[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 152 (Tuesday, October 29, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H6850-H6852]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CENTRAL OREGON JOBS AND WATER SECURITY ACT
Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and
pass the bill (H.R. 2640) to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to
adjust the Crooked River boundary, to provide water certainty for the
City of Prineville, Oregon, and for other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 2640
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 ``Central Oregon Jobs and
Water Security Act''.
SEC. 2. WILD AND SCENIC RIVER; CROOKED, OREGON.
Section 3(a)(72) of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (16
U.S.C. 1274(a)(72)) is amended as follows:
(1) By striking ``15-mile'' and inserting ``14.75-mile''.
(2) In subparagraph (B)--
(A) by striking ``8-mile'' and all that follows through
``Bowman Dam'' and inserting ``7.75-mile segment from a point
one-quarter mile downstream from the toe of Bowman Dam''; and
(B) by adding at the end the following: ``The developer for
any hydropower development, including turbines and
appurtenant facilities, at Bowman Dam, in consultation with
the Bureau of Land Management, shall analyze any impacts to
the Outstandingly Remarkable Values of the Wild and Scenic
River that may be caused by such development, including the
future need to undertake routine and emergency repairs, and
shall propose mitigation for any impacts as part of any
license application submitted to the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission.''.
SEC. 3. CITY OF PRINEVILLE WATER SUPPLY.
Section 4 of the Act of August 6, 1956 (70 Stat. 1058), (as
amended by the Acts of September 14, 1959 (73 Stat. 554), and
September 18, 1964 (78 Stat. 954)) is further amended as
follows:
(1) By striking ``ten cubic feet'' the first place it
appears and inserting ``17 cubic feet''.
(2) By striking ``during those months when there is no
other discharge therefrom, but this release may be reduced
for brief temporary periods by the Secretary whenever he may
find that release of the full ten cubic feet per second is
harmful to the primary purpose of the project''.
(3) By adding at the end the following: ``Without further
action by the Secretary, and as determined necessary for any
given year by the City of Prineville, up to seven of the 17
cubic feet per second minimum release shall also serve as
mitigation for City of Prineville groundwater pumping,
pursuant to and in a manner consistent with Oregon State law,
including any shaping of the release of the up to seven cubic
feet per second to coincide with City of Prineville
groundwater pumping as may be required by the State of
Oregon. As such, the Secretary is authorized to make
applications to the State of Oregon in conjunction with the
City to protect these supplies instream. The City shall make
payment to the Secretary for that portion of the minimum
release that actually serves as mitigation pursuant to Oregon
State law for the City in any given year, with the payment
for any given year equal to the amount of mitigation in acre
feet required to offset actual City groundwater pumping for
that year in accordance with Reclamation `Water and Related
Contract and Repayment Principles and Requirements',
Reclamation Manual Directives and Standards PEC 05-01, dated
09/12/2006, and guided by `Economic and Environmental
Principles and Guidelines for Water and Related Land
Resources Implementation Studies', dated March 10, 1983. The
Secretary is authorized to contract exclusively with the City
for additional amounts in the future at the request of the
City.''.
SEC. 4. FIRST FILL PROTECTION.
The Act of August 6, 1956 (70 Stat. 1058), as amended by
the Acts of September 14, 1959 (73 Stat. 554), and September
18, 1964 (78 Stat. 954), is further amended by adding at the
end the following:
``Sec. 6. Other than the 17 cubic feet per second release
provided for in section 4, and subject to compliance with the
Army Corps of Engineers' flood curve requirements, the
Secretary shall, on a `first fill' priority basis, store in
and release from Prineville Reservoir, whether from
carryover, infill, or a combination thereof, the following:
``(1) 68,273 acre feet of water annually to fulfill all 16
Bureau of Reclamation contracts existing as of January 1,
2011, and up to 2,740 acre feet of water annually to supply
the McKay Creek lands as provided for in section 5 of this
Act.
``(2) Not more than 10,000 acre feet of water annually, to
be made available to the North Unit Irrigation District
pursuant to a Temporary Water Service Contract, upon the
request of the North Unit Irrigation District, consistent
with the same terms and conditions as prior such contracts
between the District and the Bureau of Reclamation.
``Sec. 7. Except as otherwise provided in this Act,
nothing in this Act--
``(1) modifies contractual rights that may exist between
contractors and the United States under Reclamation
contracts;
``(2) amends or reopens contracts referred to in paragraph
(1); or
``(3) modifies any rights, obligations, or requirements
that may be provided or governed by Oregon State law.''.
SEC. 5. OCHOCO IRRIGATION DISTRICT.
(a) Early Repayment.--Notwithstanding section 213 of the
Reclamation Reform Act of 1982 (43 U.S.C. 390mm), any
landowner within Ochoco Irrigation District in Oregon, may
repay, at any time, the construction costs of
[[Page H6851]]
the project facilities allocated to that landowner's lands
within the district. Upon discharge, in full, of the
obligation for repayment of the construction costs allocated
to all lands the landowner owns in the district, those lands
shall not be subject to the ownership and full-cost pricing
limitations of the Act of June 17, 1902 (43 U.S.C. 371 et
seq.), and Acts supplemental to and amendatory of that Act,
including the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982 (43 U.S.C. 390aa
et seq.).
(b) Certification.--Upon the request of a landowner who has
repaid, in full, the construction costs of the project
facilities allocated to that landowner's lands owned within
the district, the Secretary of the Interior shall provide the
certification provided for in subsection (b)(1) of section
213 of the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982 (43 U.S.C.
390mm(b)(1)).
(c) Contract Amendment.--On approval of the district
directors and notwithstanding project authorizing legislation
to the contrary, the district's reclamation contracts are
modified, without further action by the Secretary of the
Interior, to--
(1) authorize the use of water for instream purposes,
including fish or wildlife purposes, in order for the
district to engage in, or take advantage of, conserved water
projects and temporary instream leasing as authorized by
Oregon State law;
(2) include within the district boundary approximately
2,742 acres in the vicinity of McKay Creek, resulting in a
total of approximately 44,937 acres within the district
boundary;
(3) classify as irrigable approximately 685 acres within
the approximately 2,742 acres of included lands in the
vicinity of McKay Creek, where the approximately 685 acres
are authorized to receive irrigation water pursuant to water
rights issued by the State of Oregon and have in the past
received water pursuant to such State water rights; and
(4) provide the district with stored water from Prineville
Reservoir for purposes of supplying up to the approximately
685 acres of lands added within the district boundary and
classified as irrigable under paragraphs (2) and (3), with
such stored water to be supplied on an acre-per-acre basis
contingent on the transfer of existing appurtenant McKay
Creek water rights to instream use and the State's issuance
of water rights for the use of stored water.
(d) Limitation.--Except as otherwise provided in
subsections (a) and (c), nothing in this section shall be
construed to--
(1) modify contractual rights that may exist between the
district and the United States under the district's
Reclamation contracts;
(2) amend or reopen the contracts referred to in paragraph
(1); or
(3) modify any rights, obligations or relationships that
may exist between the district and its landowners as may be
provided or governed by Oregon State law.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Alaska (Mr. Young) and the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Grijalva) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Alaska.
General Leave
Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their
remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under
consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Alaska?
There was no objection.
Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
H.R. 2640, sponsored by our colleague, Mr. Walden of Oregon, is an
important step towards restoring water and power abundance and jobs to
a rural area that has been devastated by Federal logging restrictions.
This bill is a reflection of years of negotiation, and it is
identical to the bill this Chamber passed last year without opposition.
Its supporters include those who would normally be water adversaries in
most parts of the West. Municipalities, irrigators, the Warm Spring
tribes, utilities, organized labor, and an environmental organization
have all come together to support this legislation.
I want to commend my friend, the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Walden),
for his good work to bring all these parties together and urge adoption
of this legislation.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
(Mr. GRIJALVA asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2640, as my colleague described, does
several things, including providing water and economic certainty to the
City of Prineville and the Ochoco Irrigation District. The legislation
also outlines how reclamation is to operate and manage the Prineville
Reservoir through the first fill provision and removes some flexibility
on reclamation's part to mitigate and adapt to changing conditions.
We do not fully support the first fill provision but understand that
there are ongoing negotiations that look at providing the certainty
that the city needs while protecting the environment. Stakeholder-
driven processes are the best way to address local needs.
We look forward to working with our colleagues in the Senate and on
the other side of the aisle to ensure that all of the needs are met and
protected.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Walden).
Mr. WALDEN. I thank Chairman Young, and thank you for your help on
this, and Chairman Hastings as well. Mr. Grijalva, thank you for your
comments, and I want to thank Representative DeFazio for his work on
this, among many others.
Mr. Speaker, as was pointed out, in 2012 this bill passed the House
unanimously, and I am glad to see this legislation is once again before
this Chamber. The legislation is a collaborative effort between the
City of Prineville, Crook County, local farmers, the Deschutes River
Conservancy, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, among others. I
am grateful for their efforts in creating and moving this legislation
forward. This bill we have before us will create jobs in central Oregon
and will remove government red tape.
This is actually a photo of Bowman Dam. This is what we are talking
about. When the ``wild and scenic'' designation was passed by Congress,
they sort of arbitrarily and temporarily, at the time--this was decades
ago--placed the wild and scenic designation line right here in the
yellow stripe of the road. Now, I have told people that the only thing
wild and scenic about a dam is if you are falling over the face of it
and tumbling down, then it might be wild and scenic.
What we seek to do is move this boundary off the center of this dam
and go down about a quarter of a mile where the river really becomes
natural. As a result of that, then we are pretty well convinced that a
company will come in and add clean, renewable hydropower through a
generation facility on the dam. The result of that, then, is the water
will come out with less gasification so it will be better for fish.
So we will get about 50 construction jobs for 2 years, good-paying
construction jobs for 2 years as they install this hydropower facility.
We will get enough hydroelectricity to light, I think it is, 500 homes.
So you get clean hydropower and you get construction jobs. The water
will come out from a different place and actually be better for the
fish going forward, and all we do is move the scenic boundary down to
where, frankly, probably everyone would agree, it should have been, not
on the center line at the top of the dam where cars drive over it, but
rather down about a quarter of a mile.
In addition to that, this facility, about 20 miles upriver from
Prineville, is a reclamation project that holds about 80,000 acre-feet
of uncontracted water. That is part of the discussion: What do you do
with that uncontracted water? This is rare in the Federal Government to
have a facility where all of the water hasn't been determined. That is
an issue that can be dealt with down the road. We don't deal with that
here other than to make sure that Prineville has access to that 6
percent, about 5,100 acre-feet, of water.
And why is that important? Because the City of Prineville, right now,
is constricted. They don't have enough water. And this is a small,
rural community with high unemployment in the county. We would make
sure that they get about 5,100 acre-feet of water. They would pay fair
market price for the value of the water, and that extra water would
allow the city to not only meet its residential needs, which it cannot
do today, but also allow it to engage in more economic development,
which it desperately needs to do.
This water issue came to our attention initially because Facebook was
planning, and has since constructed, a data center which they have now
doubled in size. Apple is also constructing a data center there. Both
of them need water for cooling. They have been able
[[Page H6852]]
to be more efficient about how they do that, but they still need water.
And others will.
Because the city would access the water through the ground and not
from directly behind the dam, the water actually flows downstream in
excess of about 20 miles, which is better for the fish to have that
much more water going and released down the dam, and then the city
would, through their underground pumps, pump the water out. In dry
years, particularly in the winter, this higher release requirement
would benefit fish and wildlife, including the Blue Ribbon trout
fishery below Bowman Dam. And as I said, it fixes this problem with the
wild and scenic designation and creates 50 jobs.
Additionally, the bill expedites the McKay Creek restoration project.
This is something we worked closely with the Warm Springs tribal
leaders on because it would increase water flows for redband trout and
summer steelhead. This project has long been supported by the Warm
Springs tribes and the Deschutes River Conservancy, and so I want to
thank both Warm Springs and Deschutes Conservancy for their work on
this issue and on, especially, McKay Creek. It is a very good,
commonsense conservation project.
So this is a good, commonsense, job-creating bill. It is the
culmination of years of work in a collaborative effort.
I want to thank the mayor of Prineville. Mayor Roppe has testified
before the committee on a couple of occasions. Judge McCabe has been
terrific in helping us, as have been many others as we have moved this
forward.
So this is a jobs bill that doesn't cost the government anything. It
is a good, clean water bill that helps the community provide jobs and
take care of its citizens, and it resolves a longstanding issue that
has been a problem for this area. Actually, this debate has gone on
since Mark Hatfield was in the Senate back in the 1970s. So I
appreciate the committee's diligent efforts on this and the bipartisan
way we are moving forward on this piece of legislation.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I ask for your unanimous support of this
bill.
Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. I thank the gentleman for his presentation. He
has done an excellent job.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, we have no further speakers, and I yield
back the balance of my time.
Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. I have no further speakers.
I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young) that the House suspend the rules and
pass the bill, H.R. 2640.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________