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This bill would require federal agencies to work together on a plan to study and respond to how a July 2024 decision about Glen Canyon Dam could affect the Upper Colorado River Basin Fund. The main goal is to make sure the fund can still cover key costs such as operating, maintaining, and replacing important infrastructure, while also looking at how the decision may change hydropower production, electricity grid reliability, and impacts on protected plants and animals.
- The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Energy would have to create a memorandum of understanding as soon as practical after the bill becomes law.
- The plan would look at whether the decision could increase costs for routine operations, maintenance, and replacement of critical infrastructure tied to the fund.
- It would also examine how the decision affects hydropower from Glen Canyon Dam, including the cost of replacing that power and any effects on the power grid.
- The agencies would identify any effects on species protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Official Summaries
Basin Fund Preservation Act
This bill directs the Bureau of Reclamation and the Western Area Power Administration, in consultation with the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Work Group, to enter into a memorandum of understanding to explore and address the impact that the 2024 record of decision entitled Supplement to the 2016 Glen Canyon Dam Long-Term Experimental and Management Plan Record of Decision has on the Upper Colorado River Basin Fund. The memorandum of understanding must include a plan to (1) address the effects that the decision may have on the fund's obligations, (2) address the impact that the decision has on hydropower production at Glen Canyon Dam, and (3) identify impacts that the decision has had on species listed as threatened or endangered species.
By way of background, Reclamation published a Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 for the Glen Canyon Dam Long-Term Experimental and Management Plan (LTEMP) in 2024. The SEIS revises the 2016 LTEMP Record of Decision to address two issues: (1) responding to the threat of the invasive smallmouth bass below Glen Canyon Dam, and (2) incorporating the latest sediment science to assess when high-flow experiments should be conducted in order to protect the endangered humpback chub.
Current Full Text
[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 887 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 887
To provide for a memorandum of understanding to address the impacts of
a certain record of decision on the Upper Colorado River Basin Fund.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 6, 2025
Mr. Lee (for himself and Mr. Curtis) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide for a memorandum of understanding to address the impacts of
a certain record of decision on the Upper Colorado River Basin Fund.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Basin Fund Preservation Act''.
SEC. 2. MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING TO ADDRESS POTENTIAL IMPACTS OF A
CERTAIN RECORD OF DECISION ON THE UPPER COLORADO RIVER
BASIN FUND.
(a) In General.--As soon as practicable after the date of enactment
of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the
Commissioner of Reclamation, and the Secretary of Energy, acting
through the Administrator of the Western Area Power Administration, in
consultation with the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Work Group,
shall enter into a memorandum of understanding to explore and address
the impact that the record of decision entitled the ``Supplement to the
2016 Glen Canyon Dam Long-Term Experimental and Management Plan Record
of Decision'' and dated July 2024 (referred to in this section as the
``record of decision'') has on the Upper Colorado River Basin Fund
(referred to in this section as the ``Fund'').
(b) Required Plan.--The memorandum of understanding entered into
under subsection (a) shall, using information derived from existing
hydropower contracts, include the establishment of a plan to--
(1) address the effects that the record of decision may
have on Fund obligations including routine operations,
maintenance, and replacement of critical infrastructure;
(2) address the impact that the record of decision has on
hydropower production at Glen Canyon Dam, including costs to
replace hydropower resources and grid reliability; and
(3) identify impacts that the record of decision has had on
species listed as a threatened species or an endangered species
under section 4 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16
U.S.C. 1533).
(c) Savings Clause.--Nothing in this Act preempts any rights or
obligations under subchapter II of chapter 5, and chapter 7, of title
5, United States Code (commonly known as the ``Administrative Procedure
Act'').
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