[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 16]
[Senate]
[Pages 22736-22737]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                      MISSOURI RIVER BASIN PROJECT

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                         PROSSER DIVERSION DAM

  Mr. LOTT. I ask unanimous consent the Energy Committee be discharged 
from further consideration of H.R. 2984 and H.R. 3986. I further ask 
consent the Senate proceed en bloc to their consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk 
will report the bills by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 2984) to direct the Secretary of the Interior, 
     through the Bureau of Reclamation, to convey to the Loup 
     Basin Reclamation District, the Sargent River Irrigation 
     District, and the Farwell Irrigation District, Nebraska, 
     property comprising the assets of the Middle Loup Division of 
     the Missouri River Basin Project, Nebraska;
       A bill (H.R. 3986) to provide for a study of the 
     engineering feasibility of a water exchange in lieu of 
     electrification of the Chandler Pumping Plant at Prosser 
     Diversion Dam, Washington.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bills.
  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, today, the Senate will pass H.R. 3986, a 
bill introduced by Representative Doc Hastings, R-Washington, that will 
authorize the Bureau of Reclamation to study the feasibility of moving 
the intake system for the Kennewick Irrigation District from the Yakima 
River to the Columbia River. I introduced a similar bill earlier this 
year, S. 2163, which was passed by the Senate Energy and Natural 
Resources Committee earlier this month. The Senate's action today sends 
this bill, critical to Central Washington's efforts to recover 
threatened and endangered salmon, to the President's desk--an 
achievement long sought by the Yakama Indian Nation and the irrigators 
of the Yakima River Basin.
  Disputes over how to allocate and use water have always been 
contentious in the Pacific Northwest, and the disputes have only become 
more difficult as the region has been forced to deal with the recovery 
of threatened and endangered

[[Page 22737]]

salmon and steelhead species. Over the past year, however, I have been 
pleased to support a new era of cooperation among tribes and various 
irrigation districts in Eastern Washington. An area of consensus has 
developed around the concept of ``pump exchanges,'' which move the 
intake systems of irrigation districts from over appropriated streams 
and rivers to rivers downstream with more water. In July, I introduced 
legislation that authorizes the study of a pump exchange for the 
Okanogan Irrigation District and the Confederated Tribes of the 
Colville Reservation. I hope this legislation will receive quick 
approval during the 107th Congress.
  H.R. 3986 will amend the Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement 
Program, YRBWEP, first approved by Congress in 1994 (P.L. 103-434). 
That legislation established a comprehensive framework for increasing 
critical flows in the Yakima River in order to reverse a longstanding 
trend of declining salmon and steelhead runs. One portion of that 
legislation, Section 1208, authorized a specific project to electrify 
hydraulic turbines at the Chandler Pumping Plant near Prosser, 
Washington. By converting these pumps from hydraulic to electrical 
power, an additional 400 second feet of water would be added to a 12-
mile stretch of the Yakima River below Prosser Dam called Chandler 
Reach. This project would increase survival rates and provide important 
new habitat for both the anadramous and resident fisheries in this 
critical section of the Yakima River. This electrification project is 
still a good approach to augmenting Yakima River flows, but early in 
its implementation an even better idea was developed that can nearly 
double the benefits projected from electrification.
  The pump exchange approach proposed in H.R. 3986 could result in 
completely eliminating the need to divert water at Prosser Dam and 
Wanawish Dam for use by the Kennewick Irrigation District, K.I.D., and 
the Columbia River Irrigation District, C.I.D. This plan will require 
building a new pumping plant on the Columbia River and a pipeline to 
connect this new facility to K.I.D. This approach could add back to the 
Yakima River during critical flow periods the entire 749 second feet of 
water now diverted at Prosser Dam. This project might well be the key 
to the success of the rest of the YRBWEP program. For the extensive 
efforts being made farther upstream to be entirely successful, the 
lower sections of the Yakima River must provide the conditions 
necessary for salmon and steelhead to survive their journey to and from 
the upper river and its tributaries. The Chandler Reach and the lower 
Yakima must have sufficient water at the right time for anadromous fish 
to be able to transit this area. Without it, the programs upstream will 
be less effective.
  The legislation passed today authorizes the Bureau of Reclamation to 
spend some of the funds previously authorized for the electrification 
project to develop this new approach. There are several studies and 
undertakings necessary to determine with certainty the efficacy and 
cost of this pump exchange project. These include carrying out a 
feasibility study, including an estimate of project benefits, an 
environmental impact analysis, and preparing a feasibility level design 
and cost estimates as well as securing critical right-of-way areas.
  This change in approach to enhancing flows in the lower Yakima is 
enthusiastically supported by the resource agencies of the State of 
Washington, including the Washington State Department of Ecology, as 
well as by the Northwest Power Planning Council, the Bonneville Power 
Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, and the United 
States Fish and Wildlife Service.
  It is important to note that a change in the diversion for K.I.D. 
from the Yakima River to the Columbia River will completely change the 
current operational philosophy of the district. It will evolve from a 
relatively simple system relying on gravity to supply its customers to 
one of significant additional complexity involving a major pump station 
and pressure pipeline to the main feeder canals. This remodeling of 
K.I.D. will have significant impact on the existing system and its 
users during construction, startup, and transition. That is why it is 
essential for K.I.D. to be in a position to develop these facilities in 
a way that best fits their current and future operational goals and 
causes the least impact to the district water users. This legislation 
requires the Bureau of Reclamation to give K.I.D. substantial control 
over the planning and design work in this study with the Bureau, of 
course, having final approval. It is an approach that will continue 
local improvement and support, which is vital to the success of this 
project and other projects.
  I thank Representative Doc Hastings for his leadership on this bill 
in the House of Representatives and appreciate the support of my 
colleagues in passing this bill that will provide a crucial component 
to the salmon recovery efforts in the Yakima Basin.
  Mr. LOTT. I ask unanimous consent the bills be read the third time 
and passed, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, any 
statements be printed in the Record with the above occurring en bloc.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (H.R. 2984) was read the third time and passed.
  The bill (H.R. 3986) was read the third time and passed.

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