Upper Colorado and San Juan River Basins Recovery Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, H.R. 5001 would extend the Upper Colorado and San Juan recovery implementation programs and their reporting requirements for an additional year.

The programs provide Endangered Species Act compliance for more than 2,500 water and power projects that withdraw more than 3.7 million-acre feet of water for human needs.

The program's goals are to recover four endangered fish species while continuing facility operations with the ultimate goal of species delisting. Last year, the Fish and Wildlife Service reclassified one of these species, the humpback chub, from endangered to threatened, and proposed a similar reclassification for the razorback sucker.

Madam Speaker, if it has razorback in the name, it has to be important, and we need to take care of it.

Current law required the Secretary of the Interior to submit a report to Congress by September 30, 2021, on recommendations for the programs post 2023. Unfortunately, the Department of the Interior failed to meet this deadline. As such we are here today extending the programs by 1 year in order to give the administration enough time to complete the report.

While I support the extension today, I want to be clear that any further extension of the programs will require an in-depth discussion of the programs' goals, achievements, and administrative overhead costs.

In closing, Madam Speaker, again, I support this bill, I support the razorback sucker, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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