Sec. 101. Emergency operations
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/bill/114/s/1894/is/section-101·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
In response to the declaration of a state of drought emergency by the Governor of the State, the Secretary of the Interior and Secretary of Commerce shall provide the maximum quantity of water supplies possible to Central Valley Project agricultural, municipal and industrial, and refuge service and repayment contractors, State Water Project contractors, and any other locality or municipality in the State by approving, consistent with applicable laws (including regulations), projects and operations to provide additional water supplies as quickly as possible, based on available information, to address the emergency conditions. Paragraph
(1)applies to any project or operation involving the Klamath Project, if the project or operation would benefit Federal water contractors in the State. Nothing in this section allows any Federal department or agency to approve a project— that would otherwise require congressional authorization; or without following procedures required by applicable law. In carrying out subsection (a), the Secretary of the Interior and Secretary of Commerce shall, consistent with applicable laws (including regulations)— authorize and implement actions to ensure that the Delta Cross Channel Gates shall remain open to the greatest extent possible, timed to maximize the peak flood tide period and provide water supply and water quality benefits for the duration of the drought emergency declaration of the State, consistent with operational criteria and monitoring criteria developed pursuant to the California State Water Resources Control Board’s Order Approving a Temporary Urgency Change in License and Permit Terms in Response to Drought Conditions, effective January 31, 2014 (or a successor order); collect data associated with the operation of the Delta Cross Channel Gates described in paragraph
(1)and the impact of the operation on species listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 ( 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq. ), water quality, and water supply; implement turbidity control strategies that allow for increased water deliveries while avoiding jeopardy to adult Delta smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus) due to entrainment at Central Valley Project and State Water Project pumping plants; and manage reverse flow in the Old and Middle Rivers, as prescribed by the smelt biological opinion and salmonid biological opinion, to minimize water supply reductions for the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project; in a timely manner, evaluate any proposal to increase flow in the San Joaquin River through a voluntary sale, transfer, or exchange of water from an agency with rights to divert water from the San Joaquin River or its tributaries; and adopt a 1:1 inflow to export ratio for the increment of increased flow, as measured as a 3-day running average at Vernalis during the period from April 1 through May 31, that results from the voluntary sale, transfer, or exchange, unless the Secretary of the Interior and Secretary of Commerce determine that a 1:1 inflow-to-export ratio for that increment of increased flow will cause impacts on species listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 ( 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq. ) beyond those anticipated to occur through the implementation of the salmonid biological opinion. Any individual sale, transfer, or exchange using a 1:1 inflow to export ratio adopted under the authority of this section may only proceed if— the Secretary of the Interior determines that the environmental effects of the proposed sale, transfer, or exchange are consistent with effects permitted under applicable law (including the Endangered Species Act ( 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq. ), the Federal Water Pollution Control Act ( 33 U.S.C. 1381 et seq. ), and the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act (California Water Code 13000 et seq.)); Delta conditions are suitable to allow movement of the acquired, transferred, or exchanged water through the Delta consistent with existing water rights; and such voluntary sale, transfer, or exchange of water results in flow that is in addition to flow that otherwise would occur in the absence of the voluntary sale, transfer, or exchange; issue all necessary permit decisions under the authority of the Secretary of the Interior and Secretary of Commerce within the shortest practicable time period after receiving a completed application by the State to place and use temporary barriers or operable gates in Delta channels to improve water quantity and quality for State Water Project and Central Valley Project south-of-Delta water contractors and other water users, which barriers or gates shall provide benefits for species protection and in-Delta water user water quality; require the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the Commissioner of Reclamation to complete all requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 ( 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq. ) and the Endangered Species Act of 1973 ( 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq. ) necessary to make final permit decisions on water transfer requests associated with voluntarily fallowing nonpermanent crops in the State, within the shortest practicable time period after receiving such a request; in coordination with the Secretary of Agriculture, enter into an agreement with the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a comprehensive study, to be completed not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, on the effectiveness and environmental impacts of saltcedar biological control efforts on increasing water supplies and improving riparian habitats of the Colorado River and its principal tributaries, in the State and elsewhere; and use all available scientific tools to identify any changes to real-time operations of Bureau of Reclamation, State, and local water projects that could result in the availability of additional water supplies. To the extent that a Federal agency other than the Department of the Interior and the Department of Commerce has a role in approving projects described in subsections
(a)and (c), this section shall apply to the Federal agency. Upon the request of the State, the heads of Federal agencies shall use the expedited procedures under this subsection to make final decisions relating to a Federal project or operation to provide additional water supplies or address emergency drought conditions pursuant to subsections
(a)and (c). Upon the request of the State, the head of a Federal agency referred to in subsection (a), or the head of another Federal agency responsible for carrying out a review of a project, as applicable, the Secretary of the Interior shall convene a final project decision meeting with the heads of all relevant Federal agencies to decide whether to approve a project to provide emergency water supplies. The Secretary of the Interior shall convene a meeting requested under subparagraph
(A)not later than 7 days after receiving the meeting request. Upon receipt of a request for a meeting under this subsection, the Secretary of the Interior shall notify the heads of all relevant Federal agencies of the request, including a description of the project to be reviewed and the date for the meeting. Not later than 10 days after the date on which a meeting is requested under paragraph (2), the head of the relevant Federal agency shall issue a final decision on the project. The Secretary of the Interior may convene a final project decision meeting under this subsection at any time, at the discretion of the Secretary, regardless of whether a meeting is requested under paragraph (2).
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