§1275 Columbia River Basin Restoration

Summary

The Environmental Protection Agency must create a Columbia River Basin Restoration Program to help protect and restore the river and its watershed in the United States. The program will bring together many people and groups to work on water quality and habitat. The EPA must track and study water quality trends, gather and check data to find causes of problems, and give competitive grants for projects that reduce pollution, clean up contaminated sites, improve water quality, monitor trends, cut runoff, protect habitat, or help citizens get involved. Creating the program does not change any federal agencies’ existing powers or make new rules, and it does not alter roles as they stood on December 16, 2016. The EPA must form a voluntary working group of invited stakeholders, including each State in the basin, State Governors, federally recognized tribes, local governments, industries, utilities, private landowners, soil and water conservation districts, nonprofits, the public, and the Estuary Partnership, with geographic representation from the lower, middle, and upper basins. The group will recommend and rank projects and review how well they work. The Estuary Partnership will handle the working group duties for the Lower Columbia River Estuary while it serves as the management conference; if it stops, the EPA may name the new management conference to take over, and duties for the lower 146 miles will go to the Working Group. Grants are open to States, tribes, regional and local agencies, nonprofits, and conservation districts. The Federal share normally may not exceed 75 percent of project costs, but tribal governments may count Federal funds toward the non‑Federal share and the EPA can raise the Federal share when appropriate. At least 25 percent of grant funds must go to the Lower Columbia River Estuary, at least 25 percent must go to the Middle and Upper Columbia River Basin (including the Snake River Basin), and the EPA may keep up to 5 percent for program work. Grant recipients must report progress under EPA rules. Congress authorized $30,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 and 2021 to carry out the grant program. The President must include an interagency budget showing prior, current, and proposed spending by each Federal agency for Columbia River Basin protection and restoration.