Description:
H.R. 4094 would authorize an additional purpose for amounts that were authorized to be appropriated in Public Law 102-575. Specifically, the Bureau of Reclamation could use funds appropriated pursuant to that authorization to carry out water conservation projects in the Great Salt Lake Drainage Basin. Of the amounts authorized to be appropriated in that law, $207 million has yet to be provided. Those authorizations were for preparing a feasibility study pertaining to surface and groundwater management in Utah, and for water conservation projects of the Central Utah Project. Under the bill, those amounts would be authorized for water conveyance and conservation projects over a larger area of Utah by increasing the number of counties eligible to participate from 8 to 12. The 4 counties that would be newly eligible for funding under the bill are Utah’s northern counties that supply most of the Great Salt Lake’s water and that have experienced severe drought conditions in recent years. CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 4094 would have no effect on spending subject to appropriation because the bill would not change the amount authorized to be appropriated in current law. The cost of any new water conservation projects carried out under the bill would reduce the authorized amounts available for other projects. In addition, enacting the bill would not affect direct spending because none of the funds previously appropriated for the Central Utah Project are available to spend on the new purpose.
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