Ratcliffe Speaks in Support of North Texas Water Supply Security Act

Now recognize myself for the purpose of offering an amendment in the nature of a substitute. Clerk will report the amendment. Amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 4423 offered by Mr. Ratcliffe of Texas. Strike all that follow. Without objection the amendment will be considered as read. This amendment includes many of the provisions from the bill as it was originally introduced as well as changes to account for the Army Corps' issuance of its record of decision and permit approval for the Lower Bodark Creek Reservoir earlier this year and the filing in the Eastern District of Texas on May 11, 2018 of actual litigation challenging the Corps' permit approval. Specifically, this amendment extends the legislation's statute of limitations to 105 days from the date of the Corps' approval of the permit. The amendment also adds a grandfathering provision to allow any additional litigation filed after the legislation's specified statute of limitation but before the bill's enactment to have complied with that statute of limitations. And finally, the amendment redesignates the bill as the North Texas Water Supply Security Act of 2018 and ties the legislation's separate 60-day statute of limitation for actions challenging any Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement or SEIS required for the project to the date of the final agency action on the SEIS rather than on the publication of that action in the Federal Register. This legislation is the culmination of all of the hard work by the bill's sponsor, Congressman Sam Johnson. Without objection, I would ask unanimous consent to submit a statement or the record from Congressman Johnson in support of this bill. The Lower Bodark Creek Reservoir Project is an extremely important potential water resource that will supply 1.7 million North Texans. Without this reservoir, it is projected that the project's local sponsor, the North Texas Municipal Water District, will not be able to meet the water needs of its customers by 2021 or 2022. The permitting process for the Lower Bodark has taken nearly 15 years, more than enough time for interested parties to raise issues with the relevant permitting agencies. Yet under current law, despite those 15 years those parties had to raise concerns, they would have an additional six years to interrupt the project with an injunction or a temporary restraining order. Without this bill, North Texas could complete 95 percent of the reservoir and under current law, despite having 15 years prior to raise issues regarding the project, an outside group could stop construction and the ability of the North Texas Municipal Water District to serve 1.7 million Texans relying on that water supply. I therefore urge my colleagues to support this common-sense measure and I yield back the balance of my time and recognize the Ranking Member. Thank you.