[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 207 (Thursday, October 25, 2018)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 53961-53963]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-23519]
[[Page 53959]]
Vol. 83
Thursday,
No. 207
October 25, 2018
Part II
The President
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Memorandum of October 19, 2018--Promoting the Reliable Supply and
Delivery of Water in the West
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 83 , No. 207 / Thursday, October 25, 2018 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 53961]]
Memorandum of October 19, 2018
Promoting the Reliable Supply and Delivery of
Water in the West
Memorandum for the Secretary of the Interior[,] the
Secretary of Commerce[,] the Secretary of Energy[,] the
Secretary of the Army[, and] the Chair of the Council
on Environmental Quality
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, I hereby direct the following:
Section 1. Policy. During the 20th Century, the Federal
Government invested enormous resources in water
infrastructure throughout the western United States to
reduce flood risks to communities; to provide reliable
water supplies for farms, families, businesses, and
fish and wildlife; and to generate dependable
hydropower. Decades of uncoordinated, piecemeal
regulatory actions have diminished the ability of our
Federal infrastructure, however, to deliver water and
power in an efficient, cost-effective way.
Unless addressed, fragmented regulation of water
infrastructure will continue to produce inefficiencies,
unnecessary burdens, and conflict among the Federal
Government, States, tribes, and local public agencies
that deliver water to their citizenry. To meet these
challenges, the Secretary of the Interior and the
Secretary of Commerce should, to the extent permitted
by law, work together to minimize unnecessary
regulatory burdens and foster more efficient decision-
making so that water projects are better able to meet
the demands of their authorized purposes.
Sec. 2. Streamlining Western Water Infrastructure
Regulatory Processes and Removing Unnecessary Burdens.
To address water infrastructure challenges in the
western United States, the Secretary of the Interior
and the Secretary of Commerce shall undertake the
following actions:
(a) Within 30 days of the date of this memorandum,
the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of
Commerce shall:
(i) identify major water infrastructure projects in California for which
the Department of the Interior and the Department of Commerce have joint
responsibility under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) (Public Law
93-205) or individual responsibilities under the National Environmental
Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (Public Law 91-190); and
(ii) for each such project, work together to facilitate the designation of
one official to coordinate the agencies' ESA and NEPA compliance
responsibilities. Within the 30-day time period provided by this
subsection, the designated official shall also identify regulations and
procedures that potentially burden the project and develop a proposed plan,
for consideration by the Secretaries, to appropriately suspend, revise, or
rescind any regulations or procedures that unduly burden the project beyond
the degree necessary to protect the public interest or otherwise comply
with the law. For purposes of this memorandum, ``burden'' means to
unnecessarily obstruct, delay, curtail, impede, or otherwise impose
significant costs on the permitting, utilization, transmission, delivery,
or supply of water resources and infrastructure.
(b) Within 40 days of the date of this memorandum,
the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of
Commerce shall develop a timeline for completing
applicable environmental compliance requirements for
projects
[[Page 53962]]
identified under section 2(a)(i) of this memorandum.
Environmental compliance requirements shall be
completed as expeditiously as possible, and in
accordance with applicable law.
(c) To the maximum extent practicable and
consistent with applicable law, including the
authorities granted to the Secretary of the Interior
and the Secretary of Commerce under the Water
Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act (Public
Law 114-322):
(i) The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce shall
ensure that the ongoing review of the long-term coordinated operations of
the Central Valley Project and the California State Water Project is
completed and an updated Plan of Operations and Record of Decision is
issued.
(ii) The Secretary of the Interior shall issue final biological assessments
for the long-term coordinated operations of the Central Valley Project and
the California State Water Project not later than January 31, 2019.
(iii) The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce shall
ensure the issuance of their respective final biological opinions for the
long-term coordinated operations of the Central Valley Project and the
California State Water Project within 135 days of the deadline provided in
section 2(c)(ii) of this memorandum. To the extent practicable and
consistent with law, these shall be joint opinions.
(iv) The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce shall
complete the joint consultation presently underway for the Klamath
Irrigation Project by August 2019.
(d) The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary
of Commerce shall provide monthly updates to the Chair
of the Council on Environmental Quality and other
components of the Executive Office of the President, as
appropriate, regarding progress in meeting the
established timelines.
Sec. 3. Improve Forecasts of Water Availability. To
facilitate greater use of forecast-based management and
use of authorities and capabilities provided by the
Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017
(Public Law 115-25) and other applicable laws, the
Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce
shall convene water experts and resource managers to
develop an action plan to improve the information and
modeling capabilities related to water availability and
water infrastructure projects. The action plan shall be
completed by January 2019 and submitted to the Chair of
the Council on Environmental Quality.
Sec. 4. Improving Use of Technology to Increase Water
Reliability. To the maximum extent practicable, and
pursuant to the Reclamation Wastewater and Groundwater
Study and Facilities Act (Public Law 102-575, title
XVI), the Water Desalination Act of 1996 (Public Law
104-298), and other applicable laws, the Secretary of
the Interior shall direct appropriate bureaus to
promote the expanded use of technology for improving
the accuracy and reliability of water and power
deliveries. This promotion of expanded use should
include:
(a) investment in technology and reduction of
regulatory burdens to enable broader scale deployment
of desalination technology;
(b) investment in technology and reduction of
regulatory burdens to enable broader scale use of
recycled water; and
(c) investment in programs that promote and
encourage innovation, research, and development of
technology that improve water management, using best
available science through real-time monitoring of
wildlife and water deliveries.
Sec. 5. Consideration of Locally Developed Plans in
Hydroelectric Projects Licensing. To the extent the
Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce
participate in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
licensing activities for hydroelectric projects, and to
the extent permitted by law,
[[Page 53963]]
the Secretaries shall give appropriate consideration to
any relevant information available to them in locally
developed plans, where consistent with the best
available information.
Sec. 6. Streamlining Regulatory Processes and Removing
Unnecessary Burdens on the Columbia River Basin Water
Infrastructure. In order to address water and
hydropower operations challenges in the Columbia River
Basin, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of
Commerce, the Secretary of Energy, and the Assistant
Secretary of the Army for Civil Works under the
direction of the Secretary of the Army, shall develop a
schedule to complete the Columbia River System
Operations Environmental Impact Statement and the
associated Biological Opinion due by 2020. The schedule
shall be submitted to the Chair of the Council on
Environmental Quality within 60 days of the date of
this memorandum.
Sec. 7. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this
memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise
affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or
the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent
with applicable law and subject to the availability of
appropriations.
(c) This memorandum is not intended to, and does
not, create any right or benefit, substantive or
procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any
party against the United States, its departments,
agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or
agents, or any other person.
(d) The Secretary of the Interior is hereby
authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in
the Federal Register.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
Washington, October 19, 2018
[FR Doc. 2018-23519
Filed 10-24-18; 11:15 am]
Billing code 4310-10-P