United States-Mexico Economic Partnership Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. HUFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call attention to one of the many important provisions of today's legislation. In particular, I rise to discuss Section 1109 of Title XI of Division FF, relating to aquatic ecosystem protection, which comes from the FUTURE Western Water Infrastructure and Drought Resiliency title that I authored in H.R. 2 earlier this year.

Today's provision is an improved version of that legislation, and it is the result of the ongoing bicameral water infrastructure negotiations between the committees of jurisdiction. I am grateful for the work done on both sides of the Capitol and both sides of the aisle to bring this to fruition. This aquatic ecosystem protection provision is designed to fund broadly-supported fish passage projects in the western states, and the specific intent is to help projects like the one in the Eel and Russian River basins in California, where we have a chance to significantly improve fish passage and habitat on the Eel River while providing long term certainty and reliability for Russian River water users.

The Potter Valley Project Ad Hoc Committee has been refining this effort for several years, and we now have a Two-Basin Partnership that is taking the next steps. The intent of this new aquatic ecosystem protection statute is to support the important work of the Two-Basin Partnership, as well as other community-supported restoration projects like it around the west.

I am including in the Record letters of support from the Round Valley Indian Tribes, Humboldt County, Sonoma County Water Agency, Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission, and California Trout-- collectively known as the Two-Basin Partnership--as well as from the Nature Conservancy, Trout Unlimited, and California Trout--collectively known as the California Salmon and Steelhead Coalition.

I thank my colleagues for working with me to bring this legislation to fruition, and thank the staff in both the House and Senate who have helped in this effort, especially Matthew Muirragui from the House Natural Resources Committee and John Driscoll, Logan Ferree, and Ben Miller on my personal staff. I look forward to working with the next administration to support this win-win outcome for the North Coast and North Bay.

Dear Chairman Huffman: The Round Valley Indian Tribes, Humboldt County, Sonoma County Water Agency, Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission, and California Trout, collectively known as the Two-Basin Partnership, write in strong support of the aquatic ecosystem restoration provision included in H.R. 2, which we understand you and your staff have negotiated for inclusion in the omnibus appropriations bill.

The Potter Valley Project is a hydroelectric facility that, in addition to generating a small amount of electricity, diverts water from the Eel River into the Russian River basin. The Project's main facilities include two dams on the Eel River, a diversion tunnel and a hydroelectric plant. Citing economic concerns, current Project owner Pacific Gas & Electric announced in January 2019 that it would not seek a new license from Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to continue operating the facilities. PG&E's decision to not re- license the Project left an uncertain future for both Eel and Russian River interests. Instead of leaving it up to the utility and federal regulators to determine the region's water future, local leaders decided to work together to protect the interests of both river basins. The Two-Basin Partnership is a direct outgrowth of that collaborative effort, which brought together diverse stakeholders to develop a compromise solution for the future of this aging and non-economically viable hydroelectric project.

The Partners have joined together as the applicant for the Project, with the collective goal of restoring 288 linear river miles of spawning habitat at the headwaters of the Eel through the removal of Scott Dam, while ensuring water supply reliability on the Russian River. Additional components of the proposed Project Plan include improving a water diversion infrastructure at Cape Horn Dam and developing infrastructure to provide water to meet summer irrigation needs for farmers and ranchers in Potter Valley.

As you know, this legislation would directly support the Two-Basin Solution's shared objectives, which include: minimizing or avoiding adverse impacts to water supply reliability, fisheries, water quality and recreation in the Russian River and Eel River basins; improving fish passage and habitat on the Eel River sufficient to support recovery of naturally reproducing, self-sustaining and harvestable native anadromous fish populations including migratory access upstream and downstream at current project dam locations; and protecting tribal cultural, economic, and other interests in both the Eel and Russian River basins.

On behalf of the Two-Basin Partners, we strongly support this inclusion and your continued support of our efforts on the Eel and Russian Rivers. Sincerely, Kathleen Willits,

Councilmember, Round Valley Indian Tribes. Grant Davis,

General Manager, Sonoma Water. Hank Seemann,

Deputy Director-Environmental Services, Humboldt County Public Works Department. Janet Pauli,

Chair, Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission. Curtis Knight,

California Trout. ____ December 18, 2020.

Dear Chairman Huffman: The Nature Conservancy, Trout Unlimited, and California Trout, collectively known as the California Salmon and Steelhead Coalition, write in strong support of the aquatic ecosystem restoration provision included in H.R. 2, which we understand you and your staff have negotiated for inclusion in the omnibus appropriations bill.

The Coalition is a strategic partnership founded to increase streamflows in California's North and Central Coast watersheds, with the goal of restoring and protecting wild salmon and steelhead and creating water reliability for people. We are working toward a California where water use management harmonizes and meets the needs of people, needs of fish and ecosystems. It is for these reasons that the Coalition is working together to support the Potter Valley Project relicensing effort as a major restoration opportunity.

The current Potter Valley Project Plan is built around a unique collaboration among conservationists, county governments, tribes, farmers and other water interests to shape a new future for the Project, a set of obsolete hydroelectric facilities in the upper Eel River and Russian River Watersheds. This effort, if successful, will implement one of the largest dam removals in the history of the United States while strengthening the security of local water supplies.

The project consists of two dams on the upper Eel River-- Scott and Cape Horn--as well as a system of trans-basin tunnels that divert approximately 60,000 acre-feet of water per year from the Eel to the Russian to generate hydroelectric power. This water ultimately flows to agricultural and municipal users in the Russian River Watershed. But, perhaps more importantly, the project blocks fish from reaching 288 linear stream miles above Scott Dam that were once the spawning grounds for some of the largest salmon and steelhead runs in California.

In January 2019, PG&E chose to discontinue its efforts to renew the project's license, which expires in 2022, from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). This left the door open for a different entity to license the project. Seeing this as an opportunity to remove the dams blocking the headwaters of the Eel River, California Trout joined with a diverse coalition--Sonoma Water, Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission, and Humboldt County--to notify FERC that they would explore taking over the re-licensing of the project. Over the subsequent year, those parties--joined by the Round Valley Tribe--worked with a team of technical consultants to develop a proposed plan to take over the project and implement a ``Two-Basin Solution'' that would remove Scott Dam, improve fish passage at Cape Horn Dam and build new infrastructure to deliver secure water supplies to farmers who currently rely on the project.

In the spring of 2020, the three Coalition groups helped negotiate an initial plan proposing the removal of Scott Dam and the implementation of a Two-Basin Solution to modernize this project to improve water supply reliability for farms and communities in the Russian and Eel River Basins; the plan will also help to restore struggling salmon and steelhead runs by reconnecting the river to its headwaters. In April the Coalition secured a $1.1 million CDFW grant that will be used to develop that proposal into a complete re-licensing plan. We have also made inroads with the communities that would be most affected by dam removal and lobbied for state and federal funding that will be needed to further develop and implement the plan.

We strongly support the inclusion of aquatic ecosystem restoration funding in the omnibus that could facilitate the watershed-level restoration of a key salmon river in California. Thank you for your leadership and support. Sincerely, Curtis Knight,

Executive Director, California Trout. Matt Clifford,

Staff Attorney, California Water Project, Trout Unlimited. Jay Ziegler,

California Director of External Affairs and Policy, The Nature Conservancy.

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