WSP02595 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

payback of the 25% over time with interest. The legislation will authorize the construction of one new Department of the Interior salinity control unit and a portion of a second unit but does not raise Interior's spending ceiling which was established by the Congress in 1974. The authorization of new units ~ will allow the Secretary of the Interior the latitude to proceed with the ~ units, or portions thereof, which are the most cast effective. The en legislation provides that cost effectiveness will be the criteria for the CO selection of salinity control efforts. Experience has demonstrated that some of the most cost effective measures are on the irrigated farms of the basin. The legislation authorizes a new Colorado River Basin salinity control pragram for the Department of Agriculture. The agriculture program would allow additional cost sharing directly from the basin farmers when they elect to participate in a voluntary program of anfarm irrigation improvement practices. It also allows the Department of Agriculture to work directly with canal companies, irrigation districts, or other subdivisions of state government. The legislation also sets criteria for the replacement of incidental fish and wildlife values when wildlife habitat is disrupted by the salinity control effort. This subject was not addressed in 1974. The legislation also clarifies the responsibility of the government and local entities for operation, maintenance, and replacement of salinity control features. The modified proposed legislation sent to the House for it's consideration on September 13, 1984 by the Interior and Insular Affairs has incorporated in it all of the modifications requested by the administration. Most recently, environmental groups stated some concerns that they had with the legislation as advanced by the con~ittee. The sponsors and the states have been striving to address the issues raised and today I offer a substitute amendment for the committee bill. Changes and compromises were made to not only accomodate all interested parties but also to gain their support. The substitute amendment I offer today not only has the support of the legislation's many House sponsors, the seven basin states and the Administration but also the support of the National \~ildlife Federation and the Environmental Policy Institute. The legislation as now proposed is without opposition, to my knowledge, environmentally and fiscally sound and provided for very significant increased local and state cost sharing. Accomodations made include: Deleting language that would have made the principles standards for water resources project planning inapplicable to salinity control units, Agreeing to add deauthorization of one unit, Deleting authorization of a fourth unit to only specific features and adding language to clarify how this unit's casts would be allocated, Deleting language which was viewed as restricting the bill's provisions for wildlife mitigation, Deleting language which was viewed as overly broad in its authorization of federal participation in the costs of certain facilities associated with, but not actually part of, a salinity control unit,