109TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 18

AN ACT

To authorize the Secretary of the Interior, acting

and for other purposes.groundwater remediation program in California,ing and implementation of a balanced, long-termgovernment agencies, to participate in the fundordination with other Federal, State, and localthrough the Bureau of Reclamation and in co-

109TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 18

AN ACT

To authorize the Secretary of the Interior, acting through

the Bureau of Reclamation and in coordination with

other Federal, State, and local government agencies, to

participate in the funding and implementation of a

balanced, long-term groundwater remediation program in

California, and for other purposes.
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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Southern California

5 Groundwater Remediation Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

7 For the purposes of this Act:

8 (1) GROUNDWATER REMEDIATION.—The term

9 ‘‘groundwater remediation’’ means actions that are

10 necessary to prevent, minimize, clean up, or mitigate

11 damage to groundwater.

12 (2) LOCAL WATER AUTHORITY.—The term

13 ‘‘local water authority’’ means a currently existing

14 (on the date of the enactment of this Act) public

15 water district, public water utility, public water plan16 ning agency, municipality, or Indian Tribe located

17 within the natural watershed of the Santa Ana River

18 in the State of California.

19 (3) REMEDIATION FUND.—The term ‘‘Remedi20 ation Fund’’ means the Southern California Ground21 water Remediation Fund established pursuant to

22 section 3(a).

23 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

24 the Secretary of the Interior.
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1 SEC. 3. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GROUNDWATER REMEDI2 ATION.

3 (a) SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GROUNDWATER REME4 DIATION.—

5 (1) ESTABLISHMENT OF REMEDIATION

6 FUND.—There shall be established within the Treas7 ury of the United States an interest bearing account

8 to be known as the ‘‘Southern California Ground9 water Remediation Fund’’.

10 (2) ADMINISTRATION OF REMEDIATION

11 FUND.—The Remediation Fund shall be adminis12 tered by the Secretary, acting through the Bureau of

13 Reclamation. The Secretary shall administer the Re14 mediation Fund in cooperation with the local water

15 authority.

16 (3) PURPOSES OF REMEDIATION FUND.—

17 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara18 graph (B), the amounts in the Remediation

19 Fund, including interest accrued, shall be used

20 by the Secretary to provide grants to the local

21 water authority to reimburse the local water au22 thority for the Federal share of the costs associ23 ated with designing and constructing ground24 water remediation projects to be administered

25 by the local water authority.

26 (B) COST-SHARING LIMITATION.—
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1 (i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may

2 not obligate any funds appropriated to the

3 Remediation Fund in a fiscal year until

4 the Secretary has deposited into the Reme5 diation Fund an amount provided by non6 Federal interests sufficient to ensure that

7 at least 35 percent of any funds obligated

8 by the Secretary for a groundwater reme9 diation project are from funds provided to

10 the Secretary for that project by the non11 Federal interests.

12 (ii) NON-FEDERAL RESPONSI13 BILITY.—Each local water authority shall

14 be responsible for providing the non-Fed15 eral amount required by clause (i) for

16 projects under that local water authority.

17 The State of California, local government

18 agencies, and private entities may provide

19 all or any portion of the non-Federal

20 amount.

21 (iii) CREDITS TOWARD NON-FEDERAL

22 SHARE.—For purposes of clause (ii), the

23 Secretary shall credit the appropriate local

24 water authority with the value of all prior

25 expenditures by non-Federal interests
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1 made after January 1, 2000, that are com2 patible with the purposes of this section,

3 including—

4 (I) all expenditures made by non5 Federal interests to design and con6 struct groundwater remediation

7 projects, including expenditures asso8 ciated with environmental analyses,

9 and public involvement activities that

10 were required to implement the

11 groundwater remediation projects in

12 compliance with applicable Federal

13 and State laws; and

14 (II) all expenditures made by

15 non-Federal interests to acquire lands,

16 easements, rights-of-way, relocations,

17 disposal areas, and water rights that

18 were required to implement a ground19 water remediation project.

20 (b) COMPLIANCE WITH APPLICABLE LAW.—In car21 rying out the activities described in this section, the Sec22 retary shall comply with any applicable Federal and State

23 laws.

24 (c) RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER ACTIVITIES.—Nothing

25 in this section shall be construed to affect other Federal
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1 or State authorities that are being used or may be used

2 to facilitate remediation and protection of the groundwater

3 the natural watershed of the Santa Ana River in the State

4 of California. In carrying out the activities described in

5 this section, the Secretary shall integrate such activities

6 with ongoing Federal and State projects and activities.

7 None of the funds made available for such activities pursu8 ant to this section shall be counted against any Federal

9 authorization ceiling established for any previously author10 ized Federal projects or activities.

11 (d) FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND AUDITS.—The

12 Secretary shall ensure that all funds obligated and dis13 bursed under this Act and expended by a local water au14 thority, are accounted for in accordance with generally ac15 cepted accounting principles and are subjected to regular

16 audits in accordance with applicable procedures, manuals,

17 and circulars of the Department of the Interior and the

18 Office of Management and Budget.

19 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— There is

20 authorized to be appropriated to the Remediation Fund

21 $50,000,000. Such funds shall remain available until ex22 pended. Subject to the limitations in section 4, such funds

23 shall remain available until expended.

24 SEC. 4. SUNSET OF AUTHORITY.

25 This Act—
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1 (1) shall take effect on the date of the enact2 ment of this Act; and

3 (2) is repealed effective as of the date that is

4 10 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.

Passed the House of Representatives April 12, 2005.

Attest:

Clerk.