(Washington, D.C.) – Thursday the U.S. House passed HR 2898: the Western Water and American Food Security Act of 2015. The bipartisan vote of 245-176 sends the legislation to the U.S. Senate for consideration. Members of the Congressional Western Caucus secured numerous provisions in the legislation and helped ensure its passage through the House. In addition to providing water supply to families, farmers and communities in California, a news release indicated the bill is designed to increase critical water storage throughout the west, streamline water project permitting on federal lands, and protect state-endowed water rights from federal water grabs.
“For years the American West has been caught in a severe drought, nowhere more serious than in California, and with food supplies and tens of thousands of livelihoods at stake we must act swiftly to provide relief,” said Chairman Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo. “The water crisis in California underscores the importance of making the entire west more drought resistance,” she said.
H.R. 2898’s West-Wide Water Package:
• Water Supply Permitting Act – This title sets up a “one-stop-shop” permitting office run by the Bureau of Reclamation to streamline processes that delay the construction of new or expanded surface water storage.
• Bureau of Reclamation Project Streamlining Act – This title is based on the Water Resource and Development Act Reauthorization provisions signed into law last year. Similarly, H.R. 2898 sets up a transparent process by which the Bureau of Reclamation forwards feasibility studies on water storage projects to Congress, which can then statutorily authorize and fund those specific projects. The projects would include surface storage, water recycling, desalination and rural water supply projects.
• Prepayment of Repayment Contracts – This title allows irrigators to pre-pay what they owe in capital repayments to the Bureau of Reclamation. Under current law, 2/3’s of irrigators are kept from paying off the federal government early even if they have the means and desire to do so. This will generate mandatory spending savings, that combined with other provisions in the bill will fully offset the cost of the bill’s implementation and the new water storage it authorizes.
• Safety of Dams Additional Project Benefits – This common-sense title would allow the Bureau of Reclamation to develop additional project benefits – such as increasing storage capacity – when studying and carrying out dam safety projects.
• Water Rights Protections – This title would prevent federal agencies from requiring citizens to relinquish their water rights to the United States in order to use public lands.