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Floor Speech

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Mr. PADILLA. Madam President, I rise to introduce the Voluntary Agricultural Land Repurposing Act to support voluntary efforts to repurpose agricultural land to multibenefit uses. Enactment of this legislation would provide new tools for States, producers, water users, and Federal partners to adapt to long-term water scarcity at the basin scale.

The bill would modernize existing Federal programs at the Bureau of Reclamation to support long-term drought planning and resiliency by stakeholders.

Specifically, the bill would authorize funding for States that choose to pilot and implement their own multibenefit land repurposing programs. Eligible State-run programs must be basin-scale, reduce consumptive water use, and repurpose irrigated agricultural land for at least 10 years. Programs must also provide one or more other measurable benefits to the environment or community, including the restoration habitat or floodplains connection to streams or rivers, the creation of dedicated recharge areas, the facilitation of renewable energy projects, the creation of parks or recreational areas, and other listed uses. The bill would also prioritize State programs that provide direct benefits to disadvantaged communities or were developed through a multistakeholder planning process.

Because it may take time for States to stand up or pilot programs, the bill would also make multibenefit land repurposing an eligible use under the WaterSMART Program so that individual water users could apply and compete for funding for multibenefit land repurposing projects.

Water scarcity at the basin scale demands widespread changes in water use across the West. The Colorado River Basin's water storage shortage, Utah's decline to record low levels of the Great Salt Lake, and California's subsidence due to groundwater overdraft in the Central Valley are just a few of the many examples of long-term, basin-scale water scarcity demanding change in our water use.

Through the bipartisan infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act, Congress has stepped up and invested billions of dollars in new technologies to shore up our water supplies, including large-scale water recycling and desalination. But a historic megadrought and the climate crisis are unfortunately forcing Western States and water users to reimagine how to allocate and govern water and forcing producers to be more efficient with water or make do with less.

One tool to bolster drought resilience is to retire irrigation from some agricultural lands, particularly where soils or productivity is marginal, where non-irrigated agricultural uses can sustainably contribute to an operation, or where important public benefits such as fish and wildlife habitat, watershed health and aquifer recharge, or renewable energy can be supported in a conversion from irrigated agriculture.

I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass the Voluntary Agricultural Land Repurposing Act as quickly as possible. ______

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