II

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2111

To establish the conditions under which the Bonneville Power Administration

and certain Federal agencies may enter into a memorandum of agreement

concerning management of the Columbia/Snake River Basin, to direct

the Secretary of the Interior to appoint an advisory committee to make

recommendations regarding activities under the memorandum of understanding, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 21, 1998

Mr. SMITH of Oregon introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

A BILL

To establish the conditions under which the Bonneville Power

Administration and certain Federal agencies may enter

into a memorandum of agreement concerning management of the Columbia/Snake River Basin, to direct the

Secretary of the Interior to appoint an advisory committee to make recommendations regarding activities under

the memorandum of understanding, 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. DEFINITIONS.

4 In this Act:
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1 (1) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.—The term ‘‘advi2 sory committee’’ means the advisory committee es3 tablished by the Secretary under section 2(b).

4 (2) COLUMBIA/SNAKE RIVER BASIN.—The term

5 ‘‘Columbia/Snake River Basin’’ means the basin of

6 the Columbia River and Snake River in the States

7 of Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.

8 (3) COUNCIL.—The term ‘‘Council’’ means the

9 Pacific Northwest Electric Power and Conservation

10 Planning Council established under the Pacific

11 Northwest Electric Power and Conservation Plan12 ning Act (16 U.S.C. 839 et seq.).

13 (4) FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Federal

14 agency’’ means—

15 (A) the Bonneville Power Administration

16 in the Department of Energy;

17 (B) the Bureau of Land Management, Bu18 reau of Reclamation, United States Fish and

19 Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Indian Af20 fairs in the Department of the Interior;

21 (C) the National Marine Fisheries Service

22 in the Department of Commerce;

23 (D) the Army Corps of Engineers in the

24 Department of the Army;
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1 (E) the Forest Service and the Natural

2 Resource Conservation Service in the Depart3 ment of Agriculture; and

4 (F) the Environmental Protection Agency.

5 (5) MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING.—The

6 term ‘‘memorandum of understanding’’ means any

7 written or unwritten agreement between or among 1

8 or more of the Federal agencies and 1 or more State

9 or local government agencies, 1 or more Indian

10 tribes, or 1 or more private persons or entities—

11 (A) concerning the manner in which any

12 authority of a Federal agency under any law is

13 to be exercised within the Columbia/Snake

14 River Basin; or

15 (B) for the purpose of formulating rec16 ommendations concerning the manner in which

17 any such authority should be exercised.

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

19 the Secretary of the Interior.

20 SEC. 2. CONDITIONS ON MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTAND21 ING.

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Bonneville Power Adminis23 tration or any other Federal agency, acting individually

24 or with 1 or more of the other Federal agencies, shall not
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1 enter into or implement a memorandum of understanding

2 unless all of the conditions stated in this section are met.

3 (b) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.—

4 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall es5 tablish an advisory committee under the Federal Ad6 visory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) to advise the

7 Federal agencies with respect to matters to be ad8 dressed under any memorandum of understanding,

9 including the economic and social impacts of pro10 posed activities or recommendations.

11 (2) MEMBERSHIP.—The advisory committee

12 shall be composed of—

13 (A) 1 representative of the large industrial

14 customers served directly by the Bonneville

15 Power Administration;

16 (B) 1 representative of the preference

17 power customers that purchase power from the

18 Bonneville Power Administration;

19 (C) 1 representative of non-Federal utili20 ties that have hydropower generation on the Co21 lumbia River or Snake River;

22 (D) 1 irrigator that receives water diverted

23 from a Federal water project on the Snake

24 River;
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1 (E) 1 irrigator that receives water diverted

2 from a Federal water project on the Columbia

3 River or a tributary of the Columbia River

4 (other than a tributary that is also a tributary

5 of the Snake River);

6 (F) 1 private forest land owner;

7 (G) 1 representative of the commercial

8 fishing industry;

9 (H) 1 representative of the sport fishing

10 industry;

11 (I) 1 representative of the environmental

12 community;

13 (J) 1 representative of a river port up14 stream of Bonneville Dam;

15 (K) 1 representative of shippers that ship

16 from places upstream of any lock on the Colum17 bia River;

18 (L) 1 representative of persons that hold

19 Federal grazing permits; and

20 (M) 1 representative of county govern21 ments from each of the States of Oregon,

22 Washington, Idaho, and Montana.

23 (3) MANNER OF APPOINTMENT.—The members

24 of the advisory committee shall be appointed by the

25 Secretary of the Interior from among persons nomi-
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1 nated by the Governors of the States of Idaho, Mon2 tana, Oregon, and Washington.

3 (4) CHAIRPERSON.—At the first meeting of the

4 advisory committee, the members shall select 1 of

5 the members to serve as chairperson, on a simple

6 majority vote.

7 (5) COMPENSATION.—A member of the advi8 sory committee shall serve without compensation,

9 but shall be reimbursed for travel, subsistence, and

10 other necessary expenses incurred in the perform11 ance of duties of the advisory committee.

12 (6) SUPPORT.—The Secretary shall—

13 (A) provide such office space, furnishings

14 and equipment as may be required to enable the

15 advisory committee to perform its functions;

16 and

17 (B) furnish the advisory committee with

18 such staff, including clerical support, as the ad19 visory committee may require.

20 (7) OPPORTUNITY TO FORMULATE AND

21 PRESENT VIEWS.—The advisory committee shall be

22 afforded a reasonable opportunity to—

23 (A) attend each meeting convened under

24 the memorandum of understanding; and
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1 (B) formulate and present its views on

2 each matter addressed at the meeting.

3 (8) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

4 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out

5 the activities of the advisory committee a total of

6 $1,000,000 during the period in which the advisory

7 committee is in existence.

8 (9) TERMINATION.—The advisory committee

9 shall terminate on termination of the memorandum

10 of understanding.

11 (c) RECONCILIATION OF DIFFERENCES.—The Direc12 tor of the Office of Management and Budget shall des13 ignate an official who, at the request of a non-Federal

14 party to any memorandum of understanding, shall have

15 authority to reconcile differences between the Federal

16 agencies on any issue relating to activities addressed

17 under the memorandum of understanding.

18 (d) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF DATA AND METH19 ODOLOGIES.—Each Federal agency shall publish and

20 make available to the public, through use of the Internet

21 and by other means—

22 (1) all scientific data that are prepared by or

23 made available to the Federal agency for use for the

24 purpose of formulating recommendations regarding
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1 any matter addressed under any memorandum of

2 understanding; and

3 (2) all methodologies that are prepared by or

4 made available to the Federal agency for the pur5 pose of assessing the cost or benefit of any activity

6 addressed under any memorandum of understand7 ing.

8 (e) REPORTING BY THE COUNCIL.—

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days be10 fore the beginning of each fiscal year, the Council

11 shall submit to Congress a report that describes how

12 the recommendations on fish and wildlife activities

13 under any memorandum of understanding during

14 the fiscal year will be reconciled and coordinated

15 with activities of the Council under the Pacific

16 Northwest Electric Power and Conservation Plan17 ning Act (16 U.S.C. 839 et seq.).

18 (2) COOPERATION.—Each Federal agency that

19 is a party to a memorandum of understanding shall

20 provide the Council such information and coopera21 tion as the Council may request to enable the Coun22 cil to make determinations necessary to prepare a

23 report under paragraph (1).
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1 SEC. 3. BUDGET INFORMATION.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall include in

3 each budget of the United States Government for a fiscal

4 year submitted under section 1105 of title 31, United

5 States Code, a separate section that states for each Fed6 eral agency the amount of budget authority and outlays

7 proposed to be expended in the Columbia/Snake River

8 Basin (including a pro rata share of overhead expenses)

9 for the fiscal year.

10 (b) ITEMIZATION.—The statement of budget author11 ity and outlays for the Columbia/Snake River Basin under

12 subsection (a) for each Federal agency shall be stated in

13 the same degree of specificity for each category of expense

14 as in the statement of budget authority and outlays for

15 the entire Federal agency elsewhere in the budget.

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