Upper Colorado and San Juan River Basins Endangered Fish Recovery Programs Reauthorization Act of 2024

Floor Speech

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Ms. BOEBERT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his support, and I appreciate the bipartisan support here in the House.

I rise in support of H.R. 4596, the Upper Colorado and San Juan River Basins Endangered Fish Recovery Programs Reauthorization Act of 2024. This bicameral bill, which passed through the House Natural Resources Committee with unanimous bipartisan support, provides a clean, 7-year reauthorization of the Upper Colorado and San Juan Recovery Programs that protect four threatened and endangered native fish species in the Upper Colorado and San Juan River Basins by extending conservation programs at current funding levels for 7 additional fiscal years.

These programs provide Endangered Species Act compliance to ensure 2,500 water projects continue to function and provide legal certainty for water users throughout Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.

These projects, including 1,200 in Colorado alone, include major water reservoirs, agricultural water users, ski areas, and power- generation facilities that use more than 3.7 million acre-feet of water per year.

The Upper Colorado and San Juan Recovery Programs were established in 1988 to achieve full recovery for four federally listed endangered fish species, including the humpback chub, bonytail, Colorado pikeminnow, and razorback sucker.

Those designations led to the threat of significant water- and power- use restrictions. For over three decades, States, Tribes, local communities, environmental groups, energy users, and water users have partnered to help recover four threatened and endangered fish species while continuing water and power facility development and operations in the Upper Colorado River Basin and the San Juan River Basin.

Without these programs, these 2,500 water and power users would have to perform extremely burdensome Section 7 consultations for all 2,500 individual projects. Because of the success of these programs, the humpback chub and the razorback sucker are success stories and have been downlisted from endangered to threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Last Congress, I worked on a short-term extension to reauthorize these programs until September 30 of 2024. I am proud to report that this bill today is the result of months of hard work with local stakeholders, the Bureau of Reclamation, and Senators Hickenlooper and Romney to provide a long-term solution by reauthorizing these vital programs until 2031.

My bill has significant support from more than 30 Colorado and Western stakeholder organizations, including Denver Water, Pueblo Water, both of the Colorado Indian Tribes, Utah Water Users Association, and many more.

I urge the passage of this critical bipartisan and bicameral legislation.

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