Padilla Bipartisan Bill to Support the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program Advances in Senate Committee
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) announced that the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) advanced his bipartisan legislation to support Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program (LCR MSCP) activities. The bill passed out of committee today by voice vote without opposition. Representative Ken Calvert (R-Calif.-41) introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives, which advanced through the House Natural Resources Committee last July.
The bill would increase the funding available for species conservation by creating an interest-bearing account at the Department of the Treasury for funds that the Colorado River Lower Basin states and the federal government contribute to the LCR MSCP. Currently, the Bureau of Reclamation holds the funding that states, including California, Arizona, and Nevada, contribute in an account that does not collect interest.
The legislation advanced out of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources by voice vote last Congress. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) are cosponsoring the legislation.
“The Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program is critical to protecting native species while balancing our water needs and hydropower production,” said Senator Padilla. “As ongoing drought threatens the river and drives up costs, allowing the program’s account to accrue interest is a simple, bipartisan solution to ensure that California’s dollars go further. Today’s committee passage is an important step, and I will keep working alongside Representative Calvert and my Western Senate colleagues to get this bill across the finish line.”
“Providing additional resources for the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program at no cost to taxpayers is a common-sense step to protect one of our most important natural resources in the Southwest,” said Representative Calvert. “The committee passage of this bipartisan bill is an important step that allows excess funds in the LCR MSCP to earn interest and maintain their effectiveness. I will continue to work with Senator Padilla and my California colleagues to move this bill forward.”
The Lower Colorado River provides critical water and power supplies across the Southwest. The LCR MSCP was authorized by Congress in 2009 and is supported by agencies within the federal government, as well as state, Tribal, and local water, power, and wildlife agencies. Within the geographic scope of the LCR MSCP from Lake Mead to the Mexican border, the program will establish over 8,000 acres of native riparian and aquatic habitat. It includes additional science-based research and management efforts focused on expanding knowledge of the local wildlife and the quality of the habitat restoration efforts. The program has already achieved success in stocking thousands of native fish and increasing numbers of breeding migratory birds within 5,000 acres of new riparian habitat.
The LCR MSCP has a budget of $626 million for its 50-year term. The funding is shared among the program participants on the basis of 50 percent federal, 25 percent California, and 12.5 percent each from Arizona and Nevada. Through the LCR MSCP agreements, the Lower Basin states committed to make quarterly payments to cover the program costs based on the initial budget estimates established in 2005. For Fiscal Year 2024, the program budget calls for funding of $38.8 million, with the state participants paying $19.4 million.
Over time, the pace of funding has exceeded work expenditures, and the Bureau of Reclamation has accumulated over $60 million in contributed funds for future costs. However, the accounts in which Reclamation holds the contributed funds do not earn interest or any investment return. Multiple funds established by Congressional action in the U.S. Treasury are directed to be invested or to earn interest. This legislation simply allows the LCR MSCP to do the same.
The Senate ENR Committee also advanced Padilla’s Ackerson Meadow Land Exchange Act, a bill to authorize a land transfer between the National Park Service/Yosemite National Park and the U.S. Forest Service/Stanislaus National Forest.
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