Bureau of Reclamation FY 2010 Budget

The Obama Administration today released its FY 2010 budget request for The Bureau of Reclamation. (The Corps of Engineers budget was still being finalized today and was not available for release). The Bureau’s detailed budget request be found here. http://www.usbr.gov/budget/2010/CONTENTS.pdf.

The FY 2010 BOR request includes $893 million for the Water and Related Resources Account (W&RR), which funds most of the Bureau’s core operations and programs. The Obama W&RR request is significantly greater than the amounts requested for that account by Bureau during the Bush Administration, but less than the $920 million provided by Congress for the current fiscal year. Congress steadily increased Bureau funding between 2000 and 2008, with 2009 marking the first significant decrease. If the Obama request is enacted, it would continue that downward trend and bring Bureau funding to roughly the 2006 level.
Highlights of the Bureau’s W&RR request include:
$102 million for the Safety of Dams Program, an almost $14 million increase over FY 09, attributable in large part to major work at Folsom Dam in California.
$2 million for a study associated with removal of four privately owned hydro-electric dams in the Klamath Basin. They study is part of an agreement with the dam’s owners, water users, tribes and conservation groups. Another $2 million is being requested by the Fish and Wildlife Service for the same study.
$21.4 million for Lower Colorado River Operations, an increase of more than $6 million over FY 09. This includes $13.6 million for the Multi-Species Conservation Plan (MSCP), which received just under $9 million in FY 09.
$12.7 million for the Platte River Recovery Program, an increase of $2 million over FY 09.
$64 million for rural water supply projects, a $75 million decrease from what Congress appropriated for FY 09. Congress generally provides significantly more funding for rural water supply projects than the Bureau requests. The Bureau’s economic stimulus plan provide $200 million for rural water supply projects
$33 million for the Challenge Grant Program, now re-packaged with other programs as the “Water Conservation Initiative.” The $33 million for the grants program is a $29 million increase over FY 09. The Bureau says that it expects to continue to cap individual grants at about $300,000 in FY 10. The Bureau’s economic stimulus plan provides $40 million for Challenge Grants, but sets the minimum grant amount at $1 million.

Separately from the W&RR account, the Bureau’s budget request includes $31 million for California’s Bay-Delta program. That is a $9 million decrease from FY 09. The request includes $4 million for continued study of four possible new surface storage projects and $4 million for continued studies of projects to improve water conveyance facilities.
The FY 10 budget also provides a total of $16.9 million for implementation of the San Joaquin River Settlement. Of that amount, all but $1 million is to come from revenues from the Friant surcharge and annual capital repayment, which are to be deposited into the new San Joaquin River Restoration Fund. The other $1 million is budgeted to come from the Central Valley Project Restoration Fund.

The President’s budget request is three months late because of the transition to a new Administration, but House and Senate Appropriations Committees are still planning to move appropriations bills toward final approval by the beginning of the new fiscal year on October 1. The Committees will begin writing the appropriations bill covering the Bureau and the Corps within the next few weeks.


Joe Raeder
The Ferguson Group
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Washington, D.C. 20036
Phone: 202-331-8500 ext 1233
Fax: 202-331-1598
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jraeder@tfgnet.com
website: www.fergusongroup.us