I 118th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 7938 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES April 11, 2024 Mr. Bentz introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources A BILL To amend the Klamath Basin Water Supply Enhancement Act of 2000 to provide the Secretary of the Interior with certain authorities with respect to projects affecting the Klamath Basin watershed, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Klamath Basin Water Agreement Support Act of 2024 . 2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) The Klamath River Basin is home to important species of fish and wildlife and communities, including Tribal and agricultural communities. (2) Tribal fisheries in the Klamath River Basin are depressed, owing to a combination of factors. (3) In recent decades, the Klamath River Basin has witnessed chronic conflict, much of which has been fueled or exacerbated by implementation of the Endangered Species Act of 1973. (4) The United States has taken, and continues to take, extraordinary actions to attempt to address certain factors affecting Tribal fisheries. (5) The United States actions to enhance fisheries have included expenditures of several hundreds of millions of dollars for research and projects, including support of Tribal fisheries programs and imposition of regulatory burdens on other parties who make use of natural resources in the Klamath River Basin for their own livelihoods. (6) In the past 16 years, the Bureau of Reclamation has requested and received appropriations of approximately $136,000,000 for Endangered Species Act of 1973 compliance activities, even while denying water deliveries for irrigation and wildlife refuges served through Klamath Reclamation Project facilities. (7) Denial of water deliveries through Klamath Reclamation Project facilities has injured communities and wildlife severely but has not resulted in any identifiable benefit to populations of fish species listed as threatened or endangered. (8) The United States regulatory actions have also included the imposition of conditions on the generation of clean hydropower that have made hydropower uneconomical, such that a private utility has agreed to the removal of 4 dams that have produced renewable energy for over a century. (9) The removal of dams has been funded in substantial part by electric rate payers, including irrigation water users, in Oregon and California, who also are burdened with the cost of paying for replacement power. (10) The removal of dams has also led indirectly to other significant public costs that would not have been incurred absent the removal of hydroelectric generation. (11) The removal of hydroelectric generation on the Klamath River is expected to result in the availability of 425 miles of habitat for anadromous fish that is not currently accessible. (12) Commitments have been made to agricultural communities to the effect that dam removal and restoration activities will not cause new burdens for those communities and, in fact, that those communities will benefit significantly, but those commitments have either not been kept or lack the necessary assurances that they will be met in the future. (13) It is appropriate and fair to take measures to stabilize conditions for agricultural communities in the Klamath Basin that have been at the center of conflict and to whom important commitments have been made in connection with extraordinary actions taken by the United States that affect their interests. (14) This Act will increase such stability while not adversely affecting other interests in the Klamath Basin. 3. Klamath project water and power (a) Addressing water, power, and facilities management for irrigation Section 4 of the Klamath Basin Water Supply Enhancement Act of 2000 ( Public Law 106–498 ) is amended— (1) in subsection (b), by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows: (1) In general Subject to appropriations and required environmental reviews, the Secretary is authorized to carry out activities, including entering into a contract or making financial assistance available through cooperative agreements or other methods, to plan, implement, and administer voluntary programs, including conservation and efficiency measures, demand limitation or management, and use of groundwater, to align water supplies and demand for irrigation water users associated with the Klamath Project, with a primary emphasis on programs developed or endorsed by local entities comprised of representatives of those water users. ; (2) in subsection (c), by adding at the end the following: (2) Implementation (A) In general Beginning not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of the Klamath Power and Facilities Agreement Support Act, the Secretary shall, through 1 or more cooperative agreements, financial assistance agreements, or other methods, implement, or support the implementation of, the recommendations identified in the report described in paragraph (1) that the Secretary determines would lead to bringing the net delivered power cost for covered power use to an amount that is the same as, or less than, the power cost benchmark, subject to the availability of appropriations, on the fastest timeline practicable, with respect to near- and long-term actions. (B) Requirement The implementation of recommendations under subparagraph (A) shall be carried out in accordance with— (i) the report submitted under paragraph (1); and (ii) any reports submitted under paragraph (3). (3) Additional reports Not later than April 30, 2025, and every 5 years thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to each committee described in the matter preceding subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) a report that describes— (A) any progress toward meeting the requirements of this subsection; and (B) any modifications or updates to the actions recommended under paragraph (1)(B). ; and (3) by adding at the end the following: (d) Restoration activities The Secretary may— (1) plan, design, construct, operate, and maintain projects in the Klamath Basin watershed, including— (A) facilities to reduce fish entrainment; (B) projects that reduce or avoid impacts on aquatic resources of facilities involved in the storage or diversion of water for irrigation in the Klamath Project service area; and (C) projects that restore habitats in the Klamath Basin watershed, including Tribal fishery resources held in trust; (2) undertake studies, including feasibility studies, and improvements that the Secretary determines to be necessary to implement this subsection; (3) in implementing this subsection, enter into contracts, memoranda of understanding, financial assistance agreements, cost-sharing agreements, or other appropriate agreements with— (A) State, Tribal, and local governmental agencies; and (B) private parties; and (4) accept and expend non-Federal funds in order to facilitate implementation of this subsection. (e) Goals The goals of activities under subsections (b) and (d) shall include, as applicable— (1) the short-term and long-term reduction and resolution of conflicts relating to water in the Klamath Basin watershed; and (2) compatibility and utility for protecting natural resources throughout the Klamath Basin watershed, including the protection, preservation, and restoration of Klamath River Tribal fishery resources, particularly through collaboratively developed agreements. (f) Pumping plant d The Secretary may enter into 1 or more agreements with the Tulelake Irrigation District to reimburse the Tulelake Irrigation District for not more than 69 percent of the cost incurred by the Tulelake Irrigation District for the operation and maintenance of Pumping Plant D, subject to the condition that the cost results in benefits to the United States. (g) Infrastructure (1) Keno and Link River Dams The Secretary shall comply with the terms of the agreement entitled 2016 Klamath Power and Facilities Agreement , including Attachment A to the agreement. (2) Realization of Benefits No modification of Keno Dam infrastructure to modify current fish passage capability shall occur, and no artificial action to introduce or reintroduce aquatic species above Keno Dam shall occur, until 90 days after the Secretary has certified to the Chairs and Ranking Members of the Natural Resources Committee of the House of Representatives and the Energy and Natural Resources Committee of the Senate that— (A) all State and Federal parties to the 2016 Klamath Power and Facilities Agreement have complied with the first sentence of section II. B.2.a. of that agreement; and (B) the parties to the 2016 Klamath Power and Facilities Agreement and the parties to the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement have completed and approved the agreement or agreements contemplated by section III.C. of the 2016 Klamath Power and Facilities Agreement and Section 1.9 of the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement. (3) Draft certification Not less than 180 days before providing a certification under paragraph (2), the Secretary shall provide a draft certification to the parties to the respective agreements. (4) Replacement of c canal flume (A) In general The replacement of the C Canal flume within the Klamath Project shall be considered to be, and shall receive the treatment authorized for, qualified emergency extraordinary operation and maintenance work in accordance with Federal reclamation law (the Act of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. 388, chapter 1093), and Acts supplemental to and amendatory of that Act ( 43 U.S.C. 371 et seq. )). (B) Contract (i) In general Not later than 180 days after the date of receipt of a request from the Klamath Irrigation District to enter into a contract with that district to amend the contract numbered 16–WC–20–4838, the Secretary shall enter into a contract with the Klamath Irrigation District providing that under the contract entered into under this subparagraph— (I) 35 percent of the total repayment obligation is nonreimbursable to the United States; and (II) 65 percent of the total repayment obligation shall be repaid to the United States over a period of 50 years. (ii) Inclusion Although the Secretary shall not condition the agreement to the contract entered into under subparagraph (A) on any other term, the contract may include other terms that are not less favorable to the contractor than contract numbered 16–WC–20–4838. (5) Cost Allocation Past and future costs incurred by the Secretary for compliance with laws enacted by the United States for protection of the environment that are not explicitly identified in contracts between the Secretary and a Klamath Project contractor shall not be— (A) allocated to such contractor; or (B) considered in determining the contractor’s responsibility for reimbursement of the costs of operation, maintenance, rehabilitation, modification, or replacement of Klamath Project works. . (b) Administration; effect (1) Compliance In implementing the amendments made by this section, the Secretary of the Interior shall comply with— (A) the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 ( 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq. ); (B) the Endangered Species Act of 1973 ( 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq. ); and (C) all other applicable laws. (2) Effect None of the amendments made by this section— (A) modify any authority or obligation of the United States with respect to any Tribal trust or treaty obligation of the United States; (B) create or determine any water right; (C) affect any water right or water right claim in existence on the date of the enactment of this Act; or (D) authorize the use of Federal funds for the physical deconstruction of the Iron Gate, Copco 1, Copco 2, or John C. Boyle Dam located on the Klamath River in the States of California and Oregon.