I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 186
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to coordinate Federal and State
permitting processes related to the construction of new surface water
storage projects on lands under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of
the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture and to designate the Bureau
of Reclamation as the lead agency for permit processing, and for other
purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY9, 2023
Mr. M
CCLINTOCK(for himself, Mr. LAMALFA, Mr. STAUBER, and Mr.
V
ALADAO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Natural Resources
A BILL
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to coordinate
Federal and State permitting processes related to the
construction of new surface water storage projects on
lands under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Inte-
rior and the Secretary of Agriculture and to designate
the Bureau of Reclamation as the lead agency for permit
processing, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Water Supply Permit-2
ting Coordination Act’’. 3
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 4
In this Act: 5
(1) B
UREAU.—The term ‘‘Bureau’’ means the 6
Bureau of Reclamation. 7
(2) C
OOPERATING AGENCIES .—The term ‘‘co-8
operating agency’’ means a Federal agency with ju-9
risdiction over a review, analysis, opinion, statement, 10
permit, license, or other approval or decision re-11
quired for a qualifying project under applicable Fed-12
eral laws and regulations, or a State agency subject 13
to section 3(c). 14
(3) Q
UALIFYING PROJECTS.—The term ‘‘quali-15
fying projects’’ means new surface water storage 16
projects in the States covered under the Act of June 17
17, 1902 (32 Stat. 388, chapter 1093), and Acts 18
supplemental to and amendatory of that Act (43 19
U.S.C. 371 et seq.) constructed on lands adminis-20
tered by the Department of the Interior or the De-21
partment of Agriculture, exclusive of any easement, 22
right-of-way, lease, or any private holding, unless the 23
project applicant elects not to participate in the 24
process authorized by this Act. Such term shall also 25
include State-led projects (as defined in section 26
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4007(a)(2) of the WIIN Act) for new surface water 1
storage projects in the States covered under the Act 2
of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. 388, chapter 1093), and 3
Acts supplemental to and amendatory of that Act 4
(43 U.S.C. 371 et seq.) constructed on lands admin-5
istered by the Department of the Interior or the De-6
partment of Agriculture, exclusive of any easement, 7
right-of-way, lease, or any private holding, unless the 8
project applicant elects not to participate in the 9
process authorized by this Act. 10
(4) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 11
the Secretary of the Interior. 12
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF LEAD AGENCY AND COOPER-13
ATING AGENCIES. 14
(a) E
STABLISHMENT OF LEADAGENCY.—The Bu-15
reau is established as the lead agency for purposes of co-16
ordinating all reviews, analyses, opinions, statements, per-17
mits, licenses, or other approvals or decisions required 18
under Federal law to construct qualifying projects. 19
(b) I
DENTIFICATION AND ESTABLISHMENT OF CO-20
OPERATINGAGENCIES.—The Commissioner of the Bureau 21
shall— 22
(1) identify, as early as practicable upon receipt 23
of an application for a qualifying project, any Fed-24
eral agency that may have jurisdiction over a review, 25
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analysis, opinion, statement, permit, license, ap-1
proval, or decision required for a qualifying project 2
under applicable Federal laws and regulations; and 3
(2) notify any such agency, within a reasonable 4
timeframe, that the agency has been designated as 5
a cooperating agency in regards to the qualifying 6
project unless that agency responds to the Bureau in 7
writing, within a timeframe set forth by the Bureau, 8
notifying the Bureau that the agency— 9
(A) has no jurisdiction or authority with 10
respect to the qualifying project; 11
(B) has no expertise or information rel-12
evant to the qualifying project or any review, 13
analysis, opinion, statement, permit, license, or 14
other approval or decision associated therewith; 15
or 16
(C) does not intend to submit comments 17
on the qualifying project or conduct any review 18
of such a project or make any decision with re-19
spect to such project in a manner other than in 20
cooperation with the Bureau. 21
(c) S
TATEAUTHORITY.—A State in which a quali-22
fying project is being considered may choose, consistent 23
with State law— 24
(1) to participate as a cooperating agency; and 25
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(2) to make subject to the processes of this Act 1
all State agencies that— 2
(A) have jurisdiction over the qualifying 3
project; 4
(B) are required to conduct or issue a re-5
view, analysis, or opinion for the qualifying 6
project; or 7
(C) are required to make a determination 8
on issuing a permit, license, or approval for the 9
qualifying project. 10
SEC. 4. BUREAU RESPONSIBILITIES. 11
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The principal responsibilities of 12
the Bureau under this Act are— 13
(1) to serve as the point of contact for appli-14
cants, State agencies, Indian tribes, and others re-15
garding proposed qualifying projects; 16
(2) to coordinate preparation of unified environ-17
mental documentation that will serve as the basis for 18
all Federal decisions necessary to authorize the use 19
of Federal lands for qualifying projects; and 20
(3) to coordinate all Federal agency reviews 21
necessary for project development and construction 22
of qualifying projects. 23
(b) C
OORDINATION PROCESS.—The Bureau shall 24
have the following coordination responsibilities: 25
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(1) PREAPPLICATION COORDINATION .—Notify 1
cooperating agencies of proposed qualifying projects 2
not later than 30 days after receipt of a proposal 3
and facilitate a preapplication meeting for prospec-4
tive applicants, relevant Federal and State agencies, 5
and Indian tribes— 6
(A) to explain applicable processes, data 7
requirements, and applicant submissions nec-8
essary to complete the required Federal agency 9
reviews within the timeframe established; and 10
(B) to establish the schedule for the quali-11
fying project. 12
(2) C
ONSULTATION WITH COOPERATING AGEN -13
CIES.—Consult with the cooperating agencies 14
throughout the Federal agency review process, iden-15
tify and obtain relevant data in a timely manner, 16
and set necessary deadlines for cooperating agencies. 17
(3) S
CHEDULE.—Work with the qualifying 18
project applicant and cooperating agencies to estab-19
lish a project schedule. In establishing the schedule, 20
the Bureau shall consider, among other factors— 21
(A) the responsibilities of cooperating 22
agencies under applicable laws and regulations; 23
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(B) the resources available to the cooper-1
ating agencies and the non-Federal qualifying 2
project sponsor, as applicable; 3
(C) the overall size and complexity of the 4
qualifying project; 5
(D) the overall schedule for and cost of the 6
qualifying project; and 7
(E) the sensitivity of the natural and his-8
toric resources that may be affected by the 9
qualifying project. 10
(4) E
NVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE .—Prepare a 11
unified environmental review document for each 12
qualifying project application, incorporating a single 13
environmental record on which all cooperating agen-14
cies with authority to issue approvals for a given 15
qualifying project shall base project approval deci-16
sions. Help ensure that cooperating agencies make 17
necessary decisions, within their respective authori-18
ties, regarding Federal approvals in accordance with 19
the following timelines: 20
(A) Not later than 1 year after acceptance 21
of a completed project application when an en-22
vironmental assessment and finding of no sig-23
nificant impact is determined to be the appro-24
priate level of review under the National Envi-25
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ronmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 1
et seq.). 2
(B) Not later than 1 year and 30 days 3
after the close of the public comment period for 4
a draft environmental impact statement under 5
the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 6
(42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), when an environ-7
mental impact statement is required under the 8
same. 9
(5) C
ONSOLIDATED ADMINISTRATIVE 10
RECORD.—Maintain a consolidated administrative 11
record of the information assembled and used by the 12
cooperating agencies as the basis for agency deci-13
sions. 14
(6) P
ROJECT DATA RECORDS .—To the extent 15
practicable and consistent with Federal law, ensure 16
that all project data is submitted and maintained in 17
generally accessible electronic format, compile, and 18
where authorized under existing law, make available 19
such project data to cooperating agencies, the quali-20
fying project applicant, and to the public. 21
(7) P
ROJECT MANAGER .—Appoint a project 22
manager for each qualifying project. The project 23
manager shall have authority to oversee the project 24
and to facilitate the issuance of the relevant final 25
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authorizing documents, and shall be responsible for 1
ensuring fulfillment of all Bureau responsibilities set 2
forth in this section and all cooperating agency re-3
sponsibilities under section 5. 4
SEC. 5. COOPERATING AGENCY RESPONSIBILITIES. 5
(a) A
DHERENCE TOBUREAUSCHEDULE.— 6
(1) T
IMEFRAMES.—On notification of an appli-7
cation for a qualifying project, the head of each co-8
operating agency shall submit to the Bureau a time-9
frame under which the cooperating agency reason-10
ably will be able to complete the authorizing respon-11
sibilities of the cooperating agency. 12
(2) S
CHEDULE.— 13
(A) U
SE OF TIMEFRAMES .—The Bureau 14
shall use the timeframes submitted under this 15
subsection to establish the project schedule 16
under section 4. 17
(B) A
DHERENCE.—Each cooperating agen-18
cy shall adhere to the project schedule estab-19
lished by the Bureau under subparagraph (A). 20
(b) E
NVIRONMENTAL RECORD.—The head of each 21
cooperating agency shall submit to the Bureau all environ-22
mental review material produced or compiled in the course 23
of carrying out activities required under Federal law, con-24
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sistent with the project schedule established by the Bureau 1
under subsection (a)(2). 2
(c) D
ATASUBMISSION.—To the extent practicable 3
and consistent with Federal law, the head of each cooper-4
ating agency shall submit all relevant project data to the 5
Bureau in a generally accessible electronic format, subject 6
to the project schedule established by the Bureau under 7
subsection (a)(2). 8
SEC. 6. FUNDING TO PROCESS PERMITS. 9
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary, after public notice 10
in accordance with subchapter II of chapter 5, and chapter 11
7, of title 5, United States Code (commonly known as the 12
‘‘Administrative Procedure Act’’), may accept and expend 13
funds contributed by a non-Federal public entity to expe-14
dite the evaluation of a permit of that entity related to 15
a qualifying project. 16
(b) E
FFECT ONPERMITTING.— 17
(1) E
VALUATION OF PERMITS .—In carrying out 18
this section, the Secretary shall ensure that the eval-19
uation of permits carried out using funds accepted 20
under this section shall— 21
(A) be reviewed by the Regional Director 22
of the Bureau of the region in which the quali-23
fying project or activity is located (or a des-24
ignee); and 25
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(B) use the same procedures for decisions 1
that would otherwise be required for the evalua-2
tion of permits for similar projects or activities 3
not carried out using funds authorized under 4
this section. 5
(2) I
MPARTIAL DECISION MAKING .—In carrying 6
out this section, the Secretary and the head of each 7
cooperating agency receiving funds under this sec-8
tion for a qualifying project shall ensure that the use 9
of the funds accepted under this section for the 10
qualifying project shall not— 11
(A) substantively or procedurally impact 12
impartial decision making with respect to the 13
issuance of permits; or 14
(B) diminish, modify, or otherwise affect 15
the statutory or regulatory authorities of the 16
cooperating agency. 17
(c) L
IMITATION ONUSE OFFUNDS.—None of the 18
funds accepted under this section shall be used to carry 19
out a review of the evaluation of permits required under 20
subsection (b)(1)(A). 21
(d) P
UBLICAVAILABILITY.—The Secretary shall en-22
sure that all final permit decisions carried out using funds 23
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authorized under this section are made available to the 1
public, including on the internet. 2
Æ
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