, flood control, hydro- 10 electric power, navigation, recreation, fish and 11 wildlife enhancement, water quality, or road im- 12 provement, maintenance, or relocation provided 13 by the project.’’. 14 (h) STORAGE PROJECT FLEXIBILITY.—Section 15 4007(b)(1) of the WIIN Act (Public Law 114–322) is 16 amended by striking ‘‘or any public agency’’ and inserting 17 ‘‘any public agency, or any other entity’’. 18 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Dec 05, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5217.IH H5217 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 5217 IH TITLE II—SACRAMENTO-SAN 1 JOAQUIN VALLEY WATER RE- 2 LIABILITY ACT 3 Subtitle A—Central Valley Project 4 Water Reliability 5 SEC. 2001. AMENDMENT TO PURPOSES. 6 Section 3402 of the Central Valley Project Improve- 7 ment Act (106 Stat. 4706) is amended— 8 (1) in subsection (f), by striking the period at 9 the end; and 10 (2) by adding at the end the following: 11 ‘‘(g) to ensure that water dedicated to fish and wild- 12 life purposes by this title is replaced and provided to Cen- 13 tral Valley Project water contractors by December 31, 14 2023, at the lowest cost reasonably achievable; and 15 ‘‘(h) to facilitate and expedite water transfers in ac- 16 cordance with this Act.’’. 17 SEC. 2002. AMENDMENT TO DEFINITION. 18 Section 3403 of the Central Valley Project Improve- 19 ment Act (106 Stat. 4707) is amended— 20 (1) by amending subsection (a) to read as fol- 21 lows: 22 ‘‘(a) the term ‘anadromous fish’ means those native 23 stocks of salmon (including steelhead) and sturgeon that, 24 as of October 30, 1992, were present in the Sacramento 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Dec 05, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5217.IH H5217 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •HR 5217 IH and San Joaquin Rivers and their tributaries and ascend 1 those rivers and their tributaries to reproduce after matur- 2 ing in San Francisco Bay or the Pacific Ocean;’’; 3 (2) in subsection (h), by striking ‘‘(h) The term 4 ‘natural production’ means fish produced to adult- 5 hood without direct human intervention in the 6 spawning, rearing, or migration processes;’’ and by 7 redesignating subsections (i) through (m) as sub- 8 sections (h) through (l), respectively; 9 (3) in subsection (k), by striking ‘‘and,’’ after 10 ‘‘this title’’; 11 (4) in subsection (l), by striking the period and 12 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 13 (5) by adding at the end the following: 14 ‘‘(m) the term ‘reasonable flows’ means water flows 15 capable of being maintained taking into account com- 16 peting consumptive uses of water and economic, environ- 17 mental, and social factors.’’. 18 SEC. 2003. CONTRACTS. 19 Section 3404 of the Central Valley Project Improve- 20 ment Act (106 Stat. 4708) is amended— 21 (1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘LIMITATION 22 ON CONTRACTING AND CONTRACT REFORM’’ 23 and inserting ‘‘CONTRACTS’’; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Dec 05, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5217.IH H5217 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •HR 5217 IH (2) by striking the language of the section and 1 by adding: 2 ‘‘(a) RENEWAL OF EXISTING LONG-TERM CON- 3 TRACTS.—Upon request of the contractor, the Secretary 4 shall renew any existing long-term repayment or water 5 service contract that provides for the delivery of water 6 from the Central Valley Project for a period of 40 years. 7 In renewing the contract, the Secretary shall not have dis- 8 cretion to reduce the quantity of water to be delivered 9 under the contract. 10 ‘‘(b) ADMINISTRATION OF CONTRACTS.—Except as 11 expressly provided by this Act, any existing long-term re- 12 payment or water service contract for the delivery of water 13 from the Central Valley Project shall be administered pur- 14 suant to the Reclamation laws applicable to the contract, 15 including the Act of July 2, 1956 (70 Stat. 483), when 16 applicable. 17 ‘‘(c) PRICING BASED ON WATER DELIVERIES.—Be- 18 ginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec- 19 retary shall charge contractors only for water actually de- 20 livered. The Secretary shall incorporate this term in all 21 contracts for the delivery of water from the Central Valley 22 Project.’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Dec 05, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]