Subcommittee on Water and Power Legislative Hearing H.R. 1462

Home Browse Search

If federal actions, approval or funding might affect a listed species or its designated habitat, Section 7 of the Act requires federal agencies to consult with the FWS or NOAA Fisheries to "insure that any action authorized, funded or carried out by such agency ... is not likely to jeopardize (emphasis added) the continued existence" of a species. Federal water projects, like the North Platte Project, are subject to Section 7 consultation requirements due to annual operating plans. Non - federal projects, such as private dams in need of a renewed Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license, are also subject to Section 7 regulations since a federal permitting action is involved. Like many other areas of the West, the Platte River has been the source of ESA controversies. The four species related to this hearing are the endangered pallid sturgeon (listed as endangered in 1990), the whooping crane (listed as endangered in 1967), the interior least tern (listed as endangered in 1985) and the piping plover (listed as threatened in 1986). The three bird species primarily require sandbars and other shallow spots along the Central Platte River for habitat. These designations have led to a subsequent number of lawsuits, regulatory actions and decisions based on reconciling the species' needs in portions of the Platte River. For example, the FWS issued jeopardy opinions on 20 activities that would affect the Central Platte between 1998 and 2001. The jeopardy opinions concluded that proposed depletions of the River would impact listed species and adversely modify critical habitat. In addition, the relicensing of Kingsley Dam in Nebraska sparked a fifteen year controversy involving habitat for the whooping crane. The controversy ended in a settlement requiring a local utility to pay $6 million on wildlife habitat in exchange for a license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The Platte River Recovery Implementation Program The uncertainty involving the jeopardy opinions and the lengthy Kingsley Dam relicensing led the States of Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming to enter into a Cooperative Agreement in 1997 that aimed to avoid future jeopardy opinions on water - use development. A Governance Committee, composed of representatives from the three states, the federal government, environmental organizations and water users, then formulated the details of the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program (Program) In 2006, the Bureau of Reclamation issued a Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement and the FWS issued a Final Biological Opinion Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthome signed a Record of Decision supporting the Program. In late 2006, Kempthome and the Governors of Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming signed a Cooperative Agreement designed to implement the Program. The Program is contingent upon State funding and participation and congressional authorization and appropriations. The Program has three main elements: 1) increasing streamflows (130,000 to 150,000 acre feet per year) in the Central Platte River during relevant time periods; 2) enhancing, restoring and protecting habitat lands (acquisition of 10,000 acres along the Central Platte in Nebraska) for the listed bird species; and 3) protecting current water 3