[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4188 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4188

To authorize the construction of the Fort Peck Reservation Rural Water 
                System, Montana, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 25, 1996

 Mr. Williams introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                         Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To authorize the construction of the Fort Peck Reservation Rural Water 
                System, Montana, 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 ``Fort Peck Reservation Rural Water 
System Act of 1995''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds that--
            (1) there are insufficient water supplies available to 
        residents of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana, and 
        the water systems that are available do not meet minimum health 
        and safety standards, thereby posing a threat to public health 
        and safety;
            (2) the United States has a trust responsibility to ensure 
        that adequate and safe water supplies are available to meet the 
        economic, environmental, water supply, and public health needs 
        of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation; and
            (3) the best available, reliable, and safe rural and 
        municipal water supply to serve the needs of the Fort Peck 
        Indian Reservation is the Missouri River.
    (b) Purpose.--The Congress declares that the purposes of sections 1 
through 7 are to ensure a safe and adequate municipal, rural, and 
industrial water supply for the residents of the Fort Peck Indian 
Reservation in Montana;

SEC. 3. FORT PECK RESERVATION RURAL WATER SYSTEM.

    (a) Authorization.--The Secretary of the Interior (hereafter 
referred to as the ``Secretary'') is authorized and directed to plan, 
design, construct, operate, maintain, and replace a municipal, rural 
and industrial water system, to be known as the Fort Peck Reservation 
Rural Water System, as generally described in the report entitled 
Technical Report for the Fort Peck Reservation Rural Water System and 
dated July, 1995. The Fort Peck Reservation Rural Water System shall 
consist of--
            (1) pumping and treatment facilities located along the 
        Missouri River near Poplar, Montana;
            (2) pipelines extending from the Missouri River near 
        Poplar, Montana, throughout the Fort Peck Indian Reservation;
            (3) facilities to allow for future interconnections to 
        areas outside the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, including 
        communities of Plentywood, Scobey, Flaxville, and Culbertson;
            (4) distribution and treatment facilities to serve the 
        needs of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, including but not 
        limited to the purchase, improvement and repair of existing 
        water systems, including systems owned by individual tribal 
        members and other residents of the Fort Peck Indian 
        Reservation;
            (5) appurtenant buildings and access roads;
            (6) necessary property and property rights;
            (7) electrical power transmission and distribution 
        facilities necessary for services to water systems facilities; 
        and
            (8) such other pipelines, pumping plants, and facilities as 
        the Secretary deems necessary or appropriate to meet the water 
        supply, economic, public health, and environmental needs of the 
        reservation, including (but not limited to) water storage 
        tanks, water lines, and other facilities for the Fort Peck 
        Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes and reservation villages, towns, 
        and municipalities.
    (b) Agreement to Plan, Construct, Operate and Maintain the Fort 
Peck Reservation Rural Water System:
            (1) In carrying out subsection (a), the Secretary shall 
        enter into cooperative agreements with the Fort Peck Tribal 
        Executive Board for planning, designing, constructing, 
        operating, maintaining, and replacing the Fort Peck Reservation 
        Rural Water System.
            (2) Such cooperative agreements shall set forth, in a 
        manner acceptable to the Secretary and the Tribal Executive 
        Board--
                    (A) the responsibilities of the parties for needs 
                assessment, feasibility, and environmental studies; 
                engineering and design; construction; water 
                conservation measures; and administration of any 
                contracts with respect to this subparagraph;
                    (B) the procedures and requirements for approval 
                and acceptance of such design and construction; and
                    (C) the rights, responsibilities, and liabilities 
                of each party to the agreement.
            (3) Such cooperative agreements may include purchase, 
        improvement, and repair of existing water systems, including 
        systems owned by individual tribal members and other residents 
        located on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation.
            (4) The Secretary may unilaterally terminate any 
        cooperative agreement entered into pursuant to this section if 
        the Secretary determines that the quality of construction does 
        not meet all standards established for similar facilities 
        constructed by the Secretary or that the operation and 
        maintenance of the system does not meet conditions acceptable 
        to the Secretary of fulfilling the obligations of the United 
        States to the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes.
            (5) Upon execution of any cooperative agreement authorized 
        upon this section, and in accordance with its terms, the 
        Secretary is authorized to transfer to the Fort Peck Tribes on 
        a non-reimbursable basis, the funds authorized to be 
        appropriated by section 6 for the Fort Peck Reservation Rural 
        Water System.
    (c) Service Area.--The service area of the Fort Peck Reservation 
Rural Water System shall be the Fort Peck Indian Reservation and 
surrounding communities.
    (d) Construction Requirements.--The pumping plants, pipelines, 
treatment facilities, and other appurtenant facilities for the Fort 
Peck Reservation Rural Water System shall be planned and constructed to 
a size sufficient to meet the municipal, rural, and industrial water 
supply requirements of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation and the rural 
areas north of the Reservation, taking into account the effects of the 
water conservation plans described in section 4.
    (e) Title to System.--Title to the Fort Peck Reservation Rural 
Water Supply System shall be held in trust for the Fort Peck 
Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes by the United States and shall not be 
transferred without a subsequent Act of Congress.
    (f) Limitation on Availability of Construction Funds.--The 
Secretary shall not obligate funds for the construction of the Fort 
Peck Reservation Rural Water Supply System until--
            (1) the requirements of the National Environmental Policy 
        Act of 1969 have been met; and
            (2) a final engineering report has been approved by the 
        Secretary.
    (g) Technical Assistance.--The Secretary is authorized and directed 
to provide such technical assistance as may be necessary to the Fort 
Peck Tribes to plan, develop, construct, operate, maintain and replace 
the Fort Peck Reservation Rural Water Supply System, including (but not 
limited to) operation and management training.
    (h) Application of Indian Self-Determination Act.--Planning, 
design, construction and operation of the Fort Peck Reservation Rural 
Water System within the Fort Peck Reservation shall be subject to the 
provisions of the Indian Self-Determination Act (Public Law 93-638; 
U.S.C. 450).

SEC. 4. WATER CONSERVATION PROGRAMS.

    (a) In order to reduce costs and to reduce water consumption, the 
Secretary, prior to obligating any construction funds, shall issue a 
public notice finding that plans for the Fort Peck Reservation Rural 
Water System include prudent and responsible water conservation 
measures for the operation of the system where such measures are shown 
to be economically and financially feasible. The Fort Peck Tribes shall 
develop a water conservation plan containing definite goals, 
appropriate water conservation measures, and a time schedule for 
meeting the water conservation objectives. The provisions of section 
210(c) of Public Law 97-293 (96 Stat. 1268) shall apply with respect to 
the systems.
    (b) Purpose.--The water conservation program required under this 
section shall be designed to ensure that users of water from the water 
supply system will use the best practicable technology and management 
techniques to conserve water.

SEC 5. USE OF PICK-SLOAN POWER.

    (a) In General.--The Fort Peck Reservation Rural Water System shall 
utilize power from Pick-Sloan for operation. This power shall be deemed 
to be a project use pumping requirement of Pick-Sloan.
    (b) Power To Be Used.--As of the date of enactment of this Act, 
power identified for future project use pumping shall be reserved for 
and made available for the purpose authorized by subsection (a).
    (c) Rate.--The rate for project use power made available pursuant 
to subsection (a) shall be the wholesale firm power rate for Pick-Sloan 
(Eastern Division) in effect at the time the power is sold.
    (d) Additional Power.--If additional power beyond that made 
available through subsection (b) is required to meet the pumping 
requirements of the system, the Administrator of the Western Area Power 
Administration is authorized to purchase the additional power needed 
under such terms and conditions the Administrator deems appropriate. 
Expenses associated with such power purchases shall be recovered 
through a separate power charge, sufficient to recover these expenses, 
applied to the System.
    (e) Definitions.--For purposes of this section--
            (1) the term ``System'' means the Fort Peck Reservation 
        Rural Water System; and
            (2) the term ``Pick Sloan'' means the Pick-Sloan Missouri 
        Basin Program authorized by section 9 of the Act of December 
        22, 1944 (58 Stat. 891; commonly referred to as the Flood 
        Control Act of 1944).

SEC. 6. AUTHROIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) Planning, Design, and Construction.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated $114,734,300 for the planning, design, and construction of 
the Fort Peck Reservation Rural Water System, the system defined under 
the provisions of section 3. Such funds are authorized to be 
appropriated only through the end of the fifth fiscal year after which 
construction funds are first made available. The funds authorized to be 
appropriated by the first sentence of this section, less any amounts 
previously obligated for the System, may be increased or decreased by 
such amounts as may be justified by reason of ordinary fluctuations in 
development costs incurred after January 1, 1995, as indicated by 
engineering costs indices applicable for the type of construction 
involved.
    (b) Operation and Maintenance of Fort Peck Reservation Rural Water 
Supply System.--There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as 
may be necessary for the operation and maintenance of the Fort Peck 
Reservation Rural Water System.

SEC. 7. WATER RIGHTS.

    Nothing in sections 1 through 12 shall be construed to--
            (1) impair the validity of or preempt any provision of 
        State water law, or of any interstate compact governing water;
            (2) alter the rights of any State to any appropriated share 
        of the waters of any body or surface or ground water, whether 
        determined by past or future interstate compacts, or by past or 
        future legislative or final judicial allocations;
            (3) preempt or modify any State or Federal law or 
        interstate compact dealing with water quality or disposal;
            (4) confer upon any non-Federal entity the ability to 
        exercise any Federal right to the waters of any stream or to 
        any groundwater resources; or
            (5) affect any water rights of the Fort Peck Tribes, 
        whether located within or without the external boundaries of 
        the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, based on treaty, compact, 
        executive orders, agreement, Act of Congress, aboriginal title, 
        the Winters doctrine (Winters v. United States, 207 U.S. 564 
        (1908)), or otherwise. Nothing contained in this section or in 
        section 1 through 7, however, is intended to validate or 
        invalidate any assertion of the existence, nonexistence or 
        extinguishment of any water rights, or compacts thereto, held 
        by the Fort Peck Tribes, or any other Indian Tribe or 
        individual Indian under Federal or State law.
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