LVEA in Action                                                                                                                                                               Winter 2004   ____________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Dam Safety Bill Passes

The passage of the Safety of Dams Act is being viewed as a big victory for Reclamation Districts and their water customers.  It is believed that the new law will result in significant cost savings for local irrigation and water districts as well as for the federal treasury. 

The bill had been stuck in a procedural rut before the unanimous House vote for approval and there had been concerns it might not survive the lame duck session of Congress. 

The Bill increases the Safety of Dams program funding authorization by $540 million and should be sufficient to extend the important program for a decade.  The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation had feared it might run out of funds within a year without Congressional action. 

The bill requires the Bureau to:

• Provide project beneficiaries with the opportunity to consult with the Bureau on the planning, design and construction of a proposed dam safety modification.
• Provide project beneficiaries with a written description of the need for the proposed dam safety improvement and the process for identifying and implementing the improvement.
• Consider and provide a written response to any alternative plans suggested by project beneficiaries, and include the written response in the project planning report that the Bureau is already required to submit to Congress prior to construction of a dam safety modification.
• Consider cost-containment measures suggested by project beneficiaries during construction.
• Provide project beneficiaries with periodic reports on the status and costs of a dam safety modification project.

Following a five-year effort, Reclamation customers now have a say in the design and construction of Safety of Dams projects due to the passage of the Safety of Dams Act.  It is a victory for irrigators in the West and came about as a result of bipartisan effort in Congress.

BUREAU FUNDING INCREASED BY CONGRESS 

For the fourth year in a row, Congress has turned aside administration proposals to reduce funding for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s core programs and instead provided a small increase in fiscal year 2005 funding as compared to the current level. 

Congress appropriated $859.4 million for the Bureau’s water and related resources account, which funds the Bureau’s main functions, including project construction, operation and maintenance. 

The figure is $31 million more than requested by the administration and $7 million above the current level of funding. 

Congress also rejected, for now, the administration’s proposal to make reimbursable some of the costs of increased security at Bureau projects.  After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Congress directed that the costs of increasing security at Bureau facilities should be a fully federal expense without reimbursement by project beneficiaries.

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