[House Report 113-413]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
113th Congress Rept. 113-413
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
2d Session Part 1
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NORTH TEXAS INVASIVE SPECIES BARRIER ACT OF 2014
_______
April 10, 2014.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
State of the Union and ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Hastings of Washington, from the Committee on Natural Resources,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany H.R. 4032]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred
the bill (H.R. 4032) to exempt from Lacey Act Amendments of
1981 certain water transfers by the North Texas Municipal Water
District and the Greater Texoma Utility Authority, and for
other purposes, having considered the same, report favorably
thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass.
PURPOSE OF THE BILL
The purpose of H.R. 4032 is to exempt from the Lacey Act
Amendments of 1981 certain water transfers by the North Texas
Municipal Water District and the Greater Texoma Utility
Authority.
BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION
In 1900, Congress enacted legislation known as the Lacey
Act to support the efforts of states to protect their resident
game and birds. It was designed to prevent hunters from killing
game in one state and escaping prosecution by moving the fish
or wildlife across state lines. It accomplished that goal by
criminalizing both the delivery for shipment and the shipment
of parts or bodies of ``wild animals or birds'' killed in
violation of a state law. In addition, the law tried to prevent
the ``unwise'' introduction of foreign birds and animals by
creating an ``injurious wildlife'' category.
The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) implements the
injurious wildlife provisions through regulations contained in
50 Code of Federal Regulations part 16. Under these provisions,
injurious wildlife are amphibians, birds, crustaceans, fish,
mammals, mollusks, reptiles and their offspring that are
injurious to the interests of human beings, agriculture,
horticulture, forestry, wildlife, or wildlife resources of the
United States. Once listed as injurious, species may not be
imported into the United States or transported between the
states, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, or any territory or
possession of the United States without a special permit issued
by FWS. An individual may obtain a permit for the importation
or interstate transportation of live specimens of injurious
wildlife for bona fide scientific, educational, medical, or
zoological purposes. The penalty for an injurious wildlife
Lacey Act violation is up to six months in prison and a $5,000
fine for an individual or a $10,000 fine for an organization.
There are 236 species listed as ``injurious wildlife,''
including the brown tree snake, snakehead fish, and zebra
mussels.
The construction of the Lake Texoma reservoir project in
Texas was completed in 1944. The reservoir helps to tame the
flood waters of the Red River; and provides a vital water
supply and hydropower. It was authorized by the Flood Control
Act of 1938 (Public Law 75-791). The United States Army Corps
of Engineers constructed the project at a cost of approximately
$54 million. Denison Dam that impounds the waters of Lake
Texoma is located five miles northwest of Denison, Texas. The
lake, which is the 12th largest in the nation, has 1000 miles
of shoreline, spreads over 89,000 acres and has a water volume
of 2,525,568 acre feet.
In 1989, the Corps of Engineers granted a permit to the
North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD) to construct and
operate a pump station at Lake Texoma. The NTMWD currently
supplies drinking water to over 1.6 million people in the North
Texas area. The pump station was designed to transfer up to 125
million gallons per day of water from Lake Texoma directly to
Lake Lavon via a pipeline that discharges into a tributary of
Lake Lavon. The massive intake structure cost over $100 million
to construct.
In 1991, the State Legislatures of Oklahoma and Texas
created the Red River Boundary Commissions and charged them
with the responsibility of establishing a new permanent
boundary between the two states. What is interesting is that a
new survey was undertaken instead of relying on the 1939 Corps
of Engineers survey that was the basis of constructing the Lake
Texoma Pump Station. After a series of public meetings, in 1999
the State legislatures of Oklahoma and Texas adopted
legislation that designated ``the vegetation line along the
South Bank of the Red River extending on a line from the 100th
Meridian east to Lake Texoma as the northern border of Texas.''
It was signed into law by the Governors of the two States and
H. J. Res. 72, which approved the new boundary, became law on
August 21, 2000. As a result, a portion of the Texoma Pump
Station is now located in the State of Oklahoma.
Since 2008, zebra and quagga mussels have been found in
Lake Texoma. This has raised concerns that this invasive
species could be transferred across state lines from the Red
River Basin to the Trinity River Basin in Texas. The NTMWD has
water supplies in Lake Lavon, Lake Chapman, Lake Texoma, and
Lake Tawakoni, but Lake Texoma comprises 28 percent of the
total water supply needs of the region. This is an area that is
experiencing rapid population growth. The Lake Texoma water
supplies are triggered during drought or high demand
conditions.
In December 2010, FWS advised the NTMWD that because of the
revised boundary delineation, the use of the pump station would
constitute an interstate transfer of water and a violation of
the Lacey Act because invasive zebra mussels would be
transported across state lines. While there is considerable
debate about whether the boundary of the pump station should
have been changed, there appears to be little flexibility
within the Lacey Act to address this issue.
After voluntarily suspending operation of its Lake Texoma
pump station, NTMWD has been unable to use Lake Texoma water
supplies for nearly five years. The severe drought of 2011 made
this loss of water supply a near catastrophe. As a result,
NTMWD decided to design and construct a closed pipeline to
transfer all Lake Texoma water directly to the NTMWD water
treatment plant at a cost of over $300 million. This project
was issued a Section 404 Clean Water Act permit by the Army
Corps of Engineers on May 3, 2012.
On December 28, 2013, the Lake Pontchartrain Basin
Restoration Program Authorizations and Federal Building
Designations Act, Public Law 112-237, was signed into law.
Incorporated in Section 5 of this act was a waiver of the Lacey
Act for zebra mussels for NTMWD's project which was necessary
because FWS had indicated that the new pipeline would be in
violation of that federal law. The Texoma Pipeline Extension is
almost complete and NTMWD expects to resume operation of the
Lake Texoma Pump Station and its corresponding water supply
later this year. With the pipeline, Lake Texoma water would be
moved using a closed conveyance system thus eliminating any
transfers of invasive species.
In addition, during the past year, FWS has unilaterally
proposed to expedite the procedures for listing species as
``injurious wildlife'' under the Lacey Act and there is growing
evidence that additional species may soon be listed. Because
one of these species may be the quagga mussel, which are found
in Lake Texoma, this additional legislative relief is necessary
to ensure that the pipeline and the vital water supply for 1.6
million people in the Dallas/Fort Worth area are not suddenly
stopped in the future.
The North Texas Invasive Species Barrier Act of 2014 is a
common sense expansion of the zebra mussel single species focus
to include any invasive species that may be listed under the
Lacey Act. It also upholds the promise of Public Law 112-237
that any invasive species will be destroyed at the treatment
plan and that the introduction and propagation of harmful
species will be stopped at no cost to the taxpayers. This
legislation is vital to the uninterrupted use of 28 percent of
the region's water supply.
COMMITTEE ACTION
H.R. 4032 was introduced on February 11, 2014, by
Congressman Ralph M. Hall (R-TX). The bill was referred to the
Committee on Natural Resources, and within the Committee to the
Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans, and Insular
Affairs. The bill was also referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary. On February 27, 2014, the Subcommittee on Fisheries,
Wildlife, Oceans, and Insular Affairs held a hearing on the
bill. On March 13, 2014, the Natural Resources Committee met to
consider the bill. The Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife,
Oceans, and Insular Affairs was discharged by unanimous
consent. The bill was then adopted and ordered favorably
reported to the House of Representatives by unanimous consent.
COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the
Committee on Natural Resources' oversight findings and
recommendations are reflected in the body of this report.
COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII
1. Cost of Legislation. Clause 3(d)(1) of rule XIII of the
Rules of the House of Representatives requires an estimate and
a comparison by the Committee of the costs which would be
incurred in carrying out this bill. However, clause 3(d)(2)(B)
of that rule provides that this requirement does not apply when
the Committee has included in its report a timely submitted
cost estimate of the bill prepared by the Director of the
Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974. Under clause 3(c)(3) of rule
XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and section
403 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the Committee has
received the following cost estimate for this bill from the
Director of the Congressional Budget Office:
H.R. 4032--North Texas Invasive Species Barrier Act of 2014
H.R. 4032 would exempt the North Texas Municipal Water
District (NTMWD) from prosecution under the Lacey Act for
transferring water containing invasive species from Oklahoma to
Texas. The Lacey Act protects plants and wildlife by creating
civil and criminal penalties for various violations, including
transferring invasive species across state borders.
Based on information provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service (USFWS), CBO estimates that implementing the
legislation would have no significant effect on the federal
budget. Under current law, federal agencies, including the
USFWS and the Department of Justice, have the authority to
negotiate agreements that would allow the NTMWD to make these
transfers without being prosecuted. Enacting H.R. 4032 could
reduce revenues from penalties under the Lacey Act; therefore,
pay-as-you-go procedures apply. However, CBO estimates that any
such reductions would be negligible. Enacting the bill would
not affect direct spending.
H.R. 4032 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Jeff LaFave. The
estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Deputy Assistant
Director for Budget Analysis.
2. Section 308(a) of Congressional Budget Act. As required
by clause 3(c)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of
Representatives and section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget
Act of 1974, this bill does not contain any new budget
authority, spending authority, credit authority, or an increase
or decrease in revenues or tax expenditures. Enacting H.R. 4032
could reduce revenues from penalties under the Lacey Act;
therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. However, CBO
estimates that any such reductions would be negligible.
Enacting the bill would not affect direct spending.
3. General Performance Goals and Objectives. As required by
clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general performance goal or
objective of this bill is to exempt from the Lacey Act
Amendments of 1981 certain water transfers by the North Texas
Municipal Water District and the Greater Texoma Utility
Authority.
EARMARK STATEMENT
This bill does not contain any Congressional earmarks,
limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined
under clause 9(e), 9(f), and 9(g) of rule XXI of the Rules of
the House of Representatives.
COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104-4
This bill contains no unfunded mandates.
COMPLIANCE WITH H. RES. 5
Directed Rule Making. The Chairman does not believe that
this bill directs any executive branch official to conduct any
specific rule-making proceedings.
Duplication of Existing Programs. This bill does not
establish or reauthorize a program of the federal government
known to be duplicative of another program. Such program was
not included in any report from the Government Accountability
Office to Congress pursuant to section 21 of Public Law 111-139
or identified in the most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic
Assistance published pursuant to the Federal Program
Information Act (Public Law 95-220, as amended by Public Law
98-169) as relating to other programs.
PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW
This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or
tribal law.