Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009/Division C/Title II

TITLE II — Department of the Interior

Central Utah Project

central utah project completion account

For carrying out activities authorized by the Central Utah Project Completion Act, $40,360,000, to remain available until expended, of which $987,000 shall be deposited into the Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Account for use by the Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission. In addition, for necessary expenses incurred in carrying out related responsibilities of the Secretary of the Interior, $1,640,000, to remain available until expended. For fiscal year 2009, the Commission may use an amount not to exceed $1,500,000 for administrative expenses.

Bureau of Reclamation

The following appropriations shall be expended to execute authorized functions of the Bureau of Reclamation:

Water and Related Resources

(including transfers of funds)

For management, development, and restoration of water and related natural resources and for related activities, including the operation, maintenance, and rehabilitation of reclamation and other facilities, participation in fulfilling related Federal responsibilities to Native Americans, and related grants to, and cooperative and other agreements with, State and local governments, federally recognized Indian tribes, and others, $920,259,000, to remain available until expended, of which $46,655,000 shall be available for transfer to the Upper Colorado River Basin Fund and $24,962,000 shall be available for transfer to the Lower Colorado River Basin Development Fund; of which such amounts as may be necessary may be advanced to the Colorado River Dam Fund; of which not more than $500,000 is for high priority projects which shall be carried out by the Youth Conservation Corps, as authorized by 16 U.S.C. 1706:

Provided, That such transfers may be increased or decreased within the overall appropriation under this heading:

Provided further, That of the total appropriated, the amount for program activities that can be financed by the Reclamation Fund or the Bureau of Reclamation special fee account established by 16 U.S.C. 460l-6a(i) shall be derived from that Fund or account:

Provided further, That funds contributed under 43 U.S.C. 395 are available until expended for the purposes for which contributed:

Provided further, That funds advanced under 43 U.S.C. 397a shall be credited to this account and are available until expended for the same purposes as the sums appropriated under this heading:

Provided further, That funds available for expenditure for the Departmental Irrigation Drainage Program may be expended by the Bureau of Reclamation for site remediation on a nonreimbursable basis:

Provided further, That funds provided for the Friant-Kern and Madera Canals improvements may be expended on a non-reimbursable basis:

Provided further, That $4,000,000 of the funds appropriated under this heading shall be deposited in the San Gabriel Basin Restoration Fund established by section 110 of title I of appendix D of Public Law 106-554:

Provided further, That, except as provided in section 201 of this Act, the amounts made available under this paragraph shall be expended as authorized in law for the projects and activities specified in the text and table under this heading in the explanatory statement described in section 4 (in the matter preceding division A of this consolidated Act).

Central Valley Project Restoration Fund

For carrying out the programs, projects, plans, habitat restoration, improvement, and acquisition provisions of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act, $56,079,000, to be derived from such sums as may be collected in the Central Valley Project Restoration Fund pursuant to sections 3407(d), 3404(c)(3), 3405(f), and 3406(c)(1) of Public Law 102-575, to remain available until expended:

Provided, That the Bureau of Reclamation is directed to assess and collect the full amount of the additional mitigation and restoration payments authorized by section 3407(d) of Public Law 102-575:

Provided further, That none of the funds made available under this heading may be used for the acquisition or leasing of water for in-stream purposes if the water is already committed to in-stream purposes by a court adopted decree or order.

California Bay-Delta Restoration

(including transfers of funds)

For carrying out activities authorized by the Water Supply, Reliability, and Environmental Improvement Act, consistent with plans to be approved by the Secretary of the Interior, $40,000,000, to remain available until expended, of which such amounts as may be necessary to carry out such activities may be transferred to appropriate accounts of other participating Federal agencies to carry out authorized purposes:

Provided, That funds appropriated herein may be used for the Federal share of the costs of CALFED Program management:

Provided further, That the use of any funds provided to the California Bay-Delta Authority for program-wide management and oversight activities shall be subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior:

Provided further, That CALFED implementation shall be carried out in a balanced manner with clear performance measures demonstrating concurrent progress in achieving the goals and objectives of the Program.

policy and administration

(including transfer of funds)

For necessary expenses of policy, administration, and related functions in the Office of the Commissioner, the Denver office, and offices in the five regions of the Bureau of Reclamation, to remain available until expended, $59,400,000, to be derived from the Reclamation Fund and be nonreimbursable as provided in 43 U.S.C. 377:

Provided, That no part of any other appropriation in this Act shall be available for activities or functions budgeted as policy and administration expenses:

Provided further, That, of the funds provided under this heading, $10,000,000 shall be transferred to ``Water and Related Resources'' upon the expiration of the 90-day period following the date of enactment of this Act if during such period, the Secretary of the Interior has not submitted to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate the Bureau of Reclamation's five-year budget plan.

ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISION

Appropriations for the Bureau of Reclamation shall be available for purchase of not to exceed seven passenger motor vehicles, which are for replacement only.

Sec. 201.

(a) None of the funds provided in title II of this Act for Water and Related Resources, or provided by previous appropriations Acts to the agencies or entities funded in title II of this Act for Water and Related Resources that remain available for obligation or expenditure in fiscal year 2009, shall be available for obligation or expenditure through a reprogramming of funds that—

(1) initiates or creates a new program, project, or activity;

(2) eliminates a program, project, or activity;

(3) increases funds for any program, project, or activity for which funds have been denied or restricted by this Act, unless prior approval is received from the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate;

(4) restarts or resumes any program, project or activity for which funds are not provided in this Act, unless prior approval is received from the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate;

(5) transfers funds in excess of the following limits, unless prior approval is received from the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate:

(A) 15 percent for any program, project or activity for which $2,000,000 or more is available at the beginning of the fiscal year; or

(B) $300,000 for any program, project or activity for which less than $2,000,000 is available at the beginning of the fiscal year;

(6) transfers more than $500,000 from either the Facilities Operation, Maintenance, and Rehabilitation category or the Resources Management and Development category to any program, project, or activity in the other category, unless prior approval is received from the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate; or

(7) transfers, where necessary to discharge legal obligations of the Bureau of Reclamation, more than $5,000,000 to provide adequate funds for settled contractor claims, increased contractor earnings due to accelerated rates of operations, and real estate deficiency judgments, unless prior approval is received from the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

(b) Subsection (a)(5) shall not apply to any transfer of funds within the Facilities Operation, Maintenance, and Rehabilitation category.

(c) For purposes of this section, the term ``transfer'' means any movement of funds into or out of a program, project, or activity.

(d) The Bureau of Reclamation shall submit reports on a quarterly basis to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate detailing all the funds reprogrammed between programs, projects, activities, or categories of funding. The first quarterly report shall be submitted not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act.

Sec. 202.

(a) None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used to determine the final point of discharge for the interceptor drain for the San Luis Unit until development by the Secretary of the Interior and the State of California of a plan, which shall conform to the water quality standards of the State of California as approved by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, to minimize any detrimental effect of the San Luis drainage waters.

(b) The costs of the Kesterson Reservoir Cleanup Program and the costs of the San Joaquin Valley Drainage Program shall be classified by the Secretary of the Interior as reimbursable or nonreimbursable and collected until fully repaid pursuant to the ``Cleanup Program-Alternative Repayment Plan'' and the ``SJVDP-Alternative Repayment Plan'' described in the report entitled ``Repayment Report, Kesterson Reservoir Cleanup Program and San Joaquin Valley Drainage Program, February 1995'', prepared by the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation. Any future obligations of funds by the United States relating to, or providing for, drainage service or drainage studies for the San Luis Unit shall be fully reimbursable by San Luis Unit beneficiaries of such service or studies pursuant to Federal reclamation law.

Sec. 203.

None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this or any other Act may be used to pay the salaries and expenses of personnel to purchase or lease water in the Middle Rio Grande or the Carlsbad Projects in New Mexico unless said purchase or lease is in compliance with the purchase requirements of section 202 of Public Law 106-60.

Sec. 204.

Funds under this title for Drought Emergency Assistance shall be made available primarily for leasing of water for specified drought related purposes from willing lessors, in compliance with existing State laws and administered under State water priority allocation.

Sec. 205.

The Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation, is authorized to enter into grants, cooperative agreements, and other agreements with irrigation or water districts and States to fund up to 50 percent of the cost of planning, designing, and constructing improvements that will conserve water, increase water use efficiency, or enhance water management through measurement or automation, at existing water supply projects within the States identified in the Act of June 17, 1902, as amended, and supplemented:

Provided, That when such improvements are to federally owned facilities, such funds may be provided in advance on a nonreimbursable basis to an entity operating affected transferred works or may be deemed nonreimbursable for nontransferred works:

Provided further, That the calculation of the non-Federal contribution shall provide for consideration of the value of any in-kind contributions, but shall not include funds received from other Federal agencies:

Provided further, That the cost of operating and maintaining such improvements shall be the responsibility of the non-Federal entity:

Provided further, That this section shall not supercede any existing project-specific funding authority:

Provided further, That the Secretary is also authorized to enter into grants or cooperative agreements with universities or nonprofit research institutions to fund water use efficiency research.

Sec. 206.

(a) Section 209 of the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, 2004 (Public Law 108-137; 117 Stat. 1850) is repealed.

(b) The Secretary of the Interior (referred to in this section as the ``Secretary'') shall establish and maintain an Executive Committee of the Middle Rio Grande Endangered Species Collaborative Program (referred to in this section as the ``Executive Committee'') consistent with the bylaws of the Middle Rio Grande Endangered Species Collaborative Program adopted on October 2, 2006.

(c) Hereafter, in compliance with applicable Federal and State laws, the Secretary (acting through the Commissioner of Reclamation), in collaboration with the Executive Committee, may enter into any grants, contracts, cooperative agreements, interagency agreements, or other agreements that the Secretary determines to be necessary to comply with the 2003 Biological Opinion described in section 205(b) of the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, 2005 (Public Law 108-447; 118 Stat. 2949) as amended by section 121(b) of the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, 2006 (Public Law 109-103; 119 Stat. 2256) or any related subsequent biological opinion or in furtherance of the objectives set forth in the collaborative program long-term plan.

(d)(1) The acquisition of water under subsection (c) and any administrative costs associated with carrying out subsection (c) shall be at full Federal expense.

(2) Not more than 15 percent of amounts appropriated to carry out subsection (c) shall be made available for the payment of administrative expenses associated with carrying out that subsection.

(e)(1) The non-Federal share of activities carried out under subsection (c) (other than an activity or a cost described in subsection (d)(1)) shall be 25 percent. The non-Federal cost share shall be determined on a programmatic, rather than a project-by-project basis.

(2) The non-Federal share required under paragraph (1) may be in the form of in-kind contributions, the value of which shall be determined by the Secretary in consultation with the executive committee.

(f) Nothing in this section modifies or expands the discretion of the Secretary with respect to operating reservoir facilities under the jurisdiction of the Secretary in the Rio Grande Valley, New Mexico.

Sec. 207.

Section 208 of the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008 (Public Law 110-161; 121 Stat. 1953) is amended—

(1) in subsection (a)—

(A) in paragraph (2)(B), by inserting ``, as determined by the nonprofit conservation organization'' after ``Lake''; and

(B) in paragraph (4), by striking ``retirement of water rights'' and all that follows through the semicolon at the end and inserting ``retirement of water rights;''; and

(2) in subsection (b), by striking ``June 30, 2010'' and inserting ``June 30, 2012''.

Sec. 208.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, of amounts made available under section 2507 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (43 U.S.C. 2211 note; Public Law 107-171), the Secretary of the Interior acting through the Commissioner of Reclamation, shall allocate—

(1) $300,000 to the Desert Research Institute for LIDAR acquisition data in the Walker River Basin, to supplement water rights research and data funded under section 208(a)(1) of the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, 2006 (Public Law 109-103; 119 Stat. 2268); and

(2) $300,000 to the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to conduct a multiyear assessment of and monitoring of the ability of west central Nevada lakes to support migratory loons, and identification of wintering areas and annual range of loons using Walker Lake during migration.