I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 18

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 4, 2005

Mr. BACA (for himself, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. CALVERT, and Mr. GARY G. 

MILLER of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Resources 

A BILL

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.

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’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

2 For the purposes of this Act: 

3 (1) GROUNDWATER REMEDIATION.—The term 

4 ‘‘groundwater remediation’’ means actions that are 

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

6 damage to groundwater. 

7 (2) LOCAL WATER AUTHORITY.—The term 

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

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

10 water district, public water utility, public water plan11 ning agency, municipality, or Indian Tribe located 

12 within the natural watershed of the Santa Ana River 

13 in the State of California. 

14 (3) REMEDIATION FUND.—The term ‘‘Remedi15 ation Fund’’ means the Southern California Ground16 water Remediation Fund established pursuant to 

17 section 3(a). 

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

19 the Secretary of the Interior. 

20 SEC. 3. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GROUNDWATER REMEDI21 ATION. 

22 (a) SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GROUNDWATER REME23 DIATION.—

24 (1) ESTABLISHMENT OF REMEDIATION

25 FUND.—There shall be established within the Treas26 ury of the United States an interest bearing account 
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1 to be known as the ‘‘Southern California Ground2 water Remediation Fund’’. 

3 (2) ADMINISTRATION OF REMEDIATION

4 FUND.—The Remediation Fund shall be adminis5 tered by the Secretary, acting through the Bureau of 

6 Reclamation. The Secretary shall administer the Re7 mediation Fund in cooperation with the local water 

8 authority. 

9 (3) PURPOSES OF REMEDIATION FUND.—

10 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara11 graph (B), the amounts in the Remediation 

12 Fund, including interest accrued, shall be used 

13 by the Secretary to provide grants to the local 

14 water authority to reimburse the local water au15 thority for the Federal share of the costs associ16 ated with designing and constructing ground17 water remediation projects to be administered 

18 by the local water authority. 

19 (B) COST-SHARING LIMITATION.—

20 (i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may 

21 not obligate any funds appropriated to the 

22 Remediation Fund in a fiscal year until 

23 the Secretary has deposited into the Reme24 diation Fund an amount provided by non25 Federal interests sufficient to ensure that 
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1 at least 35 percent of any funds obligated 

2 by the Secretary for a groundwater reme3 diation project are from funds provided to 

4 the Secretary for that project by the non5 Federal interests. 

6 (ii) NON-FEDERAL RESPONSI7 BILITY.—Each local water authority shall 

8 be responsible for providing the non-Fed9 eral amount required by clause (i) for 

10 projects under that local water authority. 

11 The State of California, local government 

12 agencies, and private entities may provide 

13 all or any portion of the non-Federal 

14 amount. 

15 (iii) CREDITS TOWARD NON-FEDERAL

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

17 Secretary shall credit the appropriate local 

18 water authority with the value of all prior 

19 expenditures by non-Federal interests 

20 made after January 1, 2000, that are com21 patible with the purposes of this section, 

22 including—

23 (I) all expenditures made by non24 Federal interests to design and con25 struct groundwater remediation 
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1 projects, including expenditures asso2 ciated with environmental analyses, 

3 and public involvement activities that 

4 were required to implement the 

5 groundwater remediation projects in 

6 compliance with applicable Federal 

7 and State laws; and 

8 (II) all expenditures made by 

9 non-Federal interests to acquire lands, 

10 easements, rights-of-way, relocations, 

11 disposal areas, and water rights that 

12 were required to implement a ground13 water remediation project. 

14 (b) COMPLIANCE WITH APPLICABLE LAW.—In car15 rying out the activities described in this section, the Sec16 retary shall comply with any applicable Federal and State 

17 laws. 

18 (c) RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER ACTIVITIES.—Nothing 

19 in this section shall be construed to affect other Federal 

20 or State authorities that are being used or may be used 

21 to facilitate remediation and protection of the groundwater 

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

23 of California. In carrying out the activities described in 

24 this section, the Secretary shall integrate such activities 

25 with ongoing Federal and State projects and activities. 
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1 None of the funds made available for such activities pursu2 ant to this section shall be counted against any Federal 

3 authorization ceiling established for any previously author4 ized Federal projects or activities. 

5 (d) FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND AUDITS.—The 

6 Secretary shall ensure that all funds obligated and dis7 bursed under this Act and expended by a local water au8 thority, are accounted for in accordance with generally ac9 cepted accounting principles and are subjected to regular 

10 audits in accordance with applicable procedures, manuals, 

11 and circulars of the Department of the Interior and the 

12 Office of Management and Budget. 

13 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— There is 

14 authorized to be appropriated to the Remediation Fund 

15 $50,000,000. Such funds shall remain available until ex16 pended.

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