[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 187 (Tuesday, December 17, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H7265-H7266]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
KLAMATH BASIN WATER AGREEMENT SUPPORT ACT OF 2024
Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 7938) to amend the Klamath Basin Water Supply Enhancement
Act of 2000 to provide the Secretary of the Interior with certain
authorities with respect to projects affecting the Klamath Basin
watershed, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 7938
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 ``Klamath Basin Water
Agreement Support Act of 2024''.
SEC. 2. KLAMATH PROJECT WATER AND POWER.
(a) Addressing Water, Power, and Facilities Management for
Irrigation.--Section 4 of the Klamath Basin Water Supply
Enhancement Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-498) is amended by
adding at the end the following:
``(d) Restoration Activities.--The Secretary may--
``(1) plan, design, construct, operate, and maintain
projects in the Klamath Basin watershed, including--
``(A) facilities to reduce fish entrainment;
``(B) projects that reduce or avoid impacts on aquatic
resources of facilities involved in the storage or diversion
of water for irrigation in the Klamath Project service area;
and
``(C) projects that restore habitats in the Klamath Basin
watershed, including Tribal fishery resources held in trust;
``(2) undertake studies, including feasibility studies, and
improvements that the Secretary determines to be necessary to
implement this subsection;
``(3) in implementing this subsection, enter into
contracts, memoranda of understanding, financial assistance
agreements, cost-sharing agreements, or other appropriate
agreements with--
``(A) State, Tribal, and local governmental agencies; and
``(B) private parties; and
``(4) accept and expend non-Federal funds in order to
facilitate implementation of this subsection.
``(e) Goals.--The goals of activities under subsections (b)
and (d) shall include, as applicable--
``(1) the short-term and long-term reduction and resolution
of conflicts relating to water in the Klamath Basin
watershed; and
``(2) compatibility and utility for protecting natural
resources throughout the Klamath Basin watershed, including
the protection, preservation, and restoration of Klamath
River Tribal fishery resources, particularly through
collaboratively developed agreements.
``(f) Pumping Plant D.--The Secretary may enter into 1 or
more agreements with the Tulelake Irrigation District to
reimburse the Tulelake Irrigation District for not more than
69 percent of the cost incurred by the Tulelake Irrigation
District for the operation and maintenance of Pumping Plant
D, subject to the condition that the cost results in benefits
to the United States.
``(g) Keno and Link River Dams.--The Secretary of the
Interior shall comply with the terms of the agreement
entitled `2016 Klamath Power and Facilities
Agreement'(`Agreement'), including Attachment A to the
Agreement.''.
(b) Administration; Effect.--
(1) Compliance.--In implementing the amendments made by
this section, the Secretary of the Interior shall comply
with--
(A) the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.);
(B) the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et
seq.); and
(C) all other applicable laws.
(2) Effect.--None of the amendments made by this section--
(A) modify any authority or obligation of the United States
with respect to any Tribal trust or treaty obligation of the
United States;
(B) create or determine any water right; or
(C) affect any water right or water right claim in
existence on the date of the enactment of this Act.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Arkansas (Mr. Westerman) and the gentlewoman from California (Ms.
Kamlager-Dove) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Arkansas.
General Leave
Mr. WESTERMAN. 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 H.R. 7938, the bill now under
consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Arkansas?
There was no objection.
Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 7938, the Klamath Basin Water
Agreement Support Act of 2024.
This legislation, sponsored by Congressman Cliff Bentz, would uphold
the commitments made by the Federal Government in the agreements
concerning dam removal and species restoration, which are aimed at
ensuring farmers are shielded from the adverse effects of these
actions.
The Klamath River Basin in southern Oregon and northern California
encompasses more than 12,000 square miles with some of the most
productive irrigated agriculture in the country.
The basin is partially supported by the Bureau of Reclamation's
Klamath Project and is home to six national wildlife refuges, which
rely on basin waters to sustain migratory bird habitats and support
Native American Tribal fishing grounds. However, this basin has been
plagued by decades of disagreement and conflicting agency opinions on
how to best conserve the ESA-listed species.
While H.R. 7938 provides the Department of the Interior the
authorization to operate and improve infrastructure, it makes clear
that Klamath Project irrigators are not responsible for those costs.
The bill also enables Reclamation to implement conservation measures
for ESA-listed species through fish screens and other restoration
projects. This would protect Tribal resources in the basin and avoid
additional regulatory burdens on other stakeholders.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Bentz for his diligent leadership on
this issue and tireless support of the Klamath Basin. I urge my
colleagues to support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Klamath Basin Water Agreement
Support Act, which seeks to resolve stakeholder conflicts regarding
water use and fish and wildlife management in the Klamath River Basin.
Since time immemorial, the Klamath River has supported the
livelihoods of several tribes in the basin. It continues to play a key
role in each of these tribes' cultures, economies, and food
sovereignty.
Unfortunately, the construction of dams along the river and changing
climate conditions in the basin resulted in devastating consequences
for tribes, agriculture, fish and wildlife, and fishing communities as
a result of reduced water flows.
Since planning for dam removal in the lower Klamath River started,
there have been years of work and negotiations between the tribes and
other parties to reach agreement on issues affecting water, fish, and
wildlife in the basin.
After the removal of the four lower Klamath Dams, salmon have already
begun migrating into previously inaccessible historic salmon spawning
habitat. Good for them.
The legislation before us today would build on this historic
restoration project by further supporting the commitments made under
the Klamath Basin agreements.
I thank the majority for working with us to ensure that Tribal
concerns with the introduced language were addressed prior to moving
the bill out of committee.
Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to support the bill, and I reserve
the balance of my time.
Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from
Oregon (Mr. Bentz), the lead sponsor of the bill.
Mr. BENTZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 7938, as amended.
[[Page H7266]]
This long overdue legislation is necessary if the Federal Government
is to honor critical commitments it has made to farmers and ranchers in
my district in Oregon and Mr. LaMalfa's district in northern
California.
For generations, farmers and ranchers receiving water delivered from
the Klamath River and Klamath Lake have assumed the risk of weather,
skyrocketing costs of production, wildly fluctuating markets, while
playing by the rules, conserving more and more water, and continuing to
do their best to provide high-quality food for our Nation.
However, over the past 25 years, they have done so under the
additional burden of federally mandated drastic reductions in the
amount of water they have State certified rights to use. These
reductions dictated federally, coupled with increasing drought,
threaten farmers' and ranchers' livelihoods, the communities that rely
upon them, and ultimately our Nation's food supply.
The reason this legislation is needed now is because earlier this
year, the four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River in Oregon and
California were dismantled and removed. This leaves operation of
instream structures, located upriver from the now removed four
hydroelectric dams, at legal risk through no fault or action of or by
the farmers.
{time} 1600
As context, Mr. Speaker, for over 100 years, there were four
hydroelectric facilities on the Klamath River. These facilities were
located downstream from the Klamath Reclamation Project diversion
structures. The four hydroelectric dams generated low-cost, clean,
renewable energy for over a century. Although they were built by a
local company, they were eventually acquired by PacifiCorp, a
nationally operating investor-owned electrical utility.
In recent years, State and Federal regulators decided they wanted the
four lower dams on the Klamath River removed. Regulations and
litigation drove the cost of relicensing these dams through the roof,
leading their owner, PacifiCorp, to the not-too-surprising conclusion
that disposing of rather than relicensing the dams was the best path
forward.
Based on this, PacifiCorp agreed the dams could be removed, but only
if someone else assumed all legal responsibility and paid for all the
work.
In addition, as a condition of allowing the four hydroelectric dams
to be removed, PacifiCorp demanded that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
assume ownership of all remaining water infrastructure previously owned
by PacifiCorp, including the Link River and Keno Dams, regardless of
their condition, shifting all and whatever liabilities, known and
unknown, that might burden them to the Bureau of Reclamation.
In the 15 years before removal of the hydroelectric dams, farmers and
ranchers on the Klamath Project were promised that they would not have
to bear the cost of retrofitting and updating this upstream
infrastructure. This legislation will finally deliver on those
promises.
Mr. Speaker, I include in the Congressional Record a link to this
copy of the 2016 Klamath Power and Facilities Agreement, which reflects
some of these promises: https://bentz.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/
bentz.house. gov/files/evo-media-document/OR02Sharp__20241217__150611-
compressed.pdf
In addition, Mr. Speaker, H.R. 7938 partially addresses another
consequence of the destruction of these dams. The major reason for
their removal was to allow salmon, steelhead, and other fish to migrate
up rivers and streams to new areas. However, accompanying these
returning fish are regulations and regulators anxious to make sure that
the fish have appropriate means of passage, but the Klamath Project's
irrigation infrastructure was not built or designed to deal with the
needs of these species.
Over the past 15 years, irrigators in the Klamath Project have been
repeatedly assured that there would not be any significant new
regulatory burden or costs imposed upon them associated with removal of
the four dams and the resultant arrival of fish, yet here we are.
Fortunately, this legislation would give the Bureau of Reclamation
some of the authority and tools needed to keep that promise.
I thank my colleagues, Mr. LaMalfa, Ranking Member Huffman, and the
Natural Resources Committee for supporting and working with me on this
important bill. I also thank Chair Westerman.
Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``yes'' vote on H.R. 7938.
Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the
legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 7938 would provide important tools
and certainty for both wildlife and people living in the Klamath River
Basin. The irrigated lands of the Klamath Project support family farms
and ranches, Tribal fishing rights, and the recovery of several ESA-
listed fish species. This legislation builds upon vital work being done
by these groups.
Mr. Speaker, I again thank my colleague, Mr. Bentz, for his work on
the bill. I urge Members to support this commonsense legislation, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Westerman) that the House suspend the
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 7938, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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