I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4188

To authorize the construction of the Fort Peck Reservation Rural Water

System, Montana, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SEPTEMBER 25, 1996

Mr. WILLIAMS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Resources

A BILL

To authorize the construction of the Fort Peck Reservation

Rural Water System, Montana, 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 ‘‘Fort Peck Reservation

5 Rural Water System Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—

8 (1) there are insufficient water supplies avail9 able to residents of the Fort Peck Indian Reserva10 tion in Montana, and the water systems that are
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1 available do not meet minimum health and safety

2 standards, thereby posing a threat to public health

3 and safety;

4 (2) the United States has a trust responsibility

5 to ensure that adequate and safe water supplies are

6 available to meet the economic, environmental, water

7 supply, and public health needs of the Fort Peck In8 dian Reservation; and

9 (3) the best available, reliable, and safe rural

10 and municipal water supply to serve the needs of the

11 Fort Peck Indian Reservation is the Missouri River.

12 (b) PURPOSE.—The Congress declares that the pur13 poses of sections 1 through 7 are to ensure a safe and

14 adequate municipal, rural, and industrial water supply for

15 the residents of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Mon16 tana;

17 SEC. 3. FORT PECK RESERVATION RURAL WATER SYSTEM.

18 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Secretary of the Interior

19 (hereafter referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) is authorized

20 and directed to plan, design, construct, operate, maintain,

21 and replace a municipal, rural and industrial water sys22 tem, to be known as the Fort Peck Reservation Rural

23 Water System, as generally described in the report entitled

24 Technical Report for the Fort Peck Reservation Rural
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1 Water System and dated July, 1995. The Fort Peck Res2 ervation Rural Water System shall consist of—

3 (1) pumping and treatment facilities located

4 along the Missouri River near Poplar, Montana;

5 (2) pipelines extending from the Missouri River

6 near Poplar, Montana, throughout the Fort Peck In7 dian Reservation;

8 (3) facilities to allow for future interconnections

9 to areas outside the Fort Peck Indian Reservation,

10 including communities of Plentywood, Scobey,

11 Flaxville, and Culbertson;

12 (4) distribution and treatment facilities to serve

13 the needs of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, in14 cluding but not limited to the purchase, improve15 ment and repair of existing water systems, including

16 systems owned by individual tribal members and

17 other residents of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation;

18 (5) appurtenant buildings and access roads;

19 (6) necessary property and property rights;

20 (7) electrical power transmission and distribu21 tion facilities necessary for services to water systems

22 facilities; and

23 (8) such other pipelines, pumping plants, and

24 facilities as the Secretary deems necessary or appro25 priate to meet the water supply, economic, public
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1 health, and environmental needs of the reservation,

2 including (but not limited to) water storage tanks,

3 water lines, and other facilities for the Fort Peck

4 Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes and reservation vil5 lages, towns, and municipalities.

6 (b) AGREEMENT TO PLAN, CONSTRUCT, OPERATE

7 AND MAINTAIN THE FORT PECK RESERVATION RURAL

8 WATER SYSTEM:

9 (1) In carrying out subsection (a), the Sec10 retary shall enter into cooperative agreements with

11 the Fort Peck Tribal Executive Board for planning,

12 designing, constructing, operating, maintaining, and

13 replacing the Fort Peck Reservation Rural Water

14 System.

15 (2) Such cooperative agreements shall set forth,

16 in a manner acceptable to the Secretary and the

17 Tribal Executive Board—

18 (A) the responsibilities of the parties for

19 needs assessment, feasibility, and environmental

20 studies; engineering and design; construction;

21 water conservation measures; and administra22 tion of any contracts with respect to this sub23 paragraph;
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1 (B) the procedures and requirements for

2 approval and acceptance of such design and

3 construction; and

4 (C) the rights, responsibilities, and liabil5 ities of each party to the agreement.

6 (3) Such cooperative agreements may include

7 purchase, improvement, and repair of existing water

8 systems, including systems owned by individual trib9 al members and other residents located on the Fort

10 Peck Indian Reservation.

11 (4) The Secretary may unilaterally terminate

12 any cooperative agreement entered into pursuant to

13 this section if the Secretary determines that the

14 quality of construction does not meet all standards

15 established for similar facilities constructed by the

16 Secretary or that the operation and maintenance of

17 the system does not meet conditions acceptable to

18 the Secretary of fulfilling the obligations of the

19 United States to the Fort Peck Assiniboine and

20 Sioux Tribes.

21 (5) Upon execution of any cooperative agree22 ment authorized upon this section, and in accord23 ance with its terms, the Secretary is authorized to

24 transfer to the Fort Peck Tribes on a non-reimburs25 able basis, the funds authorized to be appropriated
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1 by section 6 for the Fort Peck Reservation Rural

2 Water System.

3 (c) SERVICE AREA.—The service area of the Fort

4 Peck Reservation Rural Water System shall be the Fort

5 Peck Indian Reservation and surrounding communities.

6 (d) CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS.—The pumping

7 plants, pipelines, treatment facilities, and other appur8 tenant facilities for the Fort Peck Reservation Rural

9 Water System shall be planned and constructed to a size

10 sufficient to meet the municipal, rural, and industrial

11 water supply requirements of the Fort Peck Indian Res12 ervation and the rural areas north of the Reservation, tak13 ing into account the effects of the water conservation

14 plans described in section 4.

15 (e) TITLE TO SYSTEM.—Title to the Fort Peck Res16 ervation Rural Water Supply System shall be held in trust

17 for the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes by the

18 United States and shall not be transferred without a sub19 sequent Act of Congress.

20 (f) LIMITATION ON AVAILABILITY OF CONSTRUCTION

21 FUNDS.—The Secretary shall not obligate funds for the

22 construction of the Fort Peck Reservation Rural Water

23 Supply System until—

24 (1) the requirements of the National Environ25 mental Policy Act of 1969 have been met; and
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1 (2) a final engineering report has been ap2 proved by the Secretary.

3 (g) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary is au4 thorized and directed to provide such technical assistance

5 as may be necessary to the Fort Peck Tribes to plan, de6 velop, construct, operate, maintain and replace the Fort

7 Peck Reservation Rural Water Supply System, including

8 (but not limited to) operation and management training.

9 (h) APPLICATION OF INDIAN SELF-DETERMINATION

10 ACT.—Planning, design, construction and operation of the

11 Fort Peck Reservation Rural Water System within the

12 Fort Peck Reservation shall be subject to the provisions

13 of the Indian Self-Determination Act (Public Law 93–638;

14 U.S.C. 450).

15 SEC. 4. WATER CONSERVATION PROGRAMS.

16 (a) In order to reduce costs and to reduce water con17 sumption, the Secretary, prior to obligating any construc18 tion funds, shall issue a public notice finding that plans

19 for the Fort Peck Reservation Rural Water System in20 clude prudent and responsible water conservation meas21 ures for the operation of the system where such measures

22 are shown to be economically and financially feasible. The

23 Fort Peck Tribes shall develop a water conservation plan

24 containing definite goals, appropriate water conservation

25 measures, and a time schedule for meeting the water con-
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1 servation objectives. The provisions of section 210(c) of

2 Public Law 97–293 (96 Stat. 1268) shall apply with re3 spect to the systems.

4 (b) PURPOSE.—The water conservation program re5 quired under this section shall be designed to ensure that

6 users of water from the water supply system will use the

7 best practicable technology and management techniques to

8 conserve water.

9 SEC 5. USE OF PICK-SLOAN POWER.

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Fort Peck Reservation Rural

11 Water System shall utilize power from Pick-Sloan for op12 eration. This power shall be deemed to be a project use

13 pumping requirement of Pick-Sloan.

14 (b) POWER TO BE USED.—As of the date of enact15 ment of this Act, power identified for future project use

16 pumping shall be reserved for and made available for the

17 purpose authorized by subsection (a).

18 (c) RATE.—The rate for project use power made

19 available pursuant to subsection (a) shall be the wholesale

20 firm power rate for Pick-Sloan (Eastern Division) in effect

21 at the time the power is sold.

22 (d) ADDITIONAL POWER.—If additional power be23 yond that made available through subsection (b) is re24 quired to meet the pumping requirements of the system,

25 the Administrator of the Western Area Power Administra-
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1 tion is authorized to purchase the additional power needed

2 under such terms and conditions the Administrator deems

3 appropriate. Expenses associated with such power pur4 chases shall be recovered through a separate power

5 charge, sufficient to recover these expenses, applied to the

6 System.

7 (e) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section—

8 (1) the term ‘‘System’’ means the Fort Peck

9 Reservation Rural Water System; and

10 (2) the term ‘‘Pick Sloan’’ means the Pick11 Sloan Missouri Basin Program authorized by section

12 9 of the Act of December 22, 1944 (58 Stat. 891;

13 commonly referred to as the Flood Control Act of

14 1944).

15 SEC. 6. AUTHROIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

16 (a) PLANNING, DESIGN, AND CONSTRUCTION.—

17 There are authorized to be appropriated $114,734,300 for

18 the planning, design, and construction of the Fort Peck

19 Reservation Rural Water System, the system defined

20 under the provisions of section 3. Such funds are author21 ized to be appropriated only through the end of the fifth

22 fiscal year after which construction funds are first made

23 available. The funds authorized to be appropriated by the

24 first sentence of this section, less any amounts previously

25 obligated for the System, may be increased or decreased
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1 by such amounts as may be justified by reason of ordinary

2 fluctuations in development costs incurred after January

3 1, 1995, as indicated by engineering costs indices applica4 ble for the type of construction involved.

5 (b) OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF FORT PECK

6 RESERVATION RURAL WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM.—There

7 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be

8 necessary for the operation and maintenance of the Fort

9 Peck Reservation Rural Water System.

10 SEC. 7. WATER RIGHTS.

11 Nothing in sections 1 through 12 shall be construed

12 to—

13 (1) impair the validity of or preempt any provi14 sion of State water law, or of any interstate compact

15 governing water;

16 (2) alter the rights of any State to any appro17 priated share of the waters of any body or surface

18 or ground water, whether determined by past or fu19 ture interstate compacts, or by past or future legis20 lative or final judicial allocations;

21 (3) preempt or modify any State or Federal law

22 or interstate compact dealing with water quality or

23 disposal;
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1 (4) confer upon any non-Federal entity the abil2 ity to exercise any Federal right to the waters of any

3 stream or to any groundwater resources; or

4 (5) affect any water rights of the Fort Peck

5 Tribes, whether located within or without the exter6 nal boundaries of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation,

7 based on treaty, compact, executive orders, agree8 ment, Act of Congress, aboriginal title, the Winters

9 doctrine (Winters v. United States, 207 U.S. 564

10 (1908)), or otherwise. Nothing contained in this sec11 tion or in section 1 through 7, however, is intended

12 to validate or invalidate any assertion of the exist13 ence, nonexistence or extinguishment of any water

14 rights, or compacts thereto, held by the Fort Peck

15 Tribes, or any other Indian Tribe or individual In16 dian under Federal or State law.

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