Promoting the Reliable Supply and Delivery of Water in the West, 53961-53963 [2018-23519]

Agencies

• Executive Office of the President

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 207 (Thursday, October 25, 2018)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 53961-53963]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-23519]



[[Page 53959]]

Vol. 83

Thursday,

No. 207

October 25, 2018

Part II





The President





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Memorandum of October 19, 2018--Promoting the Reliable Supply and 
Delivery of Water in the West


                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 83 , No. 207 / Thursday, October 25, 2018 / 
Presidential Documents

___________________________________________________________________

Title 3--
The President

[[Page 53961]]

                Memorandum of October 19, 2018

                
Promoting the Reliable Supply and Delivery of 
                Water in the West

                Memorandum for the Secretary of the Interior[,] the 
                Secretary of Commerce[,] the Secretary of Energy[,] the 
                Secretary of the Army[, and] the Chair of the Council 
                on Environmental Quality

                By the authority vested in me as President by the 
                Constitution and the laws of the United States of 
                America, I hereby direct the following:

                Section 1. Policy. During the 20th Century, the Federal 
                Government invested enormous resources in water 
                infrastructure throughout the western United States to 
                reduce flood risks to communities; to provide reliable 
                water supplies for farms, families, businesses, and 
                fish and wildlife; and to generate dependable 
                hydropower. Decades of uncoordinated, piecemeal 
                regulatory actions have diminished the ability of our 
                Federal infrastructure, however, to deliver water and 
                power in an efficient, cost-effective way.

                Unless addressed, fragmented regulation of water 
                infrastructure will continue to produce inefficiencies, 
                unnecessary burdens, and conflict among the Federal 
                Government, States, tribes, and local public agencies 
                that deliver water to their citizenry. To meet these 
                challenges, the Secretary of the Interior and the 
                Secretary of Commerce should, to the extent permitted 
                by law, work together to minimize unnecessary 
                regulatory burdens and foster more efficient decision-
                making so that water projects are better able to meet 
                the demands of their authorized purposes.

                Sec. 2. Streamlining Western Water Infrastructure 
                Regulatory Processes and Removing Unnecessary Burdens. 
                To address water infrastructure challenges in the 
                western United States, the Secretary of the Interior 
                and the Secretary of Commerce shall undertake the 
                following actions:

                    (a) Within 30 days of the date of this memorandum, 
                the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of 
                Commerce shall:

(i) identify major water infrastructure projects in California for which 
the Department of the Interior and the Department of Commerce have joint 
responsibility under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) (Public Law 
93-205) or individual responsibilities under the National Environmental 
Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (Public Law 91-190); and

(ii) for each such project, work together to facilitate the designation of 
one official to coordinate the agencies' ESA and NEPA compliance 
responsibilities. Within the 30-day time period provided by this 
subsection, the designated official shall also identify regulations and 
procedures that potentially burden the project and develop a proposed plan, 
for consideration by the Secretaries, to appropriately suspend, revise, or 
rescind any regulations or procedures that unduly burden the project beyond 
the degree necessary to protect the public interest or otherwise comply 
with the law. For purposes of this memorandum, ``burden'' means to 
unnecessarily obstruct, delay, curtail, impede, or otherwise impose 
significant costs on the permitting, utilization, transmission, delivery, 
or supply of water resources and infrastructure.

                    (b) Within 40 days of the date of this memorandum, 
                the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of 
                Commerce shall develop a timeline for completing 
                applicable environmental compliance requirements for 
                projects

[[Page 53962]]

                identified under section 2(a)(i) of this memorandum. 
                Environmental compliance requirements shall be 
                completed as expeditiously as possible, and in 
                accordance with applicable law.
                    (c) To the maximum extent practicable and 
                consistent with applicable law, including the 
                authorities granted to the Secretary of the Interior 
                and the Secretary of Commerce under the Water 
                Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act (Public 
                Law 114-322):

(i) The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce shall 
ensure that the ongoing review of the long-term coordinated operations of 
the Central Valley Project and the California State Water Project is 
completed and an updated Plan of Operations and Record of Decision is 
issued.

(ii) The Secretary of the Interior shall issue final biological assessments 
for the long-term coordinated operations of the Central Valley Project and 
the California State Water Project not later than January 31, 2019.

(iii) The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce shall 
ensure the issuance of their respective final biological opinions for the 
long-term coordinated operations of the Central Valley Project and the 
California State Water Project within 135 days of the deadline provided in 
section 2(c)(ii) of this memorandum. To the extent practicable and 
consistent with law, these shall be joint opinions.

(iv) The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce shall 
complete the joint consultation presently underway for the Klamath 
Irrigation Project by August 2019.

                    (d) The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary 
                of Commerce shall provide monthly updates to the Chair 
                of the Council on Environmental Quality and other 
                components of the Executive Office of the President, as 
                appropriate, regarding progress in meeting the 
                established timelines.

                Sec. 3. Improve Forecasts of Water Availability. To 
                facilitate greater use of forecast-based management and 
                use of authorities and capabilities provided by the 
                Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 
                (Public Law 115-25) and other applicable laws, the 
                Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce 
                shall convene water experts and resource managers to 
                develop an action plan to improve the information and 
                modeling capabilities related to water availability and 
                water infrastructure projects. The action plan shall be 
                completed by January 2019 and submitted to the Chair of 
                the Council on Environmental Quality.

                Sec. 4. Improving Use of Technology to Increase Water 
                Reliability. To the maximum extent practicable, and 
                pursuant to the Reclamation Wastewater and Groundwater 
                Study and Facilities Act (Public Law 102-575, title 
                XVI), the Water Desalination Act of 1996 (Public Law 
                104-298), and other applicable laws, the Secretary of 
                the Interior shall direct appropriate bureaus to 
                promote the expanded use of technology for improving 
                the accuracy and reliability of water and power 
                deliveries. This promotion of expanded use should 
                include:

                    (a) investment in technology and reduction of 
                regulatory burdens to enable broader scale deployment 
                of desalination technology;
                    (b) investment in technology and reduction of 
                regulatory burdens to enable broader scale use of 
                recycled water; and
                    (c) investment in programs that promote and 
                encourage innovation, research, and development of 
                technology that improve water management, using best 
                available science through real-time monitoring of 
                wildlife and water deliveries.

                Sec. 5. Consideration of Locally Developed Plans in 
                Hydroelectric Projects Licensing. To the extent the 
                Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce 
                participate in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 
                licensing activities for hydroelectric projects, and to 
                the extent permitted by law,

[[Page 53963]]

                the Secretaries shall give appropriate consideration to 
                any relevant information available to them in locally 
                developed plans, where consistent with the best 
                available information.

                Sec. 6. Streamlining Regulatory Processes and Removing 
                Unnecessary Burdens on the Columbia River Basin Water 
                Infrastructure. In order to address water and 
                hydropower operations challenges in the Columbia River 
                Basin, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of 
                Commerce, the Secretary of Energy, and the Assistant 
                Secretary of the Army for Civil Works under the 
                direction of the Secretary of the Army, shall develop a 
                schedule to complete the Columbia River System 
                Operations Environmental Impact Statement and the 
                associated Biological Opinion due by 2020. The schedule 
                shall be submitted to the Chair of the Council on 
                Environmental Quality within 60 days of the date of 
                this memorandum.

                Sec. 7. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this 
                memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise 
                affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or 
the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

                    (b) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent 
                with applicable law and subject to the availability of 
                appropriations.
                    (c) This memorandum is not intended to, and does 
                not, create any right or benefit, substantive or 
                procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any 
                party against the United States, its departments, 
                agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or 
                agents, or any other person.
                    (d) The Secretary of the Interior is hereby 
                authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in 
                the Federal Register.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

                THE WHITE HOUSE,

                    Washington, October 19, 2018

[FR Doc. 2018-23519
Filed 10-24-18; 11:15 am]
Billing code 4310-10-P