HR186hMAR18

TheWeekInCongress.com

Week Ending March 18, 2005

HR 186 Llagas Reclamation Groundwater Remediation Initiative.

BRIEF

This bill passed the House in 2004 as HR 4459 but did not make it to public law status.

The 2004 report from the House Subcommittee on Water and Power gave a lucid explanation of the need for the bill, ‘The communities of Morgan Hill and San Martin in Santa Clara County, California, have been forced to close wells due to perchlorate contamination in the groundwater. Perchlorate is both a naturally occurring and man-made chemical. Most of the perchlorate manufactured in the United States is used as the primary ingredient of solid rocket propellant. Perchlorate is also used in the manufacture of pyrotechnics and roadside flares. Research indicates that perchlorate interferes with iodide uptake into the thyroid gland. Since iodide is an essential component of thyroid hormones, perchlorate disrupts how the thyroid functions. In adults, the thyroid helps to regulate metabolism. In children, the thyroid plays a major role in proper development in addition to metabolism.

“Perchlorate has been detected in more than 500 water wells in Santa Clara County, stemming from a nine-mile long plume of the chemical in the Llagas Groundwater Subbasin. As a result, more than 1,000 residences have been supplied with bottled water. The Santa Clara Valley Water District is working to address the problem and develop a long-term plan for remediation of the basin. Near-term solutions, such as point-of-use drinking water treatment systems and residential wellhead treatment systems, are being considered.”

To begin resolution of the problem ‘The bill would authorize the Secretary of the Interior through the Bureau of Reclamation to use the fund to provide grants to the Santa Clara Valley Water District for groundwater cleanup projects in the Llagas watershed in Santa Clara County, California. H.R. 4459 would authorize the bureau to pay up to 65 percent of the cost of the groundwater cleanup projects. The bureau, however, would not have the authority to obligate money for a project until the nonfederal share of the costs (35 percent) is either deposited into the account or credited to the account as an in-kind contribution’, a Congressional Research Service summary concluded.

The bill would establish the `California Basins Groundwater Remediation Fund' within the U.S. Treasury. The Fund, subject to annual appropriations and administered by the Bureau of Reclamation, would provide up to $25 million in federal funding to remediate groundwater in the service area of the Santa Clara Valley Water District. The bill requires a local cost share of 35 percent. Perchlorate is the chemical compound of primary concern, although funds will be available to remediate other groundwater challenges in the area.’

Sponsor: Rep. Richard W. Pombo (R-CA-11^th)

Vote: Passed House by voice vote (Mar. 16, 2005)

Cost to the taxpayers: The bill authorizes $25 million. CBO estimated in 2004 that “implementing H.R. 4459 would cost $20 million over the 2005-2009 period and an additional $5 million after that period. Enacting this bill would increase direct spending by less than $500,000 annually over the 2005-2012 period.”