The Water Supply Permitting Coordination Act consolidates the permitting process and makes it easier to build new surface water storage projects throughout the West.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso was joined by Senator Mike Enzi, both R-Wyo., in introducing legislation to make it easier to build new surface water storage projects throughout the West. The Water Supply Permitting Coordination Act streamlines the current multi-agency permitting processes that delay the construction of new or expanded surface water storage by creating a “one-stop-shop” permitting process through the Bureau of Reclamation.
“In Wyoming, farmers and ranchers have to have a reliable and plentiful supply of water in order to keep their livestock and crops healthy. When they need to build new water storage projects, they now face a maze of red tape that requires never-ending approvals from a list of federal agencies,” said Barrasso. “Streamlining the permitting process will make it easier for communities in Wyoming and throughout West to gain access to the water they need to keep their operations running strong.”
“We welcome Senator Barrasso’s leadership in finding ways to encourage development of new water supplies,” said rancher Patrick O’Toole, president of the Family Farm Alliance. “In Wyoming, we spent more than 14 years securing permits for the High Savery Project, a small dam project that was built in less than two years. On the High Savery Project, the lead federal agency wasted a great deal of time making decisions on the project and at times seemed unable to make decisions. These delays not only postponed the project, they incurred unnecessary costs. Senator Barrasso’s bill will help address these types of problems by providing equal footing for state agencies with all federal agencies, resulting in unified environmental documentation and a streamlined permitting process.”
Family Farm Alliance President and Wyoming rancher, Patrick O’Toole, testified before the House of Representatives at a 2014 Water and Power Subcommittee hearing on water storage.
Representatives Tom McClintock (R-CA-04) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) introduced the identical legislation (H.R. 3980) in the House of Representatives on January 31, 2014.
Background:
Under current law, in order to get a permit to construct a new water storage project individuals have go through multiple federal agencies that require their own permits, decisions, and approval—each separate from the other. This is despite the fact that all of the multiple agencies are studying the same project, in the same location, and trying to evaluate the same data.
The Water Supply Permitting Coordination Act fixes this by:
• Expediting the permitting process by streamlining it for all expanded or new surface water storage construction projects on Department of Interior and Department of Agriculture lands.
• Making the Bureau of Reclamation within the Department of Interior the lead coordinator for all federal approvals, permits and decisions required in regards to those projects. Permits for ESA compliance, Clean Water Act, NEPA, among many others would all be included.
The Bureau of Reclamation must identify all federal agencies with permitting authority or responsibilities, make them aware of pending applications, and develop a timeline by which all the agencies must finish and submit their reviews and permits.
Agencies cooperating with the Bureau of Reclamation are required to adhere to the timeline and use one combined document for all environmental reviews. This will help to significantly cut down on the amount of time and costs associated with the current process of multiple NEPA analyses in which each agency compiles its own data and reviews it separately.
###