II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2027

To authorize the Secretary of the Army to design and construct a warm

water fish hatchery at Fort Peck Lake, Montana.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

FEBRUARY 3, 2000

Mr. BURNS introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Environment and Public Works

A BILL

To authorize the Secretary of the Army to design and construct a warm water fish hatchery at Fort Peck Lake,

Montana.

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 ‘‘Fort Peck Fish Hatch5 ery Authorization Act of 2000’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—

8 (1) Fort Peck Lake, Montana, is in need of a

9 warm water fish hatchery;
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1 (2) the burden of carrying out efforts to raise

2 and stock warm water fish species in the State of

3 Montana has been disproportionately borne by the

4 State despite the existence of many Federal projects

5 on waterways in the State;

6 (3)(A) as of the date of enactment of this Act,

7 eastern Montana has only 1 warm water fish hatch8 ery, which is inadequate to meet the demands of the

9 region; and

10 (B) a disease or infrastructure failure at that

11 hatchery could imperil fish populations throughout

12 the region;

13 (4) although the multipurpose project at Fort

14 Peck, Montana, authorized by the first section of the

15 Act of August 30, 1935 (49 Stat. 1034, chapter

16 831), was intended to include irrigation projects and

17 other activities designed to promote economic

18 growth, many of those projects were never com19 pleted, to the detriment of the local communities

20 flooded by the Fort Peck Dam;

21 (5) the process of developing an environmental

22 impact statement for the update of the Corps of En23 gineers Master Manual for the operation of the Mis24 souri River recognized the need for greater support
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1 of recreation activities and other authorized pur2 poses of the Fort Peck project;

3 (6)(A) although fish stocking is included among

4 the authorized purposes of the Fort Peck project,

5 the State of Montana has funded the stocking of

6 Fort Peck Lake since 1947; and

7 (B) the obligation to fund the stocking con8 stitutes an undue burden on the State; and

9 (7) a viable warm water fishery would spur eco10 nomic development in the region.

11 SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

12 The purposes of this Act are—

13 (1) to authorize and provide funding for the de14 sign and construction of a warm water fish hatchery

15 at Fort Peck Lake, Montana; and

16 (2) to ensure stable operation and maintenance

17 of the fish hatchery.

18 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

19 In this Act:

20 (1) FORT PECK LAKE.—The term ‘‘Fort Peck

21 Lake’’ means the reservoir created by the damming

22 of the upper Missouri River in northeastern Mon23 tana.

24 (2) HATCHERY PROJECT.—The term ‘‘hatchery

25 project’’ means the project authorized by section 5.
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1 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

2 the Secretary of the Army.

3 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION.

4 The Secretary shall carry out a project at Fort Peck

5 Lake, Montana, for the design and construction of a fish

6 hatchery and such associated facilities as are necessary to

7 sustain a warm water fishery.

8 SEC. 6. COST SHARING.

9 (a) DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION.—

10 (1) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of

11 the cost of design and construction of the hatchery

12 project shall be 75 percent.

13 (2) FORM OF NON-FEDERAL SHARE.—

14 (A) IN GENERAL.—The non-Federal share

15 of the cost of the hatchery project may be pro16 vided in the form of cash or in the form of

17 land, easements, rights-of-way, services, roads,

18 or any other form of in-kind contribution deter19 mined by the Secretary to be appropriate.

20 (B) REQUIRED CREDITING.—The Sec21 retary shall credit toward the non-Federal share

22 of the cost of the hatchery project—

23 (i) the cost to the State of Montana

24 of stocking Fort Peck Lake during the pe25 riod beginning January 1, 1947; and
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1 (ii) the cost to the State of Montana

2 and the counties having jurisdiction over

3 land surrounding Fort Peck Lake of con4 struction of local access roads to the lake.

5 (b) OPERATION, MAINTENANCE, REPAIR, AND RE6 PLACEMENT.—

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para8 graphs (2) and (3), the operation, maintenance, re9 pair, and replacement of the hatchery project shall

10 be a non-Federal responsibility.

11 (2) COST ASSOCIATED WITH THREATENED AND

12 ENDANGERED SPECIES.—The cost of operation and

13 maintenance associated with raising threatened or

14 endangered species shall be a Federal responsibility.

15 (3) POWER.—The Secretary shall offer to the

16 hatchery project low-cost project power for all hatch17 ery operations.

18 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro20 priated to carry out this Act—

21 (1) $5,000,000 for fiscal year 2001;

22 (2) $5,000,000 for fiscal year 2002; and

23 (3) such sums as are necessary to carry out

24 section 6(b)(2).
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1 (b) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Sums made available

2 under subsection (a) shall remain available until expended.

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