Smith Secures Language in House-Passed Platte River Recovery Bill

Press Release

Smith Secures Language in House-Passed Platte River Recovery Bill

Congressman Adrian Smith (R-NE) today announced the House of Representatives has passed the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program, H.R. 1462, unanimously. Introduced by Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO), and cosponsored by Smith, the bill authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to engage in the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program.

Smith worked to ensure the bill's accompanying committee report contained language instructing federal agencies to work cooperatively with all relevant interests, including the affected local communities, as it relates to the Program's goals and how activities may affect landowners.

"Throughout this process, I wanted to make sure landowners' concerns were met and their questions were answered. Today, we took an important step in this longstanding issue. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues to see this legislation provides certainty for farmers, ranchers, businesses, and communities in my district," said Smith.

The bill is designed to implement a multi-state cooperative approach to assist in the conservation and recovery of habitat for the Platte River's endangered and threatened species and to help prevent the need to list more species under the Endangered Species Act. The bill would also provide regulatory certainty to the cities and industries which rely on flows of the river.

The Platte River has undergone extensive development for irrigation, power generation, and municipal water uses. The river system today contains 15 major dams and reservoirs and provides water for about 3.5 million people. Existing facilities on the river provide hydroelectric power, irrigation water, flood control, recreation, and fish and wildlife habitat. Substantial portions of the economies of the Platte River basin states - Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska - are based on water supplied by the Platte River.

In 1997, the three States and the U.S. Department of the Interior signed an agreement to pursue a basinwide cooperative recovery implementation program to improve and maintain habitat for four threatened and endangered species which use the Platte River in Nebraska: the whooping crane, interior least tern, piping plover, and pallid sturgeon.

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