[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 69 (Tuesday, April 29, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H2855-H2857]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    CONGRESSIONAL EARMARKS, LIMITED TAX BENEFITS, OR LIMITED TARIFF 
                                BENEFITS

  Under clause 9 of rule XXI, lists or statements on congressional 
earmarks, limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits were 
submitted as follows:

                     Offered By Mr. Bishop of Utah

       Today the House of Representatives will consider S. 2739. 
     Section 504 of S. 2739 authorizes funding for the Arthur V. 
     Watkins Dam Enlargement Project. This language is similar to 
     language found in H.R. 839, a bill which authorizes a 
     feasibility study on raising the height of the Arthur V. 
     Watkins Dam at Willard Bay in Box Elder County, Utah. The 
     entity authorized to receive funding under this request is 
     the Department of the Interior at 1849 C. Street, Washington, 
     DC 20240.
       The authorized study is cost shared 50/50 between Weber 
     Basin and the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) at the Department 
     of the Interior, a record of BOR's finance plan is not 
     available. However, a copy of Weber Basin's finance plan (for 
     its share of the project) is attached.
       This project is justified as the Arthur V. Watkins Dam is a 
     federally owned water storage facility. It is managed by the 
     Weber Basin Water Conservancy District, a political 
     subdivision of the State of Utah. Water stored in this 
     facility serves the culinary water needs of Weber, Davis and 
     Box Elder Counties, which encompass some of the most populous 
     areas of northern Utah. The federal government has made a 
     significant financial commitment to the State of Utah to 
     ensure that this arid state has adequate water resources to 
     meet the needs of its residents. This authorization ensures 
     that.


                a.v. watkins dam raise feasibility study

       Under a feasibility study to be prepared by Reclamation an 
     integrated feasibility report and National Environmental 
     Policy Act (NEPA) compliance document will be prepared to 
     address the potential raise of A.V. Watkins Dam to 
     accommodate additional storage of 10,000 acre-feet.
       The following areas and estimated costs are presented to 
     cover the study:

 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                              Estimated
                Item                       Description           cost
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1..................................  NEPA: Investigation        $500,000
                                      and report of
                                      environmental impacts
                                      and appropriate
                                      federal actions.
2..................................  Cultural Mitigation         200,000
                                      Plan: Investigation
                                      of impacts to
                                      cultural findings and
                                      corresponding
                                      recovery plan.
3..................................  Water Rights: Review         50,000
                                      and verification of
                                      the preliminary water
                                      rights work
                                      originally conducted.
                                      Will include
                                      coordination with the
                                      Utah Division of
                                      Water Rights.
4..................................  Investigations/             900,000
                                      Drilling/Laboratory
                                      Testing: A study of
                                      existing physical
                                      conditions including
                                      field testing and
                                      verification of
                                      existing geology of
                                      the entire 14 mile
                                      dam.
5..................................  Hydrology: Review and        50,000
                                      verification of the
                                      available river flows
                                      from the Ogden and
                                      Weber rivers.
6..................................  Feasibility Design/         300,000
                                      Drawings/Report:
                                      Culmination of the
                                      feasibility study
                                      including written
                                      conclusions from each
                                      of the above
                                      investigations.
      Total........................  ......................    2,000,000
------------------------------------------------------------------------

       Expected duration of report--1\1/2\ to 2 years.
       The Weber Basin Water Conservancy District (District), in 
     an effort to insure that it is able to meet the ever 
     increasing demand for water throughout its service area, 
     continues to evaluate the need for improvements, including 
     the development of new resources. Part of the challenges 
     facing the District in this effort are: identifying growth 
     patterns and projecting future populations by geographic 
     location; estimating the total water consumption of the 
     projected population both indoors and outdoors; and 
     evaluating existing supplies to determine how to most 
     effectively utilize those supplies, particularly in times of 
     drought. Through these proactive efforts, a need for 
     additional resources has been identified in order for the 
     District to meet future demands along the Wasatch Front.
       To estimate the future demand for water within the 
     District's service area across the Wasatch Front, the 
     District completed the

[[Page H2856]]

     Supply and Demand Study (January 2008), in which population 
     projections were developed through build-out, and the 
     associated water demand of that population estimated based on 
     historic water use. The demands were then compared to 
     available District supplies, including those developed by the 
     United States Bureau of Reclamation via the Weber Basin 
     Project, those developed or being developed by the District, 
     and outside resources that are controlled by various 
     independent agencies (municipalities, improvement districts, 
     etc.). Based on the results of this study, the District 
     anticipates a need for one or more additional raw water 
     resources within the next 20 years; possibly as early as 
     2015. Future sources that are being considered include 
     wastewater reuse (for outdoor irrigation use), aquifer 
     storage and recovery, and the importation of water from the 
     Bear River. Even with the full development of all of the new 
     resources listed, it is anticipated that the supply will 
     still be inadequate to meet projected demands without 
     aggressive coinciding conservation efforts. The District has 
     implemented an aggressive water conservation plan with a goal 
     to reduce per capita water consumption by 25 percent by 2025.
       Although the need for additional water supplies within the 
     District's service area is becoming increasingly evident, 
     nowhere is it more evident than in the Weber County area. 
     Population projections predict that much of the future growth 
     along the Wasatch Front will occur in the area of western 
     Weber County. As growth has tended to move outward from the 
     Salt Lake City area, from Davis County into Weber County, the 
     District has observed increasing demands on the Weber South 
     and Davis North Treatment Plants (located in southern Weber 
     County and northern Davis County respectively). Those plants 
     are now approaching capacity during times of peak demand. To 
     evaluate the need for additional treatment plant capacity, 
     the District recently retained consulting engineers to 
     examine several strategic locations for construction of a new 
     water treatment plant to meet increasing demands. The 
     resulting Implementation Plan and Schedule (Technical 
     Memorandum 11, Site Evaluation for the New Weber West WTP and 
     Related Facilities, Draft dated 06/11/07) indicates that in 
     order to keep up with the increasing demand resulting from 
     growth in western Weber County, a new centrally located 
     treatment plant will be required. The report further 
     concludes that design of the new raw water conveyance 
     facilities should commence in early 2009, with construction 
     beginning in late 2010. Completion and commissioning of all 
     facilities would then be scheduled for 2012. All of the 
     possible water treatment plant sites considered were assumed 
     to utilize raw water from storage at Arthur V. Watkins Dam/
     Willard Bay Reservoir.
       Based on current projections, the need for additional water 
     supplies along the Wasatch Front is both certain and 
     imminent. With the Bureau of Reclamation already having filed 
     for additional water rights from the Ogden and Weber rivers, 
     raising the Arthur V. Watkins Dam would effectively increase 
     the water that can be stored in Willard Bay by an additional 
     10,000 to 70,000 acre-feet and would make it available for 
     use within the time projected for additional demand. Arthur 
     V. Watkins Dam/Willard Bay Reservoir is strategically located 
     relative to future demands, and as an existing facility could 
     be increased at a relative lesser cost, and without the 
     significant impacts that are sure to accompany other projects 
     of this magnitude.

               Offered By Mr. George Miller of California

       The amendment to be offered by Representative George Miller 
     or a designee to H.R. 5522, the Worker Protection Against 
     Combustible Dust Explosion and Fire Act, does not contain any 
     congressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, or limited 
     tariff benefits as defined in clause 9(d), 9(e), or 9(f) of 
     Rule XXI.

                    Offered By Mr. Walden of Oregon

       Bill Number: S. 2739 (H.R. 495).
       Account: Secretary of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation.
       Legal Name of Requesting Entity(ies): The North Unit 
     Irrigation District Act--Requesting Entity: North Unit 
     Irrigation District, Madras, Oregon; The Deschutes River 
     Conservancy Reauthorization Act--Requesting Entity: Deschutes 
     River Conservancy, Bend, Oregon; The Wallowa Lake Dam 
     Rehabilitation Act--Requesting Entity: Associated Ditch 
     Company, Joseph, Oregon; The Little Butte/Bear Creek 
     Subbasins Water Feasibility Act--Requesting Entity: City of 
     Medford, Medford, Oregon.
       Address of Requesting Entity(ies): North Unit Irrigation 
     Districts, 2024 NW Beech Streets, Madras, Oregon 97740, (ph) 
     541-475-3625; Deschutes River Conservancy, 700 NW Hill 
     Street, Bend Oregon 97701, (ph) 541-382-4077; Associated 
     Ditch Company, 1102 Engleside Avenue, Joseph, Oregon 97846, 
     (ph) 541-432-6155; City of Medford, 411 W 8th Street #312, 
     Medford, Oregon 97501, (ph) 541-774-2000.
       Description of Request(s): I am the author of H.R. 495, the 
     Oregon Water Resources Management Act of 2007, which is a 
     package of water-related bills contained within S. 2739 which 
     is scheduled to be considered by the full House on April 29, 
     2008. On July 23, 2007, the House of Representatives passed 
     this package of bills included in H.R. 495 by voice vote. 
     H.R. 495 is identical to the bill passed unanimously by the 
     Resources Committee and the full House in the 109th Congress 
     (H.R. 5079). All of these measures, described in detail 
     below, are related to projects in my district and have been 
     thoroughly vetted through the Committee and are supported by 
     my colleagues from Oregon in the United States Senate, 
     Senators Ron Wyden and Gordon Smith. H.R. 495 does not have 
     a direct and foreseeable effect on the pecuniary interests 
     of me or my spouse.
       Deschutes River Conservancy Reauthorization Act--Bill 
     language would amend the Oregon Resource Conservation Act of 
     1996 to reauthorize the participation of the Bureau of 
     Reclamation (Reclamation) in the Deschutes River Conservancy 
     (DRC) through Fiscal Year 2015. The DRC was originally 
     authorized by Congress in 1996 to implement water 
     conservation measures in the Deschutes River basin. The DRC 
     was founded by local irrigation districts, the Confederated 
     Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation, conservation groups, 
     and other local stakeholders in an effort to focus on 
     practical, incentive-based solutions to the basin's water 
     management challenges. The DRC has leased over 70 cubic feet 
     per second of water in the basin's streams and has restored 
     over 100 miles of stream corridor using livestock management 
     techniques, restored channel floodplain connectivity, and 
     planted over 250,000 native plants and trees in the riparian 
     zone. The DRC has permanently acquired about 9,200 acre-feet 
     of senior water rights in the Deschutes Basin that will 
     remain instream during critical low flow periods, benefiting 
     fish species such as ESA listed bull trout and summer 
     steelhead. The bill has received positive and bipartisan 
     support in the House and Senate, is supported by the DRC, the 
     local community and Reclamation. This bill would authorize $2 
     million per year over 10 years in federal spending. The use 
     of federal funding for this project is justified because it 
     would address critical water shortage issues in the summer 
     months that have a direct impact on federal Endangered 
     Species Act listed salmon and steelhead.
       Wallowa Lake Dam Rehabilitation Act--Bill language 
     authorizes the Bureau of Reclamation to provide grants, or to 
     enter into cooperative agreements, with tribal, State, local 
     governmental entities and the Associated Ditch Companies to 
     plan, design, and repair Wallowa Lake Dam. Over the last 
     several years I have visited Wallowa County on a number of 
     occasions to convene meetings with both proponents and 
     opponents of this legislation in order to gain a full 
     understanding of the situation and to discuss the merits of 
     this proposal. These meetings have clearly demonstrated that 
     the overwhelming majority of Wallowa County residents support 
     this bill and its main tenet--the rehabilitation of the 
     Wallowa Lake Dam--has been identified by the U.S. Army Corp 
     of Engineers as a high hazard structure. H.R. 495 authorizes 
     $6 million in federal funds for dam rehabilitation; however, 
     spending authority sunsets after 10 years and requires a 50/
     50 federal/local cost share match. Federal funding for this 
     project is justified to not only protect citizens from the 
     highly hazardous Wallowa Lake Dam, but to assist with the 
     tremendous environmental costs that directly result from the 
     presence of federally listed Endangered Species Act salmon 
     and steelhead in the dam rehabilitation project.
       Little Butte/Bear Creek Subbasins Water Feasibility Act--
     Bill language would authorize the Bureau of Reclamation 
     (Reclamation) to conduct a needed water management 
     feasibility study and environmental impact statement for the 
     Water for Irrigation, Streams, and the Economy Project in 
     accordance with the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between 
     City of Medford and Reclamation in order to address water 
     management issues for irrigation, municipal use and 
     conservation. This bill language passed the Senate by 
     unanimous consent in November 2005 and the bill is nearly 
     identical to legislation I sponsored in the 108th Congress 
     which received a hearing in the Subcommittee on Water and 
     Power, passed by the Committee by unanimous consent, and 
     ultimately passed the House by voice vote in September of 
     2004. H.R. 495 authorizes $500,000 in federal funds; however, 
     spending authority sunsets after 10 years and requires a 
     50/50 federal/local cost share match. Federal funds are 
     justified because the federal partnership established via 
     the MOA is for the express purpose of addressing federal 
     Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act (ESA) 
     requirements. Additionally, Congress needs to provide 
     Reclamation the authority to achieve the goals of the MOA 
     and also provide funds due to costs from addressing 
     previous acts of Congress, including the Clean Water Act 
     and ESA.
       North Unit Irrigation District Act--Bill language amends a 
     repayment contract between the Bureau of Reclamation 
     (Reclamation) and the North Unit Irrigation District 
     (District) to meet State water conservation law and allow the 
     District to improve its overall water management and 
     efficiency. The bill increases the maximum irrigated land 
     within the District available to receive Deschutes Project 
     water from 50,000 acres to 59,000 acres, and reclassifies 
     that land. The legislation allows the repayment terms to 
     shift from a variable to a fixed term, and would allow for 
     accelerated repayment of capital costs. Finally, the 
     legislation allows Reclamation to negotiate future contract 
     terms without Congressional authorization, only after 
     receiving written notice from the District and getting the 
     consent of the Commissioner of Reclamation. The legislative 
     authority granted in H.R. 495 to change the Reclamation 
     contract would not require additional taxpayer funding above 
     the existing

[[Page H2857]]

     programmatic appropriations for the agency. Conservation 
     efforts to provide additional instream water and other 
     conservation projects cannot be implemented solely by the 
     District without a change in their current Reclamation 
     authorities; Congress provided the current authorities and 
     only Congress can modify those authorities.

              Offered By Mr. Gary G. Miller of California

       Bill Number: H.R. 1195.
       Bill Section: Sec. 102.
       Account: U.S. Department of Transportation.
       Legal Entities To Receive Funding: Nevada Department of 
     Transportation, 1263 South Stewart Street, Carson City, NV 
     89712, who shall cooperate with the California-Nevada Super 
     Speed Train Commission, 400 Stewart Street, Las Vegas, NV 
     89101; U.S. Department of Transportation; 1200 New Jersey 
     Ave., SE., Washington, DC 20590.
       Description of Request: In the SAFETEA-LU Act, two Magnetic 
     Levitation Transportation Projects (MAGLEV) received federal 
     authorization for a total of $90,000,000; however, 
     mistakenly, contract authority was not assigned to these 
     important projects. To ensure these MAGLEV projects have the 
     funding necessary to succeed, I requested language to amend 
     Section 1307 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient 
     Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (119 Stat. 
     1217) to add contract authority to the projects at the 
     funding levels authorized in SAFETEA-LU. The term ``MAGLEV'' 
     means transportation systems employing magnetic levitation 
     that would be capable of safe use by the public at a speed in 
     excess of 240 miles per hour. According to SAFETEA-LU, this 
     funding can be used for preconstruction planning activities 
     and to supplement the cost of the fixed guideway 
     infrastructure of these MAGLEV projects, including land, 
     piers, guideways, propulsion equipment and other components 
     attached to guideways, power distribution facilities 
     substations, control and communications facilities, access 
     roads, and storage, repair, and maintenance facilities. The 
     federal cost share of these projects will be 80 percent.
       MAGLEV is an advanced train technology that can offer 
     competitive trip-time savings compared to alternative forms 
     of travel over long distances. Federal funding is needed to 
     deploy this technology further and thereby reduce congestion 
     along heavily travelled corridors in the United States. In 
     addition to the request for contract authority, I also 
     requested that the project description contained in Sec. 
     102(d)(1) be amended to ensure the entire high-speed ground 
     transportation corridor project, which starts in Las Vegas, 
     Nevada, and extends to Anaheim, California, is authorized to 
     receive federal assistance and that the project be 
     coordinated with the California-Nevada Super Speed Train 
     Commission.

                  Offered By Mrs. Wilson of New Mexico

       Bill Number: S. 2739 (Companion H.R. 1904).
        Account: Interior, Bureau of Land Management, USGS, 
     Management of Lands and Resources.
       Legal Name of Requesting Entity: State of New Mexico.
       Address of Requesting Entity: 1220 South St. Francis Drive, 
     Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505.
        Description of Request: Provide a total earmark of 
     $12,000,000 apportioned in equal amounts of $3,000,000 in 
     Fiscal years FY08 through 2011 to assist the State of New 
     Mexico in water planning. This includes: technical assistance 
     and grants for the development of comprehensive State water 
     plans, activities to conduct a mapping of water resources 
     throughout the State, and to conduct a comprehensive study of 
     groundwater resources (including potable, brackish, and 
     saline) throughout the State. This assistance may include 
     acquisition of hydrologic data, expansion of water monitoring 
     networks, modeling of resources, coordination with Federal 
     water management planning, integration of State planning 
     forums and groups in the planning efforts, and technical 
     reviews of data, models, planning scenarios and water plans 
     developed by the State. Expansion of water resources 
     throughout the State is critical to the continued development 
     of the economy within the State.
       The funding and levels of effort will be allocated 
     approximately as follows: $5,000,000 to develop hydrologic 
     models covering the Rio Grande and Rios Pueblo de Taos and 
     Hondo, Rios Nambe, Pojaque and Teseque, Rio Chama, and Lower 
     Rio Grande tributaries; $1,500,000 for surveys for the San 
     Juan River and tributaries; $1,000,000 for surveys for the 
     Southwest New Mexico basins, and $4,500,000 for statewide 
     digital mapping.
       The non-Federal share of all work shall be 50% and may be 
     provided with in-kind resource acceptable to the Secretary of 
     the Interior.

                          ____________________